Managing a large scale IT Project or Program can be like being VP of Operations for a set time. You are leading a team from various departments. You create project plans from Business cases to reach goals within a given budget and timeline. You are affecting multiple business Process, developing a comprehensive blueprint, testing solutions and finally implementing the solution in a Production Environment.
In a nutshell, your responsibility as Project Manager is not only to enforce a strict Project Methodology but to also get the right people, to do the right thing, at the right time within a given scope and budget. Sounds simple? It’s not. BTW – Usually the people part is the hardest.
Using Various Project methodologies
There are two main Project Methodologies used for large scale IT projects. Waterfall and Agile.
Waterfall is what I have used often in SAP projects and it continues to be popular especially when the technology is mature. For example, SAP is a mature technology. Artificial Intelligence is not mature and also has many emergent uses. Waterfall has a “long” planning, blueprint and development phase. It’s usually in the testing phase that you start to see the results of all your teams hard work.
Agile is a newer methodology and has less phases and uses Prototyping and Sprints earlier in the Project to build a Pre-assembled solution. In my opinion, this is useful when implementing newer technologies. It can also be used on SAP projects. With Agile you don’t wait to see results during testing, you are prototyping earlier in the Project and building a Pre-assembled and visible solution. It allows the client to see results earlier (and requires close client collaboration) in the project and how the technology will add value to the business. Because newer technologies in the Digital Revolution (e.i: Artificial Intelligence) are harder to grasp (especially for the client), creating prototypes early is a good idea. The challenge is to make sure all these Pre-assembled solutions fit together to form a successful solution that fully integrates. It’s like assembling parts of a giant Lego Death Star only to find these assemblies do not fit together in the end. This can be a huge problem. Agile Project Manager Responsibilities are similar to a Waterfall PM. The main difference are Agile Scrum Masters who manage the daily scrums, sprint planning and other sprint team responsibilities.
As a Project Manager there are some fundamental basics for executing any IT project.
- You need a methodology and communicate it to the entire team. You do not necessarily have to use Waterfall or Agile depending on the scale of the project, but you will certainly require parts of the methodology.
- You need a place to track and store documentation (Microsoft SharePoint works well).
- You need a tool to track Issues, Risks, Changes (Microsoft Excel works well), and timelines (MS Project works well), while staying within scope and budget.
PM People skills and Competence
If I had to choose, people skills is more important that the methodology. As stated you need to get the right people, to do the right thing, at the right time. People includes the client, your team, stakeholders and executives. You need to communicate regularly, set meeting agendas and action items. All this requires patience, vision, the ability to motivate, inspire and the courage to escalate problems up to executives when required.
One serious error is when the client decides to use his own Project Manager and throws in one of his employees to run the project. How hard can it be? You just review the timeline and issues regularly and report them to your boss. To really plan and run a project well, you probably need to understand all of the above and have experience leading multiple projects. Throwing in an inexperienced employee to run a project is not a good idea. I’ve seen it fail terribly.
Projects can present an infinite number of complex problems and having a PM with strong integral thinking (connecting the dots to find a solution) and multiple skill-sets, goes a long, long way. For example, client executives can enforce their will to drastically change the schedule, forcing you to find a creative solution for the problems this causes. Projects are not that simple.
There is no killer methodology. Each one works well but always consider the maturity of the technology being implemented.
Planning and successfully executing a complex IT Projects as a Project Manager is an incredibly satisfying career – if you dare to jump in.
Terry Vermeylen is a Senior Project Manager, Business Optimization expert, and SAP and Supply Chain specialist that has advised the US Navy, spoken at conferences, lost his soul a few times, and inspired teams to the point that they want to hug him.