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This year’s Gartner Symposium/ITxpo was focused on the theme, “Transitions, New
Realities, Rules and Opportunities”. This report offers an overview of what was on
attendees’ minds and what they learned from Gartner analysts and one another.
Key TaKeaways
The attendees of the Program and Portfolio Management (PPM) track at Gartner Symposium/ITxpo were intensely focused on the need to deliver real-world results. Key concerns included:
• Projects: Enterprises have fewer people doing more work, and they need to figure out what they can deliver in a timely way. Instead of aligning 10 projects, which may take a year or more to complete, it’s better to focus on three or four that can be delivered quickly and structure them into smaller pieces so that results can be demonstrated more frequently.
• People: People, not processes, drive success. Many enterprises have no plans to replace those who left during the economic downturn, so the employees who remain need to lead in their roles and work together with flexibility toward common goals in an uncertain external climate.
• Marketplace: Volatility, as always, creates uncertainty. Approaches to work that enable organizations to make rapid and ongoing adjustments can be hard to reconcile with traditional PPM approaches.
Conference Highlights
The PPM track featured several compelling sessions, including the following:
The Emerging Enterprise Program Management Office
The enterprise program management office (EPMO) — an organization that moves beyond traditional IT portfolio management to align with mission-critical business objectives — is one of the most important trends in PPM today. Many factors are driving this trend, one of the most significant being the need to merge technology and business process projects under the same organization. A strategic EPMO bridges the gaps between tactics and strategy, and enables mission-critical communication to allow organic alignment of technology, people and processes with business requirements.
Recommendations:
• Use the concepts of benefits realization as an ongoing discipline to ensure constant review of the gap between strategy and tactics, allowing corrections to take place quickly.
• Set up a focused and strategic EPMO that does not attempt to do everything, but specifically focuses on ensuring that planned projects and programs are actually driving the fulfillment of established strategy. • In the longer term, ensure that the enterprise can sustain mature PPM practices by establishing a project
capability office to institutionalize good execution, and a business process center of competency to provide effective end-to-end processes.
Zen PPM: A New Approach to Driving Results in a Complex World
Many IT best practices rooted in scientific management theory — for example, top-down attempts at control and attempts to over-optimize systems — are becoming worst practices. A new approach is required, one that takes into account the need to handle complex adaptive systems (CASs) and the reality that executing projects and programs within today’s environment is often a study in complexity.
Recommendations:
• Begin by recognizing the new reality of operating in a CAS.
• Work to understand complex CASs, their characteristics, implications, tools and techniques — and their limitations. • When establishing how work (project, program or other) will be best accomplished, determine the nature of the system it is operating within — whether it is simple, complicated or complex, and how the work can be structured — and then choose the correct approach. The wrong choice will lead to failure.
The Lean Project Management Office: From Prioritization to Process Improvement
PMOs should focus on internalizing some of the principles of lean management. While PMOs often focus outward, on changing the enterprises they support, it is important to address internal efficiency as well. A lean PMO contributes value to portfolio management by avoiding high levels of inwardly directed support activities that deliver little or no value to customers and clients.
Lean management targets waste and overproduction. In a PMO context, this means targeting unnecessary process steps, data that is collected and never used, and overengineered templates and review cycles. It is also important that PMO staff and other project staff are provided with motivation and rewards for identifying all types of waste in the system. This allows PMOs to present a complete picture of value. The traditional view of the PMO’s effectiveness on the results of the projects, programs and portfolios under their purview should be coupled with the “lean” perspective on the efficiency with which they produce those results for a well-rounded view of the PMO.
Recommendations
• Target the most damaging waste: overproduction, excessive delays, cost inefficiencies, too many signoffs or too much inventory in an internal PMO context.
• Move beyond project measurement metrics to look at process metrics, as well, so that improvement can be measured and focused on.
• Identify lean objectives for personnel. This is a key role for front-line personnel, who should be empowered to take direct action.
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Keynotes
Welcome address, opening remarks and Gartner analyst opening keynote
On the first day of Symposium, an ensemble of leading Gartner analysts took the audience through the impact of the industry dynamics that shaped this year’s theme: “Transitions: New Realities, Rules and Opportunities”. We learned about the three new realities of our age: 1) the power of unprecedented choice; 2) a wild, open world as evidenced by the growing influence of social media and context-aware computing; and 3) a shift in mind-set from seeking outputs to ensuring outcomes. We were then taken through the three new rules of this new era: 1) smart control, which will replace the complete control that IT has historically had of its environments; 2) intelligent business, which will replace traditional business intelligence; and 3) IT dynamism, the migration of IT projects from being “built to last” toward IT projects that are “built to change.” Finally, we heard about two new opportunities: 1) the fusion of multiple existing and emerging technologies to create new business value; and 2) the wide-open opportunity to lead the initiatives underpinning the new opportunities … will it be IT? Business line executives? Functional executives? There’s no clear answer. Gartner Research Senior Vice President Peter Sondergaard also took the audience through the four broad trends that Gartner believes will alter IT and drive economic change: cloud computing, social computing, context-aware computing and Pattern-Based Strategy™.
Mastermind interview: Shane Robison, Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy and Technology Officer, HP — HP sharpens focus on cloud, mobility
Mastermind interview: Shane Robison, Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy and Technology Officer, HP — HP sharpens focus on cloud, mobility
Gartner analysts Tom Austin and Matt Boon conducted a Mastermind interview with Shane Robison, HP’s Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy and Technology Officer to better understand his views on emerging technologies and trends shaping the future of enterprise computing.
The far reaching interview touched on HP’s leadership turmoil, along with cloud computing, printing, servers, networking, applications and mobile devices.
Addressing the elephant in the room head on, Mr Robison clarified that Léo Apotheker’s appointment as CEO following Mark Hurd’s resignation had nothing to do with the company’s business operations. Moving on from what he described as this “difficult time,” HP is now focused on maintaining momentum and improving its operational excellence.
HP has reinvented itself over the past seven years. It has a wide portfolio of products allowing it to participate in every layer of the computing stack from data centre infrastructure out to handheld devices. The ongoing challenge is in finding greater synergies between the many different parts of the business.
Today, Mr Robison is focused on driving innovation in cloud computing and mobility. The company is responding to market demands for it to operate as a service-based business. CIOs want partners who can help them manage service levels for a business rather than simply install and maintain infrastructure. HP has a unique focus in that it develops both traditional IT systems and services for the cloud. HP sees significant growth in both the “private cloud” and “public cloud” markets, but doesn’t see great distinctions between the two.
There is more change unfolding today than at any time in history. Looking ahead, HP plans to navigate these “wild times in the technology industry” by:
• Keeping a close eye on the changing competitive landscape. Tomorrow’s competitors are unlikely to be traditional IT companies, a situation described as a “complicated chess game.” Mr Robison works with a team at HP which provides competitive analysis.
• Looking carefully at how it invests R&D dollars to achieve the best competitive outcome, and resolve the biggest pain points for customers.
• Investigating more how it can use ARM’s microprocessor architecture. It is a successful technology for mobile devices in particular that holds notable potential for HP and its customers.
• Investing heavily in software. This will include more acquisitions, but SAP is an unlikely target, Mr Robison said in response to questions. More focus will be directed towards data analytics, management software platforms, and social media-oriented activities. HP Labs are analysing Twitter streams to monitor consumer buying patterns, or intent to purchase, for example.
• Evolving its investment in the technology acquired from Palm. Mr Robison described Palm’s architecture as “new, clean, high level. It assumes you are always connected. And not being connected is the exception. This is the flip of traditional architectures.” For this reason he believes it will compete well against iOS, Android, Windows Mobile and Blackberry. However, he concedes it will not be an easy battle.
Mastermind Interview: Lonely Planet
Matt Goldberg, CEO and Chris Boden, global director emerging platforms, Lonely Planet
In this revealing Mastermind Interview by Gartner analysts Dave Aron and Brian Prentice, two executives from the iconic travel guidebook publisher shared how it feels to be at the cutting edge of digitization of business, an issue more and more businesses will be facing in coming years.
Digital innovation doesn’t mean just moving your traditional business model to the Internet. Lonely Planet’s Chris Boden, global director emerging platforms, cited that as being like watching the radio on black and white TV.
CEO Matt Goldberg credits the culture at Lonely Planet as being one that incubates digital innovation by allowing strategic IT resources to “experiment restlessly”.
Other key takeaways from this full house session at Gartner Symposium Sydney included:
• Ensure your content management system has enough flexibility to enable delivery into multiple formats without requiring major recoding. Consumer preferences change frequently, competitor applications can appear rapidly and the capabilities of the platforms themselves are continuously evolving. If the IT function delivers a flexible content management system, individual departments can budget and manage specific projects that align with their business goals, easing budget and development pressure within IT.
• Mobile application projects require a clearly defined goal and need to be rolled out quickly. Rapid
deployment and assessment is preferable to excessive planning, as a full-scale market assessment is likely to be out-of-date before it is completed. All projects should have clearly defined goals that include both assisting customers and aligning with core business goals.
• An act of goodwill can reap financial rewards. During the travel disruptions earlier this year with the Iceland Volcano, Lonely Planet gave away content to support stranded travellers. Initially seen as a loss of revenue justified essentially on the brand value it generated, it turned out that this resulted in a noticeable spike in revenue for other related content as people started browsing around to see what else is available. • Take advantage of application features built into mobile platforms such as location tracking and user
preferences. Merely shrinking content to fit into a smaller screen size does not provide a differentiated experience, and does not qualify as “innovative”.
• Social media activity needs to be integrated into the overall business, not operated within a silo. Lonely Planet warns against developing distinct “social media strategies”, preferring to think holistically about how a given social service might benefit both the business and customer.
• Expect to fail sometimes. Lonely Planet has experimented with many different platforms, “some have panned out and some haven’t,” Chris Boden says. “Part of innovation is you have to be prepared to experiment and link to platforms that will fail.”
5 Closing Locknote: Todd Sampson, CEO, Leo Burnett Sydney
Creativity: the last remaining advantage
Todd Sampson is CEO of one of Australia’s leading advertising firms, Leo Burnett Sydney, co-creator of Earth Hour and a popular panellist on TV hit The Gruen Transfer. Mr. Sampson closed the 2010 Gartner Symposium/ITxpo in Sydney by advocating creativity as the key to solving any problem — big, small, social, political, economic, technical or environmental.
The well-attended session carried a series of challenging thoughts for CIOs and other senior executives: • Creativity differentiates you in a crowded marketplace. CIOs should not let existing IT resources and
budgets act as a default roadblock to deploying new and creative ideas.
• Creativity is a well-developed but underrated skill in IT departments. Creative problem solving tactics are routinely used to solve specific deployment issues and balance resource utilisation, but the same approaches should be translated into thinking more broadly about how the overall business functions and where it can be enhanced.
• Managers need to devote specific time to learning and leading the creative process. Practical techniques offered for fostering creativity included scheduling regular “idea generation” sessions, sometimes inviting people outside your immediate project scope; “reversing” — examining the outcomes from adopting the contrary approach to accepted wisdom; and “rent a head” — brainstorming how a business leader you respect might solve a specific problem.
• Inherent conservatism and fear of unpredictable outcomes often result in new ideas being blocked. Mr. Sampson suggested this is particularly true in larger organisations. A key management skill is learning to balance two conflicting drivers: whereby creativity is essential for expansion, while conservatism is important for stability.
“Creativity has the power to change the world, but fear has the power to stop that from happening and the most successful leaders and organisations of the future will be the ones that can successfully balance both.”
what People asked about
Participants in the workshops and sessions came from a variety of roles, enterprises, industry verticals and regions. Discussions following the sessions produced a variety of questions and answers, including the following:
In a PMO, how is the project director different from the project sponsor?
The project director and the project sponsor have distinct roles The director is a type of project manager who sees the project through, whereas the project sponsor makes the business case for the project.
When the CEO talks to investors and financial analysts, he talks in terms of productivity gains. How does that reflect the people part of the process, and how can we persuade him to appreciate our work?
People really are crucial — and in today’s uncertain climate, you’re going to find them more important. For the last 10 to 15 years, we’ve been trying to take people out of the PPM equation. In this context, the CEO should be given information on the gains of the organization at an aggregate level, over time. This is never measured by a single metric, so additional information may be needed. Productivity measurements should be balanced with the quality and outcomes of the work done. PPM is an area that should be able to claim “more work within the same constraints” (productivity), or “better work within the same constraints” (outcome effectiveness). The CEO should be given information that shows both sides. Ideally, PPM professionals of all kinds should be adding to the productivity and effectiveness of the enterprise as a whole.
We’re accustomed to making some decisions and recommendations about IT and allowing the business to help users realize the benefits.
The problem with this approach is that if the business doesn’t fully address the challenge of holistic benefits realization, the IT project fails. PMOs need to expand to include an integrated focus on change that results from processes and projects. People in PMOs need to learn business and “soft” skills — for example, relationship building — so that everyone involved is invested in the program and it can gain adoption. PPM is people-driven, not process-driven.
How do you build these teams?
Use top-down support, identify and nurture natural leaders, and use incentives to increase morale. Train your team members in ways that will help them build their careers, and build a team in which members know they can trust each other. Share goals, and be patient.
How can you strengthen relationships among the various team members, and among teams?
Use company events to build a network — allow team members to meet people from other areas who are PPM process influencers. Establish a forum for discussion and resolution of common risks and issues. Use both formal and informal channels.
Isn’t process important for the foundational structure?
Yes, but getting the right people into the project is critical. Relationship managers are really process managers — they have to build business cases and implement processes to get the end results, or there will be no takers.
Is the level of technology adoption low in PPM?
Yes, PPM is behind here, partly because it uses many tools that don’t easily roll up. Generally, new PPM technology is not required in specific projects, and users tend to want fairly low-risk, simple tools.
How important is it to measure results?
Be prepared to measure results and show how you’re solving or have fixed specific problems. Failure to do this could cause the PMO to be disbanded.
Things to watch For
Change is now a constant, and the PPM professional must adapt by enhancing his or her business and leadership skills. The ability to execute is a business skill, and anyone who is managing must have that skill set. The “specialization layer” is thinner than most people realize, and business skills help successful execution of a project or program. PPM professionals must especially watch for the following key shifts:
• The need for the management of project-based work to change. The intersection of new business and technology trends mandates a massive overhaul of how we perform project-based work in an organization. Today, the norm is a rigid, risk-averse system that uses a lot of time and people to decide and act on new work activities. Enterprises need a system that allows decisions to be made “on the fly,” by those who are closest to the source of the issue. For enterprises trying to grow in expanding markets, or simply to survive in tough ones, time is of the essence.
• Process and tools are not as important as results and accountability. Approximately 50% of PMOs fail because they focus too much on processes and tools and too little on value. PMOs must manage without overmanaging, and they need to both track and show results.
• The evolving market for PMO software solutions. Don’t let people confuse the software with the solution. Often, organizations underestimate change management and the rate of user adoption. Also, lack of management buy-in can create problems.
GaRTNeR PRoGRam & PoRTFolio maNaGemeNT CommUNiTy aNalysTs
Matt LightResearch VP
Focus Area — ppM and pMo Donna Fitzgerald
Research Director
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