Project Management
When everyone is busy, but work isn’t getting done
Problem to solve: Defined initiatives with no clear owner of execution.
Solution we provide: We support the execution of defined initiatives with a clear scope of work:
Project Execution: Manage in-scope milestones, stakeholder alignment, risks, status tracking and reporting to complete the project on time, on budget, and at the required level of quality.
PMO Leadership: Define and/or support the governance framework, resource planning, documentation standards and accountability frameworks for a Project Management Office or Project Management Center of Excellence.
Why it works: Bringing in a dedicated resource to manage the execution, support, and reporting of projects leaves internal teams free to get the work done without absorbing the project management overhead.
Who needs it: Leaders with a defined scope of work with no clear accountable owner to bring it to completion.
Case Studies
Governance with Deliberate Differences
Situation: 4 separate teams had different levels of project management rigor, causing confusion upstream and downstream.
Friction: Each team had fully functional workflows and were resistant to aligning under a single PMO.
What we did: We leveraged a mandatory project management software change to justify deep-dive discovery sessions with each team separately, then together to come up with a baseline centralized model, with specific areas for each team to have deliberately different workflows as needed for their individual function.
Result: Stood up a Project Management Center of Excellence, governing a consistent set of milestones across teams without losing the functionally nuanced workflow. This provided a consistent experience for upstream and downstream teams.
Ending the Migration Death March
Situation: Separate data teams were pushing for multiple legacy platform migrations with very tight timelines.
Friction: The teams responsible for completing the migrations had not incorporated the migrations into their annual planning and could not absorb the migrations. The data teams needed to retire the legacy platforms due to aging hardware and compliance concerns. The result was frequent escalations and ‘death-march’ initiatives that took a tangible toll on the teams’ morale and quality of output.
What we did: After aggregating all 14 of the in flight and upcoming migrations, we put together a Steering Committee with empowered decision-makers from each team to formalize which migrations must be completed by which quarter, and which migrations would be deferred.
Result: Having clear direction from leadership cut through the cross-team conflict. Taking a step back with in-flight migrations enabled teams to work together to create collaborative timelines rather than serial hand-offs. Five of the 14 migrations were completed within two quarters, and the remaining migrations were sustainably incorporated into future roadmaps.
“Abby is second to none. She is my go to person. We have given her our most challenging efforts and she delivers more efficiently then we could imagine. She delivers well above what would be expected.”
B. Clarkin, BMO Harris Bank