INTERCONNECTS

Leaders of the project management discipline from Cigna HealthCare, State Farm Insurance, and The New York Times Company agree that taking even initial steps toward establishing a project management (PM) culture can have enterprise-wide benefits. Drawing on their combined experiences in implementing project management offices, training programs, and methodologies, the PM leaders fielded questions from PM Solutions' CEO J. Kent Crawford during a panel discussion at the Project Management Institute's (PMI) 2003 Global Congress in Baltimore, Maryland. All the panelists agreed that there were immediate benefits to implementing PM improvements such as a standardized methodology or widespread training for project managers and teams. "You can lead by example, using PM to implement PM so people can watch the process work," said Janet Burns, project management director for The New York Times Company. She noted that the relationship-oriented culture at The New York Times Company had resulted in short-term requirements definition; simply implementing improvements like project charters and a requirements template had immediate impact. In addition, she said that rolling out a project management methodology had helped the media company to jumpstart its Sarbanes-Oxley Act compliance process. By establishing repetitive processes, State Farm's IT-based Project Office expects to improve quality and cut down on the cost of rework, said Jeanne Childers, systems project office director at State Farm Insurance. Cigna HealthCare vice president Mark Philhower noted that project management is self-reinforcing once good practices are established. "When people see improved results - in our case, better response time on claims and faster time-to-market - they rapidly become believers." Even when the company is just embarking on formal project management, with one or two individuals established as a Center of Excellence or as project management mentors, the benefits can be startling if you sequence your activities correctly, the panelists agreed. Philhower suggested the following sequence: 1) Establish oversight of projects through status reporting (weekly for key projects) plus higher-level management reporting. At Cigna, Philhower said, project performance metrics are aggregated and reported up to the CIO. 2) Combine process improvement with training. "We are rolling out a PM methodology with a ton of training associated with it," he said. Childers added that one "lesson learned" from State Farm's PM improvement initiatives was that, rather than placing all the focus on project managers, training should include team members and project sponsors. "Teaching executives about project sponsorship puts management 'in the foxhole' with project teams," she says, increasing the visibility of project issues. Burns gave this tip from The New York Times Company: "Work on REAL projects during training: write charters, do plans, create risk logs…this way, trainees get hands-on experience and can see how applying project management techniques surfaces issues immediately." The first steps towards project management also carry immediate payoffs, the panelists noted. Burns said that even the "pre-step" of defining what a "project" consists of is helpful, and that developing a comprehensive list of projects highlights differences between strategy and resources. At Cigna, Philhower said, "We had too much work in the funnel…no matter what methodology we used, we'd fail if we didn't quickly learn to prioritize. We rolled out the alignment/prioritization process along with the methodology." State Farm's project portfolio management process continues to mature each year, said Childers. "Nothing gets in the hopper unless it aligns to one of our key strategy areas. For all projects, we ask: What corporate goal are we furthering? What's the ROI? Otherwise, you have an unmanageable number of 'Priority 1' projects!" She advocated the State Farm approach of having company executives involved in setting project priorities. "IT used to have to determine which projects were most important to the Company, but for the last three to four years, the Chairman's Council has helped to prioritize the work, while IT estimates IT capacity. This does more than anything to align the project resources to State Farm's strategic direction." In closing the session, panel moderator Kent Crawford reflected, "The information exchanged at this panel session gave attendees an insider's look at the value of improving project management maturity. Leading companies like State Farm Insurance, The New York Times Company, and Cigna HealthCare are reaping incredible results as they go through the evolutionary process of adopting a project management culture. The unique challenges they've faced and the successes they've enjoyed teach valuable lessons to those who are considering project management improvement initiatives."