Tag: project portfolio management

As our PMO Squad partner Joe Pusz explains in this article, having good project management in your company gives you a great advantage over your competitors.

Competitive advantages are conditions that allow a company to produce a service of equal value at a lower price. These conditions allow the productive entity to generate more sales or higher margins than its competitors in the market. Competitive advantages are attributed to a variety of factors including cost structure, brand, product offer quality, distribution network, intellectual property and customer service.

So how to integrate project management with your own organization. Think about how many projects are being carried out. Tens, hundreds or even thousands of projects a year, depending on the size of the organization. And how successful those projects are, because as far as we know from PMI reports, every year only about 50% of the projects end on schedule, end within budget or within the defined scope. Also, about 10% of project budgets are wasted because of poor performance. This figure is considered low because of all the informal projects that are executed by Project Managers and for which no information is reported.

If an organization has an average project execution performance, then only 50% of the projects will be successful. What if it could be improved to 75-25 or 90-10? We know that the competition also averages 50-50 project success. If you can increase the project success rate to 75% or 90%, you build a competitive advantage. Producing products or services more efficiently, faster and cheaper than the competition.

Too much time is spent in this sector exploring the disadvantages of project management rather than focusing on how to use project management to gain a competitive advantage. You need to understand how to motivate people to deliver results rather than focus on project governance, checklists and process audits.

The author of the article believes that Project Management leaders need to understand the purpose of Project Management within organizations. Starting with why. And once the purpose has been identified then build the HOW and WHAT to be able to achieve the purpose and gain the necessary competitive advantage.

The way in which projects are managed and executed is very closely related to the success of the organization, as everything is linked. The strategy is the plan of action that makes it possible to achieve the long-term goal. When this aspect is taken into account, it makes perfect sense for projects to be managed in accordance with the strategy and for it to be aligned with the corporate strategy. The project strategy is important for every company.

How does corporate strategy impact project strategy?

A project strategy will be based on the corporate strategy, which will allow the business to implement its overall strategy. Communication is key, as without it there can be problems and difficulties in understanding what is being done in the project, creating a management failure.

The strategy of a project are all those aspects related to the life cycle of the project, know which review points are key to ensure that the project is well managed.

When the management team of the organization elaborates the corporate strategy it decides what it is going to do and how it is going to do it. An important component in the implementation of projects is important in the way they carry out the strategy they will follow with the project strategy. Strategy means having an action plan, through which measures must be taken to ensure that processes are in place to carry out projects and that objectives are achieved.

A clear direction provided from senior management to ensure that the project is kept on track, with a critical role in the impact of the strategy and the achievement of the organization’s goals. If we have a PMO that manages the project efficiently, with good communication throughout the project, there is a better chance that the strategy will be achieved and that the desired long-term results will be obtained.

Project management is often a central process within the global business model. Programmes and projects enable the organisation to effect change in a managed and controlled manner. Emphasizing that many companies consider that program management involves the management of corporate profits, creating the distinction of project management.

Project management tools and principles that help advance business strategy

Project management tools and principles are important for the effective advancement of business strategy. They help work on the project to keep corporate objectives and strategies aligned. That, from there, tools like TALAIA can help to know who needs to do what and when, so that the milestones can be delivered on time. The control of changes that occur is also important to have them controlled and related to the objectives.

Project portfolio management is important and central to the prioritization of projects and programmes, as well as to the allocation of resources. It is also important to realise that value management is a key aspect of the project strategy, which works to ensure that value is being created through the project. While risk management is also deployed to ensure that all risks to the project strategy and consequently to the overall corporate strategy are identified, assessed, understood and mitigated. With revisions and changes it is possible to affirm that the project strategy works to offer the best possible value with well managed risks.

In conclusion, for a project to be successful it must be executed according to a project strategy aligned with the overall corporate strategy, which will be communicated so that the organization can have controls to ensure that the project is managed in such a way as to meet the objectives.