Knowing What You Already Have

KNOWING WHAT YOU ALREADY HAVE

Projects are often inadvertently set up for failure due to insufficient planning. It is often said that failing to plan is planning to fail. Insufficient planningdoes not mean an absence of planning, but planning that is rushed or is too narrow in scope. This limited planning scope can cause failure or, at the very least, problems in execution. More time investedin the right planning steps can significantly improve portfolio performance.
Before looking to improve your project execution process, it is important to understand the skills that already existacross your organization.
An organization that may apparently lack portfolio management expertise will contain numerous project managers practicing different methodologies at different levels ofsophistication. The organization will contain strengths in some areas of project management and weaknesses in others. The challenge is to understand the level of project and portfolio management skill withinthe organization. Knowing which areas to focus on will dramatically improve your performance in creating a system that targets key areas for improvement and avoids overall locating effort to existingareas of strength. As part of this process, simply bringing existing project managers together can help networking and the creation of a project management culture throughout the organization wherebest practices are developed and shared. This can be done in a variety of ways—for example, through arranging a series of speakers on portfolio management, adding mentoring processes, setting upknowledge management systems for project managers, and organizing social events. In organizations where a formal project management office (PMO) does not exist, projects are, of course, still being managed.Bringing project managers together, regardless of job title, can be extremely valuable to understand the talent and skills that you already have within your organization in addition to identifying...