PMO Principles: Adopt the Economy of Force.
Since 2007, Program or Project Management Offices (PMOs) have come a long way toward acceptance by organizations as a valued necessity, not just an expense, especially in the last three years [1]. The exceptions are poor-performing PMOs.
Companies with top and poor performers alike face the following five challenges [1]:
1. Their resource management capability falls short
2. Not enough time or resources to devote to strategic activities
3. The organization’s culture is resistant to change
4. Needing Better Prioritization
5. Project managers are in short supply
Improving resource management has been organizations’ number one challenge for the past 20 years. Despite this, organizations with PMOs still prioritize improving reporting, analytics, and dashboard tools above resource management. These tools have not made significant improvements in resource management [1].
The War PMO Principles of Mass and Economy of Force address four of the five by emphasizing the need to master resource (including time) management, prioritization of projects, tasks, costs, and balanced governance.
In the previous blog, you learned what the Mass Principle looks like for the PMO. The PMBOK discusses the concept of being able to plan, estimate, acquire, and develop the right team [2]. Mass means aligning the portfolio’s planning with resource planning and applying the most strategic resources to top-priority projects within the portfolio. The Mass and Economy of Force principles are two sides of the scale.
The Economy of Force
Employ all combat power available in the most effective way possible; allocate minimum essential combat power to secondary efforts. Prioritize all operations or strategic initiatives to prevent spreading valuable resources too thin [3].
When resources are stretched too thin, Mass means addressing resource management as a priority. The Economy of Force proportions available resources to enable the execution of Mass, deploying minimal yet best-suited resources at the proper place and time [4]. And it recognizes the need to reduce dispersed resources strategically and tactically. Therefore, the Economy of Force addresses non-priority challenges with the minimum resources required to maintain progress.
Organizations are becoming more project-driven, which increases the complexity of programs and projects. The compromise between concentration and dispersion demands continually weighing gains against cost. You must strive to improve the use of the PMO’s and project teams’ skills, experience, capacity, and other resources [4]. However, prioritizing projects, stakeholders, decisions, and actions is often a source of contention. Project managers and stakeholders have a vested interest in their program or project. Thus, they can feel they are not receiving the consideration they deserve. Be prepared to listen to their concerns but stand firm on priority decisions for the organization's best interest.
The Economy of Force is easier to understand when applying it to tangible resources, but what about those that are not? One resource for this blog suggests that about 20% of your actions contribute to 80% of the project, and only 5% contribute 50% to project success [3]. Therefore, mass your resources on the 5%, executing it flawlessly.
As leaders, we can get lost in the minutia. Countless emails, meetings, and non-essentials masquerading as imperative consume our time and distract us from actions within our scope (PMO, portfolio, or project). Because you are reading this post, we assume you know the magic triangle, or should we say the not-so-magic triangle? Balancing scope, time, and costs is seldom easy, especially for large or complex projects. If it were, that would be magic. The more complex the project or program, the greater the odds that one or more of the constraints will run amok. As a project, program, or portfolio manager, you must define, monitor, and manage all three to deliver the project or program as contracted. So, you would agree that time management, for instance, is essential to achieve project success.
You may not realize that nearly all program and project leaders spend an average of 36% of their budgeted time on communication tasks [5]. Reporting by McKinsey showed an inordinate amount of time spent checking emails, 11 times per hour, and then taking about 64 seconds to focus on work. Consider the time spent writing and editing emails. How many are essential to the most urgent project or program management needs? Emails definitely fall under the Economy of Force Principle.
The McKinsey report also revealed that employees are distracted from work every 10 minutes and do not return to total concentration on the interrupted task for 25 minutes [6]. Always remember that anything not within the scope dissipates management or workers. Therefore, planning and analyzing the Work Breakdown Structure, project portfolio, PMO mission, value statement, and scope of functions are vital to the Mass and Economy of Force principles. Examine all the tasks required to produce the deliverable. Some may need doing, but not by your crucial personnel or during time better spent on actual scope tasks [3].
The Economy of Force’s purpose is to dedicate most efforts (for the PMO functions and project managers) towards tasks that affect the outcome of the PMO mission or the project. Minimize the time invested in activities that do not contribute directly to the mission’s success. What is the key takeaway? Prioritize everything you and your team do. Apply Mass to the most important things and the Economy of Force to the rest.
Thank you for reading. Please check back again for our next post covering the Maneuver principle. Also, we would like your feedback and are grateful for your shares.
References
[1] "The State of the Project Management Office (PMO) 2022," Project Management Solutions, Inc, Chadds Ford, PA, 2022.
[2] A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge: PMBOK Guide 6th Edition, Newton Square, PA: Project Management Institute, 2017.
[3] W. Butler, "Hist 1416 American Military History Butler, W. > Nine Principles of War," 16 February 2022. [Online]. Available: https://bartonline.instructure.com/courses/2269/pages/nine-principles-of-war.
[4] U. Captain G. K. Carmichael, "Principles of War and Their Application to Strategy and Tactics," U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons, 1950.
[5] J. Mackay, "Slack and email cost companies an average of $28,209 per employee every year," 13 November 2018. [Online]. Available: https://blog.rescuetime.com/slack-and-email-cost/.
[6] "HOW MUCH TIME DO YOUR EMPLOYEES SPEND ON CHECKING EMAILS?" 17 April 2022. [Online]. Available: https://ppm.express/blog/how-much-time-your-employees-spend-on-checking-emails/.