Project Management - Case Study 3

The Client Need: Establish an internal environment and process where successful project management can occur.

Insurance companies have a reputation for being so methodical and well-organized that we tend to think of them as staid. But life in the IT department of this carrier was a helter-skelter of conflicting demands, limited resources, and projects that failed to fulfill objectives, deadlines, budgets, or all three. High-priority strategic initiatives for management fell into the chaos and fought with less-critical needs for attention and resources. Staff members struggled to communicate with one another, and rarely had ready answers for executive questions.

At management's request, we studied the department to identify the flaws and develop practical strategies for improvement. It was clear that the project management and software development processes were unstructured and inadequate, which was compounded by a lack of project management experience on the part of the staff. Without a sound framework, there were significant inconsistencies between projects. Additionally, projects were pursued independently, without much thought given to their interrelationship with other projects that were underway.

Recognizing that staff members had the skills to meet the insurer's needs - and that they shared management's frustration with the way things had been going - we focused on developing both a framework and tools that would allow them to succeed.

We assembled a standard project management framework built upon blueprints of practical processes, incorporating awareness of how each project dovetailed with others and aligned with the company's strategic goals. Given the staff's comfort level with technology, we identified and implemented tools that simplified scheduling and information-sharing. We trained the project managers to ensure that they could get the greatest utility from the framework and tools, and taught staff members how to work more effectively with the project managers.

To strength executive-level confidence in the department's enhanced project management skills, we developed dashboards that summarized the scope and schedule of projects. We built an issues-management framework that boosted executive understanding of issues and problems, and helped them envision an escalation path.

By building a project office within the department, we helped the staff professionalize and optimize its operations. As the department began to operate within the project management framework, schedules and delivery dates became clearer. Predictability of project success became more well-defined, the quality of deliverables improved, and budgets became more realistic. Critical projects were completed successfully, on time and on budget - and years after our intervention, management reports that processes continue to improve.