You are probably aware the first PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP) certifications were awarded to pilot candidates in Q4 2011. The PMI-ACP recognizes knowledge of agile principles, practices, and tools and techniques across agile methodologies. As the PMI website states, “the world is quickly becoming agile. Are you?” It goes on to say “the use of agile as an approach to managing projects has been increasing dramatically over the last several years. Gartner predicts that by the end of 2012, agile development methods will be used on 80% of all software development projects.” It got me thinking about how an Agile PMO would look and feel.

Recently, CapTech was asked to support the program management office (PMO) for a leading mortgage sourcing and servicing provider. The client was embarking on a multi-year (and $MM) program and needed a qualified group of resources to manage and track the overall program delivery. Our initial responsibilities were to determine the PMO guidelines and, specifically, which tool would offer a collaborative platform between our team and the major stakeholders, such as the project managers (PMs).

Our team ultimately settled on SharePoint 2007 for a number of reasons. Known mostly as a document management platform, this tool can be leveraged to document information through its variety of features such as lists and team sites.

Introduction:

This month’s blog entry explores the complex relationship between project success and project leadership.  Risk of failure is potentially higher for IT projects than commonly acknowledged and, by all accounts, it would appear that success hinges less on strict adherence to methodology than on leadership.  Leadership, of course, assumes manifold forms, but in the context of this discussion I narrow it down to its core:  the moral/ethical responsibility of project managers to "tell it like it is," so that appropriate decision-makers can make effective decisions in a timely manner.

This is the third and final part of the Project Management Leadership series, the first of which was published on 8/18.  Here we make the link between success, leadership, and ethics explicit.  Ethics in project management elude rigid definition,but realism (rather than optimism) is critical to every organization's ability to think critically and to maximize the opportunities for effective and timely decisions at every organizational level.

Introduction:

This month’s blog entry explores the complex relationship between project success and project leadership.  Risk of failure is potentially higher for IT projects than commonly acknowledged and, by all accounts, it would appear that success hinges less on strict adherence to methodology than on leadership.  Leadership, of course, assumes manifold forms, but in the context of this discussion I narrow it down to its core:  the moral/ethical responsibility of project managers to "tell it like it is," so that appropriate decision-makers can make effective decisions in a timely manner.

This is the second of three parts, the first of which was published on 8/18.  Here we shine the spotlight on ethics in the context of project success.  Ethics in project management elude rigid definition, particularly as the PM discipline has evolved to encompass truly global projects, but even so, project management success is not synonymous with project success.

Introduction: 

This month’s blog entry explores the complex relationship between project success and project leadership.  Risk of failure is potentially higher for IT projects than commonly acknowledged and, by all accounts, it would appear that success hinges less on strict adherence to methodology than on leadership.  Leadership, of course, assumes manifold forms, but in the context of this discussion I narrow it down to its core:  the moral/ethical responsibility of project managers to "tell it like it is," so that appropriate decision-makers can make effective decisions in a timely manner. 

This entry will be published in 3 parts:

• Part 1 will discusses some of the long-term trends in project management, that have been recorded over the last 15 years.  Given the ever-growing emphasis on rigorous management of IT projects, the interpretation of these findings continues being debated, but the conclusions are unambiguous.
• Part 2 will shine the spotlight on ethics in the context of project success.  Ethics in project management elude rigid definition, particularly as the PM discipline has evolved to encompass truly global projects, but even so, project management success is not synonymous with project success. 
• Part 3 will make the link between success, leadership, and ethics explicit.

I’m curious what experience others have had in this regard.  Are there other aspects of leadership that play a pivotal role in your projects?  Are ethics a primary driver of decision-making in your organization… or an ancillary consideration?  What effect have these played on the successful delivery of your projects? 

Please feel free to comment below.

As cited by Gartner, project failure rates are not improving based on a combined set of anecdotal and survey data, it seems that people believe projects are continuing to fall short of their goals:

• 82% of employees within companies with significant organization wide projects under way believe those projects will fail
• 78% believe they are working on a “doomed” project
• 90% knew early on that the project would likely fall short of the objectives
• 81% believe it is impossible to approach the failing project’s key decision-maker 

And they are usually right….