STRATEGIC PLANNING
Does your strategic plan explain where you are going and why, and assign specific implementation steps to specific managers?
I can't just DO your strategic plan for you; those are key decisions that really need to be made by your organization. But I can help you walk through a strategic planning process, to include visioning, assessing the environment, SWOT analysis, development of key initiatives, and development of metrics. And I can help you with dashboards or other means of communicating whether the plan is being followed and how effective it is.
ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE
Why do you need an Enterprise Architecture? That depends on what you want to do with it, so when we work together, that's the first thing we're going to become very clear about.
I can help you start an EA practice from near-scratch or help you to refine from what you have already done. I've worked with FEAF, DODAF and TOGAF. Working together, we'll start by becoming very clear on what you plan to do with the desired EA capability,and agreeing as to what the necessary pieces of the solution are for you. Then I can help you with the affected layers (business [operational], data, system, services and technical, plus any others your setting requires) of the as-is and target architectures, gap analyses and transition plans. Most importantly, I can help you work out how to communicate your architecture - and its value - to the rest of the organization.
PROGRAM, PORTFOLIO AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT
This is a huge topic area, but after nearly 2 decades I can advise you on a great deal of it.
Project Management
Does your organization do what it said it would do, when it agreed to do it, and within the allocated budget?
If so, then you're really lucky ... and a member of a very small club.
For everyone else, project management is such a tricky skill that there's almost always something that could be improved on. Sometimes seeing what does need to be improved simply requires a fresh set of eyes. And, because I'm not looking for a big contract with a lot of staff, I'll be happy to report to you that your project management practices are just fine in view of your context.
I've set up and enhanced project management practices in commercial organization, building mostly from PMI standards. And I've undertaken dozens of engagements to start up and improve PMOs for Federal clients, making sure that they meet the needs for conformity to DOD5000, Clinger-Cohen (now FITARA) and similar frameworks. Besides experience in traditional phased projects, I was working with JAD/RAD long before Agile became cool.
In addition to overall PMO implementation, I can advise and train on most of the PMBoK skill areas:
- Scope management: I've managed requirements in traditional settings and in setting up Agile epics, themes and stories
- Cost estimation and management. I've built cost models for dozens of projects and programs, both business and IT. I've set up numerous cost tracking systems, both informal and ANSI-748 compliant (and some that were both at once).
- Risk management. I've managed risks for major undertakings and implemented simple systems for use in less-mature organizations.
- Schedule management. I'm certified in schedule management (PMI), and I've also implemented Critical Chain methods
- Human resource management. I've managed projects and programs that used the power of time-sheeting and resource leveling ... and many others where that would have been overkill.
- Quality management: I'm a certified Black Belt in Lean Six Sigma. I've set up performance management processes for organizational activities as well as for auditing the management of project processes
- Integration management: well, really, this is what a PMO does
- Communications management: I've done formal communications plans. But for organizations that are still climbing the maturity curve, I prefer the approach I describe in my book on the Simmer System
- Vendor management: I've managed contracts from both vendor and customer perspectives. As a third-party oversight vendor and as a government COR, I've been assigned to get major contracts under control and saved million sof dollars in the process.
Portfolio Management
I've worked with commercial companies doing true return-based analysis. I've also spent many years working with the Federal portfolio processes, including those that are more reporting-based via OMB Exhibits 53 and 300, or DOD's more trade-off oriented approaches through Joint Capability Areas and the Business Enterprise Architecture.
Program Management
Here we are talking about "Big-A" acquisition. Aside from a "higher-level" view of the project management skills, program management includes capability definition, alternatives analysis, enterprise risk management, budget planning (PPBES), contract formation and management, workforce planning, and cross-initiative dependency planning and management. A lot of these things sound like government terms, but in reality managing programs is quite similar in the commercial sector. I've had the opportunity to set up formal programs and program offices in several commercial companies as well as in government settings.
BUSINESS PROCESS RE-ENGINEERING AND OPTIMIZATION
I'm certified as a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and have undertaken formal process optimization work in the Defense Department and in two major telecommunications companies. But business process management isn't a special skill set that only consultant and certificate-holders have; every manager needs to do this, and just about every consulting engagement is, at its core, all about helping to make processes work better. I'll be happy to help mentor your organization's managers through that thinking process.