IT project management: the process of last resort

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The roles and duties of IT project management depend greatly on the maturity of other IT processes. For example, if no change management process exists then project management must “pick up the slack” and, for each project, identify how to move deliverables into production. However, for project managers and project teams, they often do not notice these other processes are missing and they can become frustrated that projects require so much work that seems immaterial to the task at hand: defining access policies, for example, or training the Service Desk. At the same time, the role and expectations of project managers and project teams will vary wildly over time as related processes are developed and improved. Project management maturity is also dependent on other processes: an immature request intake process can limit portfolio management’s predictive ability, for example. One way of thinking about project management is it ends up being the “process of last resort”–project management will get the work done (somehow), even if no other processes exist. Project management is often the first IT management process that departments consciously build, and can be a key source of ideas for process improvement.

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IT Project Management:The Process of Last Resort

John Borwick, HEIT Managementfor the

EDUCAUSE Project Constituent Group

June 28, 2013

John Borwick, PMP® Wake Forest University,

2003-2012 Director of Service Mgt PMO Director

Manager/Owner,HEIT Management

Career goal: Make people’s lives easier by improving how higher education IT is managed. johnb@heitmgt.com

Higher Education IT Management, LLC

“Helping Higher Education IT effectively deliver value to campus while minimizing

waste.”

One-on-one coaching

Custom engagements

Blog

http://www.heitmanagement.com

IT Project Management in

Context

COBIT 5: 37 IT processes

COBIT 5: 37 IT processes APO02 Manage Strategy

APO07 Manage Human Resources

APO10 Manage Suppliers

BAI01 Manage Programmes and Projects

DSS04 Manage Continuity

(Some) IT Domains of Knowledge

Project/Program/Portfolio

Management

IT Service Management(e.g. ITIL)

Software Development Lifecycle (e.g. Scrum)

EnterpriseArchitecture

IT Governance IT Security Management

(e.g. ISO 27002)

PPM Maturity

Project/Program/Portfolio

Management

IT Service Management(e.g. ITIL)

Software Development Lifecycle (e.g. Scrum)

EnterpriseArchitecture

IT Governance IT Security Management

(e.g. ISO27002)

• Project charters, scope statements, WBSes

• Risk management plan, …• Program management, program

charters• Portfolio management, project costs vs.

value• Project scorecards

• Project benefits realization• Resource management

• …

ITSM Maturity

Project/Program/Portfolio

Management

IT Service Management(e.g. ITIL)

Software Development Lifecycle (e.g. Scrum)

EnterpriseArchitecture

IT Governance IT Security Management

(e.g. ISO27002)

• Service Portfolio Management• Service Level Management• Change Management• Release Management

• Service Request Management• Continual Service Improvement

• …

(Some) IT Domains of Knowledge

Project/Program/Portfolio

Management

IT Service Management(e.g. ITIL)

Software Development Lifecycle (e.g. Scrum)

EnterpriseArchitecture

IT Governance IT Security Management

(e.g. ISO 27002)

What does project management look like when you don’t have all these processes?

Example:(ITIL) Release Management

Groups changes into releases

Manages from development to production

E.g.

For low/medium priority server changes: First Saturday of the month: development Second Saturday of the month: test Third Saturday of the month: production

Process maturity

Level 1: Initial/Ad Hoc

Level 2: Repeatable

Level 3: Defined

Level 4: Managed

Level 5: Optimized

Process maturity Level 0: Unaware

Level 1: Initial/Ad Hoc

Level 2: Repeatable

Level 3: Defined

Level 4: Managed

Level 5: Optimized

What value does project management provide?

What value does project management provide?

John B’s answer:

Within defined constraints, project

management creates certainty from uncertainty.

What is your request intake process?

Initial request

Something broken?

Help Desk ticket

“Routine” change?

Help Desk ticket ??

OtherwiseProject

management

What is your request intake process?

Initial request

Something broken?

Help Desk ticket

“Routine” change?

Help Desk ticket ??

OtherwiseProject

management

We need to create certainty from uncertainty.

What is your request intake process?

Initial request

Something broken?

Help Desk ticket

“Routine” change?

Help Desk ticket ??

OtherwiseProject

management

Incident Management

Service Request

ManagementBunch o’

Processes e.g. Change Mgt, Release Mgt,

SDLC

Assuming work gets completed either way,

the higher the threshold for work

becoming a project, the more mature your IT delivery processes.

Takeaways: Using this context to

develop IT project management

Awareness of other IT processes

What processes don’t exist?

Who can become the expert?

Think: Continual Service Improvement manager

Watch your “triggers” Trigger = an event that starts a process

What are your triggers for project management?

How much does your process cost to trigger?

Work should be a “project” only if project

management is valuable

Create process feedback loops

Open-Loop Process

Closed-Loop ProcessINPUTS OUTPUT

S

OUTPUTS

INPUTS

Feedback Loop

Look for process improvements

Identify IT process improvements

What IT process improvements would most help project management?

Note: difficult to decide when building a new process is worthwhile

Q & A

John Borwickjohnb@heitmgt.com