Case study

We will call the Case Study Company the ACM Corporation, the company is currently valued at $5 billion - with operating interests in banking, insurance and asset management. In 2015 it spent some $200 million on information-technology-related products and services - including direct labour. A significant proportion of this cash went to external services providers. As part of the organization's future strategic direction, to enhance its market share in financial services, a decision was made to increase its inhouse IT software and back office capability. Although the company had a number of mature software processes, the IT board decided to reengineer a number of key processes. As part of this exercise the opportunity was taken to audit its people processes using the Capability Maturity Model (CMM). First task An initial audit was conducted in order to establish a base line. Working closely with external consultants a customized methodology and questionnaire was created, and a map developed to relate people capabilities with the company's key competency statements. Using the IT department for the trial, the staff groups were segmented by function, for example project management. Managers were identified from those empowered to determine how the people processes within the project department should be restructured. The team reviewed numerous aspects for restructuring including skill levels, current and future project workloads,

environment, training, staff requests for assignments and even personality tests and team- building sessions.

By mapping the trial results to the baseline capabilities, a profile of each functional project group within the department was created. This gave the company the ability to review each group member's performance against both their department and group profile, and enabled individual improvement objectives to be set.

Putting the plan together Following the initial trial and project mapping exercise, several plans were developed, beginning with an action plan for organization-wide improvement. The company needed a plan which identified people-improvement efforts in software development, software testing, product development, project management and general consultancy. The process started with off-site workshops to develop a strategic programme for implementation. These sessions went well and included representatives from each of the supporting departments, a couple of senior project managers, and external facilitator and key management representatives from the board. The week ended with an agreed plan for implementation.

The plan defined: Roles and responsibilities (several groups were engaged to implement the plan, each group

had a team leader, recorder and a scheduler who was responsible for coordinating the efforts of the groups). Objectives; the team had documented objectives and goals, for example increase people productivity within the system test phase of project xyz. Deliverables were reviewed and broken down using PRINCE statements. Schedule; each group developed and updated their schedule. Only the individual team leaders could evaluate their requirements and decide how long it would take them to finish their tasks. Rules; every team wrote their own rules. This included how often they would meet, when, where, how long, (meetings were often timeboxed, that is 2-3 hours). Activities With so many activities happening all at once, it became a challenge to keep everyone on the right track. Group leaders held biweekly meetings, but it was found that only so much could be comprehended at anyone briefing. One method to help individuals adjust was through the use of checklists. External consultants had already developed several checklists they used for their audits and the group leaders decided some of their own. Checklists were created for many areas. Examples included items to consider in the preparation of checkpoint meetings and planning sessions. These checklists proved to be beneficial in assisting people through the early project Measuring success The challenge for the company in initiating these strategic changes which incorporated both process and people activities, was to create an improvement strategy that allowed improvements guided by one level to help create an environment that supports improvements in other levels. At the same time, the organization had to balance the amount of change being undertaken whilst still managing its regular business activities. An organization needs to balance these tensions very carefully if it is to head off conflict.

Benefits So what have these efforts provided the ACM Corporation? The following are some of the project benefits: Project staff have focused clear objectives, which are specified, measurable, affordable and do-able. Discrete phases or steps are clearly defined and documented, e.g., requirements phase, high-level design phase, etc. Work products are specified for each phase, e.g., requirements document, high-level design diagrams, etc. Analysis procedures are established to ensure correctness of work products, e.g., proofs of key system properties. Reviews of major work products are scheduled, e.g., design inspections.

Questions 1. Define five competencies a project manager should possess and explain why they are important. 2. Explain what key factors would influence a project manager's style of management. 3. Explain why it is important to have a sound communication policy.

4. With respect to the case study what implications do the benefits of well-defined people and project processes have for management and end users?