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Management by stages or how to handle complex project portfolios

Modern businesses evolved in such a way that a company seldom has a business area that is independent of other areas or that do not have any need to embrace new technologies. Companies and projects grew more interdisciplinary and digitally connected, which added an extra layer of productivity and creativity to how we do things. However, an undesirable effect emerged: projects are now more complex and immensely more difficult to manage than before. This is due to many more moving parts and dependencies that need to be solved before yielding any value.

Luckily, project and program management also evolved, creating mechanisms to adapt and effectively deal with this new complexity. One such example is the PRINCE2 methodology, which teaches us to break projects into smaller pieces and outlines work stages to make management simpler and more effective. Note that it goes beyond categorizing projects by status (“not started”, “in progress”, ”completed”, “delayed”, etc), the work stages have specific criteria and are clear on what has been done and what comes next in the project, thus making it easier for a program manager to understand what is going on each project of the portfolio. It also lays the foundation for a project approval mechanism, in which senior managers verify and approve the quality of the plan or the implementation before moving on to the next stage.

At Beehive, we use the principles established by the PRINCE2 methodology to define 5 work stages¹ and support your work of transforming your company.


The 5 work stages of Beehive Program Manager


Stage 1: Idea


The first step after creating a project. It contains only high-level details of the project such as name, owner, description, strategic goals, area of the company, and priority level. Nonetheless, it is the beginning of your company’s project pipeline to transform the business.

Work during this stage is focused on creating a high-level estimate of the impact (financial and performance) and listing assumptions, risks, and constraints in the project. The senior leadership team should assess if the idea is worth further planning using this information and authorize its progress to the next stage.


Stage 2: Scoped

Projects at this stage of work are good ideas and are worth a deep dive. Owners with projects in this stage of work must focus on creating an action plan to guide implementation as well as an accurate estimate of impacts and costs associated with the project. They must also input an estimated date of implementation.

Meanwhile, leadership must observe the quality of the plan at this stage and only allow them to progress if they have an achievable execution roadmap and sufficient impact.


Stage 3: Planned

This is the final stage of planning and marks the beginning of execution. Being in stage 3 means that planning is done, and projects have execution ongoing. Owners are working on completing the action plan and capturing the impact described in the initiative. In order to advance to the next stage, execution must be completed, criteria of success filled, and supporting documents submitted.

This is an especially important stage for senior leadership doing the approvals. It is key that they verify the quality of the implementation, in order to achieve the sustainable, expected impact.


Stage 4: Executed

Stage 4 means that the project is fully executed. All that is left is check supporting documents related to the project and most importantly, detect how much value is being created thanks to the execution of the project. This should be the focus of the work during this stage. Once the impact has been validated, the project is a go to the next and final stage.


Stage 5: Validated

Stage 5 means projects have been delivered and impact has been recognized. The work is done! Kudos!

1 PRINCE2 actually has 7 work stages. However, they are not mutually exclusive which leaves room to adapt the by-the-book methodology and use a 5-work-stages approach that is easier to follow and equally effective

 
 
 

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