Organisational Context 1: Corporates

I think it is interesting to reflect upon the organisational context in which project management occurs, the project culture. In the first of a series on project management contexts, here are some notes on the characteristics of project management in big organisations, e.g. multi-nationals, big banks, major telcos, big utilities.

• All projects follow a standard lifecycle. Is this a good thing? The implication is that the organisation believes it is appropriate for all projects to go through the same stages. A third-party project management method, e.g. PRINCE2, is often partially adopted or used as the basis for the in-house lifecycle. ( In reality, many organisations are “PINO” organisations – Prince In Name Only.) PRINCE2 includes the very useful stage "define project stages", this is often the first part of PRINCE2 dropped in corporates.
  

• A team of people exists creating and developing standardised templates for deliverables in a standardised project lifecycle. Often there is more than one team of people doing this e.g. for general projects, for IT projects, for property projects, etc. The people involved will maintain that there is great need for projects for different divisions and head office functions to have their own process. I think this is at odds with the first point, but it is common practice.
  
  
• There are numerous project manager-like roles such as business project manager, IT project manager, senior project manager, project leader, project portfolio manager, delivery manager, work-stream/package leader/manager. The individuals involved sometimes place great importance on the distinction between their roles, and at other times claim that any distinctions are meaningless.
  
  
• Aspects of project management are fragmented; it is not uncommon to find, for example, project accountants, implementation managers and project planners to whom aspects of project management are customarily delegated.
  
  
• There are usually several PMO or PSO functions providing support on project processes and cajoling project managers to deliver reports on time. Some people in these firms enjoy debating the differences between a Project Management Office and a Project Support Office claiming the differences are obvious. Some people will often talk, in hushed tones, of creating a “true” PSO or PMO, implying that current or planned PSOs or PMOs are false, or at least somehow not bonafide.
  
  
• From time to time, big organisations get completely fed-up with their in-house project managers and freelancers. They chuck out the freelancers and hand the whole lot over to a large management consultancy until, after a period of time usually longer than planned, they get fed up with the consultants and realise they have run out of cash. Eventually, like a collection of disparate migratory birds, the freelancers return to cheer up the demoralised staff. In all large organisations this process is cyclical.
  
  
• There is often an unstated assumption that project managers in large organisations know how to successfully navigate the organisation's project management method (see point 1). In my experience, and the experience of many great project managers I have known, project managers often have a nagging doubt that sooner or later someone is going to pick them up for not having done something which should have been obvious Sometimes this nagging doubt can turn into a general background of anxiety.
  
  
• Project Managers in large organisations have to contend with the make-believe paradigm of the internal market. More on that in another blog post.
  
  
• Project benefits, that is to say, the measurable outcomes delivered by the project, upon which the investment in the project was signed-off are often troublesome. Periodically, organisations tackle Benefits Management and when they get it right, it seems as if all projects are given a new sense of purpose. Unfortunately it rarely lasts long. Many projects excuse themselves from tackling benefits by describing themselves as “enabling projects”. Some organisation's internal project management gurus neatly side-step the issue all together by insisting that benefits aren't part of projects.

At the risk of sounding cynical, I have frequently observed that the success of an internal, corporate project is often not measured by the quality, timeliness and value of its deliverables, but by the extent of its compliance with the organisations standardised project process.

Next in Project Culture – notes on mid-sized professional services firms.