Putting into Place Project Management Processes for SMEs
(Small/Medium Businesses)
To many SME managers, the majority of project management
literature can seem overwhelming, complex or downright
inapplicable to their business environments. However, fast
moving SMEs inevitably at some point of their development face
the challenge of putting into place project management processes
in order to handle their growth and/or improve the products or
services that they provide.
Oftentimes the major added value of SMEs is their agility and
ability to quickly bring to market products or services -
therefore, any initiative that structures this ability or takes
time away from the employees is bound to run into resistance.
Project management procedures therefore have to be intelligently
scaled to fit the requirements of such SMEs - otherwise such
procedures will be perceived as hurdles and overly bureaucratic
by the employees. Another challenge is that SMEs generally
cannot afford to have an employee who is 100% of his or her time
dedicated to the implementation of project management processes.
The same employee will often have to implement project
management processes, and handle daily operations at the same
time. In this article, I outline a simple approach to handle the
implementation of project management procedures in an SME. The
assumptions made in this approach are:
Assumption 1: Within the SME there wasn't an employee who had
prior experience in putting into place project management
processes.
Assumption 2: Projects undertaken by the SME are of a similar
type with lots of common activities.
Assumption 3: The timeframe for learning about the company's
product/services is 2-3 months.
The approach:
Recruiting the process specialist: once the need for structuring
the processes is identified, recruit a project manager who has
already implemented project management processes in a previous
company - this employee will be referred to the Process
Specialist (PS) throughout this article.
Learning about the company & collecting information: over the
next 2-3 months the PS works in the company and understands how
the company manages projects. During this phase, he or she will
be collecting information on the processes (or lack of them) in
the company.
Starting work on processes: with strong support from senior
management, the PS will now start working on the implementation
of project management processes by holding a number of meetings
with other employees involved in projects. Based on the feedback
from these meetings, the PS will capture the existing project
activities, and start grouping them under headings (creation of
a work breakdown structure).
Network diagrams & project management software: once the WBS is
ready, the next step is to create network diagrams that show the
relationships between the activities. At this point in time,
depending on the availability of financial resources, an
easy-to-implement project/knowledge management solution should
be selected - once this is done, send the PS for training on the
selected solution.
Documenting the processes: working with other employees, the PS
should now document for each activity: its nature, the skill set
of people required, risks, drivers, duration, and what if
scenarios. A picture of how projects work in the company will
now start emerging.
Identifying the critical path & best practices: the next step is
to identify the critical path of the project, and map the
project plan onto an advanced Gantt chart that shows the
relationships between the activities. If identified, any best
practices should be fleshed out, and documented for circulation
in the company.
Selecting project templates: the PS should now select templates
that will be used for meeting reports, change requests, project
presentations, statement of work, project plan, emails, project
handover, project closure/evaluation reports, and so on.
Running a project with the new processes: at this point in time,
the company has to select a project to test drive the project
plan, templates, and best practices. Training should be provided
on the project/knowledge management solution that has been
selected to employees who will work on the project. All of the
project documentation gathered so far must be by now
electronically accessible via the project/knowledge management
solution selected.
Closing the project and improving: once a project has been
accomplished using the above-mentioned elements, the PS should
create a project evaluation report, and update the project
processes, templates and best practices using the lessons
learned from the project. A standard procedure should now be
established for all subsequent projects -- at the end of each
project, the project manager should update the project/knowledge
management system and circulate the project's lessons learned
document within the company.
Conclusion: if properly scaled, project management processes can
be implemented in fast moving SMEs. What is required is strong
support from senior management, enough time for the PS so that
he or she is not caught up in operations 100% of the time, and a
scaled approach that is less formal than that used in larger
corporations. An easy-to-implement project/knowledge management
solution will also help in sharing best practices across the
company.