Applying Mass to Your PMO’s Strategy
Two words, time and place, convey a depth of meaning. In program and project management, as in war, you must use the phase (stage), day, duration, position, location, and situation to strategically and tactically deploy your resources. The PMO War Principle of Mass guides that strategic deployment.
Concentrate the effects of overwhelming combat power at the decisive place and time [1].
If you think that means throwing all your resources at a serious problem to fix it, you misunderstand the principle. You are not alone. Natural responses to trouble are to run away from it, ignore it, hope it will resolve itself, or throw everything you have at it. However, throwing resources at a problem in reaction to it is not strategic, and other issues pop up, as in a game of Whack a Mole.
The Mass principle is about concentrating resources (not all of them) at a precise time and place, not just once, to accomplish an objective. One battalion winning a battle is not enough to secure a win in a war. Victory requires coordinated efforts on various fronts. Whether a PMO director, project portfolio manager, project manager, team leader, or team member, you wait for the decisive moment to act or deploy. Only then do you concentrate all the efforts predetermined necessary for accomplishing the desired outcome [2].
PMO Scope
The PMO’s scope has an objective that should be offensive, not defensive. We think it should include the functions that add the most value to the organization. In most cases, project portfolio management or the strategic qualifying, aligning, and planning of projects is part of it.
“I don’t create companies for the sake of creating companies, but to get things done.” ― Elon Musk
This quote from Elon Musk can apply to the Mass principle. Companies should not create a PMO for the sake of having a PMO. The PMO’s scope should not include as many functions as possible but only those that improve weak areas of portfolio, program, project management, and business or system integrations. Not every proposed project belongs in the portfolio. No two projects are exactly the same.
Applying the concept of Mass to project portfolio management relies heavily on knowing what your portfolio looks like and what PM tools and subject-matter experts (SMEs) will best help deliver each project in it. Determine when you need subject-matter experts and have them ready and available. The mass principle in action is the ability to plan and manage the team with the right mix and level of effort at the various phases of specific projects and portfolio staffing. The outcomes of applying the principle of Mass to PPM will ensure that your projects achieve their objectives and that the portfolio within the PMO facilitates the company’s achievement of mission success. The PMO limits the number of projects and project and program scopes according to available resources and a value-adding strategy.
Budget and Resource Management
“The risk of poor capacity is the inability to resource projects. We have a ‘need for speed’ and need the right resources at the right time in the life cycle of a project. It’s what we’re solving for to meet growth objectives.” — Senior Program Manager, Global CPG Company [3]
PMO Capacity Planning
If a project is behind schedule for one or more milestones, would you or your PMs throw all your resources at the problems to get them back on track? Consider the labor cost increase. Is it in the budget? And you cannot avoid the ripple effect on human resource availability for other projects.
Or would you overwhelm the project team with overtime to catch up? Doing so runs the added risks to them of increased stress, burnout, and safety concerns. The labor costs will increase with this choice, too.
Poor resource management leads to uninformed decisions and the inability to execute otherwise well-planned strategies. The project environment becomes inefficient and unstable, leading to [4]:
Logistical errors: How do you know what materials or equipment to order or re-order?
Improper labor use: How do you know teams and their skill sets match their assigned project?
Unnecessary business expenses: Did you know that excessive overtime and last-minute purchases from third-party vendors can drive a project over budget by as much as 50%?
The principle of Mass should influence resource planning to target the optimum team makeup and availability of key skilled resources. The following approaches use the concept of Mass in project resource and team planning:
Determine your core team makeup and ensure they are available for the life of your project. The core should be the team members driving the project forward daily.
Determine the specialized skills that resources share across projects. Ensure they are available when needed. Make necessary adjustments and allowances to accommodate these critical skills.
Ensure your key vendors know the goals and the need to focus resources based on an established plan.
Your team, vendors, and critical resources should become intimately familiar with the plan, including when and to what extent they are needed.
Develop your contingencies if your plan changes. Know how you will communicate changes and how the vendors and key resources are to respond to ensure the concept of Mass is still in play.
This list is not exhaustive; it is a good starting point. You also need to address meetings, communications, and training. You can apply the Mass principle to them by rephrasing the Mass principle.
Concentrate the effects of overwhelming (great) meetings at a decisive place and time. Better yet, hold great meetings at the best locations and times. Now ask what type of meeting that would be. How about one that is well-planned, concise to the topic or purpose, and attended by the key decision-makers, team members, and stakeholders relevant to the program or project? Meetings should not be an imposition, wasting the attendees’ time and talents on superfluous project tasks.
Concentrate the effects of great communications at the decisive place and time. For communications, you must also concentrate the right communications on the most relevant people at the right time, in the most efficient means.
Concentrate the effects of overwhelming training at the decisive place and time. Or focus expert training at the right place and time on those leaders and team members who will most benefit from it and add the most value to the organization, PMO, or project.
By substituting other PMO action terminology for overwhelming combat power, you will explore more ways to apply the Mass principle concerning PMO and project management. Beware not to sabotage your efforts with two critical factors—leadership and morale.
Good leaders ensure that applying the Mass principle does not impact the morale and productivity of the team or teams involved. Understanding the different team dynamics will help the PMO customize methods and processes accordingly to apply the Mass principle best.
In summary, the Mass principle improves the scope, budget, and resource management by strategically deploying the organization’s project management resources. Remember, though, that this principle does not stand alone. All the War principles in this blog series work together, and the next blog is about the other side of the Mass principle--the Economy of Force. You will discover how the two seemingly contradictory principles are complementary.
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