This is another topic on how to tackle common project management software implementation problems. Here is a golden one: what if there is a lack of project management or process discipline within your organization? In other words, things are very informal, they are not process-driven, things are very loose, and there is not much of any discipline to use project management processes much less a formal project management software tool?




This is a tough one. I think there are two sides to this coin. One side is that you have to get the process stuff down before implementing a tool. I agree with that in principle. If you don't have good processes, what good is a tool going to do? But there is another side of that worth considering. Sometimes, in reality, a tool can help be the driving force behind a move to instill more process and discipline in the organization. Let me float this out there. If you know your organization needs to improve, what is going to be more palatable to the organization? Instilling a lot of process and discipline, or implementing a software system? Process and discipline don't usually go over well, especially when there is no driver or accountability for them. But software can sometimes be more palatable. It's not quite as scary. But in implementing the software, you can use that as a driver to begin to instill some process.

That may sound a little far-fetched, but I have been thinking about those types of scenarios. Some organizations just aren't going to go out there and setup a lot of formalized processes and discipline. But they just may go for a project management software tool. If the tool is implemented in phases, with a focus on simple processes, and you take a baby step approach, before you know it you may just find yourself with a few more processes than you ever had before. The risk, of course, is that there will be zero adoption.

It is something to consider in my opinion. Ideally, you have processes setup and you implement a tool to support those processes with accountability. But sometimes in reality it doesn't work that way. So what should you if this is you, and you decide to do this? Take it slow. Don't try to accomplish too much. Set an easy attainable goal. Get people used to having the system around. Slowly add another easily attainable goal that is aligned with a process that needs to be implemented. Show lots of value. How does this make people's lives easier? Stay true to your culture. Be flexible and adjust as time goes on.

Agree or disagree? Email me at blog@teaminteractions.com.

One item that I would like to address is the people side of a project management software implementation. After all, it is the people who will make it successful or not - the people who are managing, using, training, implementing, and analyzing data from the software.



First, my apologies for the long delay in posts. Sometimes you have those crazy months and this last one was one of those. Last week I was at a conference and visiting clients. We were also a sponsor of the PMI chapters in Washington, DC and New York City (Manhattan). It was very interesting and a lot of fun. Thank you to those I personally met and talked with in those meetings. I hope that those of you in New York City had fun with our "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" presentation of EnterPlicity.

Now on to the people side of things. I am not going to convey my own information to you as much as pass on something that I read on this topic. There was a blog entry posted by Donald Seers yesterday on eWeek on Project Managers and whether or not they are too focused on technology and tasks vs. people. Project management software can be a great value-added tool to help an organization gain competitive advantage. I would almost go so far as to say that organizations in certain industries / markets need to have a tool such as this to stay competitive. I believe that gone are the days where late schedules, poor resource management, inefficient project management, etc. are acceptable. Too many organizations (aka competitors) are at least working towards getting past these obstacles. Most of these organizations are utilizing project management software. The successful organizations are marrying project management software with the right processes and discipline.

Which brings us to our point. The software in and of itself is not enough. You cannot just throw software out there and expect it to be successful and be adopted. There is both a process and a people side to it. We have talked in this blog about the importance of setting objectives, planning, training, buy-in, etc. to a successful implementation. You should also factor in the people side. You have to build relationships with people. Fundamentally those one on one relationships are really going to help (or hurt) your implementation effort.

Read the article by Donald Seers here:
http://blogs.eweek.com/careers/content001/leadership/are_project_managers_too_focused_on_technology.html

Donald references an article on CIO:
http://www.cio.com/article/502263/Project_Management_How_IT_and_Business_Relationships_Shape_Success?page=1