Project Management Best Practice
Project Management Best Practice (s) are foundational in Best In Class organizations and provide a progressive approach to execution and measurement.
Project Description
Develop a cutting-edge project manage life cycle training for a global audience of project managers, engineers, and project support resources based on the organizations internally developed life cycle and project management office. Project Peer Reviews, Lessons Learned, and Benchmarking Analysis would form the core of ongoing process and practice refinements.
Client
The client was a Capital Projects PMO of a leading global pharmaceutical organization with a capital project portfolio in North and South America and throughout Europe and Asia.
Challenge
The Capital Projects – Project Management Office had been recently developed along with a formalized capital project management life cycle. Initially our scope of work was to develop a detailed best practice training based on the client’s life cycle and deliver it throughout the global PM environment. As with any global organization and especially with a senior PM and engineering-centric audience, cultural resistance and reticence to change would have to be artfully acknowledged and systematically overcome.
Solution
Intentionally steering way from a 3-day lecture-based training, we worked closely with senior leaders of the Global PMO to develop detailed case studies using actual capital project scenarios to fully illustrate the life cycle’s best practices and work hands-on with global colleagues using the supportive tools and practices. Based on the first year’s rollout, lessons learned, project reviews, and the results of a formal industry benchmarking analysis, we would revisit and refine the overall life cycle and best practices as required.
Benefits
After a one-year long training cycle, 20+ detailed project peer reviews, benchmarking sessions, and multiple global PM conferences (internal), the organization had achieved the following tangible and enterprise wide benefits.
• Implementation and cultural acceptance of a globally benchmarked and industry recognized “best in class” capital project life cycle / methodology
• Global adoption of Front End Loading principles as the foundation of their engineering/project management practices
• Rapid assessment and turn-around of multiple business critical projects that were in distress and in danger of failure
• Implementation of global project technical procurement program saving millions in its first year
• Marked increases in individual project ROI and IRR
• Implementation of a Value Improvement Practices that focused on early understanding of the project’s design basis and detailed technical cognizance
• Internal validation of the Global PMO as a service-based entity and a practical partner in overall Project Governance