Disciplined Program Management

General Dynamics CIO shares his key principles, one of which is delivering through disciplined processes of program management ...

... "Discipline flows from putting formal structures in place to initiate, monitor, and evaluate programs. It can be as simple as having frequent, scheduled meetings ... " ...

Via ExecutiveBiz Blog: CIO Woody Hall

Scalable Project Discipline

Should we classify projects by size and scale project discipline using size (cost / effort) as the meter for project discipline? I've seen that more often, since investment size (cost / effort) at risk warrants discipline to improve likelihood of success.

But how about situations when various size projects (including small ones) are critical to business success and either time or quality of the deliverable is the key business driver. Business critical projects are worthy of a disciplined method of delivery.

Or, should we ignore size, etc. and achieve a level of PMO maturity that operates at such an efficient level of productivity and project volume throughput that the project management discipline is optimal across the full portfolio?

What do you think? ...

... "there must be a dividing line between projects that are complex and critical enough to require a full, rigorous methodology, and those projects that are simple and routine enough to be managed with minimal project overhead. The question is: Where is that line? " ...

Via TechRepublic: Project size classification determines rigor

Improving Sales Process

Insights into bringing discipline and predictability to the sales process, an area where IT systems struggle to deliver sustainable value. Just like a project needs controls, so too does the selling process. ...

... "After improving their qualification criteria, one company dramatically improved their close ratio. After a client's salespeople actually scored their prospects using their qualification criteria, I hired a statistician to analyze it. The results were amazing. When we got salespeople at another company to change the sequence they used for demos and proposals, sales costs went town, close ratios went up. " ...

Via Six Sigma Selling: Production Control for Sales

PMO Increases Project Success Rate

The project management office adds value through consistent methods and discipline to increase the success rate of the project portfolio. ...

... "Board executives often approve IT projects without fully understanding them which is why organizations need to establish a Project Management Office (PMO) ... " ...

Via Computerworld Australia: Project Transparency