The more I look at what’s out there, in terms of PPM, and the more I question how some features can possibly work in real-life scenarios.
One interesting topic I was checking lately was “What-if Scenario Planning”. At first I though it was a great feature, then I started looking at the implementation and it all came apart.
To make a long story short, this type of planning compares scenarios to evaluate alternative prioritization, staffing and timing approaches for achieving portfolio objectives.
Given the comparative scenarios are created at the very beginning of the planning stage and before projects are spun out, the main question that I have is: how can you plan staffing scenarios at this stage? Sure you can estimate, but a true planning scenario?
The premise of this planning is to ensure you prioritize initiatives vs. others. If these projects are not even started, and a PM is not involved at this stage, how can you possibly know whom do you need in the team and what their allocation needs to be?
You have someone, in management that starts to guess whom is required and randomly cobbles a project team together, just for the sake of planning. Then, you multiply this approach for the number of initiatives you have in the pipeline and create a bunch of what-if scenarios.
In theory, this looks great, but in practice, it never works. When you actually spin the project, resources availability is not what it was supposed to be, allocation required is probably very different and the whole plan, based on a wrong approach, starts to fail, even before starting.
When a project starts, a Project Manager is responsible to properly size the team, the schedule and validate the budget. In addition, the PM needs to ensure resource availability by getting buy-in from the resource’s managers. This process takes time and, very often, what was assumed in the “what-if scenario” is not what is possible in real-life. In addition, this type of planning is done 6, 12 or more month in advance, and therefore the company roster can look very different when you actually do start.
In the end, priorities change and projects that are spun off are the ones that are required, not the ones that can happen due to resourcing. If a resource is required, it will be found via levelling, prioritization of tasks or simply acquired: after all, that’s what budgets are for.
When you are shopping for a PPM software, you should ALWAYS put your process first. Make sure the platform you choose can support your existing processes and not the other way around. Fancy features that seem great at first sight, may never be used and end up costing you more in terms of approach than the benefits they can provide.
A PPM tool should not make you change the way you work. It should enhance it.
At Completix, we are implementing features that are real-life tested. Completix works the way you do, by supporting your existing processes. As always, try it out, for free, to ensure it is a fit for your organization.
