Project management is one of the most difficult and challenging disciplines in any field, particularly IT. Statistics that have been gathered over many years support that statement . For example, according to the Gartner Group Symposium IT Expo ’97, “30 percent of all software projects fail outright. Of the successful projects, 70 percent are completed over budget or schedule.”

Clearly, effective project management is a difficult goal to achieve. It is critical to the successful implementation of information systems. Delivering systems on schedule and within budget has long been the major target of project management. Many organizations collect and analyze these budget and schedule me trics in an effort to improve them. Many of these same organizations have defined service level agreements that the IT organization must meet. In commercial contracts between IT providers and companies, failure to meet project management targets can result in significant financial penalties.

Few IT professionals would argue against the concept that effective project management is mandatory. How to make it effective is the subject of much debate. There have been, and continue to be, many project management methodologies. All of them attempt to define a controlled process that leads to consistent successes in systems delivery. The degree of success, however, is not usually rooted in the process itself. Rather, it is controlled to a substantial degree by the attitudes and culture of the people who must use it. Therefore, implementing a truly successful project management program is more of a culture change effort rather than merely installing the latest project management methodology. In fact, unless there is a culture change, the chances of the methodology being successfully used on an ongoing basis is minimal.

In the following sections, the authors describe a major culture change effort that was successfully accomplished using a project management program as the vehicle.

CASE STUDY BACKGROUND

The enterprise in this case study was part of a multi-billion dollar international manufacturing corporation, with a significant investment in IT. The enterprise prided itself on its innovative use of technology, and the internal IT organization had been recognized for excellence in influential industry publications.

Several factors within the customer organization contributed to the need for an effective project management process. The enterprise had experienced major business change, including a significant downturn in business, followed by a

divestiture of the business unit and a merger of the parent company with another major manufacturing corporation. During this time, IT funding had been significantly reduced and then restored. As the business unit pursued new opportunities, systems with current technology were required to address the market more effectively.

The IT organization was mature and centralized, and had been outsourced five years previously to a major IT services firm. A proprietary waterfall methodology developed by the customer was used throughout the 1980s, but the rigor with which it was employed had diminished with enterprise downturns (and related funding lapses) in the late 1980s and early 1990s. A clause in the original outsourcing contract required the IT provider to use the customer proprietary approach unless authorized to do otherwise, because that methodology had been successfully applied in the past.

While the enterprise and technology were changing, the proprietary methodology was not being updated or adapted to the changing environment. Methods were not available to address client/server implementations, expanded project teaming situations, software package implementations, or deployment of projects in multiple small releases as needed to address rapidly changing business conditions. The environment provided an excellent opportunity to introduce a new methodology that would better fit the business needs.

THE BUSINESS NEED

Customer Drivers

Over a period of three to five years, the customer organization progressed from demanding that the IT service provider remain static in delivering services (as had been done successfully prior to the outsourcing), to demanding innovative IT solutions and approaches from the provider. The enterprise was finding that its own customers demanded innovation, speed, and predictability in their products, and this demand had to be met by the IT service provider to enable the business to respond quickly to its own market demands.

With the change in business direction, the IT work evolved from maintenance and small enhancement tasks to more new development and major modification projects. During this time, the customer noted that some projects were run successfully, while others failed. Often, significant investments were made in projects that eventually were determined not to be viable, or that took much longer and cost a great deal more than originally planned.

The planning and tracking for a project depended on the assigned project manager. Those with more experience or more exposure to industry -accepted project management approaches tended to do more documentation, planning, and tracking — and tended to be more successful. Others struggled to hit target budgets and schedules, or failed outright. Even those who were successful used different methods and work products to achieve the goals of the project. Both methods and results were unpredictable from the customer’s perspective.

IT Service Provider Objectives

At the same time, the service provider was undertaking efforts to standardize project management tools and techniques across its own sites. Significant workforce flexibility could be achieved by using common processes at all work sites. Consistently defined work breakdown structures and deliverables would enable employees to step into a project at any location or in any work group within a location, and immediately understand the project status and expected results.

The provider was winning new work, but suffering along with the rest of the industry in resourcing that new work. Experienced project managers were among the critical resources sought at almost every new outsourcing account. A program to define project management in a step-by-step manner, and to deliver training and tools to enable the successful rollout of the program, was considered a key objective. This program could then complement existing programs to identify and assess project managers for further career development.

Need for Predictability

Industry studies have shown that the deployment of standard processes in project management across an enterprise will result in improved consistency of results. Budgets and schedules will be closer to reality. Over time, budgets and schedules will actually be reduced as a result of the improved consistency.

By implementing a consistent and repeatable approach to project management, both the customer and the provider saw that they could achieve increased productivity, better ability to quickly move employees to the projects where they were most needed, and greater predictability of the cost and duration of each project. It was in the interest of both parties to pursue a standard project management methodology.

APPROACH

A Three-Pronged Approach

Based on past experience, the methodology team determined that three components would be needed in the deployment plan:

Standard processes and procedures, defined at a detailed level §   Tools to enable productivity in following the standards §   Training that integrated the tools with the processes
Delivering any one piece without the others would not be successful.

A comprehensive set of techniques that could be used as a framework for the methodology was already available in the service provider’s proprietary methodology. What was needed was a very specific implementation of those techniques that incorporated the tools to support the process and delivery through a training class to all expected practitioners.

Standard Processes and Procedures

Definition of detailed, step-by-step procedures is by nature difficult and time consuming. In this case, the complexity of the procedures, combined with their interrelationships, made the task especially daunting. The methodology team was composed of experienced project managers who also had the skills to document the process. They worked both independently and as a group to write, review, integrate, and test the processes through a case study to ensure that they could be implemented in the customer environment.

The enterprise consisted of multiple functional areas, each of which operated differently and interacted with the service provider in different ways. A methodology was needed that would produce consistent results despite the differences in the ways requirements were received, and the differences in size and nature of the projects.

The processes had to be designed in such a way as to make them applicable to projects of all sizes. Any effort that was not solely intended to correct a malfunction was considered a project for the purpose of following the methodology. For that reason, the process had to be flexible in allowing a project manager (with the help of a trained methodologist) to select those steps that were pertinent to the project and avoid unnecessary steps. However, the tailoring of the path through the methodology had to be a result of conscious review and decision, rather than automatic elimination of requirements. Even small projects might be high risk or mission critical, requiring a fuller implementation of the methodology.

Tools to Support the New Process

Previous attempts at introducing new processes had failed when the implementation proved too difficult or time -consuming for the staff. While they might agree with the conceptual need to plan and document, when these tasks became overwhelming, they were tempted to move on to the more exciting challenges of technology. Often, the customer encouraged them to cut corners as well, wanting to move quickly into visible, deliverable code. This approach turned out to be shortsighted when the code delivered did not meet the customer’s real requirements, or the maintainability of the resulting system was diminished by loss of the original developer and lack of documentation for the unfortunate employee required to pick up support.

The methodology team determined that it was critical to ensure that easy-to-use tools were available to help the staff resist the urge to short -circuit the methodology. The team relied on a central repository, referred to as a toolkit, that contained an online textual version of the methodology. This generic toolkit was tailored to include the forms, templates, and examples that project leaders and team members would need to efficiently and consistently produce the required deliverables.

Training in How to Apply the Process

Finally, a training class was needed. Before launching into the specific subject matter, the students needed some introductory information to help them understand the need for project management, and, in particular, rigorous project planning. Examples of projects that failed when project planning was not done or was done haphazardly were given. The business drivers for both the customer and the service provider were covered in some detail. Once they understood why the subject was important to them, the employees were ready to learn the new methods.

The students needed to become familiar with the detailed procedures and to be confident in how to find the procedure they needed and apply it to the task. They also needed to understand the components of the toolkit and how it would assist them in following the methodology. To achieve these goals, hands-on lab sessions were incorporated into the training. These labs were intended to ensure that what was being discussed in the lectures could be applied once the student went back to the job.

The course material was constructed and reviewed by the team, followed by a pilot class delivered to the management of the target audience project personnel. Piloting with management gave needed feedback on the content and duration of the course, and also assisted in getting buy -in from management to support the process when it was deployed.

The students in each class offered feedback and suggestions for improvement. Where possible, these suggestions were incorporated. All suggestions were carefully reviewed and considered, and the conclusion of each class included a management review of refinements in work and planned. This review also addressed all the concerns raised during that class, whether the suggestion was in work, planned, or neither. In this way, the students were able to see that their concerns were being considered by management, even if every single concern could not be accommodated.

What was originally planned to be training for a small pool of 10 to 15 project managers grew into a training initiative that covered over 200 project personnel. As the project managers attended training, they recommended that their team members attend as well. Personnel with responsibility for very small, one-person projects saw the methodology as an opportunity to practice proven techniques that could lead them to greater responsibilities in the future.

Those trained were, for the most part, enthusiastic about embracing the new methods. By obtaining the knowledge and tools to do effec tive project planning, they became more confident that they could develop a plan and commit to a realistic schedule and budget to meet their customers’ needs. The new approach also made them feel more professional — more capable of seeing the broad perspective associated with planning a project. Much like the general contractor building a house, they could understand how all the subtasks fit together, rather than seeing the much narrower view of a subcontractor.

CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS

Mutual Goals

The primary purpose of this tutorial has been to discuss how to go about effecting a culture change using a project management program as the tool to do so. For any such program to succeed, it must be based on clear, specific goals. Since culture is primarily a behavioral issue, to change the culture, one must change behavior.

Changing behavior is an extremely difficult endeavor. This is particularly true when the culture has been entrenched for an extended period of time. Of course, changing a culture does not necessarily imply that the existing culture is bad. Culture provides a framework for the effective operation of any enterprise. This statement is certainly true for most enterprises.

In the case being discussed, the culture had been in place for such a long period of time that an “entitlement” mentality had begun to develop. The same group had supported the same customer, the same way, using the same procedures such that it had begun to take the customer for granted — or at least that was the perception of the customer. Real or not, perception becomes reality.

For a culture change to take place in this kind of environment, it is necessary that both the customer and the IT organization have mutually agreed-to goals. In this case, the management of both parties wanted change.

For both the customer and the IT organization, predictability of results was an overriding goal. Due to the inconsistency of project management procedures and processes being used, it was very difficult to do effective budgeting and scheduling. Often, the success factor seemed to be primarily the skill of the individual project manager involved, rather than any well-defined process that was used on a regular basis.

One of the primary reasons that both parties were so interested in change was that their respective businesses had changed. The competitive environments for both had increased dramatically. Business costs had risen significantly; thus, profit margins were coming under increased scrutiny. Consistent, predictable results for IT projects were critical.

The customer’s major goal was to have a project management methodology that was standard, effective, and used across all IT projects and groups to achieve consistent project success. The IT organization’s primary goal was to develop a new culture that was based on a strong sense of urgency, the use of standard processes, accountability, and a focus on successful business results, such as consistently achieving budget and schedule targets, as well as technical excellence.

Discussions between the management of the customer and the IT organization revealed a commonality of goals and a desire to work together to achieve them. Thus, the foundation for a successful culture change effort was put in place.

Sponsorship

Once the goals for a culture change effort have been put in place, the next most critical task is to clearly identify the sponsors for the program. It must be clear that the appropriate levels of management of both parties are strongly behind the effort and actively involved in making it happen. Memos, e-mails, and statements of support are not sufficient. Active participation is the only approach that identifies to employees that the management team intends for the change to take place and is personally involved in making it happen.

In this case, the head of the IT organization where the project personnel reported made a personal appearance at each class. This person was able to reinforce the

importance of the new approach (and indirectly the new culture) by showing enough personal interest and advocacy to take time to address each group of students.

In addition, the new management team was given direction that their group’s compliance with the new approach would be used as a measure of their success. While they were given freedom to give input for improvement to the defined processes and training, expectations were clearly set for following the methodology once it was in place.

Reward and recognition played a part in the sponsorship effort as well. When customer ratings improved, and the new methodology was cited as the driver for that improved perception, several forms of recognition were used to reward both the methodology team that defined and deployed the process and the project teams who implemented it.

Employee Buy-in

The third, and perhaps most important, critical success factor in a culture change effort is employee buy -in. When these types of programs are attempted, this factor is the one that most often determines success or failure. Goals are necessary, as is sponsorship. Without the support of those who will actually use and implement the program, however, its chances of succeeding are minimal.

In this particular case, there were a number of actions taken in order to help ensure success. The first of these was the recruiting of a new management team. Senior managers with a wide range of experience in different companies and cultures were conscripted. Each was hired with the knowledge that a major effort to change the existing culture was going to be put in motion and they would be held responsible for implementing it.

Knowing they would be accountable for implementing the program was certainly important in ensuring success. More importantly, however, they were given the opportunity to help develop the program. When the training class was being developed, the management team was the pilot class. Their comments, criticisms, and suggestions for improvement were incorporated into the class in order for them to achieve a sense of ownership; thus, they felt that they were owners of the process.

The first class was taught to a select group of existing project managers. The intent was to gain their acceptance of the program and have them become the “thought leaders” for the effort. Additionally, they were given the opportunity to discuss how the processes and related training should be changed. Using their input, the team made modifications as needed.

Gaining support and acceptance of the new management team and allowing the employees to have a voice in the development and implementation of the overall program created employee buy -in. Consequently, the new approach became “business as usual.” As new employees joined the group, additional training classes were scheduled to assimilate them as quickly as possible into the organization and culture.

CONCLUSION

The major premise of this tutorial is that culture change in large, well-established enterprises is often needed and very difficult to accomplish. Combine that situation with the need for effective project management, and managers have a very difficult task. In the case presented by the authors, the enterprise recognized the need for a major culture change to reflect the changing business environment, and a corresponding need for a much more disciplined project management approach than what was being used. The enterprise combined these two needs into a year-long program that involved the development and implementation of a project management approach that was used as the driver to effect a major culture change. The most noteworthy measure of the success of this effort is that customer ratings of the IT organization went from barely adequate to excellent, and have been maintained over an extended period of time.