Over the last couple of years I have had the opportunity to work with Portland Metro (an organization led by an elected board to manage the development of the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area). Through Portland State University, I have taught almost every member of management the subject of tools for project management. This includes a standard set of forms that help guide every phase of projects.
I was delighted to find recently that the Metro staff has taken ownership over their internal use of the toolset by modifying many of the forms to fit their particular needs. In fact, they have moved beyond using the tools just for project management and have extended into using some of the forms for process management. (They refer to processes as programs).
The tools they have adopted include the following:
- Project Complexity Assessment…is a checksheet and form that allows the project sponsor to evaluate how rigorous the project management approach should be. Some projects are fast and easy, requiring very little approval or oversight. Other projects are large, complex, and/or politically important enough to require the careful guideance of the elected officials.
- Project Proposal…this form outlines everything a typical project should have specified before starting, including specification, cost, timing, and responsibilities.
- Council Project Proposal…this is a special form of the Project Proposal that adds certain information important if the Metro Council of elected officials approval and guidance will be required.
- Stakeholder analysis…in the very public arena of Metro, it is important that all stakeholders have the opportunity to participate in projects. This tool not only identifies who the stakeholders are, but encourages the development of a communications plan to ensure participation at the right times and in well designed forums.
- Responsibility matrix…outlines who does what on the project. Metro decided to use the PARIS format to determine roles (Participant, Accountable, Review Required, Input Required, and Sign-off Required). The form encourages not only project team member responsibiities to be identified, but also key stakeholders. It relates responsibility to each task. For project that involve elected officials or other high profile individuals, an alternative Responsibility matrix using RAPID rather than PARIS was developed. The RAPID approach (Recommend, Agree, Perform, Input, Decide) provides more distinction between those who decide and those who agree.
- Risk assessment… provides a way to list all major risks, assess them into red, yellow or green levels of concern, and establishes a methodology for ongoing monitoring and reporting.
- Project status reports…focus on budget, schedule and approval of deliverables, using a red, yellow, green at a glance approach supported by more indepth data. The report includes a listing of issues and concerns, as well as next action items for the project team, senior management, and the Metro Council.
- Program status reports…are very similar to project status reports, except they focus on processes. Any appropriate set of metrics replaces the budget, schedule and approval of deadlines used in the project status report. This form uses the same red, yellow, green at a glance approach supported by more indepth data to track the performance metrics. Besides listing issues and concerns and next actions included inthe project status report, it also includes and area for the analysis of risks and opportunities.
- Scope change form…provides a way to request and receive approval for changes to a project or program. It is supported by a detailed log providing a complete history of changes.
- Project Evaluation guide…provides a review of the entire project from aspects including framing, work plan, personnel, analysis, communications, tools, and outcomes.
The Metro tool set is a great example of an organization proactively adapting generic tools to meet their individual needs. Each of these forms is used by the project team and managed by the project manager and sponsor.
In AccomplishTS, forms like these are placed in the document library in each work area associated with each project or program. All team members, project sponsor, and authorized stakeholders participate in continuously keeping the forms updated and current. Tied to the built in metrics and structure of AccomplishTS, a powerful, fully customized solution evolves, leading to powerful results.
The lessons I have learned from Portland Metro have stimulated me to begin to expand the chapters on project management and process management in my book, Action with Traction. It is clear to me that a second edition is not far off!