Size Doesn't Matter

Project Management is not exclusive to large businesses, as SMEs can also reap the benefits from it

Doing business in this fast-paced, technology-driven, and highly competitive world has become tougher. Lower profitability coupled with faster time-to-market for new products have become an essential part of the business. Many companies have suffered and struggled in the process of catching up, which resulted in poor management and quality of the products and/or services.

Once considered an important concept mostly for multinational companies (MNCs) and constructions and oil and gas industries, Project Management (PM) undeniably has also became part of the day-to-day operations of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

CHANGING MINDSET

Many SMEs think they do not need PM to run their daily operations because they are either running a small business or they do not have big projects. However, this is a misconception.

PM (defined by http://www.osu.edu as "the application of modern management techniques and systems to the execution of a project from start to finish, to achieve predetermined objectives of scope, quality, time and cost, to the equal satisfaction of those involved …") is not about the size of the operations -- it is about effectiveness and efficiency. PM methodologies are used to encourage innovation, creativity, improve efficiency, increase productivity and quality, solve problems, and manage scarce resources. PM can be useful to practically every company engaged in projects that are not necessarily multimillion budget projects.

This is an age where companies succeed by providing high levels of customer satisfaction, value, and service at a competitive price and maximizing technology and the skills of a highly trained workforce. The key to sustaining the competitive advantage is an organization's ability to utilize future projections, while having the agility to adjust, act, and execute actions required to satisfy the customers' needs. PM tools and techniques, more than a planning guide or milestone chart, facilitate organizations to pull team together, communicate, analyze, learn, and effectively execute the activities required by the customers.

A typical PM will need a competent project manager to guide the whole process. This person should have the basic skills of managing people and knowledge in financial impact, as PM is all about allocating resources (manpower and budget) to complete certain activities on time to achieve the end deliverables. There are a lot of Web-based and office automation tools that are affordable in the market to assist project managers.

THE RIGHT APPROACH

PM is about getting the right things done at the right time. Most companies fail to fulfill the PM activities because they do not have the right approach. Lost times and inconsistency in completing activities normally lead to the project failure.

A typical PM is about having the right approach in managing the following areas: Project Integration Management, Project Scope Management, Project Time Management, Project Cost Management, Project Quality Management, Project Human Resource Management, Project Communications Management, Project Risk Management, and Project Procurement Management.
(See Figure 1)

Figure 1

The best way to approach PM is to identify the impact of the projects to the organization's overall values, goals, and objectives. Few recommended approaches for SMEs in using PM are:

APPLYING PM TO SMEs

A clear PM framework provides a basic structure for understanding its application in the organization. It defines key terminology, puts project management into the larger context in which projects exist, describes a general view of how the various project management processes interact, and describes the integrative processes of initiation, planning and execution, controlling, and closing. PM answers questions like who, when, what, and how much. The main application of PM is broken down into five process groups:

Generally, a simple approach for PM should be undertaken by SMEs to avoid any unnecessary confusion and also to breakdown any complicated processes. Below are recommendations to maintain a simple and healthy PM in SMEs:

Seek support from the top management. SMEs tend to just "push" the projects to the project managers and let them run the show entirely without any backup support and commitment from the senior management. Oftentimes, if the project manager is not given full authority over important aspects of PM such as budget or manpower allocation, the project fails.

Use technology and software to track project. A project -- big budget or small-scale -- may involve a lot of activities or tasks that sometimes may be interrelated or dependent on one another. Software often makes managing and monitoring of the completion of the tasks and activities easier to ensure a smooth progress. Most PM software also enables the project managers and users to communicate remotely and help the project manager allocate the right resources for a certain task.

Develop clear, quantifiable, and achievable goals. Always start the project with the end in mind. The project manager and the team should be aware of the key results and deliverables for each activities and the overall project. A clear goal, using SMARTER (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Result-oriented, Time-Bound, Evaluated, Review) must be well communicated within all project owners. Each sub-task and activities should have agreeable and reliable milestones by the team members.

Involve team members. A project can only be successful if everyone plays their roles in the PM -- not only the project manager. Some of the SMEs tend to push all the responsibilities to the project manager. This will make PM as paper reporting and graph charting procedure only. No proper involvement from team members will hamper project goals, causing delays in delivery, and exceed budget control.

Focus main tracking mechanism on time and money. The common language for management is money. All performance and progress metrics are ultimately translated into monetary impact and implication. One must be able to show the management exactly where they are both in terms of time allocated and actual money spent in PM.

Develop corrective actions and contingency plans. In PM, it is crucial to meet the deadlines and milestones as charted in the project timeline chart. However, if the team miss the timeline or fail to achieve certain results, the team must have a structured contingency plan to steer the whole project back into its direction to achieve the end goal.

Tap an experienced and a trained project manager. A project manager needs to have vast knowledge in managing human tasks (delegation), budget, risk, quality, etc. The organization should expose the project manager and the project teams in various PM knowledge through training of

Understand formal and standardized methodology. Ensure company-wide understanding of the standardized approach in PM. A multidisciplinary or multi-team approach is necessary as a project often involves staff from various departments, and even the entire company.

Motivate employee and cross communicate. An internal system within the company should be established to ensure a high level of motivation. PM is not an easy task, and most of the time, consumes a lot of resources if not planned or executed properly. Team members should be motivated to execute and complete their tasks. Companies should develop a constant and open communication to encourage members to voice out opinions and clarify any roadblocks in their tasks.

DEBUNKING MYTH

The myth that PM is only applicable to mega budget projects, governments, and multinational companies should be shattered.

SMEs should bravely embark on PM in their day-to-day operations to survive and to compete in the challenging environment. Satisfying customers is not only by providing them with quality products or services, but also speed and accuracy of delivery and shorter lead time to market for new developments.

All these can be achieved through a well-coordinated plan and a careful execution of the activities and tasks through PM. A knowledgeable team, together with commitments from the top management, is a recipe for success for the planning, controlling, implementing, and monitoring the PM in an organization, whether it is big or small.

THE AUTHOR

YK TANG is the founder and managing consultant for TACH Solution, a leading training and consultancy provider based in Malaysia, focusing on driving quality and productivity improvement issues for supply chain optimization. Email him at yktang@tachsolution.com or visit www.tachsolution.com.