“Fewer, More Successful Projects”: The New HP
I had to laugh at the headline from Manufacturing Business Technology:
Focus on Innovation: HP expects restructured labs to produce fewer, more successful projects
MBT went on to say, in an almost sad way, that HP consolidated its research to focus on 20 to 30 large research projects from about 150, with, lo and behold, a strategy focused on five areas.
Those of you who read projectmanagement411 know that the first thing you do when you attempt to control projects is a project inventory. The next is to see if the projects align with strategies of the company. Because, guess what, you aren’t going to execute any of those strategies if you don’t focus on projects that serve them. The result is less projects, better management of resources, and a strategy execution environment.
The article ended with saying that HP returned to it’s roots. I think HP returned to being a well managed company again.
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A while ago, I was a bidder on fair sized contract with a specialized mfr. They had a BIG IT plan, SAP, SCN, you name it. They were hostage to their IT man, he had them seduced and bought in to the tune of 30 projects (none fully implemented) and 400K in licenses (way more than a company this size needs in a Webbiz20 services era).
I did not get the big, because I spoke the truth – but somehow, I think that my honesty will get me back in. Here is what I said while trying to get this seven figure (career high for me) 18 month re engineering project:
“Dear Colleagues, you have over 30 individual related and unrelated integration and installation projects….I ask you to total the months and items of completion for a figure of merit?”
Silence. Then the excuses from the people running the project, then well, Wilensky, what would you do about it?
“I am glad you asked. Cut at least 75% of the unfinished projects, make what you have work in 90 days or less, and move to hosted CRM and billing”.
Then, after I delivered the print out of my analysis, I met the CIO in private:
“This IT manager is on SAP’s take, or he is just bleeding this company for sport; get rid of him and save at least one million dollars.”
“I dont expect you to hire me, but I will be around if you need me. And, one more thing:
There was a mystical philosopher named Gurdjieff who founded worldwide movement post WW1, he had a saying, “If you can make a piar of Boots well, you can do anything.”
“Your company can’t finish one project and the consultants and internal IT steering towards these complex packages are making the excuses seem plausible”.
Hi Alan- as always, love your examples. This is very typical in my experience. Hopefully, you opened some eyes above the CIO also. This points directly to the need to get a PMO operating OUTSIDE of the purview of the IT folks. There are just too many factors that support such a multi-project result when IT is guarding the henhouse. Thanks for your comments.