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168 views2 pages

The Simple PMO

About PMO

Uploaded by

amitprakash01
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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4/29/13

The Simple PMO: Project Management Case Study. Day 1

Make projects less stressful, more successful.


About The Simple PMO

About Michael

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What I'm reading...

What is a PMO?

Tuesday, Novem ber 15, 2011

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Project Management Case Study. Day 1


My past posts have covered a lot of ground and I think it's time that they were organized around a
narrative. Starting today, and through next week, I am creating a fictionalized case study that ties
together all of the elements of a Simple PMO.
Our fictional company for this case is TrailManage, Inc. TrailManage, or "TM," creates both
software and hardware technologies for long distance hikers. The company has 2 offices in the
US, one in Virginia and one in Utah, and a new development office in Pune, India. There are about
150 people in the company and it grows at around 40% each year. The demand for software and
hardware technologies for long distance hiker is at a blistering 60% growth rate each year, and
several lower priced competitors have entered the market. The company's senior management
recently decided to launch 3 new projects within the next year. This is ambitious as the company
has also decided to not increase its annual growth, but maintain the existing 40% pace. They
announced this at a recent all-hands meeting.

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As a consultant, Michael
Lyman (PMP, CSM) works
on software development
lifecycle management
and infrastructure
programs and projects
around the world.
Please get in touch!

Follow @sim plepm o


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[email protected]

The company has no Program or Project Managers. Jenny Lodge is the company's IT Director.
She has 3 people on her staff, one in each of the company's offices.
Interesting to Executing

Jenny and 2 other department heads asked the senior management to create a list of strategic
goals and objectives. This list, they said, would provide more specific strategic guidance to all the
teams than what was announced at the all-hands meeting. Senior management was reluctant to
create a list, but the department heads were very insistent. The department heads helped by
developing a straw-man list and bringing senior management together to make changes and
approve. After 3 weeks, the team published the following strategic list for the year.

My new booklet on using Scrum and


JIRA/Greenhopper for project planning and
execution, is available now.

1. Maintain market dominance in the long distance hiker hardware/software market by adding
3 new products to the company's core offering in Q1, Q2 and Q4.
2. Increase revenue by 60% to $32M by end of Q4.
3. Maintain a corporate expenditures at 40% CAGR, or $25M, over the next year by being
dramatically more efficient in everything we do.
4. Promote learning as a core competency of all staff at TM world-wide. Especially, ensure
that all employees of TM are well-versed in all of the products that the company sells so
they can promote our products where ever they may be.
5. Continue our culture centered around teamwork and the willingness to "get the job done."
With such fast growth, including a new team located in India, and new strategic goals that require
learning, teamwork, and in-depth understanding of all products from all employees, Jenny has
decided that then company would really benefit from an LMS (Learning Management System)
which would provide information from different departments (HR, DEV, Sales, etc), pull in data from
various social media tools, pull in documentation from the DEV teams, and become the central
repository for product management's documentation and tools.
Jenny mentions this idea to her boss, Tom Biner, VP of Operations, who likes the concept but
can't quite visualize exactly what Jenny means. He wants to present the idea at the next Senior
Management team meeting, but it needs more work. He asks Jenny to do the following:'
1. Work with other departments to understand what the company needs and define those
needs as specifically as possible.
2. As best as possible, describe what the end-result of a system like this would do and how it
would benefit the company. If possible, make some projections about cost savings,
revenue, or efficiency.
3. Define the high-level requirements for this project.
4. Provide a high-level scheduled for when the project could be ready.

Both Scrum and Lean use continual feedback


loops to improve content and quality, so
please feel free to leave any and all
comments on the booklet's comment page.
You can purchase the booklet for $4.99
through Paypal. See the Interesting to
Executing blog post for more details.

Note: after you place the PayPal order, on


your receipt page, click on "Return to The
Simple PMO." This link will take you to the
booklet.

5. Provide a high-level budget for the project.


6. Describe any known risks that could affect the project's success, and give a response to
each risk (for example, how can the senior management team work to minimize the risk).
The next management meeting is next week, so Jenny gets to work. There isn't really enough
time for her to call a large meeting with all the department heads, so Jenny starts walking around

www.thesimplepmo.com/2011/11/case-study-day-1.html

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4/29/13

The Simple PMO: Project Management Case Study. Day 1


the office and calling the managers in Utah and Pune. Everyone likes the idea, but they're still
confused about what Jenny means. The first thing to do, Jenny realizes, is clearly explain what
she's thinking.
Tomorrow: Jenny's project begins.
Posted by Michael Lyman at 6:30 AM
Recommend this on Google
Labels: Case Study 1

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