We all have many wants in our lives but only a handful of needs—food, clothing, and shelter being the top three. Similarly, companies may want many things, but really only find a few things absolutely necessary for survival. A Project Management Office (PMO) should be at top of that list of priorities, along with sales, profits, and growth. Read on for the:

Six Reasons You Need a PMO

1. Consistent Methodology – The bane of many organizations is when departments and groups develop home-grown ways of completing projects. Some processes may work beautifully, some may work terribly; the point is that none are consistent with each other or across the organization. You need a common project management methodology. A PMO allows everyone in the company to speak the same language and follow consistent processes.

2. Economies of Scale – It’s not uncommon for a company to have a half dozen or so timesheet or project management applications within a company, each with its own financial cost for implementation and training personnel. A PMO implements affordable and sustainable enterprise-wide solutions.

3. Objective Opinions – Departments running their own projects can sometimes be compared to a fox watching a henhouse. Project sponsors may be looking for the current status of a project, but a departmental project manager may stretch the truth just a bit so that their department is viewed in a favorable light. A PMO provides an unbiased and objective opinion regarding the status of a project. This is invaluable to project stakeholders and executives.

4. Perpetual Improvement – A PMO is always on the lookout for new and better ways to get things done. They have the benefit of aggregating lessons learned from previous projects and the missive of implementing those best practices across the organization. Additionally, there are countless opportunities for project managers to continue their education and bring newfound knowledge back to their companies.

5. Transcends Departments – “Why can’t we all just get along?” is a common refrain in many companies. One department may go head to head with another department over unrealistic demands or unreasonable timelines. A PMO can mediate their heated conversations and keep everyone focused on the bigger picture. Members of the PMO can facilitate sessions between departments for the purpose of identifying root cause and coming up with alternatives.

6. Reduces Cost – All of the benefits of a PMO as described above are realized at the bottom line. As unnecessary tangible expenses are uncovered, such as paying for multiple versions of the same software, they are removed from the income statement. Real savings derived from resources being able to do their work faster will appear as net income. The value of everyone getting along better? Priceless!

You can benefit from a PMO regardless of the size of your company. Even though larger companies are likely to benefit in greater ways exponentially, a small but growing company needs to at least foster the spirit of a PMO. It’s easier to put the foundation in place while small rather than go back and implement a PMO later.

Manage Communication
Eight Steps to Manage Virtual Teams

There are some special techniques that can be used to manage these virtual teams.

• Establish team objectives. The team members need to know and understand what it is that they are doing together. If people only understand their own role and their own work, they will always just be individual contributors.
• Remind everyone they are a team.  If the team members think they are all working independently, they will act independent.  If they know they are part of a team working on common objectives and deliverables, they will tend to feel better about their work and be more active in their collaboration with other team members. 
• Obtain the right technology. The technology is there to support virtual teams – there is really no reason to be without it. This includes fast access to the Internet, audio conferencing, videocams, collaborative software, shared directories, etc.   
• Look for opportunities to “socialize.” Team members located together have opportunities to socialize throughout the day. Virtual teams don’t usually have this same opportunity to interact with each other, so it is more important for the project manager to look for ways they can bond.  This might include getting everyone together one time in a face-to-face setting – perhaps a Project Kickoff meeting. 
• Be sensitive to cultural difference. It is possible that your virtual team all thinks and acts the same way. However, more and more virtual teams consist of people from multiple countries and multiple cultures. If you are the project manager on this type of team, make sure you have some appreciation for the differences in how people work and how they behave.
• Communicate, communicate, communicate.  The project manager needs to be extra proactive in his communication to make sure everyone understands what is expected. People can start to feel isolated if they do not receive regular communication. It is hard enough to keep everyone informed on a “regular” project.  The communication lines on a virtual team must be opened up especially wide. The project manager can provide this steady stream of communication.
• Adjust and compromise on time differences. The project manager needs to recognize that what is convenient for the project manager is not always convenient to the team members. For instance, if you are a manager in a global company it may not be practical to start all project meetings at 9:00 am. That may be convenient to the manager but it can result in resentment from people in other global locations that need to stay very late for these meetings.  
• Give people shorter assignments. This is not the time to give people long assignments and hope that they are completed by the deadline.  Instead of assigning a six-week activity, for instance, the project manager should assign the work in three two-week activities. In the former case, you would not know for sure if the work was done for six weeks. In the later case, you can tell every two weeks if the work is on track.

These techniques will help your virtual teams be as successful as your co-located teams. 

The Cost of Quality

Building quality steps in the schedule adds a certain amount of effort and cost to the project. However, these incremental costs will be rewarded with shorter timelines and reduced costs throughout the life cycle of the solution. Examples of the cost of quality include:

• Deliverable reviews. There is a cost associated with the time of the people attending the reviews. This includes any preparation, the actual review time for all participants, and the resulting follow-up work from the review.
• Creation of the Quality Management Plan. The time required to plan quality into the project and the solution, including identifying completeness and correctness criteria.
• Client approval. The time and effort required for the client to review interim and final deliverables and formally approve them as being correct and complete.
• Testing. Testing is a part of the project life cycle and it is done to ensure the solution meets requirements and quality standards.
• Quality control standards. The time and cost associated with defining relevant standards utilized throughout the project and/or the organization.
• Audits. Audits are opportunities to have an outside party review the processes used to create your deliverables. Third party auditors provide a fresh perspective and unbiased opinion on whether good work processes are defined and are being followed. However, there is no question the audit takes extra time and effort on the part of the project manager and the person doing the audit.
• Checklists. These are usually used to validate that all steps of a process were completed or all the components of a deliverable are in place. There is a cost to create them and a cost to fill them out.
• Quality Control and Quality Assurance Groups.  If your company has distinct groups that specialize in quality control or quality assurance, their costs are part of the overall costs of quality for the organization.
• Gathering metrics. Metrics are normally gathered to show the status of a process and to correct or improve the process if necessary. Collecting metrics takes time and there is an associated cost.

The Benefits of Quality

The costs of quality must be weighed against the benefits of providing a quality solution. Whereas many of the costs of quality show up in the project, many of the benefits of quality show up over the entire life cycle of the solution. The benefits of quality include:

• Increased client satisfaction. Fewer defects mean that the client will be more satisfied. Higher service quality will also make the client experience much more pleasant. If you are in a “for-profit” business, this will result in goodwill and may translate into additional sales, or higher margins on future products.
• Higher productivity. Fixing errors and reworking previously-completed deliverables are a drain on productivity. In fact, they contribute to negative productivity. If the deliverables are produced with higher quality and less rework, the overall project productivity will go up.
• Lower costs / shorter duration. Although there is an initial higher cost to a quality process, this is more than made up with less rework toward the end of the project. This will save time and cost on the project.
• Higher project team morale. Team morale suffers if there are many errors uncovered during the project. People feel bad when errors are uncovered and it can be frustrating to have to correct errors repeatedly. Team morale will rise (or at least hold steady) if deliverables are created with fewer errors the first time.
• Fewer errors / defects. Higher quality shows up over the life of the solution with fewer defects and errors. If you are producing a product for sale in the marketplace, higher quality means fewer returns, less warranty work, fewer repairs, etc. If you are creating a long-term solution, this means less support and maintenance problems over the life cycle.

One of the key points of formal quality management is that if you spend more time and cost on the QA and QC side of quality management, you will be able to save substantially on the internal and external failure costs. In fact, the savings for external failure costs can be substantial. In some case you might deliver a product that your organization will utilize for many years. If you build a poor quality product, the support costs (external failure costs) could be substantial. On the other hand, if you spend more time focusing on building a better quality product during the project, the cost of operating and supporting the product long-term may be dramatically reduced.

In a purchase order form, there is a complete description of what your organization is in need from by a particular supplier. The greater the detail that is includes will mean the less ambiguity the message will hold. This will allow for the correct item or material to be sent as requested.

When using a purchase order form the best ones today that are used will be created with the aid of a computer program. This is one of the many project management templates that most project managers have access to today. This type of template allows for the vital information to be placed in the form in the same manner each and every time this particular third party vendor is contacted. This makes it possible for a concise and consistent message to be sent out each and every time you are in need of suppliers or material from another organization.

This use of a purchase order form that is made this way also helps to ensure the message you are sending will be received as it was sent. This allows for the correct material or items you need to be sent. This will reduce the number of errors that can occur when dealing with a third party organization that is outside the control of your business. The receiving of the wrong material can be hazardous to the schedule of your project.

Inside the purchase order form is also the information for the billing requirements and data necessary for both parties to make this type of transaction. This is the portion of this business deal that is important to the third party vendor. They need to know how much they are going to make off of this transaction and when they can expect it.

The use of a purchase order form is very common today in all sectors of business. The more complete it is with accurate information on every aspect of the transaction, the smoother it will be preformed. A successful transaction of this type builds the credibility and reputation of all parties that are involved

Today one of the templates in a project management program is the RFP template. This digital outline can help you to create a consistent document so you will receive from your raw material suppliers what you ordered for inclusion in your business venture.

Inside an RFP has to include what you need from your third party vendor in detail. This way there is no ambiguity in just what you need for your project and what you are willing to pay for it. There will also be a schedule when the material is needed that the third party vendor has to confirm they can meet for this proposal to move forward.

There is another section in the RFP that will list the vital information you need from this third party vendor. This can include payment schedule and time frame for delivery of the entire order if it is going to be sent in different loads or times. This will let them know in advance all the terms and conditions for this business arrangement before they agree to it.

The issuing of a RFP is not the final document to confirm any transaction; it is the one just before a deal is made. This document can be modified by both parties to fit the needs of each. The reissuing of this document after the alternations if necessary are easy since this document is saved in its digital format.

To get the best price, several RFP’s can be sent out concerning the same raw material. This allows for your project to not only be provided with the best price on any item, but also an alternative delivery of the item. This is sometime necessary in the business world where businesses are not always dependable because of the state of the economy. This allows for you to cover all the bases to ensure the success of your business venture.

The RFP will help you plan your project in more detail and less time so a positive result can be the conclusion of your business venture. It is one of the necessary requirements of doing business in the global market place

The definition of goals, strategies and objectives can vary from company to company. Here is the TenStep definition. I think it is a good one.

Business Goals

TenStep does not use the term “project goals”. Goals are set at the organization level – not the project level. Objectives are at the project level.

Goals are high-level statements that describe what are organization is trying to focus on for the next three to five years. They are vague (on purpose) and they are direction-setting. Because the goal is at a high-level, it will take many projects over a long period of time to achieve the goal. The goal should reference the business benefit in terms of cost, speed and/or quality. (We call this “better, faster, cheaper”.)

Goals are vague, but not too vague. If you can measure the achievement of your goal in one year (i.e. 25% revenue increase by the end of the year), it is written at too low a level and is more of an objective. If your goal is not achievable through any combination of projects, it is probably written at too high a level (i.e. lead the industry). Perhaps it is more of a vision.

Business Strategies

Business goals tell you what is important. Strategies tell you how you are going to achieve the goals. There may be many ways to achieve your business goals. Your organization’s strategies are a high-level set of directives that articulate how the organization will achieve the goals, and ultimately move toward its long-term vision. Strategies are more inwardly focused and usually try to leverage internal capabilities.

Projects may be authorized that contribute directly to the business goals, or the project may contribute to a strategy. For example, many organizations want to get better at project management. Getting better at project management will not directly align to a “better, faster, cheaper” goal. It is more of a “how” so it better aligns to strategy. Your organization could have a strategy to execute projects more effectively and a project management initiative can align to this strategy.

Project Objectives

Objectives are concrete statements that describe the things the project is trying to achieve. An objective should be written at level that it can be evaluated at the conclusion of a project to see whether it was achieved. A well-worded objective can be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-bound (SMART). SMART is a technique for wording the objective. An objective does not absolutely have to be SMART to be valid.

Objectives are important because they show an agreement between the project manager and the project sponsor on the main purpose of the project. The objectives should be written in a way that they are understandable by all of the project stakeholders. Objectives are also valuable since they provide alignment to organization goals and strategies. Your organization should not authorize projects that do not tie to goals or strategies

Knowing the different types of project management methodologies can only be beneficial to your next business venture. Each one is a step by step approach to achieving your goals of having a successful project. The leading difference between the different ones is how they can accomplish your goals for you.

For most businesses there is no one type of methodology that exactly fits their needs. For this reason they merge many different project management methodologies into just one that is custom built for their plant, resources and needs. This is the best manner in which to maximize what you have while minimizes the disadvantages your organization possesses. This will then lead to an increase chance of your projects becoming successful and having a competitive deliverable when it is introduced to the global market place.

This is why there is now software to assist you in using multiple project management methodologies. The programs now available allow you to import many different methodologies and take the components and process from them that fit your particular needs. This will lead to you creating a new methodology that can maximize your strong points. By defining the new project processes in this manner, it will be easier and more efficient for you to achieve the goals and scope of the project that has been approved by the stakeholders.

Because you have combined many different project management methodologies, you will then need to document what you have used so the new methodology can be used in the future by your organization.  The addition of using templates from the appropriate other methodologies on which you borrowed the process is also a possibility.

When you are looking for just what project management methodologies you can utilize, most programs allow the importation of HTML pages, Microsoft Word and Excel to make the combining of them easier.

The using of many different project management methodologies is the best way to achieve your goals of having a successful and profitable project. This will not only make the stakeholders satisfied but also help your organization in a financial manner so it can stay in business.