Hack
Hack: Centralizing your experts to improve project management
by Madhusudan Rao - AVP - Delivery at Mahindra Satyam
June 24, 2010 at 12:07amContribution Summary
Summary
Ask any Project Manager on the most critical factor for success in his project execution. Most often than not, the PM will come back to you with the answer - give me the best resources for the project and I will guarantee success. In any large organization, experts are few. How then, can you promise success to your customers?
Problem
The demand and supply chain for IT organizations is known to be a very complex problem. When you narrow the filter further and search for talented individuals who can make a difference to the success or failure of the projects, one realizes that there are only few individuals available. The projects outnumber the experts and therein lies the headache for the PMO on how to distribute the resources to various projects.
How do you make the optimum use of these experts to ensure the success of multiple projects at the same time?
How do you make the optimum use of these experts to ensure the success of multiple projects at the same time?
Solution
Change the way delivery groups are structured.
Move the experts to a different group that is centralized to all the delivery groups, without disturbing the current projects. The experts should not be assigned to one single project. They should be shared across multiple projects, based on their requirements on the project.
Ensure that the central group of experts have access to all the ongoing projects in the organization. Tasks that can be done by other team members have to be delegated away from the experts.
The experts should focus on reviews, performance, availability and key aspects of the project they are working on. They will be officially working with the Architecture Boards of the customer. They will be outsourcing all the non-core tasks of the project to the resources who are 100% allocated to the project.
Move the experts to a different group that is centralized to all the delivery groups, without disturbing the current projects. The experts should not be assigned to one single project. They should be shared across multiple projects, based on their requirements on the project.
Ensure that the central group of experts have access to all the ongoing projects in the organization. Tasks that can be done by other team members have to be delegated away from the experts.
The experts should focus on reviews, performance, availability and key aspects of the project they are working on. They will be officially working with the Architecture Boards of the customer. They will be outsourcing all the non-core tasks of the project to the resources who are 100% allocated to the project.
Practical Impact
This will need a change in outcome of the Project Managers. They will need to change their attitude and realize that the experts are the resources of the organization and not their projects'.
The experts will face newer challenges continuously which will keep them motivated (a must to retain such highly talented resources).
The organization will expand its delivery capabilities and will be able to cater to many more projects than it currently addresses.
The experts will face newer challenges continuously which will keep them motivated (a must to retain such highly talented resources).
The organization will expand its delivery capabilities and will be able to cater to many more projects than it currently addresses.
Challenges
Experts might feel nervous of the working of such a centralized group. The right kind of incentives as well as KPIs will help them realize how the organization is striving to recognize their potential.
The Project Managers of the experts will not be willing to take this approach as they will, in their selfish thinking, expect the experts for all the time required on the project.
The Customer needs to be informed beforehand and the billing (for the expert) adjusted accordingly. If not, there will be many arguments between the project teams and customer.
The Project Managers of the experts will not be willing to take this approach as they will, in their selfish thinking, expect the experts for all the time required on the project.
The Customer needs to be informed beforehand and the billing (for the expert) adjusted accordingly. If not, there will be many arguments between the project teams and customer.
First Steps
The organization can test the hack by introducing this concept for a single service-line (be it a domain-based group or a technology-based one). Let us consider a group of Technology experts having competency in Apps (of IPad). These resources can be moved into a central group and then asked to service various projects in the organization that needs such services.
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Comments
David Sims
June 14, 2010 at 9:49amMadhusudan,
I have seen something like this in IT operations -- departments within an organization and IT service outsourcers. It makes sense not only from the project-management point of view, but also in terms of budgeting since your most talented people will demand the highest wages. The better use you can make of their talents (for example, spreading their wisdom across multiple projects) the better ROI you're getting on your investment in them.
But I have wondered (and wondered again in reading your post) how much it really helps in terms of the efficiency across projects. If you have the same number of talented folks in an organization, aren't they just squeezed even thinner by having to service many projects rather than only one or two at a time? It leads me to think the real solution is better talent management, whether by investing in better training for promising employees or in being even more selective at the hiring stage.
Would be very interested in hearing how you've seen this play out. -- Dave
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Madhusudan Rao
June 14, 2010 at 10:39amThanks for your comment David. Regarding efficiency, this is where time-sharing comes in. How you utilize the time of the experts is very essential. You should be careful in not assigning them tasks that can be done by others - by this, not only are you losing his/her valuable time but also making him/her feel frustrated. Of course, one needs to consider if the expert is capable of giving his best to multiple projects. If one cannot focus, makes sense to assign him for one project only. But, we have noticed that true experts have the capabilities to work on multiple projects and give inputs in various ways. How you plan it is key.
Talent Management is also required but as we all know, no amount of training can make people experts to the level we require. Hence, it is very vital for you to use optimal usage of your experts.