What are the Key Benefits of Organization Project Management Compared to Relying on PMs Capability only?
Standards and rules are a long-term investment, a kind of insurance against possible major damage in case of project failure. Like the principles by which any insurance works, its presence is invisible until everything is going well, so at some point, it may seem that your investment is in vain. And in general, unlike insurance, which works only after the occurrence of an insured event, investments in PM are even less noticeable, because they often prevent the occurrence of an insured event.
Below we will analyze how the implementation of project management standards helps to avoid various threats to the effective execution of projects.
Leveling the Differences in the Level of Project Manager Expertise
It happens that the portfolio of projects in a company includes dozens or even hundreds of projects. Many managers are responsible for their implementation. So, among them, there are both those for whom project management is the main professional expertise and those who primarily have subject expertise. Or it may even be ordinary employees of the company who were assigned the project, and project management is just a side activity for them. Since a company is interested in an equally high level of project implementation, the introduction of standards and rules can significantly level out differences in the level of project managers’ expertise. Project management becomes insurance against the mistakes of inexperienced or unprofessional managers.
Immersion in the Context and Internal Rules of the Company with the Project Management Standards
New or inexperienced project managers may be unfamiliar with all of the company’s internal processes and policies. Project management standards help to quickly immerse such leaders in the context of the company’s work in specific areas — when it comes to, for example, launching projects, purchasing, or the intricacies of cost accounting. The key stages of project planning — the allocation of responsibility, and setting deadlines for specific procedures — are largely determined by the context of the company. Therefore, it should be easy for the project management office or project manager to check how successfully the project manager plunged into the processes and how well he planned the project, whether he took into account the interests of key stakeholders.
Proactive Problem Identification
As part of the creation of formal artifacts, for example, status reports, meetings, phases, or stages provided for by the rules of project management (in particular, through risk assessment), possible problems can be identified in a timely manner. This can be difficult to do in companies where it is not common to talk about problems before they actually arise. As a result, there is an avoidance of the escalation of issues, and an increase in the cost of their elimination, ignoring timely prevention.
Off-project Error Insurance
Project management standards provide for the assessment of risks and possible problems with the created product beyond the time frame for the implementation of specific projects. In the absence of such rules, project managers can ignore possible risks and problems beyond the project timeline, which will require large expenses for the organization, but in no way affect the work and reputation of the manager himself. For example, poor documentation will make it difficult to maintain after the IT system has gone live.
Project Knowledge Alienation
The presence of formalized knowledge in the form of documentation or a knowledge base allows you to transfer the important experience of one project to other projects of the company. This helps to reduce costs because ever-implemented solutions can be used on new projects, rather than reinventing them from scratch. It also helps to reduce planning time, and take into account possible risks. You can easily transfer the project from one manager to another in case of rotation.
Implementation of Projects Beneficial to the Company
The presence of formal decision-making points (gates) within the stages of the project implementation allows the company to freeze the project when it evaluates its continuation as unprofitable for company. The project manager personally cannot make such a decision, and usually, it is not beneficial for him, because the manager is focused on bonuses for completed projects. But the interests of the company should be above the interests of managers, and project management mechanisms allow them to be observed, avoiding wasting resources on projects that are unprofitable for it.
Mature project management is first of all necessary for the company and its management to obtain the required results. You should not experience delusions that the interests of the organization’s management and project managers always coincide, therefore, in addition to persuading, explaining, training, and stimulating managers, it is sometimes worth resorting to discipline control and reasonable coercion.
