To say that the IT shops of most small and many mid-sized businesses run lean and mean is the understatement of the year—if not the century. Protocols for project management and change management are still eschewed or met with hostility by programmers and analysts. Contrary to the notion that protocols can create order, enable tracking and reporting, and provide an audit trail, they are instead perceived as adding yet another layer of bureaucracy and more work, which reduces productivity rather improving it.

During the last two decades, IT industry experts and pundits have sung the praises of project management protocols and best practices. Larger mid-size companies and large enterprises were converted early. They had the resources to create program/project management offices, institute shared services, train project managers and team leaders, and purchase software such as Microsoft Project. Some have gone on to purchase more sophisticated—and expensive—packages, which transcend project management and morph into enterprise project portfolio management and IT governance.

So what's an SMB to do?

Rather than suggesting that SMBs either retrofit the way they handle project management or simply moth-ball project management entirely, this author proposes a kindler, gentler, more adaptive approach to project management, but one not to be confused with "project management lite."

Every SMB, whether they know it or not, does have some form of informal project management that is practiced during the project lifecycle—even if a project is abandoned. That is, projects are conceived, they are approved, they are assigned personnel, they are begun, they are executed in a particular timeframe and in a particular manner, and they conclude. And while no two companies do this exactly the same, there is merit to discovering how one's own company handles the project lifecycle.

Start by Asking Questions

IT decision-makers should ask themselves and their employees the following questions to help themselves better understand the project lifecycle in their respective companies.

• How are projects conceived?
• Who proposes them?
• What is the project approval process?
• What percentage of IT projects are maintenance, and what percentage are new projects?
• Who is accountable for the project?
• Who is responsible for the timely completion, completion on budget, and quality of the project deliverable?
• What percentage of projects started are actually completed?
• How do projects normally proceed in terms of timeliness, budget, and end-user/stakeholder satisfaction with the deliverables?

Stepping back and understanding the project lifecycle, what works and does not work, as well as the quality of the deliverables is a first step in proposing and implementing a project management protocol that will fit into and be accepted in an SMB IT environment.

Top Down

While it is optimal to have executive endorsement for initiating a "new" protocol such as project management, what often is the case with the SMB is that a grass-roots effort, which occurs over some period of time, begins to deliver consistently and recognizably positive results. This is often the impetus for getting upper management to notice and eventually to buy into a new protocol because it is a "good thing" for the company—jiving with strategic direction, or enabling differentiation in the market, or simply streamlining internal processes.

Establishing some simple metrics—such as knowing the percentage of projects over a period of time that are started and completed/abandoned, end-user satisfaction rate with the quality of project deliverables, and percentage of projects that are delivered on budget—is critical to validating the grass-roots effort. Armed with these statistics, those embarking on a grass-roots project management initiative can then measure their own progress vis-à-vis the "old way" in which projects were conducted.

Should the grass-roots initiative prove successful, it is incumbent upon the architects to report these results to senior management to begin the process of obtaining acceptance and adoption and, finally, top-down endorsement and enforcement of the new initiative.

Train the Trainer

While this concept has been around for a long time, at least as long as this author has been in IT, it might be time to re-examine its merits. IT budgets continue to be scrutinized. This is across the board. For SMBs, this can translate into reduced, if not altogether eliminated, continuing education, conference attendance, and membership to user groups. While project management courses offered by the Project Management Institute (PMI) and the American Management Association can cost over $1000 dollars per individual, it may be valuable, if possible, to send a single person to the class and then use the knowledge gained and materials provided to structure a project management protocol that dovetails with the company's way of doing projects. Some courses may be taken online for a lesser fee. Moreover, it is also worthwhile to seek out courses offered by community colleges or even adult education classes that are far less expensive. Be creative. The knowledge is out there.

If an IT individual is selected to attend such a course, the objective would not be to immediately implement a project management protocol, but rather to pick and choose what may or may not fit with the way the organization manages projects. Selecting a few best practices and then implementing them one at a time over a specified period will facilitate the adoption rate, enable IT to determine what works and what does not, and diminish pushback.

Compliance

During the last several years, the federal and state governments have enacted various regulations to which most businesses must comply. SMBs are no exception. Two well-known examples of federal regulations include the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) of 2002. The federal mandates do not apply only to C-level executives; they extend the long arm of accountability to lower management, especially where financial reporting is concerned.

Moreover, IT shops should by now be well-acquainted with internal IT audits. Implementing protocols for project and change management and for generating an audit trail are critical not just for IT to pass the audit, but for the financial health and viability of the company—both short- and long-term.

Even the smallest of IT shops must now begin to think and act as part of the larger company whole. IT is no longer the corporate stepchild or just another cost center. Instead, the IT department, regardless how modest, is a responsible and accountable corporate citizen and needs to behave in a befitting manner.

Moreover, if it is IT that extends the olive branch to the rest of the company by presenting new and better ways of handling project lifecycle and change management, demonstrating the ability to effectively use metrics, and being a facilitator of compliance, then SMB IT will, like its brethren in large enterprises, earn a seat at the corporate table.

Maria A. DeGiglio is President of, and Principal Analyst for, Maria A. DeGiglio & Associates, an advisory firm that provides clients with accurate and actionable information on business and technology initiatives. You can reach Ms. DeGiglio at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Maria DeGiglio is president and principal analyst of Maria A. DeGiglio & Associates. Current clients of Maria A. DeGiglio & Associates include the Visiting Nurse Service of New York ; Experture, LLC; and MC Press. Ms. DeGiglio has more than 20 years of experience as an IT consultant, industry analyst, and executive. From 1997 to 2005, she worked for Andrews Consulting Group and the Robert Frances Group.

 

Ms. DeGiglio received her Masters Degree in Health Advocacy from Sarah Lawrence College and graduated Cum Laude from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Arts Degree.

 

 

Ms. DeGiglio has worked with IT and C-level executives to enable IT alignment with business goals and to implement best practices. She has experience and expertise in both large enterprises and in small- and medium-sized business. Ms. DeGiglio has authored over one hundred articles, reports, and white papers.

 

 

Since 2004, she has worked in the healthcare industry and in health IT investigating the legal, ethical, and regulatory aspects of creating, implementing, and exchanging electronic health records (EHRs). Ms. DeGiglio is an expert in security, privacy, and HIPAA regulatory compliance.

 

 

Ms. DeGiglio may be contacted at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

 

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