tailieunhanh - Creating the project office 32

Creating the project office 32. This is a book about improving organizational performance by implementing a project office system that develops project management as a core competency and thus adds value to the organization. A project office consists of a team dedicated to improving the practice of project management in the organization. The improvement in organizational performance is achieved by obtaining more value from projects, making project management a standard management practice, and then moving the organization toward the enterprise project management concept | 288 Creating the Project Office In other organizations run more along a military model where members are accustomed to forced change the Quaker approach would be perceived as weak so a full-scale top-down Attila CEO-directed change effort would be more successful. In either case it is obviously important to consider the organizational culture before forming an implementation plan. In all cases it is important to have a sponsor who is influential in the organization. For the Attila approach a higher-level person is needed. For the Quaker approach the level may not be as important as the sponsor s stature and breadth of influence. The Quaker approach takes time and patience values notoriously absent in many organizations. A hybrid approach begins in the indirect Quaker style and moves toward the Attila model if necessary. Organization members can be triaged into one-third true believers in project management who can t wait to change one-third show me skeptics who may change if they see the benefit and one-third die-hard grizzled veterans who have seen it all before and will resist to the bitter end. The hybrid approach starts with the true believers who demonstrate through small wins the benefits of a project office. This approach helps develop credibility and offers something to show the show me gang. When they are converted and you achieve critical mass of two-thirds of the organization it may be necessary to apply a little top-down command to convince the die-hards. This is a practical and realistic approach for most organizations. Refine the concept of a project office. What is a project office and where did it come from Project management began as a countercultural movement. Early project managers worked outside the organization. In fact they were often literally outside in a trailer at a construction site where decisions were made regarding the project. The original project office referred to a place for the control of a specific project what we would now call