At
4GEN SYSTEMS
we take a rather special approach to Project Management. We don't
believe in any purest notions or overwhelming academic approaches
to the subject. For one thing it's reported that 60% of I.T. projects
still overrun by more than 50%.
With over 20 years practical experience in our team we don't overrun
projects ourselves, and we can show you a concise, uncomplicated set
of rules and techniques backed up with smart I.T. that work for small/medium
businesses. Based on Earned
Value Management and process control we will put you unerringly
on the road to repeatable on-time, on-budget, quality deliveries and
services with high customer satisfaction. We
create a less stressful environment and provide managers with more
time.
Our Project Management methods are direct and practical. We
place setting and meeting expected results over smooth talking to
customers, and naturally motivated staff over charismatic leadership
that can move on.
There are 4 factors to achieve this:
1)
When it comes down to it, the more your Project(s) rely on the good
judgement of your managers the more risk and stress you entertain.
The better the quality of the information provided about a project
and its performance the better the quality of judgements made. This
is therefore about accuracy, frequency, coverage and understandability.
2)
Even the smallest of Projects can create considerable amounts of
process, planning and performance data. Unless this can be organised,
collected and reported effectively the sheer weight of the effort
to handle it can overwhelm and demorilise a workforce. Through experience
we have learned how to use I.T. to integrate and automate information
processing as a bi-product of your normal daily activities.
3)
It's pretty pointless creating a sophisticated, efficient automated
system if it overloads you when the results are presented. We have
developed the PM Backpack™
that provides all the required information but in the minimum of
clear and practical pages. It maximises on the
use of speak for themselves graphs,
giving managers all they need for control of projects and reporting
within thier companies and to their customers and suppliers.
4)
This is usually the topic that switches most managers off and is
the hardest to get staff to buy into. Good measurement is a crucial
factor if you are to break away from qualitative judgement-based
control and raise your game to the higher levels of process maturity.
In the software development world for instance, development
costs for companies reaching the higher levels are more than halved
and commensurate reductions in development times are created. Through
steps 1 to 4 we can make this a practical reality for you.
As a start on this road
we provide an initial Project Management Process Health Check. This
is a positive exercise to inform you where we think you are on the
maturity ladder against our 4 factors and what you would likely gain
from achieving higher maturity levels.
