Four Things to Do Right Now: Insights from New Research

April 30, 2020 | by Jeannette Cabanis-Brewin

When we created the survey questionnaire for The State of Project Management 2020, little did we realize what state we'd be in! Nevertheless, because project management is the thing that helps organizations rise to the occasion ... no matter how unprecedented that occasion may be ... we found helpful insights in the survey results. The full report will be released in early May, but here is a preview of the top four areas where specific actions will help organizations improve their results as they scramble to manage new initiatives in new ways under conditions of disruption:

1. Put a PMO in charge. PMOs in high-performing organizations are more likely to excel at portfolio management, including governance and oversight, tracking and performance monitoring, and dashboard or scorecard implementation/management. They are also much more effective at benefits realization.
2. Building an Adaptive Organization. PMOs in high-performing organizations are also much more likely to engage in providing agile/adaptive training  as well as to implement standards for using agile/adaptive approaches. In fact, high performers outscore the average on all agile/adaptive processes in the study.
3. Strategy Execution. Clear communication of strategy to those developing portfolio and program/project plans is crucial, and high-performing organizations in the study excel at it. Developing communication strategies is always key to executing strategy; but in times of crisis, it saves precious time as well.
4. An Enlightened Workforce. Team members in high-performing organizations engage in best practices to a much greater extent  and are more expeienced in using project management approaches. This is doubtless because a significantly larger percentage of high-performing organizations than low performers offer training in project management-related topics.  In a related data point, high performing organizations are more likely to use contracted resources to help manage projects -- a strategy that has been shown to raise skill levels among in-house staff, as well.  They also provide more training on organizational change management, and experience fewer challenges with resistance to change.

At at time when the projects that keep organizations alive are unprecedented, rapidly evolving, and pose existential risks (How do we shift to an all-virtual environment? How do we ensure the safety of customers and employees when we re-open? What opportunities exist in this crisis?) it's imperative that all organizations strive to  rise to the high-performing level ... and fast. Use these research results as a roadmap.

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