What isn't working

In a previous post, I talked about our project prioritization process. Its good, in general. Since there are no silver bullets, I wanted to share what isn't working.

Every project is prioritized, yes. But resources are not allocated when your project is prioritized. Therefore, you may have the number 2 project in the company, but that doesn't mean you will have money and people thrown at you. In fact, one executive commented to me that where projects get ranked has become sort of a joke. How about #27? Sounds good to me. What is the basis for the number - who the hell knows?

Another problem is that, you as a dept manager may get your little project ranked #62, but that doesn't mean you are forbidden from doing it. If you can talk your colleagues into executing the project through your charm, that's not really a problem. Within the PMO there is a debate about whether to call these projects underground or discretionary. Well, there is no debate, the head of the PMO calls them underground and wants them squashed. I don't want to be a process cop, so I call them discretionary. You could also think of these projects as continuous improvement.

Finally, there is a movement afoot to redefine some projects as, its just someone's job. One of the guys in finance was hired to solve a data integrity and management problem we have, and its a problem common in our industry. It is very difficult to manage data coming from a ton of different sources, often painting a slightly different story. He is clearly working on a project, and then he will manage the solution once it is in sustain mode. His boss doesn't want it to be prioritized, or to have any engagement by the PMO. Its his job to solve the problem. OK, but its still a project, and he could benefit from controlling it using PM tools. No, I'm not fighting that battle, I'm taking the guy out to lunch.

The last big gap I'll discuss is aligning project selection with firm strategy. We don't really have a strategy. We do some stuff that aligns with our core beliefs in market effeciency, we operationalize it, we communicate it to our clients, and we sell it through our sales people, and we make a bunch of money. There is no big corporate push to grow x product by 20 percent, or enter a new market and dominate it. We do some stuff, and so far it has always worked out. So how do you select projects that align with a higher level goal? There are no higher level goals. This problem will not be solved soon, but it can make it tough when you realize the emperor has no clothes in that regard. In reality, the emperor is wearing a $2000 suit, but not because of a well selected set of goals and objectives.