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His rst job here was as an infrastructure project manager. So it was
the knowledge base, and let’s share that knowledge and let’s get it out
there so that people are not reinventing the wheel over and over and
over. So there, the lessons learned were basically documented and put
into a process.
Personnel Selection
A few (15 percent) of the PMO leaders transferred lessons from past proj-
ect experiences by selecting future project managers with the requisite
competencies. Sarah’s team, for example, after having the “plug pulled” on
a project before it went live, held a lessons- learned session after the project
was nally over. As a result of that meeting, she and her peer, who man-
ages the “technical managers,” decided not to place people in that role as
project managers in the future. She explained this scenario as follows:
So he and I decided that, as a direct lesson from Australia, remember-
ing that very, very, very well, and others, that we would make it im-
mediate policy that no technical manager was allowed to be a project
manager anymore.
June, after “rescuing” a faltering project, determined that in the future,
project managers would have to have a certain mind-set, one that the pre-
vious project manager had not had:
And what’s happened is that person is not engaged any longer in those
sorts of projects because this is not a person who is good at anticipating
obstacles and planning for them. What’s required in that role is what I
call “optimistic half- empty thinking.”
ENABLERS AND BARRIERS THAT PMO LEADERS FACE
IN FACILITATING CROSS- PROJECT LEARNING AND
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
The PMO leaders in the study described in this chapter were asked to
discuss “critical incidents”—high points or low points—where they either
attempted to help their organization learn from a past project experience
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or attempted to share or transfer that learning to other projects within
their organization. Two additional interview questions were also asked:
The rst was, “In what ways does the organization support your e orts
to learn from project work and/or share lessons learned with your team
and others?” And the second was, “If you were given the authority, what
would you do in the organization to make it easier to learn from project
work and share lessons learned with your team and others?” Both of these
questions, in combination with the critical incident discussions, generated
a multiplicity of barriers and enablers of cross- project learning. A sum-
mary of these barriers and enablers is presented in Table 4.3. As in the
previous section, a discussion of each of these ndings follows, along with
representative quotes.
Enablers of Cross- Project Learning and Improvement
One of the two most frequently occurring enablers of cross- project learn-
ing mentioned by PMO leaders was the quality of their relationships with
others, particularly those over whom they have limited direct authority,
including project team members, project managers, senior managers, and
others coming in and out of the project environment.
Network of Strong Relationships. A majority of the PMO leaders (60 per-
cent) stated that they were able to facilitate cross- project learning because
of the quality and/or quantity of good relationships that they had estab-
lished across their organization. For example, Patty described how her
close relationship with the senior management team enabled her and her
group to ful ll their responsibilities more e ectively:
I have a seat at the senior executive table, and as such, I’m involved in all
the strategy, all the discussion of what’s going on, and have that unique
ability to knit the 30,000- foot view to the 3,000- foot view to the 3- foot
view. And as a result of having 360- degree observation of the organiza-
tion and a rm pulse across all levels, it’s the only way that you’re going
to be able to have some of the stu be identi ed, and address it in a way
in which it’s going to be a value to the organization.
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Similarly, Cathy explained how her personal network in combina-
tion with her role in the PMO helps her to learn about problems “on the
ground”:
I think I’ve been here enough, I guess I’m social enough that I have cer-
tain networks, that people feel open, that they can come to me and talk
TABLE 4.3
Perceived Enablers and Barriers to Cross- Project Learning
and Continuous Improvement
Enablers
The majority of PMO leaders identifi ed a network of strong relationships and support from senior management
as enablers of learning from past project experiences. Other enablers include a learning- oriented culture, a
neutral facilitator for lessons learned, and professional development.
䡲
Over half (60%) of the participants expressed a network of strong relationships as an enabler of cross-
project learning.
䡲
Over half (60%) of the participants also reported support from senior management as a key enabler.
䡲
A third (30%) of the participants expressed that their organization’s culture also plays a positive role in
facilitating cross- project learning.
䡲
A quarter (25%) of the participants also noted the following enablers:
•
Utilizing a “neutral” facilitator for lessons-learned sessions.
•
Developing the professional capabilities of project managers through training, apprenticeship, or
knowledge- sharing.
䡲
One-tenth (10%) of the participants expressed refl ection throughout the project as an enabler rather
than only upon project closure.
Barriers
The majority of PMO leaders identifi ed a lack of direct infl uence over project managers and/or teams as a
barrier to learning from past project experiences. Other barriers include staff rotation, fear of airing mistakes
publicly, deferring refl ection until the end of projects, and diffi culty accessing prior lessons learned.
䡲
Just over half (55%) of participants pointed to a lack of direct authority over project managers or project
teams as a major barrier to continuously improving upon past project experiences.
䡲
Just under half (45%) of participants noted time pressures and resistance to the “extra work” required
of PMO processes as a barrier to cross- project learning.
䡲
Just under half (45%) of participants also identifi ed staff rotation as a barrier to cross- project
learning.
䡲
Just over a third (35%) of participants expressed that team members may fear airing mistakes publicly,
making it diffi cult to learn from past project experiences.
䡲
A few (20%) of the participants also noted the following barriers to cross- project learning:
•
Refl ection is often deferred until the end of the project.
•
Lack of senior management support.
•
Organizational members’ diffi culty accessing past lessons learned.
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to me about di erent situations. You know, an individual tower man-
ager or a director in a certain area wouldn’t be looking over across the
whole organization, whereas the PMO is. So they would come here.
Senior Management Support. A majority of the participants (60 percent)
also reported that senior management support is a key enabler of their
ability to facilitate learning and continuous improvement. Victor described
how support from his senior leadership helped him to gain buy- in from
project teams in conducting post mortems:
You know, once they’ve implemented, now they’ve got to do some sort
of postmortem work? It’s a lot of energy and e ort on their part. So
to have the senior leadership team accept that and sort of support it,
knowing that it’s going to cause additional work for the project teams,
once the project’s done, I think it’s a good indication that they see value
in making sure that we have post- implementation reviews.
Similarly, Wendy talked about the importance of having a senior “cham-
pion” and how it helped her establish more credibility for the PMO:
He would basically make decisions happen where they wouldn’t have
if I didn’t have his sponsorship. I don’t know if you’ve worked in a large
organization, but if you don’t have that Godfather, you could be wait-
ing till the cows come home. Because it’s a greatest idea, but if no one
listens, it doesn’t really matter. So really decision making, visibility. I
mean he actually championed me all the way up to the chairman of
the organization, which was really nice, for the PMO, the credibility of
the PMO, but also for myself professionally. You know? So that’s kind
of how we promoted the PMO, because he believed in us.
In response to questions about how her group overcomes the problems
associated with a lack of direct authority, one PMO leader in the summa-
tive focus group explained the key supporting role that “project sponsors”
and other senior managers have played in her e orts to facilitate cross-
project learning:
Well, that’s where we really rely on the sponsors, the management
team members who act as sponsors, to be advocates for the PMO
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process. Otherwise just having a PMO with senior folks who really
aren’t that interested in it, de nitely didn’t work for us. So the idea of—
you know, our steering committees always have senior management
on them who are well aware of the process we want to follow around
tollgates or certain documents or go/no- go decisions.
Learning- Oriented Culture. Some of the PMO leaders (30 percent) indi-
cated that their organization’s “way of doing business” plays an enabling
role in their e orts to facilitate cross- project learning. Rachel, for example,
discussed how, after three years of evolution in the PMO, her organization
has developed a culture that favors continuous learning:
The only thing I would say is that we always do [lessons learned]. So I
don’t want to overplay that there was this one bad project and we had
to take a step back. I think as good project managers, and given the
structure we’ve put in place, you don’t wait. There’s no ceremony. It’s
just, “Let’s keep looking at what’s going right or wrong here and mak-
ing sure we’re adjusting course.”
Similarly, Mitch described how his organization’s culture also enabled
learning to occur routinely:
[Lessons- learned practices] are culturally engrained. We’ve been doing
those for years, whether it’s on projects, other things, do well/do better
is a cultural norm for us, so there were really no barriers there.
Neutral Facilitator for Lessons- Learned Sessions. One- quarter of the PMO
leaders talked about how having a “neutral facilitator” for lessons- learned
sessions helps to promote a more productive discussion. For some of the
participants, this meant having someone other than the project manager
facilitate the lessons- learned session. For others, it meant ensuring that
the process was run in a fair manner, focusing less on blame and more on
planning how to prevent the problem from recurring. In some cases, the
PMO considered itself more “neutral” and therefore saw itself as being
in a better position to conduct the exercise, and in other cases, an outside
party, possibly a project manager from another team, would be brought in
to perform this function. Patty described in detail how her PMO sta not
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