ProjectBestPractices

Thanks for your feedback to the inaugural issue of ProjectBestPractices, a feature of ProjectNews released in March 2006. Your continued input will allow this column to meet our goal in becoming a reference area of shared information to help us all succeed in our project work. 

Recognizing the value of sharing project management experience, our 1st issue was focused on the actual practice of collecting and sharing Best Practice information.  Using Harvard Pilgrim as an example, exhibited how "best practices" can come in one of two ways: doing something right and recognizing it, and in the other case, getting our nose bloody recognizing that we don't want to do THAT again!  In either case, what we learn can be of great value to us in future projects and even more value if shared across our profession.  The spirit of this column is grounded in the attitude that, "We're all in this together."  Here, more details on how some of you conduct Lessons Learned and share Best Practices.

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Project Closing: Celebration Lunch & Lessons Learned Conversation Starters:

Norm Buckwalter, Manager, Innovation & Planning at Accident Fund Insurance tells us of their two-step process.  First, a confidential survey is sent to each team member so they can provide candid information about the project performance anonymously.  The second step is a celebration luncheon hosted by the PM to collect final lessons learned about the project.  PM's use a set of standard questions to launch the luncheon dialogue.

Sample Questions

Perform a "what went well/needs improvement" discussion and document/communicate the results.  Questions for the team to consider:

How close to scheduled completion was the project actually completed?
What did we learn about the scheduling that will help us on our next project?
How close to budget was the final project cost?
What did we learn about budgeting that will help us on our next project?
What did we learn about writing specifications that will help us on our next project?
What did we learn about staffing that will help us on our next project?
What did we learn about monitoring performance that will help us on our next project?
What did we learn about taking corrective action that will help us on our next project?
What technological advances were made on this project?
What tools and techniques were developed that will be useful on our next project?
What recommendations do we have for future research and development?
What lessons learned did we learn from our dealings with service organizations and outside vendors?
If we had the opportunity to do the project over, what would we do differently?

There is a final step for intensive ROI (Return on Investment) driven projects as well.  Between 6 months and 1 year after implementation, the ROI assumptions are tested to confirm if the results were in line with the assumptions built into the original business case for the project.

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Leveraging Technology in Sharing Information

Matt Wyman, from Ford Motor Company tells us how their EPMO acts as the clearinghouse for most of the PM best practices within the Ford IT community.  In short,

• The EPMO identifies best practices in use on the internal programs/projects or through external sources.  Many of the best practices are carried forward by the "Big 10" program managers (or their PMO) and presented at the weekly IT Enterprise Programs staff meeting or the monthly Project Management Community Practice meeting, which is sponsored by the Director of IT Enterprise Programs.  (Ford has found the adoption rate to be much higher when the best practices are shared and accepted within a peer group.)
• The EPMO adds Ford specifics only as absolutely needed and preps the materials for distribution.
• The EPMO reviews the best practice as an IT Enterprise Programs staff meeting and posts to their internal website.
• Typically, this information is shared through web casts and/or workshops to augment the communication and sharing practice.  This is especially true if the best practice is rolled-out as a "mandatory practice" to be used across all large programs or across all IT projects.

Note: All the "Big 10" Program Managers and the EPMO Manager report to the Director of IT Enterprise Programs, who in turn reports directly to the Corporate CIO and Senior VP.

However you decide to collect best practice and lessons learned, it is important that something happens as a result. If you do not make the resulting items actionable, you just held a series of gripe sessions!

Contributor(s):                 Norm Buckwalter (Accident Fund Insurance)
                             Matt Wyman (Ford Motor Company)

Edited by:                     Lisa DiTullio (Harvard Pilgrim Health Care)

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Our Next Issue:  How to Get Executive Buy-in for Your PMO

Your contributions needed!
We would like your contributions to ProjectBestPractices.  If you have an item you would like to share, in support of this topic, please submit it to Lisa_DiTullio@HarvardPilgrim.org.

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Join us November 6-9, 2006 at the Caribe Royale All-Suites Resort & Convention Center in Orlando, FL for the co-location of ProjectWorld &  The World Congress for Business Analysts USA- the ONLY event in America to unite the project management professional with the business analyst, cross-industry.

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