The Complete PMO

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The Complete PMO

• Chapter 16 - Project Recovery

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Please Note that the following Slide text is
derived from the content in The Complete Project
Management Handbook by Gerald Hill
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Project Recovery

• Project recovery implies the existence of
  variations in project performance significant
  enough to warrant that the PMO and senior
  management examine processes and practices
  contributing to problems encountered by project
  managers.

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PMO Project Recovery Responsibility

• The PMO develops/influences project recovery
  actions within the PM environment.
• Distinguish between routine project corrective
  actions and defined project recovery efforts.
• Specify composition/attributes of project
  recovery teams.
• Prescribe criteria/process for implementing
  project recovery efforts.
• Build a library of project corrective actions for
  use by project managers.

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Project Recovery Activities Across the PMO
Continuum
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Project Recovery Activities across the PMO
Continuum

• The PMO serves as the focal point for identifying
  problems and prescribing/implementing remedies to
  correct troubled projects.
• Project Office Uses established criteria to
  identify project problems/issues/difficulties and
  applies standard remedies to performance
  variations until the PMO or senior management
  elevates the problems to a higher-level review.
• Mid-range PMO Establishes a fundamental to
  advanced capability for defining what constitutes
  a troubled project and specifying criteria to
  deal with them i.e. form qualified project
  recovery teams, processes to assess/rectify
  encountered problems, evaluating project recovery
  intervention effectiveness, and tools to manage
  project recovery efforts.
• Center of Excellence Analyzes the use and
  effectiveness of project recovery processes to
  develop better indicators for troubled projects
  and better solutions encountered problems within
  the relevant organization.

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Project Recovery Function Model
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Develop Recovery Assessment Process
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Identify Recovery Indicators

• The PMOs awareness of the relevant
  organization's culture, nature of projects, and
  business interests helps it establish an
  effective project recovery approach that includes
  evaluating/prescribing indicators to use in
  defining troubled projects in the relevant
  organization.
• Scope Indicators.
• Alignment of project plans with official scope
  changes.
• Variation in stakeholder versions of the scope
  statement.
• Frequency and cause of project scope changes.
• Cost Indicators.
• Variation in planned versus actual cost.
• Reliability of cost estimates.
• Schedule Indicators.
• Variation in planned versus actual schedule.

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Assess Project and Identify Problem Areas

• The PMO collaborates with the project recovery
  team to examine project performance to assess
  project recovery.
• Assess Application of the Current PM Methodology.
• Timely and accurate achievement of key PM
  planning deliverables.
• Project definition (requirements, scope,
  objectives, deliverables, etc.).
• Project charter (project management authority,
  funding, etc.)
• Project work breakdown structure (WBS) and work
  plan (cost, schedule, and resource utilization).
• Resource responsibility matrix (requirements,
  competency level, tasks, etc.).
• Adjunct project plans (risk, quality,
  communication, etc.).
• Timely and accurate achievement of key PM
  execution deliverables.
• Project team formation and management activities.

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Assess Project and Identify Problem Areas -
Continued

• Assess the Current Project Management Support
  Structure.
• Executive and senior management participation and
  support.
• Business unit involvement and support activities.
• PMO involvement and support activities.
• Accomplishment of required training for project
  team members.
• Availability, assignment, and use of project
  management and technical tools.
• Availability, assignment, and use of technical
  equipment and new technology.
• Functional alignment of project team (resource
  manager implications).
• Assess the Current Business Interests and Issues.
• Project priority (e.g., business importance,
  internal visibility, customer retention).

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Assess Project and Identify Problem Areas -
Continued

• Assess the Current Project Work Plan.
• Project scope and WBS.
• Initial validation of project scope with the
  customer.
• Formal documentation and collaboration of project
  scope changes.
• Frequency of project scope changes.
• Occurrence of scope creep outside of a formal
  change-management process.
• Identification of internal and external events
  affecting scope change.
• Customer decisions, indecision, and unilateral
  changes in requirements.
• Incidental influence (expansion or reduction) of
  project team on work efforts.
• Scope representation in the WBS (e.g., work-flow
  gaps, critical activities, etc.).

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Assess Project and Identify Problem Areas -
Continued

• Assess the Current Project Team and Key
  Stakeholders.
• Project manager.
• Workload.
• Competence and experience relative to project
  size, type, value, etc.
• Technical skill and capability to provide
  technical oversight.
• Authority and control (e.g., excessive or
  insufficient).
• Response to business guidance.
• Personality and professional behavior
  constraints.
• Project team.
• Workload.

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Prepare Recovery Decision Package

• The PMO constructs a standard document and
  approach to the project recovery decision.
• Project recovery assessment activities.
• Assessment team composition.
• Identification of areas of project performance
  examined.
• Overview (statement) of assessment findings.
• Statement of project condition.
• Project performance problems and their root
  causes.
• Impacts of project performance problems (i.e.,
  business, industry, customer, etc.).
• Project performance improvement actions needed to
  achieve project success.
• Project recovery recommendation.

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Coordinate Project Recovery Decision

• The PMO collaborates with key person in the
  business environment to coordinate project
  recovery decisions within the PM environment.
• Project manager and project sponsor.
• Project team members.
• Vendor and contractor engagement managers.
• Customer engagement manager.
• Business unit representative.
• Resource managers.
• Other project managers.

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Plan and Conduct Project Recovery
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Establish Project Recovery Team

• The PMO defines project recovery team
  roles/responsibilities as the basis for convening
  a project recovery team.
• Senior Management.
• Fund the project recovery effort.
• Allocate new/additional resources required for
  the project recovery effort.
• Adjust project portfolio priorities and decisions
  to accommodate project recovery.
• Evaluate impacts on other projects resulting from
  project recovery needs.
• Reassign key project professionals.
• Review strategic business interests affected by
  project recovery actions.
• Participate in project recovery status reviews
  and updates.
• Facilitate PMO development/implementation of
  process guidance in the PM environment to avoid
  recurring project recovery needs.

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Establish Project Recovery Team - Continued

• Project Recovery Manager Serves as the new
  project manager during the project recovery
  period and possibly the remaining duration of the
  project.
• Gain early awareness of the project condition
• Review project recovery decision package.
• Review viable project planning documents.
• Review viable project tracking documents and
  reports.
• Manage project recovery team formation.
• Inform current project team members of approach
  to project recovery.
• Select new project recovery facilitators and core
  managers.
• Introduce/integrate current/new project team
  members.
• Establish guidance and responsibilities for
  operating in project recovery mode.

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Establish Project Recovery Team - Continued

• Project Team Members Combines original project
  team members with selected team members who
  facilitate project recovery efforts.
• Recognize the effort as one of project recovery
  and business importance.
• Advise the project recovery manager in areas of
  professional and technical expertise.
• Conduct/communicate risk management activities in
  areas of responsibility.
• Provide frequent and timely project status
  reports.
• Perform assigned project tasks in a timely
  manner.
• Collaborate with the project recovery manager on
  issues/problems.
• Vendors and Contractors.
• Customers.
• Review/concur with the recovery plan.

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Develop Project Recovery Plan

• The PMO facilitates creating a project recovery
  plan that demonstrates the commitment of the
  relevant organization to recovering the project.
• Revised project work plan.
• Work breakdown structure Incorporates tasks and
  actions to rectify adverse findings and implement
  prescribed solutions.
• Cost Re-estimated project cost figures.
• Schedule Re-estimated project timelines.
• Resource utilization Re-estimated project
  resource utilization requirements.
• Updated project risk management plan.
• Preparation of a new plan to address the elements
  of the revised project work plan.
• Specifies general risk management
  responsibilities of all project team members and
  specific responsibilities of team members
  assigned to the project recovery team.
• Identifies increased frequency for conducting
  project risk reviews and reporting of results to
  the project recovery manager.

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Develop Project Recovery Plan - Continued

• Revised project communication plan.
• Enhances close collaboration of plans/progress
  among project team members and other
  stakeholders.
• Outlines the roles/responsibilities of the
  project recovery manager and new participants on
  the project recovery team.
• Presents revised requirements for reporting
  project status to senior management.
• Highlights adjusted thresholds for reporting
  cost, schedule, and resource utilization
  variations and elevating issues/problems
  encountered.
• Reiterates the required change-control process
  and provides guidance for coordinating/distributin
  g revised project plans, technical documents, and
  other documents.
• Possible additional project recovery guidance
  plan.
• Customer relationship management plan.
• Internal incident (rumor) control plan.
• Public information and media management plan.

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Stabilize Project Using Recovery Solution

• The PMO monitors the performance of the project
  recovery work plan to enable the project recovery
  team to implement the revised/refined project
  solution to reestablish control and stabilize the
  project.
• Recovery solution implementation.
• Stakeholder communication management.
• Project tracking and controlling.
• Cost tracking and controlling.
• Schedule tracking and controlling.
• Resource utilization tracking and controlling.
• Change management Changes to project scope,
  plans, specifications, and customer
  contracts/agreements are closely monitored and
  strictly controlled.
• Request Specify details of a needed change in a
  project-change request.
• Analyze Needs/benefits/impacts of the change
  request.

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Conclude Project Recovery

• The PMO develops a process that specifies
  indicators to determine when project recovery
  concludes and the project transitions back to
  normal operations i.e. a stabilized project with
  PM indicators under control.
• Compile recovery project data.
• Prepare project analysis and recommendation
  report.
• Specify transition activities.
• Specify review/coordination/approval activities.
• Design project manager (project recovery manager,
  new project manager, or original project
  manager).
• Disperse project recovery team (.
• Re-designate project team roles/responsibilities.
• Designate approach to project recovery document
  and material collection.
• Specify planned internal information
  announcements.

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Capture Recovery Lessons Learned
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Examine PM Indicators

• The PMO facilitates information
  collection/analysis for lessons learned from
  project recovery by examining the project
  recovery assessment reports to establish an
  approach to monitor PM indicators during the
  recovery effort.
• Validate current PM project performance
  indicators and criteria.
• Recommend current PM project performance
  indicators and criteria need to be modified.

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Examine Project Selection Criteria

• The PMO examines the project selection process to
  determine if indicators and criteria precluded
  selecting the troubled project i.e. insufficient
  business case for project selection or negative
  impacts of associated resource allocation.

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Examine Project Recovery Process

• The PMO reviews the current project recovery
  process relative to the completed recovery effort
  to determine the effectiveness of the process and
  if it contributed to PM difficulties during the
  project recovery effort.
• Project recovery process utilization Project
  recovery team member access/use of project
  recovery methods.
• Process availability.
• Process familiarity.
• Process applicability.
• Project recovery process effectiveness.
• Project recovery participants roles.
• Description of procedures and activities for
  project recovery.
• Management tools and templates for project
  recovery.
• Project recovery support Adequacy of guidance
  to obtain technical/business support during
  project recovery.

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Update Routine Project Recovery Remedies

• The PMO uses lessons learned during project
  recovery to initiate corrective actions to apply
  to project recovery and routine PM efforts.