Project Manager in a Box?
October 9th, 2002 by HalWhat project manager hasn't experienced being boxed in. Been there; done that. But that's not what this posting is about. Or is it?. Seems there's a new class of software promising to revolutionize project management. It's called Product Lifecycle Management (PLM). Andrew Raskin writes about PLM in A Faster Ride to Market.
Raskin describes how the Cannondale Bicycle Company got into the 4-wheel ATV market with an incredible push. After that taxing experience they decided to do something different — they are now using product life-cycle management software to manage product development. Hailed as a cure-all for eliminating waste and speeding products to market, (read one representative paper) it has the potential for being the next big diversion.
CRM is the most-recent example of a diversion. Last year alone $11 billion was invested in CRM software to improve/automate customer interactions. Results as reported have been checkered.
- According to Gartner, Inc., end users will continue to label more than 50% of all CRM implementations failures through 2006. Can You Prevent CRM Failures? .
As a culture we seem obsessed with the quick-fix, particularly when it comes in the form of automation software. Perhaps it just gives testament to our resignation about getting employees to do as we want.
So why am I worried? Andrew Raskin reports that when 100 technology managers were asked about their planned investments 47% reported they were investing in PLM software. That compares with only 34% planning investments in CRM. I am convinced software can help. I�m worried that it is being driven by technology managers rather than those people on the line. Software can be wonderful for reinforcing best practice as organization-wide habit. But first you must establish best practice. Further, companies rarely consider examining what they've been doing.
- "Companies haven't asked why are they even doing [CRM]," Fournier says. "Companies need to ask, 'How is this going to change our organization?' CRM is an integrating mechanism, but firms are still very much made up of silos." CRM Success: Still the Exception, Not the Rule.
We're not learning from our mistakes and there is no evidence that is changing.
Let's say that PLM is a better approach. The practice I observe is 'bolting on' one system to the next. PLM bolted on to the usual CPM hierarchical project approach will just produce more waste for already over-worked stressed-out project managers. It's a sure-fire way to put the project manager in a box.
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October 10th, 2002 at 8:07 pm
I wrote one of these for a large commercial avioinics company 8 years ago. Design to Production transition times went from 6-12 months to 4-6 weeks. Quality improved significantly. The benefit, however was mostly from the concurrent engingeering and up front communications, not from the software itself. To get this to work, of course, different groups had to agree on standard formats and on signaling clearly what the status of their efforts were. Once this agreement was achieved, the software could work and did indeed provide dramatic benefits but it dis NOT cause them. The enlargement of the team perspective to look at the end-to-end value chain was the key step, not the software
I have worked with Metaphase and Matrix 1 mentioned in the linked article and there is a danger with both of these that focus will be on the formal process steps that are easily automated rather than on the person to person and group to group disciplined collaboration that is what really adds value. People who do not understand lean thinking get this wrong all the time, focusing on formality rather than enabling people.