The Challenge of Growth: How PCG Improved PMO Efficiency and Effectiveness for Our High-Tech Client
09/10/2024
Rapid company growth can be a mixed blessing. While it’s exciting to see production and profits soar, trying to keep up can destroy companies who are unequipped to handle the rush.
Our tech client experienced whirlwind success in the semiconductor market but found themselves struggling to scale their operations. They had difficulty:
- Managing their intake
- Understanding where to prioritize
- Finding strategic alignment
- Executing investment projects
They needed detailed guidance and they needed it fast if they were to successfully recalibrate and move through their growing pains.
Assessment
The client requested a full assessment of their existing PMO to understand:
- If their projects were strategically aligned and prioritized to focus the appropriate resources on the right work, for the right value, at the right time.
- Their current execution performance and governance issues with a ROI evaluation.
- The benefit of building out more project tools, templates, and delivery methodology options.
- What accounting changes would enable an increase in staff so that they could expand their capacity for project delivery.
Key Activities
The ARTS Approach
PCG’s mission was to set transformative goals and create a detailed roadmap that would align expectations with benefits. We facilitated the process using our four-step ARTS methodology:
- Assessment
- Roadmap
- Transform
- Scale
This proven approach was well suited to the challenges our client was encountering. It was designed to navigate the complexities of building and maturing Project Management Offices for today’s complex business environments.
Timeline
During the initial eight week process we addressed the assessment and roadmap phases with a detailed intake that set our timeline. This was followed by an eight month transformation phase in which we implemented our prioritized recommendations.
The Challenges
Our assessment uncovered a strong need for prioritization and resource management. The client was struggling with low confidence when delivering projects on time and with full scope. They needed to be proactive when issues or risks first appeared instead of waiting until there was a fire.
The Roadmap: Three Key Service Areas
After establishing a broad consensus, the client was able to quickly set goals for their technology platforms and put organization changes and controls in place. Key efforts here included:
1. Project Portfolio Management
- Define benefits and improve timelines for all new project requests.
- Provide a strategic view of and current health status of all projects.
- Identify resource constraints at the portfolio level.
- Align all projects strategically in the PMO, from new request to closure.
2. Enterprise Project Management
- Standardize stoplight colors across the portfolio.
- Resource map to identify constraints with IT resources.
- Train PMs to effectively lead and execute projects.
- Increase efficiency and transparency in status reports and risk management.
- Utilize the best methodology based on goals and type of project, including agile.
- Strategically review all projects based on health.
3. Project Delivery
- Supply PMs with a full set of tools to manage projects.
- Project schedules with Critical Path to identify challenges sooner.
- Improve financial visibility to each project.
- Continually improve tools and processes based on lessons learned.
- Use KPI reporting to demonstrate a project’s value.
- Deliver a quality product in the committed timeline.
Results
Where the client had struggled to align for over a year, PCG was able to help them move forward and establish momentum in only 3 months. We identified the obstacles hindering their ability to scale their operations rapidly and keep up with their burgeoning prosperity. We created a multi-pronged plan to address each issue head-on and worked side-by-side for eight months to see the changes fully implemented.
If your company has found itself in a similar situation, PCG can help. Reach out to our team today for dedicated Project Management Office solutions.