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Process and Project Management

08/03/2018 by Alberto Pezeiro Introduction to the concept of Process and Project Management - it is fascinating how fit it is comparing the Management of an Organization to the Management of our own lives. It is also a powerful didactic resource when you try to justify to the High Management why it is worth implementing Operational Excellence or Continuous Improvement Programs.

Operational Excellence Programs generate a culture of going beyond your routine. It makes the Organization become concerned with delivering more than the basic expected. It makes all contribute with that “something more” to help the Organization reach a new Operational, Financial, Social, and Environmental Performance level.

In our lives, we all manage routine activities, such as feeding, resting, taking care of our physical and mental health, managing the resources at our disposal and our social relationships. Although some of us manage it better than others, that is not our differential.

Our main differential becomes evident when we see our lives at the long run—what I simply call “Project.” Everything made apart from our routine, with a clear beginning and ending, can be used to improve our personal indicators, some involving the use of our resources and others involving only changes in our behavior and priorities.

Reviewing our food intake to lose weight, doing an MBA, and getting in touch again with long-time friends can be considered “projects,” as some of them include investments (like doing an MBA) and others do not.

Corporative Leadership and Management - by comparing Organizations with our personal lives, we also can classify Management activities as “routine” and “projects.”

Routine Management - a good routine management is one of the main roles of a Leader and his subordinates. Doing what is described under “Functions and Responsibilities,” satisfying the regulatory requirements, following the computer procedures and systems, and solving simple operational problems are part of the world we call “Routine Management.” A good routine management guarantees that the performance will be maintained and that the results will not deteriorate.

Projects - however, the projects’ main goal is taking the Organization to a new performance level, and it can be classified into three types:

• Simple projects: when you already know what you have to do, there are neither investments involved nor root cause investigation. Usually, you make an Action Plan, which is monitored until its conclusion;
• CAPEX (Capital Expenditure) projects: there is no root cause investigation, but the project’s complexity is high and involves investment of a shareholder’s capital, who monitors its execution and return on the investment made;
• OPEX (Operational Excellence) projects: highly complex projects that do not require investment, but require root cause investigation. They are usually related to the Organization’s process or indicator performance improvement.



























Project Governance: from companies that have a completely informal way of Managing Projects to those that have a department in their Organizational Structure 100% dedicated to Project Management. It basically depends on how much importance the High Management gives to this discipline and on the Organizational Culture.

Governance involves everything from project subject definition to the definition of the Leaders themselves, and monitoring its progress and inform how it affects the Organization.

Methodologies: there are different Project and Process Improvement Methodologies. Usually, their choice depends on previous experiences of the High Management with the methodologies, the seniority of who will lead the projects, and their complexity.

The advantages of adopting a methodology to manage projects are countless:

• Documentation
• Teamwork discipline
• Tool use facilitation at the proper time
• Knowledge management

Final goal: the organizational projects help the employees answer the fundamental question that every Organization should ask itself:

“What do we intent to do differently to take the Organization to a new performance level?