Successful project management requires managing both people and process. I was invited to participate in writing the 77 Sins of Project Management. I had fun looking over the juicy list of sins. It was hard but I choose Blaming, Rigidity and Satisficing. Why? I had some solutions for common people related project problems.

Satisficing is a decision-making strategy which attempts to meet criteria for adequacy, rather than to identify an optimal solution.

Project managers may make an intellectual or emotional choice to not fully examine all stakeholders, requirements or needs. The project then fall shorts on full business requirements or solution identification due to time or team pressures when operating in an uncertain environment. (more…)

There is a key issue in the project management industry. What? Well, it is no secret that many projects can’t answer this important questions well; what value do you provide the organization?

I want to start a discussion on Organizational Project Management. What is that? There is momentum in the industry that somehow we should better align project work with the needs of the organization. Compare it to a bridge between project work and operations. Someone needs to be a toll keeper to monitor the traffic that gets to use this bridge.

And, by the way, who is responsible to be a toll keeper on this bridge? There could be a couple of answers:

- Project managers responsible for getting the work done.
- Program managers responsible for coordination among projects
- Portfolio managers responsible for intake of the projects and measurement of the health of the project work.
- Business managers responsible for the project funding decisions
- The organization that has to use project results.

Do you have any examples of great projects or great companies that have a clear definition of which of these groups should be the toll keepers for Organizational Project Management?

Oh, and by the way, do you even like the name Organizational Project Management?

Would love to hear from you

Many project managers are thinking; what will we hear at PDS’08 that can fix our PMO. So I welcome our listeners to this IS SIG Audio Blog (http://www.pmi-issig.org/) to discuss How to Improve Program Your Program Management Practices!

Click Here to Listen

I interviewed Diane Altwies, who is a consultant and author who works on software development projects. She co-authored a new book; Program Management Professional (PgMP), A Certification Study Guide with Best Practices for Maximizing Business Results. It covers the information you need to know to successfully achieve the new Program management Professional certification from PMI.

PMI is increasing the visibility of the Project Management Office (PMO) by creating a certificate in Program Management (PgMP).
Get informed
Get prepared and
Get ready to be recognized for your expertise by reading Diane’s new book; Program Management Professional (PgMP), A Certification Study Guide with Best Practices for Maximizing Business Results.