Apakah anda CHICKEN ENTREPRENEUR ?

4 Ciri Seorang Chicken Entrepreneur dan Karakteristiknya

Image dari Entrepreneur.com

Dalam dunia bisnis, pengusaha atau entrepreneur memang ada bermacam-macam tipe. Pengusaha yang juga seorang manusia adalah seorang yang akan mempunyai tabiat atau jenis karakter tertentu. Beberapa ahli bisnis mengelompokkan para pengusaha ini menjadi dua kategori berdasarkan karakter yang dimilikinya.

Pertama adalah #entrepreneur tipe pengambil resiko. Mereka ini adalah orang-orang yang tak kenal gentar dan berani mengambil resiko bisnis. Tipe kedua adalah apa yang kini dikenal denganChicken Entrepreneur yaitu seorang pengusaha yang dalam arti singkat merupakan kebalikan dari tipe pertama, artinya mereka ini pengusaha yang takut mengambil resiko dan penuh dengan perhitungan bisnis.

Seperti apakah orang yang disebut chicken entrepreneur ini sebenarnya? Berikut karakteristiknya.

1. Menghindari Pengeluaran

Karakteristik pertama dan utama dari seorang chicken entrepreneur adalah mencari segala cara untuk bisa menghindari pengeluaran. Dalam menjalankan bisnisnya, mereka jarang yang menggunakan kantor, namun mereka akan memanfaatkan apa yang ada, seperti rumah, nongkrong di cafe, atau tempat-tempat umum yang bisa memberikannya ruang kerja gratis.

Untuk website, seorang chicken entrepreneur ini lebih memilih untuk mencari blog gratisan seperti wordpress atau blogspot untuk melakukan promosi dan pemasaran online. Untuk rekrutmen pegawai, mereka akan lebih mencoba untuk sebisa mungkin bekerja sendirian terlebih dahulu diawal usaha atau kalau pun merekrut, mereka akan menawarkan sistem bagi saham daripada harus menggaji mereka.

Meski banyak para pakar bisnis yang menasehati bahwa ketika #startup masih dalam tahap awal seorang pengusaha harus berhati-hati dan tidak terlalu mudah memberikannya. Namun bagi seorang chicken entrepreneur, strategi ini adalah sebuah keuntungan tersendiri.

Artikel lain: 6 Sifat dan Sikap yg Tidak Pernah Dimiliki Seorang Pebisnis Sukses

2. Mengesampingkan Kreativitas

Tidak selamanya inovasi itu baik menurut semua orang, setidaknya ini berlaku bagi seorang chicken entrepreneur. Menurut mereka daripada capek-capek memeras otak untuk menciptakan inovasi, mereka lebih nyaman untuk menunggu dan mengamati bisnis orang-orang yang sudah sukses. Kalau pun mereka mau sedikit berinovasi mereka hanya akan menggunakan rumus andalan ATM (Amati, Tiru, Modifikasi) dari bisnis yang sudah sukses.

Bisnis yang dijalankan seorang chicken entrepreneur ini memang cenderung berkonsep konvensional atau bertema lama dan tradisional. Dalam hal pemasaran, mungkin saja para seorang chicken entrepreneur ini masih saja menggunakan pemasaran lama yang bersifat offline.

Meski sebenarnya promosi online saat ini sedang booming, ia akan tetap bertahan dengan pemasaran lama hingga ia benar-benar yakin seratus persen dengan melihatnya sendiri bahwa#pemasaran online benar-benar teruji bisa mendatangkan keuntungan.

3. Melakukan Apa Yang Hanya Sesuai Dengan Dirinya

Menurut seorang chicken entrepreneur, melakukan hal yang sebidang dengan pendidikan dan pengalaman kerja adalah sesuatu yang baik dan akan membuat jalan menuju kesuksesan. Akan sangat memberatkan dan menakutkan bagi seorang chicken entrepreneur untuk berpindah atau hanya sekedar mencoba memulai hal diluar bidangnya. Maka dalam menjalankan bisnis, seorang chicken entrepreneur akan terus menerus bergerak pada hal yang dipahami dan dikuasainya.

Sesuatu yang baru bagi mereka adalah hal yang tidak menarik. Meskipun hal yang baru bagi dirinya itu jelas-jelas memiliki potensi dan peluang besar untuk mendapatkan keuntungan, mereka seorang chicken entrepreneur ini tidak akan berpaling dan akan tetap menjalankan bisnis yang dipahaminya.

Mencoba hal baru diluar pengetahuannya bagi seorang chicken entrepreneur memang merupakan sesuatu yang jarang dialami. Menurut mereka kesuksesan bisnis hanya akan datang dari bidang yang sudah dikuasainya selama bertahun-tahun.

4. Pilih-Pilih Partner Bisnis

Seperti yang telah disebutkan diawal, seorang chicken entrepreneur adalah orang yang penuh pertimbangan dalam hal apapun termasuk mencari partner bisnis. Bahkan jika sebenarnya mereka bisa melakukannya sendiri, meraka lebih nyaman untuk melakukannya sendiri. Kalaupun harus berpartner, mereka seorang chicken entrepreneur ini tidak mau untuk mengandalkan parter mereka ini untuk menjalankan bisnis.

Untuk mencari partner sendiri, para chicken entrepreneur ini akan memilih dengan sangat selektif untuk mengambil mitra yang lebih strategis dan orang-orang yang benar-benar bisa dipercaya. Umumnya untuk mengambil keputusan untuk partner yang pas untuk dirinya, seorang chicken entrepreneur ini akan mengambil langkah teraman atau jalan tengah untuk menghindari kegagalan di masa yang akan datang akibat berpartner dengan orang yang beresiko.

5 Tips Untuk Mempertahankan Bisnis Setelah Terjadi Krisis

Setiap bisnis atau perusahaan pasti akan mengalami masa-masa krisis. Apapun bentuknya, krisis itu pasti akan kita temui dalam proses membangun usaha, mulai dari kisis keuangan, krisis inovasi, bahkan krisis karyawan potensial.

Sebenarnya kita tidak perlu panik, karena dari krisis itulah kemampuan #entrepreneurshipkita akan semakin teruji dalam mengembangkan bisnis. Ketika kita bisa melewati krisis, itu adalah sebuah batu loncatan untuk meningkatkan kedewasaan dalam menghadapi sebuah masalah.

Apalagi untuk bisnis yang telah berlangsung selama bertahun-tahun, pasti telah mengalami pasang surut. Suatu saat berada pada titik puncak, dan suatu saat ada di titik terendah yang pasti sulit untuk bertahan. Apapun itu, kita harus tetap bertahan menghadapinya, apalagi jika bisnis tersebut adalah sumber penghasilan Anda.

Menjalankan bisnis Anda sendiri adalah sebuah tantangan, ketika ada masalah kita pasti tergoda untuk berhenti dan lari dari kenyataan. Namun, bisnis yang telah diterjang badai kemudian muncul lagi, pasti akan menjadi bisnis yang lebih kuat yang bisa diwariskan pada generasi selanjutnya. Berikut ini adalah 5 tips untuk mempertahankan bisnis setelah krisis.

Artikel lain: Mindset Yang Harus Dimiliki oleh Seorang Entrepreneur

1. Jangan Memotong Anggaran, Berinovasilah

Setelah krisis, reaksi yang biasa kita lakukan adalah memotong anggaran dan berusaha menyingkirkannya atau bahkan menutup bisnis  selamanya. Apalagi ketika bisnis kita terancam tutup dan bayangan tentang hutang selalu menghantui. Namun mempertahankan bisnis Anda setelah setelah krisis membutuhkan kepercayaan diri yang tinggi dan keberanian untuk menghadapinya.

Hal pertama yang bisa dilakukan adalah dengan menjaga hubungan baik yang sudah ada dengan partner bisnis dan pastikan Anda tidak dilupakan. Percaya diri di depan pelanggan, staf, dan supplier akan membantu kita untuk selalu berpikir positif dan mengubah bisnis. Cara untuk mengubah bisnis adalah dengan mencari peluang untuk berinovasi di sektor Anda. Fokus pada kekuatan yang kita miliki dan gunakan untuk mengubah diri menjadi yang terbaik dengan kekuatan itu.

2. Jangan Terpaku Pada Kegagalan

Cari tahu dulu kesalahan yang terjadi kemudian atur strategi untuk menghindarinya agar bisnis terus berkembang. Jadikanlah kesalahan dan kegagalan sebagai kesempatan untuk belajar dan menganalisia hal-hal yang harus diulang atau dihindari agar semakin baik ke depannya.

Banyak pelajaran berharga yang akan kita dapat dengan mempelajari kesalahan dan kegagalan. Buatlah rencana ke depan tapi jangan acuhkan hal-hal yang mungkin terjadi. Jika ternyata gagal jangan putus asa, teruslah maju dan kembali fokus. Jangan tenggelam dalam masa lalu karena kita semua tahu bahwa masa lalu tidak akan bisa diubah.

3. Pastikan Tim Anda Bekerja Sebaik Mungkin

Orang-orang baik sangat penting bagi kesuksesan bisnis Anda, entah bekerja dengan tim beranggotakan 2 atau sampai 50 orang. Perhatikan tim Anda, amati kekuatan mereka, dan pikirkan cara untuk menggunakan kekuatan mereka untuk keuntungan bisnis.

Contohnya, jika ada anggota tim yang tidak bersungguh-sungguh dalam bekerja, maka kita bisa memindahnya ke posisi lain yang lebih sesuai dengan kemampuannya atau bahkan mengeluarkannya. Pastikan Anda didukung oleh tim yang loyal dan selalu mau membantu. Apalagi di saat krisis, kita harus bisa menyatukan visi dengan anggota tim.

4. Kesuksesan Kecil Bisa Menjadi Katalis Untuk Perubahan Besar

Jangan pernah sepelekan pekerjaan kecil yang kita terima, karena bisa saja klien yang puas akan selalu kembali pada Anda dengan proyek yang lebih besar. Dalam masa krisis, tetap berikan pelayanan yang memuaskan kepada klien dan lakukan pekerjaan dengan sebaik mungkin. Bentuk kesuksesan sekecil apapun layak untuk disyukuri, karena kita tidak tidak pernah tahu masa depan dan apa yang akan dibawa oleh kesuksesan kecil itu.

Baca juga: 4 Ciri Seorang Chicken Entrepreneur dan Karakteristiknya

5. Semuanya Butuh Waktu

Saat menghadapi krisis, keberhasilan yang kita capai tidak akan kembali dengan instan seperti pantulan bola. kita harus berani dan terus bekerja dengan sangat keras. Kita harus berkembang dan berubah sesuai dengan perubahan waktu karena bisnis kita tidak akan sama antara sebelum dan sesudah krisis.

Oleh karena itu, kita harus maju bersama waktu dan berubah seiring berjalannya waktu. Jangan pernah takut menghadapi krisis dalam berbisnis, jadilah lebih kuat dan dewasa di setiap krisis yang melanda. Semoga menginspirasi.

WE TRAIN OUR CHILDREN FOR THE JOBS THAT DON'T EXIST YET NOW

WE TRAIN OUR CHILDREN FOR THE JOBS THAT DON'T EXIST YET NOW
-BUILDING LEARNING AGILITY FOR OUR NEXT GENERATION

(Kita mendidik anak-anak kita untuk pekerjaan yang sekarang belum ada).

Kadang-kadang saya cemburu dengan kakak-kakak saya. Mereka semua menjadi dokter. Dan saya masih ingat betapa mudahnya mereka menjelaskan pekerjaan mereka ke nenek saya di Magetan.
Saya memulai karier saya sebagai "artifical intelligence programmer".
Dan bayangkan bagaimana saya harus menjelaskan apa yang saya lakukan kepada nenek saya atau orang tua saya ketika mereka bertanya,"Gaweyanmu ke apa?" (What do you do for living?).

But perhaps this is life. Hidup berganti begitu cepat, bisnis is changing also so fast. Dan species yang paling sukses bukanlah yang paling kuat atau paling cerdas, tapi yang mampu beadaptasi dengan perubahan.
A lot of jobs we do now, did not even exist some years ago.
Banyak pekerjaan yang kita lakukan sekarang, memang belum ada pada jaman dulu.

Saya yakin pekerjaan seperti digital advertising, social media recruiter, actuaria, underwritter, big data analyst belum ada pada jaman orang tua kita (atau bahkan pada saat kakak-kakak kita belanja di Aldiron Plaza).
Dan kesimpulan yang sama bisa kita tarik bahwa job yang akan dilakukan anak anak kita nanti belum ada pada hari ini.
We dont even know the job that they will do in the future after they graduate fron their university.

Padahal mereka harus kita didik, kita latih, kita educate sekarang. 
Jadi bagaimana dong?
Ada 3 hal yang bisa

PERTAMA, Watch, read, observe and learn:
Pelajari apa trend yang akan terjadi di masa depan: 
1.a) Globalisasi
Think Global Act Global. 
Dunia sudah semakin kecil dan semakin sempit.
People will be connected with anyone, anywhere at any time.
People want to actively contribute in global initiative.

1.b) Urbanisasi
Kita tidak bisa menghindar dari kenyataan bahwa people will move to big cities (unfortunately), and modern lifestyle will continue to dominate the world.

1.c) Digitalisasi.
Everything will go digital: sales, marketing, e-commerce, banking, e-government.
They will be everywhere.
You have only 2 choices. D or D. Digitalize your self or Die.

1.d) Weconomy.
(Dari kata we dan econom)
Dengan terbukanya pasar global, global funding dan crowd funding akan mendominasi bisnis di masa depan.

1.e) Betterness
Di masa depan bisnis akan jauh lebih memikirkan bukan hanya pada short term profit (ehm..ehm... quarterly earning).
Semua bisnis akan memikirkn aspek sosial responsibility, environmental friendly, apa yang bisa mereka lakukan untuk berbuat baik kepada masyarakat dan bagaimana mereka berkontribusi untuk mewariskan bumi yang lebih hijau dan lebih baik ke generasi penerus kita

KEDUA,  Passion and Hardwork. 
Motivasi, dorong dan beri semangat ke mereka untuk belajarkeras dan bekerja keras. Agar mereka berprestasi semaksimal mungkin.
They still have to be the best in what they do.
The competition will be more difficult.
There is no choice, they have to:
- have passion, enjoy what they do
- work smarter and harder
- be open mind and continuously learn

KETIGA, Building Learning Agility.

Membentuk minat dan kemampuan untuk mempelajari hal hal yang baru.
Apapun yang mereka pelajari di sekolah dan universitas hanya mempersiapkan mereka untuk menyerap knowledge dan memecahkan masalah. Tetapi contentnya sendiri akan terus berubah.
Itulah mengapa saya merecruit Management Associates di perusahaan saya sekarang. Dan ternyata mereka berprestasi dengan sangat baik meskipun mereka bukan lulusan ekonomin atau akunting. Mereka ada yang lulusan teknik mesin, micro biology ...dll. Yang penting adalah bagaimana mereka mempunyai learning agility.
Kemampuan ini bisa dibentuk dengan cara:
- Expose to different things.
Daripada liburan ke Bali atau Sinagapore (atau ke US) tiap tahun, kenapa tidak ke Ujung Kulon, ke Badui, ke Vietnam, Mongolia, Mumbai, Manila.
It may not be fun. But you will expose them to different culture, language and places.
- Encourage them to learn at least 3 languages. Language skills will be important.
- Encourage them to learn a new hobby... music, aikido, pencak silat, polo air, rugby ....
- Encouge them to learn to take risk 
- Teach them to be open mind and accept different view/perspective on anything
- Continously ask them to get out of the comfort zone
- test their ability to handle difficult challenge/situation in their life.

TERAKHIR, train them to enjoy life.
Ajak mereka menikmati hidup.
Life is fun. Dari kecil ajak mereka melakukan hal hal yang mereka suka.
Mereka harus tahu.
Life is not a sprint. Life is a matathon.
Hidup adalah perjalanan panjang. Jaga stamina. Istirahat. Minum air. And enjoy your journey .....

Kita coba yuk?
Semoga dengan melakukan ini kita bisa mendidik generasi berikut yang lebih baik,  untuk masa depan Indonesia yang lebih cemerlang.

By the way, the title is about our children. 
But I am sure you understand that the concepts that we share could also be applicable to our team, and ourselves.

Warm Regards

Pambudi Sunarsihanto

Fanky Christian
Director
PT. DAYA CIPTA MANDIRI SOLUSI
mobile: 62-812-1057533 / 0881-8857333
skype: fankych1211
   

How can PPM tools help in the daily life of a PMO Manager

by Sandra on May 15, 2014 in News, PMO, PPM Tools

I confess: I like PPM tools and I’m not a sales person. Scary, isn’t it?

Though I admit, I used to work for a tool vendor, selling tools and process consulting, but that was a long time ago now.

During my time, I have seen some very successful PPM (Project Portfolio Management) tool implementations but I’ve also seen some failures along the way.

In this post, I would like to give an overview on how PPM tools can be helpful in the daily life of a PMO Manager.

How to make the PMO successful

To start off with: There are many activities that you can do to make a PMO very successful, like providing training to Project Managers, performing resource supply and demand management or assisting with the project prioritisation process.

But one of the key and critical get rights is to provide the management team with information on the performance of the project portfolio investment. Management questions need to be answered quickly, for example: What is the forecast? Will we make our financial year target? We need to save $2mil from our portfolio budget, what would you recommend?

In order to answer the above questions, it is essential to have the supporting information compiled:

• In a clear and consistent format
• In a timely manner
• In an accurate and concise manner

Doing this will provide visibility around the project portfolio and will facilitate decision-making. Without this in place, it just becomes a guesstimate and the Business / PMO ends up flying blind.

There will be no way of knowing to what extent the project portfolio investment will support the companies 12 month objectives and where the portfolio will be financially at the end of the financial year.

There could even be possible costs to carry over, but you wouldn’t be able to see this until it happens. You end up with a PMO of fire fighters, who are reacting to events that unravel – rather than a PMO that is well planned, in order and controlled.

Typical Business Environment

Collecting and analysing the required information and data is hard. Often the information is stored not only in different places and in different systems but it often comes in different formats too.

For example: Project Managers might use MS Excel for their financials, MS Project for their project scheduling and then they might present status updates in the form of a PowerPoint presentation.

To continue, business cases are typically written in MS Word and meeting notes are often captured within various emails.

Some of the team expenses are directly entered into the expense system (for example Oracle) and team resource information can be found in an HR System.

No wonder it can be very difficult to get together all of the required information and it can turn into an absolute nightmare. Data collection and analysis is very time consuming and by the time the report is finished – the data is already out-dated and ad hoc reporting is nearly impossible.

Imagine that this process needs to be repeated every month again and again. There is hardly any time left for the PMO to provide any ‘real’ value.

Can PPM tools help?

So where can PPM tools help? What can they do for you?

In general all PPM tools can perform the following:

• They can create, manage and view project data that is entered and stored in a database. This includes project proposals, plans and ongoing projects.

Some PPM tools can help you with:

• Project prioritisation – assist with ranking of your projects by using scorecards.
• Project portfolio optimisation via scenario modeling: If we postpone one of our projects, what impact does this have on our portfolio investment?
• Plan projects and manage the execution of approved projects (work flow management).
• Manage the supply and demand of project resources. Viewing and managing the utilisation of your project team and assisting with hiring decisions.

How do tools work?

In order to get the tool to work for you, you need project data. The more data you have, the more information you get.
Data can come from key participants like:

• Project Team Members: who are entering their time against a project, which will translate into project cost (hrs * resource rate = cost)
• Project Managers: who plan and manage their projects (status, financials, risks, issues, action items…)
• PMO Managers: who set up new proposals and projects and who manage the governance process (gate ways, mandatory documents, financials)
• Team and / or Resource Managers: who enter resource requests and perform resource allocation

If your entire team is using the tool for planning and managing the project then you will get a holistic view of your project portfolio. If only some team members are using the tool – for example the IT department – then your information is incomplete and your predictions are not as accurate as they could be.

One important thing to remember: There is a saying: “Crap data in, will equal to crap data out”. I guess this is right. So, the quality of your data is key to your success.

How can you use tools to your advantage

Tools can make your life as a PMO Manager so much easier. They can save you time, money and effort at the following activities:

• Manage your project portfolio investment – provide visibility on project performance to facilitate decision-making. This includes: reports on programs, projects, and portfolios. Information on: plan, cost, budget, resource, schedule etc.
• Manage financials – regulate your financial health. Manage costs with time keeping, expense and capital expenditure tracking.
• Manage Resources – optimise your resource utilisation. Perform capacity planning and manage resource assignments.
• Prioritise portfolios – deliver the business value. Align projects with business priorities.
• Manage scope – react to changing needs. Capture, quantify, assign, and track actions, issues, risk, constraints, opportunities, and changes.
• Project Health Checks – PPM Tools assist in this purpose by giving management a comparison and summary of projects in a simple portfolio report that highlight variances from planned outcomes.
• Single snapshot of portfolio performance for PMO management to review and evaluate.

As I mentioned earlier, you can only get all of this information and assistance if the required data has been entered consistently into the system beforehand. Only then can you query the data and report on the data using the PPM tool.

What are the benefits of tools

PPM tools can help you with the following:

• Assist with labor-intensive tasks – e.g. collecting reporting data from many sources.
• Automate processes – e.g. workflow can be started to inform project members about an event and what to do next.
• Visualize data e.g. resourcing over or under allocation of team members, Gantt Chart views.
• Financial Modeling: monitor, estimate and forecast financials: Will we underspend or overspend?
• Enable you to support process standards – Projects need to go through phase gate approvals in order to access funding.

The main benefit for the PMO Manager is the time saving factor. In one of my previous assignments, I used to spend 5 days of each month compiling and analysing information for a monthly portfolio performance report. The data was stored in different systems and different formats which I had to collect manually. If I had a tool available to me I could have used my time more effectively.

Why tools fail to deliver full value

Based on all the benefits I mentioned above, everyone would agree to start using a PPM tool, right? So why do PPM tool implementations fail?

Here is a list of common issues and challenges:

Not all PPM tools will integrate with your current systems or in-house tools. For example, they might not be able to import or export your data from MS Excel or they cannot connect to your financial systems. In this case, the time-saving aspect will be reduced.

Another issue that some companies face is that the tool has too many features and it is too complex for the organisation. It’s like buying a Ferrari, when you only need a Fiat. For example – don’t use a tool like Primavera, when your projects are smaller than $5m, it’s just too complex.

In some instances the tool might be very hard to customise, it doesn’t fit your company’s process and you require a special tool consultant to make the tool work for you. It can become very costly and time consuming.

Another thing to consider is the post-implementation of the tool itself. Just because the tool has been installed, doesn’t mean it will be used. Training and ongoing support is crucial for the successful usage. A proper Change Management process needs to be in place in order to make the tool roll-out successful. Without this, the tool starts being used by so many different people in many different ways and the data is no longer meaningful or useable in the future.

Last but not least, it’s important to realise that the main people benefiting from a PPM tool and having the immediate advantage are the managers. The managers will now get reliable information based on the data produced by the new system.

However from the beginning, the project managers and team members have a lot of work to do and often most difficult of all is that they have to learn a new tool on top of getting on with their day job and getting things done.

The tool may not even be sufficient enough to resolve all of their challenges and provide all necessary solutions. It is always hard at the beginning and productivity will go down while everybody gets used to it.

More often than not, it’s the “what’s in it for me” question that is not well communicated i.e. the wider benefit for the company to meet their annual objectives. Communication is key to ensure that the tool is still used 12-18 months down the track.

What makes tools successful?

There are three conditions / common requirements you need to have in place in order to make your tool implementation and roll out successful:

1) Endorsement and support from your Business Executives

This is the key requirement for your success. Your tool implementation project needs a sponsor who is accountable for the success of the implementation and who will continue to drive and support the tool even after the tool has been implemented and is in operational mode.

If you don’t have the right sponsorship in place than there is little chance that your PPM tool will be used after 12 months.

If your sponsor sits within the IT Department, no business user will use the tool. You need to have a sponsor from within the business otherwise the result is that you will only get limited project information provided.

2) Change management strategy in place

Setting up and implementing a tool is easy! Piece of Cake! You can generally perform this activity in a few days. But when it comes to the adoption and the usage of the tool you need to have a proper change management strategy in place, which includes a communication plan, training, ongoing support, help desk support and maintenance.

3) Training and mentoring and on-going support

This is crucial for both existing and new team members who are required to use the tool. It’s important that enough training and support is provided to ensure the use of tool is embedded into the business. I’m not just talking a couple of days, I’m taking about weeks.

Partial PPM Tool List. For complete list, please visit Lee Merkhofer Consulting

What tools are out there?

There are currently more than 100 software providers on the market, offering tools in the PPM space. They are targeted at different industries and different types of projects. Each of them has their different strengths and weaknesses.

If your company is using an agile methodology, you don’t want to use a tool like Primavera you are best using a tool like Rally or Jira.

For projects following PMBOK, I had good experience with Sciforma. I have had many difficulties with Clarity, which is a dinosaur in comparison to some of the more recent tools. In my personal experience it is very slow and clunky, but this is something you might want to check out yourself and see what you think.

I came across a great website from Lee Merkhofer Consulting, who have done a tremendous job in putting a PPM tools list together. They have listed the most common PPM tool vendors so you might be able to find the right tool for you here.

Summary

Despite all the negative reputation PPM tools have, I strongly believe that organisations can benefit a considerable amount from using PPM tools to improve processes and to manage their projects portfolio investment.
Nearly all tool software options out there have a good data management and reporting capability. However, most current tools lack sufficient algorithms for identifying optimal project portfolios.

I hope you enjoyed this post. I would be interested to hear your experience of using PPM Tools. Did you get the benefits you were hoping to get? Looking forward to hear from you!

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS FOR THE PMO: METRICS FOR SUCCESS

~ By Michael O'Brochta & Curt Finch

This is part 2 of a 2-part series. Part 1 of this series focused on the co-dependent relationship between executives and PMOs. This 2nd article describes specific key performance indicators that a newly-established PMO can use to measure itself to ensure alignment with the needs of the organisation.

The Project Management Office (PMO) is an office with the capacity to institute a wide variety of positive changes within a company. Indeed, many organisations understand the co-dependence between the executive and PMO, and act to establish PMOs for just this reason. Unfortunately, it is often one of the most incorrectly managed and under-utilised portions of an organisation. Findings presented at the 2010 Gartner ITxpo indicate that nearly half of all PMOs result in failure. The question, then, is why do such a drastic number of businesses feel that their PMOs do not deliver value?

There are a number of answers that need to be explored, but given the highly individual nature of each PMO, it is difficult to provide a definitive list of failure points. However, an issue that pervades nearly every PMO across the board is a problem of metrics. Too many PMOs do not measure their success with the appropriate key performance indicators (KPIs), and due to this failure, high-level executives can easily question the PMO's worth, particularly the results-driven chief financial officer. The PMO, with its emphasis on measuring process and protocols, can fail to focus on KPIs that are relevant to the overall progress of the business. Because of this failure to properly document its success, many otherwise productive PMOs are being shutdown.

The following is a list of important potential KPIs by which a PMO might measure its productivity in the context of overall company success. This list has been extracted from a 2002 study conducted by the Center for Business Practices and documented in the book "Justifying the Value of Project Management." These specific KPIs are particularly relevant to executives and have been found to improve the practice of project management.

It is important to remember two things here. First, as previously mentioned, the role of a PMO is (and should always be) very specific to the needs of a particular company. One should not try to apply these KPIs directly. Rather, they should be tailored to reflect the PMO's prescribed role. Second, too many KPIs can lead to a muddled sense of where accomplishment truly lies. Like having too many gauges on the dashboard of a car, measuring too many indicators of success can be tricky and confusing. It is better to pick a couple of KPIs that fit your company well and focus attention on those rather than trying to measure a plethora of indicators that will lead to hazy results. With those factors in mind, let's take a look at some KPIs that you can use to demonstrate the effectiveness of your PMO:

1. Time to Market

Time to Market = Elapsed Time from Idea Conception to Delivery

Alternate Time to Market = Actual Completion Time - Budgeted Completion Time

The PMO can improve a product's time to market in two ways. First, it can increase the speed at which projects are completed. The benefits here are obvious, as a project that is completed faster generally means greater customer and company satisfaction as it will be available for distribution sooner. The PMO also improves time to market by promoting better adherence to project schedules. Doing so promotes customer satisfaction, improved trust in the project team, and a greater ability to accurately predict future project lifecycles. More importantly, it ensures that a time-dependent product, such as a video game with a pre-Christmas release date, will not miss a deadline that would result in drastically reduced or nonexistent sales. PMOs that consistently improve time to market can streamline processes. For example, projects can be rolled out on time without having to hastily skip steps in the development process.

2. Service Availability

Service Availability = Actual Start Time - Optimal Start Time

Service availability refers to the time it takes to start a project compared to the desired start date. It differs from time to market in two ways: first, it can measure the time that is allotted for specific tasks as opposed to only referring to the completion date of a final product and second, it can be measured at numerous points during project development. As a reference point for a business, it makes sense because it measures the capacity to complete more projects or allocate more time to valuable projects. Further, having a good measure of service availability allows the PMO to divert resources to critical path tasks should the need arise. The PMO specialises in increasing service availability by streamlining tasks and accurately scheduling future projects. If the above equation has a lower number, that means a higher service availability. However, a business must be careful not to have such a high amount of availability that resources are being benched. Wasted resources can drain just as much money from a business as a poorly managed service schedule.

3. ROI

ROI = (Revenue - Investment)/Investment*100

The PMO contributes to a company's ROI by making sure that projects are successfully completed according to the specifications laid out by the parent company and other key stakeholders. Because of this, examining ROI as a KPI offers an incomplete view into the productivity of the PMO. This is because the PMO does not generally influence financial returns directly. Rather, it provides the framework upon which success can be built. ROI, then, must be looked at in combination with other metrics to determine the specific influence of the PMO on the overall performance of a business. ROI can be used to measure success, but it should be looked at on a per-project basis to determine the actual impact of the PMO.

4. Sales Growth

Sales Growth = (Current Sales - Previous Sales)/Previous Sales

The PMO contributes to sales growth in much the same way that it influences ROI. It does so by providing an environment that allows sales to grow more effortlessly, often by improving the other metrics in this list, such as time to market and service availability. Still, measuring sales growth does not specify the PMO's role in the improvement of that growth. Nonetheless, improving sales growth will likely appeal to high level executives, and in particular CFOs, because it is something savvy investors look for in a company. As such, and despite its obvious limitations, sales growth is an important metric because improvement in this area creates more financial opportunities for a business, and can convince many nonbelievers of the importance of a PMO.

5. Service Utilisation

Service Utilisation = Billable Hours/Total Hours

In addition to streamlining tasks by increasing service availability, service utilisation allows a PMO to ensure that time is being used efficiently. Here, service utilisation means looking at the resources assigned to a project, and in particular, the human resources. An advanced PMO will not only be able to decrease the number of people who are over or underworked, but they will be able to assign people to the tasks that they are best at, thus maximising the value of their time. Increasing the quality of service utilisation means a better quality project outcome in the same amount of time. This will optimise customer and employee satisfaction, and will guarantee that a business is getting the most value out of their hires and contracted labour.

Demonstrating improvement in these KPIs can help show the success of a PMO in a company. Ultimately, the PMO has not yet been accepted as a necessary component in many businesses, and so it is up to the office itself to prove the value it provides. It bears repeating, however, that since each PMO is unique, these KPIs must be looked at with an eye to the specific needs of a company. Nonetheless, armed with these measurements of success, a PMO can gain the executive support necessary to survive in a competitive business environment.

---

Michael O'Brochta, PMP has been a project manager for over thirty years. He is an experienced line manager, author, lecturer, trainer, and consultant. He holds a master's degree in project management, a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, and is certified as a PMP®. As Zozer Inc. President, he is helping organisations raise their level of project management performance. As senior project manager in the CIA, he lead the maturing of the project management practices agency-wide. Since his recent climb of another of the world's seven summits, he has been exploring the relationship between project management and mountain climbing. Mr. O'Brochta's papers and presentations at PMI national, international, and regional conferences have consistently been popular and well received; his last three PMI Global Congress presentations have drawn the largest audiences at those events.

Curt Finch is the CEO of Journyx. Founded in 1996, Journyx automates payroll, billing and cost accounting while easing management of employee time and expenses, and provides confidence that all resources are utilised correctly and completely. Curt earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Virginia Tech. As a software programmer fixing bugs for IBM in the early '90s, Curt found that tracking the time it took to fix each bug revealed the per-bug profitability. Curt knew that this concept of using time-tracking data to determine project profitability was a winning idea and something that companies were not doing - yet. Curt created the world's first web-based timesheet application and the foundation for the current Journyx product offerings in 1997. Learn more about Curt at Journyx

TANGOING YOUR WAY THROUGH THE EXECUTIVE/PMO RELATIONSHIP

~ By Michael O'Brochta & Curt Finch

This is part 1 of a 2-part series. This first article focuses on the co-dependent relationship between executives and PMOs. In part 2, we will describe specific key performance indicators that a newly-established PMO can use to measure itself to ensure alignment with the needs of the organisation.

Introduction

"It takes two to tango." This idiomatic expression, which originated in a 1952 song by Pearl Bailey and was later popularised in 1982 when President Ronald Reagan quipped about Russian-American relations, is an accurate description of the relationship between a project management office (PMO) and an executive. At the end of the day, success for either of them is dependent on the other. Executives depend on the work accomplished by project management offices for their own success, just as project management offices depend on executives for their success.

In a provocative 1999 article in Fortune magazine that addresses why executives fail, the authors get directly to the point and state that the number one reason for executive failure is "bad execution…as simple as that…not getting things done…not delivering on commitments." The article also states that executives who do not deliver are three times more likely to get fired than their counterparts who are delivering. Think about it. What is the dominant purpose of a project? Getting things done! Projects deliver products and services, and they do so according to a schedule. Projects deliver on commitments. Executives need projects so they can deliver on commitments, thus avoiding the number one reason for executive failure.

The opposite is equally true. Projects need executives. The scope of projects and the judgments made about their success have expanded over recent years to the point where project success is almost always beyond the sole control of those running the project. Project success is highly dependent on the availability of resources typically not under the direct control of the project manager. Similarly, the project manager does not have direct control over the networks and systems that their project must fit into. Really, the project manager doesn't have direct control over much of anything upon which the project's success depends. The days of the small, relatively simple, stand-alone project are mostly over. These dependencies, which are essential for the success of the project, are less often in the domain of the project manager and more often in the domain of the executive. The project manager must establish a PMO that is run with a direct two-way supportive relationship with the executive.

A Real Story

To illustrate just how pronounced the dependence between executives and project management offices is, and needs to be, let's consider the following story. This story illustrates just how effective a strong co-dependent relationship can be. Prior to the creation of the PMO with a co-dependent executive relationship, trouble was the norm. After the creation of the PMO with a co-dependent relationship, the situation improved. The story is associated with responsibilities that the co-author of this article, Michael O'Brochta, had when he worked as an employee of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). He spent decades there managing hundreds of projects, managing project managers, and leading efforts to advance project management within the organisation. The story begins with a strategic need within the organisation and an executive who recognised this need and made a commitment to take action. Note that this is not a unique story. In a 2009 book by Brian Hobbs, PhD, PMP, titled "The Project Management Office (PMO): A Quest for Understanding," he highlights a global study of project management offices and describes the PMO best practice of tailoring the PMO function to match the needs of the executive, just as happens in this CIA story.

I don't understand it; I have staffed my new organisation with hundreds of highly-skilled project managers, yet even after our first year in business, we can't seem to deliver enough projects on time or to the satisfaction of our customers.

CIA Director

These were the words that O'Brochta first heard when the director of the organisation asked for help. He went on to describe the gap between his vision for his organisation and the current reality: I'm confident that running this organisation as project-based is the way to go, but I never thought it would be this hard,said the director. I periodically review project schedules, and find them to be ever changing. No one is happy about a moving target -- not me, and least of all, not the customer. Quite frankly, I do not see why anyone would come to my organisation if they had a decent alternative.

The project-based organisation described here was formed to advance the mission of the CIA. The best engineers, the best information technology professionals, and the best project managers were combined into a single organisation focused on delivering new and better intelligence analysis systems and capabilities. One of those systems, named Fluent, was described a decade ago in a Reuters article titled "CIA Using Data Mining Technology to Find Nuggets." This was cutting-edge technology focused on critical CIA mission needs at the time.

Finally, the director got to the point of the conversation: Will you come and help?

During the following year, O'Brochta built and ran a strategic-level Project Management Office. Although the published knowledge associated with successful project management offices was rather limited at the time, enough was known for him to select a couple of starting points. O'Brochta started with one initiative focused on the project managers and one initiative focused on the executives. For the project managers, he led the building of a standardised project life-cycle methodology complete with milestones and documentation tailored specifically for the nature of their work. For the executives, he led the building of a standardised governance system complete with reviews, decision-making criteria, and change management strategies tailored specifically for their work.

Previously, the role and actions of the executives and the project managers were out of sync. Project managers were doing their best to draw upon their extensive backgrounds to create and follow project plans, but no two were the same. Likewise, executives were doing their best to support the project managers with resources and decisions, but inconsistency and unpredictability were common.

O'Brochta routinely met with executives and others in the management chain to ensure that decisions about the PMO's focus matched its needs; he did the same with project managers and the various PMOs. Both the executives and project managers learned that each group performed equally important, but different, roles. The executive's role included supplying a standardised project life-cycle methodology for the project managers to use and holding them accountable for using it. The project managers' role included tailoring the provided life cycle methodology and putting it into practice. The executives established and followed a routine for project reviews and associated decisions. The project managers prepared for each of the project reviews with the information needed to support the scheduled decision-making. Predictability and consistency became the norm. Effort that had been directed toward "figuring out what to do" was now directed toward more productive activities associated with running the projects and meeting mission needs.

Initial Reaction

Because of the success of the initiatives, the value of the project management office was established. Other initiatives followed, all targeted at the co-dependent relationship between the executives and the project management offices. These initiatives included training for both the project managers and the executives. They reflected the maturing of project management within the organisation and the value of strengthening the co-dependent relationship between executives and project management offices. It was learned that this relationship is, in and of itself, a project that can be planned and managed within a PMO for the strategic long-term benefit of the organisation.

What's Next?

As satisfying as it might be to establish a successful PMO, the question arises about how to keep them going. This is a serious question. It appears that keeping a PMO going is not so common. A 2007 PMI-sponsored report titled "The Multi-Project PMO: A Global Analysis of the Current State of Practice" states that PMOs are frequently closed or restructured with only about half of them surviving for two years. That's a grim statistic. Executives need projects, project management, and PMOs. Yet, the PMO often struggles to survive. Why? According to the same study, the successful PMOs were the ones that responded to and adapted to the ever-changing needs of the organisation. In other words, the successful PMO's performance was matched to the needs of the organisation. Key performance indicators were established and achieved. And not just any key performance indicators were achieved, but ones that were relevant and meaningful to the executives with whom the PMO had a co-dependent relationship.

Coming up in Part 2: Specific key performance indicators that a newly-established PMO can use to measure itself to ensure alignment with the needs of the organisation.

---

Michael O'Brochta, PMP has been a project manager for over thirty years. He is an experienced line manager, author, lecturer, trainer, and consultant. He holds a master's degree in project management, a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, and is certified as a PMP®. As Zozer Inc. President, he is helping organisations raise their level of project management performance. As senior project manager in the CIA, he lead the maturing of the project management practices agency-wide. Since his recent climb of another of the world's seven summits, he has been exploring the relationship between project management and mountain climbing. Mr. O'Brochta's papers and presentations at PMI national, international, and regional conferences have consistently been popular and well received; his last three PMI Global Congress presentations have drawn the largest audiences at those events.

Curt Finch is the CEO of Journyx. Founded in 1996, Journyx automates payroll, billing and cost accounting while easing management of employee time and expenses, and provides confidence that all resources are utilised correctly and completely. Curt earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Virginia Tech. As a software programmer fixing bugs for IBM in the early '90s, Curt found that tracking the time it took to fix each bug revealed the per-bug profitability. Curt knew that this concept of using time-tracking data to determine project profitability was a winning idea and something that companies were not doing - yet…Curt created the world's first web-based timesheet application and the foundation for the current Journyx product offerings in 1997. Learn more about Curt at Journyx