PMO Notebook has information for Program Managers, Project Managers, Scrum practitioners and PMO Leaders.
My focus in the first part of 2024 has been The Effective Program Manager series - these 12 articles cover topics for new Program Directors and Program Managers, as well as information on advanced topics for those with significant experience. These articles cover methods for delivering business value and outstanding program outcomes (these are a passion of mine), techniques for developing a strong understanding of yourself, your business partners and the program team, and the importance and nuances of working with executive stakeholders. (These articles won't cover the basics of planning, monitoring execution, reporting and such - that information is widely available elsewhere.). A few of those articles are highlighted immediately below, and the full index appears here.
For mid-2024, I'm starting a collection of articles on IT Portfolio Management, covering the importance of this function and techniques for a robust implementation.
In late summer, I'll continue refreshing the agile and Scrum articles (all written over a decade ago) along with the project management articles.
Optimizing your investments in technology is best accomplished with a disciplined, comprehensive portfolio management function.
I've frequently worked with program and project teams that have ad hoc methods of software engineering. These software engineering methods introduce risks that should be identified and managed throughout a program and project's lifetime. Unawareness of these risks introduces a high probability of avoidable issues occurring.
Program outcomes are so important, but those may not be the motivating factor for all of your team members. Ensure that your program has credible and meaningful target outcomes. As well, recognize other motivations for your program team members.
You’ve just determined that the program will not complete as agreed. Your stakeholders will want to ensure that everything has been done to avoid changes to the agreed costs, schedule, scope and benefits. This article reminds you about this mindset of stakeholders. The included checklist will help you prepare for discussions with your stakeholders.
Program outcomes, Value delivered and Business benefits are important! Achieving the benefits from a program might be one of its most important elements. Maintain that focus for yourself and for the program team.
Your Program Manager job includes understanding each stakeholder, how to approach them, how frequently to interact with them, and what information they need. And, even more importantly, the information and perspectives they have that you need to hear. Here are some suggestions and reminders on your executive stakeholder interactions.
As a Program Manager, what does your CIO need from you? Here's a reminder list of program manager expectations from my program leader experiences and also from my time in positions as the senior leader supporting program managers.
Most of the Program Management courses and books you'll find will help you plan and manage a program successfully. Before you can be successful in leading programs, you'll need a foundation of understanding about the role of a program manager. Here are books and reference publications that can jump start your learning journey to becoming a top-notch program manager.
When your customer lacks confidence in your ability to deliver solutions to their needs, what recovery actions can you take? Here are three approaches that have helped turn around such situations.
Scrum is more than a buzzword. It isn't quite a methodology or collection of processes. Rather, it is a Framework that outlines a specific method for addressing complex problems that have significant unknowns. This 20 minute presentation walks through the key aspects for each accountability, artifact and event described in the November 2020 update to the office Scrum Guide.
The transition to becoming a self-organized team involves a fundamental change in how individuals, teams, and management approach their respective responsibilities. Traditionally managed teams depend upon anointed leaders who give direction, track progress and push the project to completion. Self-organized teams operate quite differently, and in such a team there is no explicit or implicit role of “project leader” or “project manager.” In the context of a self-organized team, this article describes how to implement the daily stand-up meeting.
While the concept of a project retrospective is easy to grasp, it is all too easy to fail when trying to implement the concept. Esther Derby and Diana Larsen have literally written the book on retrospectives - here is their five-step approach with some specific tips to get your project teams effectively conducting project retrospectives.
Some project teams celebrate the completion of a project, while many others let this milestone pass without any special recognition for the team of the accomplishment. I've been in both environments, and greatly prefer a company, organization and team culture that acknowledges efforts and accomplishments - these places are just more enjoyable. A little appreciation expressed by co-workers, a project manager or upper management can be an important positive factor for project teams. As project manager, it is incumbent upon you to encourage a project culture that incorporates an appropriate amount of recognition for individual and team accomplishments.
Agile Coaches, Scrum Masters, Project Managers, PMOs and Executives are all in the business of introducing changes that provide benefit to customers, the organization and employees. It is the rare team that listens to your outstanding transformation idea and immediately proceeds with implementation. This journey of change is almost always faced with resistance, challenges and detours. Familiarity with Organizational Change Management methods is a key enabler for success. I gravitate to Kotter's Leading Change framework, but there are other methods and techniques that might be better suited for your transformation initiative.