7 Tips For Managing Multiple Improvement Projects
Faced with the prospect of managing several major improvement projects at the same time? Here are some tips about how to keep your company's improvements on track - and yourself out of hot water!
- Tip #1: Focus on enterprise objectives. Look at the company's business strategy. Does the company intend to be the overall cost leader (Chevrolet), or charge premium price for a differentiated quality product (Mercedes)? Deploy the initiatives and projects that align with accomplishing company objectives. Implement cost reduction tools in Cost Leadership companies, and Total Quality Management tools in Differentiation companies. No company can be all things to all people, so pick your direction early and deploy the tools that will make it happen.
- Tip #2: Fight the battles you can win. Consider which organizations within your business have the financial resources, staff, and management support to implement the change. No matter how big the potential impact, if the local managers and staff won't get behind it, the initiative will fail.
- Tip # 3: Home in on strength and immediacy of impact. Which initiatives will yield the greatest bottom line financial impact when they are completed? Use the DuPont Model or similar financial tools to determine projected impact. Heaviest hitters come first. Identify and use metrics that quantitatively demonstrate financial impact. Set milestones and numerical objectives. I recommend the use of RONA, cash flow from continuing operations, and margin in continuing operations. Monitor progress and take immediate corrective action when performance begins to slip.
- Tip #4: Accommodate interdependencies. When multiple projects are under way, there are at least three potential interdependency areas that must be considered by overall program management: technological dependency, resource dependency, and budget dependency. Technological dependencies exist in those situations where there is a necessary precedence between the technologies resulting from one project and the technologies underlying another project. A classic example is the development on a new laptop computer that has the development of a new microprocessor chip on its critical path. Resource dependencies between projects typically involve the utilization of key experts for more than one project inside the overall program. It's the old "I can't be in two places at the same time" syndrome. When this situation evolves from a mere resource constraint (not enough electrical engineers to go around) to a real dependency is when the specific expertise needed for project B is actually only being developed as a result of project A. Budget dependencies, like resource dependencies, begin with a situation where there is more competition for a resource than there are resources available. The dependency arises when project B is funded in part or in whole by the results of project A. If, for example, a systems integration project was to be funded by the savings generated from physical consolidation of inventories, then a budget dependency exists.
- Tip #5: Utilize an iterative development approach. Many of the projects or initiatives within these improvement programs involve some type of development. That development may involve software functionality, hardware capability, or business process technology. In most of these situations, the development is less than perfect at the end of the first pass. In these cases, the development is an iterative one. Even in situations where a company purchases and installs a "Commercial Off - the - Shelf" (COTS) software package, especially when the buyer is a pretty large account, there will be software functionality enhancement changes / upgrades. They are almost always requested by the customer, and they will take some time and testing for the software supplier to provide. As a result, whether the iterations involve software, hardware, or process changes, there will be a need for release management or version management. This practice is needed to assure that the commonality of processes and systems is maintained. It also provides a structure to assure that current versions are consistently documented and communicated.
- Tip #6: Utilize a formal program management office (PMO) to coordinate all of the projects. The overall program structure typically includes a Program Director, supported by some administrative staff, with multiple project managers. (There is usually one for each significant project or initiative.) The Program Director is responsible for maintenance of and adherence to the overall program budget. He or she is also responsible for hitting the schedule, staying within the project's defined scope, and providing adequate quality in project deliverables. The Program Director reports progress to plan and budget to executive management (typically weekly), notifies them of issues that need their attention or action, and warns them of any impending issues of consequence.
- Tip #7: Use established program management tools. These include: 1) A designated full time program leadership team, 2) a clearly documented project charter and scope, 3) a regular management reporting mechanism that assures ongoing executive involvement, 4) a detailed project plan, 5) a formal risk management process, 6) a regular risk management process, 7) a formal change management process, and 8) pervasive project communications activity.
Managing multiple projects becomes a larger and larger part of the job as managers are promoted to higher levels within an organization. Become familiar with all of these tools. Use them whenever you can, and they will become second nature. No set of tools make this job easy. However, these techniques do make it possible to do the job much more productively.
Management consultant Bill Duncan helps companies boost their earnings through aligning and strengthening their business processes and information systems. To learn more about Bill Duncan's new book, Enterprise Optimization: Making Acquisitions Pay Off, visit http://www.earningsperformance.com/ Article Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=William_Duncan |
