fit

custom
Smaller
organizations
can benefit from
all that project
management
has to offer
once they get
over their fears
of complexity.
BY SARAH FISTER GALE
ILLUSTRATION BY MATT KENYON
fit
52 PM NETWORK OCTOBER 2011 WWW.PMI.ORG
Big organizations worldwide under-
stand the value that project management
best practices bring to the bottom line
and have created formal methodologies
and career tracks.
Small and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs), on the other hand, often lag
behind, dismissing project management
practices as too complex and requiring
too much overhead for their leaner
operations.
And that puts them at a disadvan-
tage, says Philip R. Diab, PMP, CEO of
Leadership Formation, a management
consultancy in Amman, Jordan, and
author of Sidestep Complexity: Project
Management for Small- and Medium-
Sized Organizations [PMI, April 2011].
SMEs have this idea that in order
to be successful in practicing project
management, you have to be able to
deal with all of these complex con-
cepts, tools and methodologies, says
Mr. Diab, a former PMI chair. This
misconception scares them away from
project management.
Such fears are unfounded, though, he
adds, because project management is not
simply about tools but an approach to
management. Smaller organizations can
reap huge benefits from implementing
even the basics of project management.
Developing simple processes for
scoping projects, identifying risks, and
keeping project teams and stakeholders
focused on common goals can enable
small businesses to cut time and waste
from the project development process by
eliminating mistakes and standardizing
repeatable processes. Even those SMEs
with limited cash flow can reap benefits
from a small initial outlay.
Its not about investing in expen-
sive tools and complex methodologies
so much as it is about changing the
way you look at your business, Mr.
Diab says. Project management helps
organizations adopt principles based on
best practices and build a roadmap for
success.
But first they must invest time and
effort into developing a project manage-
ment process that has enough structure
and transparency to expose inefficien-
cieswithout the red tape that can
hinder improvements.
In the end, good project manage-
ment is about achieving results, Mr.
Diab says. Forget the buzzwords and
focus on how successfully delivering
projects will make customers and stake-
holders happy.
To do that, begin by looking at your
corporate culture and how likely it is
to embrace project management. Gain
an understanding of what needs to be
changed or fixed in the organizational
process, as well as how change most eas-
ily can be adopted at your organization.
For some companies, it is dictated
from the top, while in others, you need
to build grassroots support, Mr. Diab
points out. Understanding the culture
helps you position the change so it will
be accepted.
STARTING SMALL
SMEs often have a harder time indoc-
trinating project management into the
corporate cultureparticularly when a
small group of key employees juggle
multiple roles and resources are scarce,
says George Bock. He is COO and prin-
cipal of ZenoLink LLC, an Endicott,
New York, USA-based motion-analysis
software technology start-up focused on
biomechanics.
You are never too small for project
management, he says.
Sometimes taking a pared-back
approach to project management is the
best strategy. For Mr. Bocks company,
that means project teams dont spend a
lot of time developing up-front project
plans. Instead, they set broad project
Large
enterprises
get it.
>>Smaller
organizations
can reap huge
benefits from
implementing
even the basics
of project
management.
OCTOBER 2011 PM NETWORK 53
targets, then focus much of their project
management process on quality control
and testing to ensure the deliverable
meets customers needs.
For us, testing is more important
than planning because we cant afford
to put a product out there thats a flop,
Mr. Bock says.
The challenge is finding the balance
between too much management and
not enough. Because he runs a small
enterprise, Mr. Bock doesnt use a steer-
ing committee or a project management
office. However, the companys three
corporate leaders review all key mile-
stones and determine whether projects
get the green light.
We keep it simple and we make
quick decisions, he says.
Simplifying project management pro-
cesses also was a priority for the founders
of Gist, a Seattle, Washington, USA-
based contact management software
development company. When it set up
shop in 2008, Gist implemented a slim
project management methodology based
on agile processes. The development
team produces product releases every
two weeks, and uses short status reports
and 30-minute stand-up meetings three
days a week to keep everyone on track
and connectedwithout bogging down
project teams with excessive meetings
and paperwork.
Prior to each stand-up meeting,
everyone on the team sends a simple
status report with two sections: what he
or she did since the last report, and what
will be done over the next couple of days.
Sharing this ahead of time keeps you
from having to share all the details in
person, says Robert Peas, vice president
of marketing at Gist.
At the meetings, we resolve things
quickly and dynamically using a simple
framework and few bullet points, he
explains. When you know you only
have a few minutes to update the team
on your status, you become very effi-
cient.
Project management is even more
important in a start-up, Mr. Peas says.
Once you scale up past five or six
people, you need that structure or you
lose alignment and your interdependen-
cies fray.
Thanks in part to their project man-
agement processes, Mr. Peas 25-person
team was able to develop and release a
professional contact management soft-
ware product in a small amount of
time. That attracted interest from the
marketplace, he says. The company was
acquired earlier this year by Research
in Motion, which developed the Black-
Berry smartphone.
IT WONT KILL INNOVATION
One of the biggest challenges SMEs face
in implementing project management
is overcoming resistance at the leader-
ship level, says Curt Finch, CEO of
Journyx, a time-tracking and resource-
management software company in Aus-
tin, Texas, USA. Entrepreneurs tend
to be risk-takers who abhor formal
structure, he says. They think that too
much process will kill their innovative
environment.
Many SME executives see project
managers as process police who stifle
creativity, slow progress and say no to
good ideas.
The reality, however, is that project
management helps these organizations
develop innovative ideas by building on
fruitful processes and weeding out inef-
ficiencies.
Project management creates struc-
ture around commonalityand thats
where profit and value come from, Mr.
Finch says. Project managers are awe-
some at that.
Being a visionary is not enough to
achieve success, Mr. Diab says. You
need organization and structure to bring
that vision to market. To do that requires
project management skills.
In the last few years, Mr. Finchs
company has worked to improve its
project management processes, with a
particular focus on identifying and deal-
ing with risk. While evaluating the com-
panys project management processes,
Project manage-
ment creates
structure around
commonality
and thats where
profit and value
come from.
Curt Finch, Journyx, Austin, Texas, USA
54 PM NETWORK OCTOBER 2011 WWW.PMI.ORG
his team came to a stark conclusion:
We were doing a poor job of risk man-
agement, he says.
It was common practice at Journyx
to make broad assumptions about proj-
ects without evaluating whether all the
relevant data were present. For example,
when rolling out a product to a new
industry, team members didnt research
potential buyers or put much thought
into the marketing message.
We might roll out a campaign based
on assumptions of who or why the cus-
tomer buys the product, only to find
out the assumption is all wrong, Mr.
Finch says.
In response, team members took
a step back and began incorporating
discussions about risk into the project
planning process. This has helped team
members scrutinize their assumptions
more closely, so they ask more of the
pertinent questions on the front end.
Just talking about risk management
opens you up to possibilities you hadnt
thought of, he says. It makes you more
critical and causes you to ask questions
you wouldnt normally ask.
His organization now performs
more intense research before launching
projects.
It may take longer to get campaigns
rolling, Mr. Finch says, but they are
certainly more effective. Team members
are also doing a better job of understand-
ing whether the opportunity is large
enough to deserve their attention.
ONE SIZE CAN FIT ALL
Whether theyre setting up simple proj-
ect management templates or tackling
more complex processes and tools, SMEs
should always remember to keep their
own needs and business goals in mind.
Small companies dont have the
time or money to make mistakes and
do reworks. Project management
reduces those risks, and in the end,
everyone benefits, Mr. Bock says.
When you find the project manage-
ment pieces that work for you, it pays
back in dividends. PM
For many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
particularly those with virtual teamsadding simple tools
and technologies can help employees make the transition
to implementing project man-
agement processes, says Taylor
Vogt, Gmez Palacio, Durango,
Mexico-based operations and
customer service director at
Crooner Labs, an online content-
distribution services company.
He relies on a low-cost suite
of project management tools to
manage his virtual project teams.
Project management is vital
in a company like ours, he says.
It creates order and structure
so we can be more innovative.
Using software to track progress and increase col-
laboration has led to transparency and better commu-
nication among virtual team members, without adding
complex process and oversight.
Team members are encouraged to spend part of
each day pursuing independent tasks that promote
the broader goals of their projects, such as participat-
ing in conversations in Internet marketing forums or
searching for public relations opportunities from the
website Help a Reporter Out. They are free to choose
those tasks themselves, but are required to report to
the team daily, updating colleagues on what they are
working on, what theyve accomplished thus far and
how those tasks align with the project.
No one is looking over their shoulder, but everyone
knows what everyone else is doing, Mr. Vogt says.
The project management tool and reporting pro-
cess creates a balance of accountability and freedom
that appeals to the organizations innovative approach
to business. It also prevents duplication of efforts on
self-defined tasks. For example, if one team member
reports that she is blogging to generate traffic to the
company website, another team member may instead
focus on investigating new technology solutions.
As long as we all communicate, it creates complete
transparency, Mr. Vogt says. That is vital for a virtual
team to work.
TECHNOLOGY, TRUST & TRANSPARENCY
>>FOR MORE ON
INCORPORATING PROJECT
MANAGEMENT INTO
SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED
ENTERPRISES,
READ A CLOSER LOOK.
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