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The Project Manager’s (PM) role …in context

March, 18 2011

Diana Yazidjian, MBA

+Sizing PMO’s role and outcome with storyboards Why storyboarding ?

Storyboards are used to today for business presentations intended

  to convince or compel to action e.g. product deployment, risk management, process improvement, strategy envisioning

  to reconcile differences in understanding and direction

Methodology

  Team audit with PMs and other actors: one-on-one interviews to understand business environment and decision-making process in a project context

  Creation of scenarios with information gathered from PM and other actors

  Presentation and animation around these scenarios

  Synthesis of ideas that obtained consensus

  Tool box to PMs and team members

+ A few examples

Presentation of main characters in context :

Project Manager - IT

Program Director

Client (BU)

Member of project team

Account'Director'

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The objective is to outline each person’s responsibility at the outset.

Context 1

Business Requirements Meeting

(1) We are looking to your team to assist

us with the deployment of our

GUI next term

(3) What would you add?

(2) We have identified the right product

solution in line with your needs

and the following technical

specifications …

+ Context 2

Resource allocation

You placed Marc on this project…I

think John’s profile would

be a better fit…

How would you respond?

The objective is to identify the best profile for the task and to determine who is in the best position to know, the PM, the Program Director?

+ Context 3 Client Relationship

(1) The client is very satisfied with the

results of quality of service…

(2) Thanks for the info

This context is open-ended. Who and how to inform the Account Director of project progress. There are many possible outcomes. The objective is to give a synthetic view of customer global satisfaction to the AC.

+ Context 4

Risk Management

Ce rapport laisse à désirer!

(1) The client has raised its expectations. I think we should hire more external help

(2) Hmm, I should have raised the flag

to my PM. The client’s BA is no longer on the

project and I said to the client I’ll do the

business requirements

analysis myself

(3) complete…

(4)complete…

This scenario has generated constructive discussion. What can vs. has to be communicated to the PM to minimize risk or to find solutions to reduce it.