Getting to grips with your project pipeline
5 tips to help secure year on year benefits
It is not uncommon for organisations, and even departments within organisations, to be running hundreds or even thousands of projects at any one time. Common examples include:
- Projects in engineering and manufacturing
- Research and development projects in the pharmaceutical industry
- Software and hardware development projects
The task of the central management team is not an enviable one. Projects can be of varying size, complexity and budgetary requirements and each one will be at a different stage, anywhere from project evaluation, inception to completion. Thus, managing and prioritising projects on this scale requires much information. And even if the management team have a centralised pipeline management tool in place, chances are that the information present within the system only reflects the reality to a certain extent.
But the benefits of a properly managed pipeline are immense. A unified approach to project management can increase the visibility of projects, enabling accurate reporting and forecasting, warning of major issues and highlighting projects that are no longer viable. This prioritization and purging of the pipeline can ensure that the limited resources of organisations are put to the best use. This in turn can lead to year on year benefits as the pipeline activity is carefully tuned to give the most bang for your buck.
In principal this sounds great. After all, what could be more difficult than ensuring projects in the pipeline are managed in a consistent way? In practice, however, getting to a point where pipeline management and prioritization becomes a reality that delivers the goods is far more difficult. But there are some activities that can really help to achieve this.
1. Categorise projects
Treating all projects the same is one of the most common mistakes. Projects can vary greatly in size and complexity and the cost of running them can run from thousands to millions. If in the first instance, projects are not categorised in any way at all then much management time and effort can be wasted on projects that deliver little value.
- Use appropriate categories from bucketing project, be that by revenue or capital expenditure, benefits, risk level, geography or some other measure of complexity
- Often, a small number of projects are earmarked for the lion’s share of the overall budget. Ensure that these projects are carefully monitored
- Focus management time on the high priority projects and ensure that expensive projects that are no longer required are quickly stopped
At the end of the day, each project should have a cost to benefit ratio that is worth the effort of completing the project.
2. Roll out processes that are fit for purpose
Once projects are categorised, it is important to put in place processes that are suitable for each project category. For example, projects that have a thousand pound budget do not need as much governance as a million pound project. Using a ‘one size fits all’ process can lead to disaster when it comes to implementation. Smaller project teams will just reject the onerous processes required from them.
- Clearly design and communicate the requirements for each category of projects
- Ensure that the reporting time commitment placed on teams is appropriate to their level of project
- Involve various project teams in the design phase of the processes and run pilot schemes with them
3. Up-skill your people
The largest barrier to successfully managing pipelines is ensuring that people are using the systems and processes as required. This is not just a matter of training individuals but also of communicating effectively and creating a culture in the organisation that directly support the management of projects in a particular way. Many organisations forget that this is not an activity that only happens once. There needs to be a coherent plan in place to ensure that skills and knowledge are not lost over time.
- Train individuals to become trainers so that the skills trickle down the organisation
- Drive project team ownership
- Outline handover processes
4. Ensure everyone is on the same page
With all the best intentions in the world, it is very difficult to manage a pipeline of projects if up-to-date project information is not available. This often does not come down to not having a common system in place, but actually to a lack in the quality and timing of the reporting information. Implementing successful processes for reporting is just as important as the system itself.
- Make reporting accountabilities and timelines clear
- Encourage a culture that supports the processes
- Take feedback from project teams on an ongoing basis to ensure that the processes in place still make sense
5. Effectively use the information
The one thing that really puts project teams off co-operating is if they feel that the information is not used. It is important to let project teams know that their efforts are appreciated and also what kind of decisions have been enabled due to their co-operation. Communicating these benefits can have a real positive impact on project teams.
- Regularly communicate success stories
- Encourage two-way communication with project teams
- Develop systems and processes as you receive feedback to ensure that they continue to be fit for purpose
At the end of the day, it actually all boils down to improving communication at all levels and ensuring that all activities are aligned for the greater good of the organisation.