Project Management
Now that you have selected a supplier it’s time to cross the threshold and execute the plan - but it’s only from this point onwards will you fully understand the critical importance of project management and governance structures in delivering a complex digital project.
These type of digital projects are often lengthy and time consuming involving the unfolding phases of supplier discovery, requirements sign off, build, staff training, user acceptance testing, go-live and after care support. What makes matters even more complicated is that your requirements and the suppliers proposed solution are likely to change and evolve during the project.
So at the outset you will need to put in place an experienced Project Manager supported by an Executive Steering Group to ensure that the project stays on track and avoids project drift. Equally you will also need to ensure that the necessary levels of support are available from the entire organisation so that they can effectively play their part in a successful outcome.
However, there is one critical consideration that will affect the outcome of the project more than any other factor - how will you resource the key role of Project Manager? Will you divert some of your existing personnel to manage the project, recruit a dedicated project manager or will you need to bring in some external project management to help? This is always a difficult judgement to make as there are so many unknown and unquantifiable criteria to assess regarding costs, risks and benefits.
To help you consider all these issues we have outlined below some of the key questions that are likely to be posed by the CEO/Senior Management Team, your staff and the supplier.
CEO/SMT questions
How long is the project likely to take - and how much flexibility do we need to build into the supplier’s estimated delivery date?
What are the assumptions and the plans regarding the amount and type of internal resource required to deliver the project?
Will the amount of required resourcing across the organisation significantly change for each phase of the project?
How do we ensure that we put in place organisational stamina and resilience to see the project through?
How much resource is required for the Executive Steering Group, Project Management, and departments undertaking the user acceptance testing?
Do we have any internal resource that has experience and expertise in project management for a long and complex digital projects?
Does the Project Manager have sufficient seniority, authority and digital expertise to effectively progress the project at all stages?
Is it possible to provide personnel with project management training so that they can successfully undertake the project?
If we divert internal resource to project management, what are the likely impacts to the organisation? What are the consequences for any non-delivery of their job function?
What would be the cost/benefit of using an external project manager for the duration the project?
How should we constitute the Project Governance Group? What are the key milestones, deliverables etc that need to be measured by the Executive Steering Group?
Staff Questions
Will the project manager accurately reflect the needs and requirements of my department?
When and how will my department be required to migrate data to the new system?
When and how will my department be involved in user testing?
What training will I receive on the new system?
How do we feed back problems/issues directly to the supplier?
How will my involvement affect my ability to perform my normal job function?
Will the user documentation be tailored specifically to the requirements of my department?
What will happen to my job once the new system is in place?
Supplier questions
Does the client have a dedicated, professional project manager in place to orchestrate the implementation of the project plan?
Has a sound and reliable project governance structure been set up to oversee the project and help resolve any issues?
What type of Account Management/Account Direction resources do we need to place for the organisation?
What level of confidence do we have about the level of digital competence within the organisation?
How do we escalate problems/issues to the organisations senior management?
Ben Sturt's Viewpoint
Digital projects take a year or two to implement so you are about to commit a lot of time, money and resource to fundamentally change the way your organisation operates. It can often be a bumpy ride with highs and lows and plenty of organisational anguish over an extended period.
However, there is one sure way to minimise the anguish - from the outset you need to appoint a professional, experienced, dedicated, senior level Project Manager preferably with digital expertise and knowledge of the membership sector.
As a rough guide the Project Manager will, on average, need to spend about 40% of their working week dedicated to the task. So what are the options?
Most membership organisations do not have experienced Project Managers in their team and I can assure you that assigning or training personnel to undertake this task is a generally problematic. They will not be able to focus on either the project or on their core function and they are unlikely to have sufficient seniority or digital knowledge.
Yes, it’s possible to recruit an external Project Manager but it’s only a part time role - and how will you re-deploy the person after go-live?
It will come as no surprise that I recommend using the Project Management services of consultancies that serve the membership sector. The advantages are numerous:
- Consultancies have dedicated, professional Project Managers that are highly experienced and can operate at a very senior level
- They combine wide ranging knowledge of the membership sector and can offer digital expertise, business analyst skills and prior expertise in managing digital suppliers
- They provide a highly efficient and adaptable resourcing solution - you only pay for the time spent on the project
- You can have confidence that this calibre of Project Manager will provide assurance to both your organisation and to your supplier.
Yes, it’s an additional cost but you have a much better chance of a controlled, on budget, on time project rather than the additional costs and time delays associated with project drift and project creep.
If you’d like to discuss what you have read above, or learn more, then please contact the author, Ben Sturt, founder and lead consultant at Chrysalis Digital at [email protected] or +447469 768 990 or his colleague David Darrah, Business Development Director at [email protected].
