Finance Transformation Gone Wrong - Inadequate Project Management
/Note: This post is part of a series on the challenges of transformation and how to overcome them.
Inadequate project management.
Too many transformation initiatives either fail outright or don't achieve all of the goals due to poor project management. One of the challenges I've seen in a number of organizations is that it's assumed a single person can be both intimately involved in the effort, perhaps as a subject matter specialist, and somehow manage the project "on the side".
Even a relatively small transformation effort requires a full-time project manager. Too often I've seen a person who is splitting their time between project manager and team member activities focus on the urgent needs of the project while unintentionally ignoring the important, but longer-term requirements of project management. The project manager must be able to step back from the urgent activities of the day to look at the longer term plan. They need to see the forest for the trees, so to speak.
A second issue is that a person might be a good general manager in their organization but be a poor project manager. There is some overlap in the skillset but there are also some key differences. Most transformation efforts require a full-time project manager who's been down the road before. The best project managers are the ones who can lead people and manage projects. It's sometimes difficult to find those two roles in one person, but the project and the organization will be better for it if that type of person can be found.
The last point I should make is that while separate roles for Project Manager and Team Member is ideal, projects can still be successful if both roles are combined into one, which typically occurs on small projects. When this does happen, however, it's critical that the Project Manager set some time aside each day to look at the longer-term implications of the project and to stay on top of the risks that can derail a transformation initiative.
