02. Mastering Project Management: Foundations & Strategies for Success

In the second episode of the Project Management Masterclass, your host Brittany Wilkins delves deeper into the essential elements of project management. Building upon the fundamentals discussed in Episode 1, Brittany sheds light on the distinctions between projects, programs, and portfolios, emphasizing the importance of clarity in definitions to avoid misalignment of deliverables and expectations.

While executing projects is crucial, it's equally vital not to neglect the fundamentals. This podcasts aims to assist project managers and businesses in mastering these essential principles.

Tune in to Episode two  for a comprehensive exploration of project management foundations and strategies for success in organizational project management.

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Welcome to Project Management Masterclass hosted by Brittany Wilkins. Whether you're a seasoned project manager looking to sharpen your skills or a newcomer eager to learn the ropes, this podcast is your ultimate guide to mastering the art and science of project management.  In each episode, we dive deep into the world of project management, bringing you insights, practical tips, and real-life success stories. Get ready to elevate your project management game.

Thank you for tuning in  to  Project Management Masterclass! If you're ready to elevate your project management skills, subscribe for more expert insights. Don't forget to share & review. Until next time, happy managing!

Transcript

Welcome to episode 2 of project management  masterclass-I'm your host Brittany Wilkins. In episode 1 I discussed the fundamental elements of project management. For a project to succeed everyone must have the same vision of what a project and what is as well as speak the same language of project management. What I’ve experienced in my career individuals  or teams use the terms project management, program management and portfolio  management interchangeably. Lack of clarity of definition leading to misaligned deliverables & expectations. in today's show I want to delve deeper into some of the project management foundations. 

Projects, Programs, and Portfolio’s

What is the difference between a project, program, and portfolio?

A project is a temporary endeavor with a beginning and an end, with the objective to create a unique product, service, or result. Projects are undertaken to drive change in a product or process creating business value for the organization and its stakeholders. A program is a group of related , sub-projects, and other program related activities organized and managed in a coordinated set of efforts. Within a program management you’ll have a program manager who partners with project managers leading the individual projects to coordinate and manage 

efforts tying it all together. A portfolio includes programs, projects, and related operational work, that is prioritized to achieve a specific business objective. Portfolio management can be complex, but the goal of rolling up projects, programs, and operational work is to help manage the dependencies between optimizing the use of resources, increasing value for which each brings to the organization. A project, program, and portfolio are different they operate under under the entity of Organizational Project Management is a strategic approach that serves as framework to use and guide portfolio, program, and project management to achieve organizations strategic goals. How I can of view it’s Organizational Project Management is the foundation, project management is first story of the house, as the organizational grows it elevates to the 2nd story of programs, and the roof establishes the portfolio. We have a house aligned with organizational strategy driven by organizational strategy. 

One essential required for sustaining and maintaining the OPM is a PMO (project management office). A project management office is a centralized department within an organization responsible for defining and maintaining project management standards and practices with a mission to mature an organizational project management capabilities ensuring project and programs comply to organizational and project governance.

Some of the things you may find that a PMO typically does is As previously mentioned establish project management methodologies and standards. Having a blueprint is extremely important. My second engineering job I wander aimlessly in trying to execute projects. I was working in an industrial coatings factory which started as a small mom and pop shop, but was acquired by a larger corporation. Industrial coatings had five factories with a process engineer located at each factory. With governance process and standards each process engineer developed their own methodology for how to execute. Once leadership decided to kick off process engineering reviews, it became very evident by the lack of standards it was difficult to align on synergies across the plant to effectively measure and track operational metrics that had to get rolled up on a global scorecard. While establish standards can seem daunting if there is no baseline to start from, its extremely needed.

1. Developing project management training and support for project managers.
2. Developing and maintaining project management templates, tools, and best practices
3. Monitoring and evaluating project performance and progress.
4. Facilitating communication and collaboration among project teams.
5. Managing resource allocation and prioritization across projects
6. Identifying and mitigating project risks and issues.
7. Supporting project governance and decision making processes
8. Ensuring alignment of projects with organizational goals and strategies
9. Continuously improving project management processes and practices. 

There are three different types of PMO’s. The first is supportive. Supportive PMO provides the policies, methodologies, templates, and lessons learned for projects within the organization. The second type of PMO is controlling. Controlling PMO supports an guides on how to manage projects,, trains others in project management software and other tools.

The third type of PMO is directive.  A directive PMO provides project managers for different projects and is responsible for the results of those projects. The type of PMO and level of influence they have depends on organizational structure.  Is a company establishes itself as functional organizational in which projects generally occurs within a single department. Departments are group by area of specialization marketing, manufacturing, etc.    Another scenario could be a company is a project oriented organization. Company is organized by projects. The project manager influence is high as they have complete project control and project resources are assigned to report to them.  The organizations I have been part of are matrix organizations which is a blend between functional and project oriented. More complexity as there is direct line of reporting and dotted line of reporting where team members report to two managers the project manager overseeing the project and their people leader. Team members do project work in addition to other work. What I learned working in matrix organizations without clear deliverables with roles and responsibilities defined it leads to several who are the decisions makers. 

No matter whether what type of organizational project management structure, or PMO, and organizational structure the work that is performed should be designed to bring value and deliver benefits in a business case. More to come on project management foundations and mastering the art of project management. Be sure to subscribe for future episodes where I delve deeper in these topics and break them down further.