“Cruising” with Project Management

Ok, so the title is corny but while on an Alaskan cruise last week I actually thought quite a bit about project management. What I’d like to do is share a few examples of what I saw and then ask for your thoughts on different ways project management enters into our daily lives but that we might completely miss.

This intricate dance begins the minute you check in online. Since there are approximately 2,300 passengers (this doesn’t include crew) who will be sailing, each person is given a 30 minute window during which they can arrive at the dock to board the boat. This really minimizes inefficiency of too many people arriving at once and having to stand in EXTREMELY long lines. See photo below. Once you check in your luggage is taken and put in a room that is organized by floor so that after everyone is on board and has checked in they deliver the luggage right to your room. You don’t have to deal with it or worry about it, it just shows up at your door!

Photo 1

Once we made it to our stateroom we started to look around outside and noticed the two pictures below.

Photo 2 Photo 3

This is a small sample of the food that they bring on board for every cruise and this really made me think about the Food and Beverage Director and how complicated it must be to provide food for 3,300 people (this includes the crew). There are SIXTEEN dining options on board but to help manage it two of the restaurants serve the exact same menu all week, one of the restaurants is a huge buffet serving the same meals all week and then you have a little variety from the other menus, but not many choices.

Lastly, one of the most efficient things they’ve done is to provide you one single card that acts as your room key and your bank card. AT check in you provide a credit card that they then link to your cruise pass and anytime you buy a drink, buy a meal or make a purchase at the duty free, they simply swipe your card and no real money exchanges hands. I also think this is a genius idea from a sales perspective because you really don’t feel like you’re spending money – its when you review your final bill before disembarking that you realize the money you’ve really spent!

I’m curious if others have examples of project management in their everyday lives (besides jobs) that they might overlook but that are truly pretty amazing, like the Davidson Glacier pictured below.

Davidson Glacier

Does a Service Firm Need a PMO?

Being unfamiliar with Project Management Offices I wanted to spend more time researching their function and role within organizations so I read an article on CIO.com entitled “Why You Need Project Management Office” and learned several interesting facts. First, is that generally the purpose is to “complete more projects on time and on budget with fewer resources” which sounds ideal and led me to believe that this could not be inexpensive, and I was right. According to a survey by CIO and PMI, 74% of respondents said that lower cost was not a benefit of their PMO’s. The article also noted 7 functional areas for PMO’s, all of which we have touched on in class:

 

  1. To support Project Managers in the business units
  2. Implement standard processes and methodology
  3. Maintain training programs
  4. Act as a home for Project Managers
  5. Internal consulting and mentoring
  6. Portfolio management software tools
  7. Staff of program managers who can handle multiple projects at that same time

The article also discussed how to measure successful PMO’s and the objectives of the PMO specific to each company’s culture. Three years seems to be a reasonable time period before measurable results are achieved and one company listed its objectives for the PMO as based on the accuracy of the estimates, the accuracy of the schedule estimates and project stakeholder satisfaction. Additionally, the article advised against a PMO that only approves and rejects projects but one that instead has the power to cancel based on regular interaction with senior management.

While reading the article I tried to think about how a service industry would apply the concept of a PMO and thought of some ways these ideas and principles could be applied. First, when considering the completion for Requests for Proposals to bid for new business there should be some criteria in place that needs to be met even before resources are allocated to completing the RFP; examples include financials – will the account be large enough to generate fees to cover the cost of the necessary resources? Strategic fit with business model – is this the kind of account we want to grow our business (discretionary – we have full control over investment decisions therefore making the process easier or non-discretionary – the client has full control over everything including the process for making a yes or no decision). Second, when launching a new product there should be a formal process in place; right now it is mostly “gut instinct” based on what the sales people have “heard” from clients but perhaps a more standard process would make product launches more successful.

What I have learned from this is that there are likely facets of my service oriented business that could be improved or made more efficient by utilizing at least some of the functionality of a PMO.