Copyright Clarion Consulting 2007 Clarion Consulting Project Management Practices in Irish Organisations Dublin September 12 th, 2007

Copyright Clarion Consulting 2007

Clarion Consulting

Project Management Practices in Irish Organisations

Dublin September 12th , 2007


Agenda

• Does Project Management Matter ?• Clarion Position on Project Management• Methodology for Survey• Survey Results

– Organisation– People– Processes– Tools

• Conclusions• Recommendations• Q & A


Why PM matters ?

Operations

Projects

Time

Focus

Changing Nature of Organisations


Clarion Position

• Clarion position on Project Management– PM is a discipline in itself which requires a different

mix of skills and capabilities than functional management

– It is about building overall organisational capability which can provide competitive advantage

– Successful organisations take a holistic approach – There is no one size fits all approach and no silver

bullet– It is a journey – you are climbing a maturity ladder


Methodology

• Survey carried out online in January 2007

• 300 Enterprise organisations and public sector bodies invited

• 52 responses completed


Methodology – Response By Sector

Respondents by industry sector

0

24

68

1012

14


Methodology – Response By Size

Total workforce of respondent organisations

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

1 - 50 51 - 100 101 - 500 500+


Four Elements of Survey

• 32 Questions covering the following elements– Organisation– People– Processes– Tools



Organisation

• Sought to understand :-– Organisational Structure– Degree of Strategic Alignment– Pattern of Completion– Reasons for Failure


Org – Rate Your Capability

5.8%

28.8%

36.5%

21.2%

7.7%

0.0%

5.0%

10.0%

15.0%

20.0%

25.0%

30.0%

35.0%

40.0%

Excellent Very Good Good Satisfactory Poor

Rating of project management capabilities

Per

cen

tag

e o

f re

spo

nse

s

So : >90% feel they are satisfactory or better


Org - Projects Completed in 12 months

8%

18%

10% 8%

57%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

1 - 5 6 - 10 11 - 15 16 - 20 21+

No. of projects

Per

cent

age

of r

espo

nses


Org – Presence of a PMO

46%

54%

42%

44%

46%

48%

50%

52%

54%

56%

Yes No

Per

cent

age

of r

espo

nses


Org – Alignment with Strategy

• Only 31% state that projects are always aligned with strategy

• 52% state that projects are usually aligned with strategy

• 17% state that projects are sometimes aligned with strategy


Org – Completion Patterns

• 23% state that up to half their projects are delivered over budget

• 28% state that up to half of their projects are delivered late


Org – Other

• Project Failure – Top 5– Scope Creep– Unrealistic Timeframes– Inadequate Staffing– Unclear Objectives– Poor Communication

Does anyone believe that these are different than 5 years ago ?


Conclusions – Organisation

• Organisations are spending ever increasing amounts on projects but many of them do not appear to regard pm capability as strategic

• Not enough Executives see Project Management as a discipline

• Project Selection processes are suspect • A significant number of projects finish over time,

over budget or both• Projects continue to fail for the same reasons



People

• Sought to understand– Patterns of Employment– Skillbase– Sponsorship


People – Patterns of Employment

• 21% of organisations have no dedicated project managers

• 13% have more than 20 project managers

• 67% use a mix of in house and contracted

• 31% use exclusively in house

• 29% state that they use externals for capacity


People - Skills

• 65% state that people managing projects are certified/trained –’sometimes’

• 23% usually employ certified PMs• 27% believe that PMs are only sometimes

experienced enough – only 60% say PMs are usually experienced enough

There are a lot of projects with inexperience/untrained Project Managers


People - Is there a Sponsor

62%

27%

10%

2%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Always Usually Sometimes Never

Frequency

Per

cen

tag

e o

f re

spo

nse

s


People – Is the Sponsor Effective

15%

56%

23%

4% 2%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Always Usually Sometimes Never Don't Know

Frequency

Per

cent

age

of r

espo

nses


Conclusions – People

• The majority use a mix of in-house and external staff

• Organisations do not assess skills and capabilities sufficiently when assigning projects

• Sponsors are usually assigned but in a significant number of cases are not effective



Processes

• Sought to Understand – Use of methodologies– Selection Process– Governance – Reporting/Issues/Risk– Change Management– Regular Review of PM processes


Process – Defined Methodology

60%

38%

2%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Yes No Don't Know

Existence of project management methodology

Per

cent

age

of r

espo

nses


Process – Consistency of Use

10%

41%

27%

16%

6%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%


Use of methodology by all PMs

Per

cent

age

of r

espo

nses


Process – Selection of Projects

• Return on Investment– 62% do not consistently document ROI as part of the

business case process– Only 21% always include ROI

• Definition of Critical Success Factors– 65% said that they usually define these up front– 35% said they only sometimes do

So : How do we hope to measure Project Outcomes ?


Process – Reporting Slippages

25%

40%

29%

6%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%


Actions noted on project slippages

Per

cent

age

of r

espo

nses


Process – Timely Reporting & Budget Control

27%

33%37%

2%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%


Timely reporting/budget tracking consistent

Per

cen

tag

e o

f re

spo

nse

s


Process – Use of Change Management

4

21 20

43

0

5

10

15

20

25


Use of change management

No

. o

f re

sp

on

ses

< 50% always or usually have effective change management


Process – PM Process Review

• 21% of organisations do not engage in any form of on-going review of pm processes

• 35% do ‘sometimes’

So : the loop is not being closed and lessons are not being learned


Conclusions – Processes

• A significant number of organisations have no methodology in place

• Of those that do a large number cannot say it is being used consistently

• ROI and CSFs are not consistently included in business cases

• Change Management is not used widely enough• Reporting, Issue and Risk management all have a lot of

room for improvement• PM processes are not subject to constant review –

Organisations are missing learning opportunities



Tools

• Sought to Understand– PM software being used– PPM software being used


Tools – Use of Software

• 40% sometimes use PM software

• 13% never use it

• 62% believe that they are not using tools effectively and consistently

• 87% do not use any portfolio management software yet more than half have over 21 projects completed in the last 12 months


Conclusions – Tools

• Majority of organisations believe that they are not using PM tools consistently and effectively

• PPM tools are at the early stage of adoption in Ireland

• Many organisations have enough projects to benefit from the use of a PPM tool



Conclusions - Overall

• There is a significant PM deficit in Irish organisations– Organisation– People– Processes– Tools

• We can learn from the success of others– Take a holistic approach


Business Planning & Project Selection

Planning and Execution of Approved Projects

Business Benefits Realisation

Project Management

Ideas Opportunities

Needs

Go Live

Holistic Approach

Doing things rightDoing the right things


Recommendations

• Learn from what successful organisations do :-– Recognise Project Management as a discipline– Assess your capabilities objectively – Commit to improving maturity level– Focus on strategic alignment– Assess your structure and consider the case for a

PMO– Take a Holistic Approach– Remember this is a journey


Documents

Copyright Clarion Consulting 2007 Clarion Consulting Project Management Practices in Irish Organisations Dublin September 12 th, 2007