According to the latest PMI survey, internationally, every Nearly $100 million of $1 billion wasted on inefficient project performance. Although this figure is down compared to recent years, it still shows that there is plenty of room for projects to be implemented.
On average, the best performing organisations are able to complete 88% of their projects on time, 90% on budget and 92% on target. The lowest performing organisations are 24%, 25% and 33% respectively.
The gap is obviously huge, but the key question is: what can help improve performance?
It is important to see that the solution may vary from one organisation to another, as no two organisations are the same. Organisational culture, environment, management attitude, organisational processes and structure all play an important role in the life of a project.
Let's look at the results of the survey, what are the elements that high-performing organisations invest considerable energy in developing?
Skills development
Leadership, strategy, business management and professional development, targeting not only project managers but increasingly newer and newer roles (e.g. business analysts, sponsors, experts, etc.). In our experience, it is not sufficient to address these developments in an ad-hoc manner, but rather to implement them along a coherent roadmap and career paths. We hear from many organisations that a professional task can only be carried out effectively by 1-2 specific staff members. As a result, these actors are "pulled in and out" of projects, disrupting the team and the possibility of sustainable project performance. When we ask managers why they don't train more staff to be able to perform these apparently critical tasks, the answer is most often: "Because we don't have the time, the manpower and the high contingency fees". Let's think about it, wouldn't it make sense to invest in this in order to tackle the root cause of the problem in the long term? We believe that yes, it is!
Project and portfolio management office
Organisations that have aligned their project and portfolio office with strategic objectives close 38% more projects by achieving the original project objectives. Unfortunately, our experience shows that the domestic market (with respect to the exception) has not yet reached the point where project and portfolio offices are managed at a strategic level. Most often, these departments perform administrative tasks. In our opinion, which is supported by the survey, such a unit can provide significant management decision support if it goes beyond the documentation and administrative tasks of project indicators.
Active sponsors
In more than two thirds of the organisations that are successful in terms of projects, sponsors are actively involved and "live" with the projects. The success of a project does not depend on the project leader or the team alone, without senior management commitment and support, success is more uncertain. We are not talking here, of course, about the sponsor reaching over the project leader's head to make decisions, but about the sponsor providing the right level of representation and support for projects.
Methodologies, processes
It is interesting to note that 71% of the organisations use some agile project management element or technique in their projects. 55% of organisations that perform well use an agile project management approach. Although we do not believe that agile project management is a magic bullet, using some elements of it can be a major support to achieving project objectives. Our experience is that there is no single best practice process for every project, these need to be tailored and these bespoke solutions can best support the projects and the individuals involved.
If you are unsure about the root causes that are holding back your development, contact us for a free consultation to help you identify them.
Read more about the survey results in the PMI Pulse of the Profession 2017-for more information.
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