Semester Global Framework Portfolio Group Project SCENARIO AgileHoya, a local Washington DC software development firm has made plans to expand as a global organization and will set up project and development teams in England, Brazil, India, South Africa and Australia. You and your group are the Project Managers who are tasked with the job to implement this global expansion project. The Global Project Management Framework, as shown below, suggests good practices required for global projects. Your group must develop a global project management framework plan as well as an implementation plan that you will recommend to the CEO. Organizations may need to adapt their cultures, procedures and technological environment when moving from co-located to virtual and global project management. 1 Week 1: Research and Study Meet your group members, then research and study the Global Project Management Framework and prepare to develop plans and proposals for the AgileHoya expansion. Week 2: Setting Up Global Teams Overview When forming a cross-cultural team, you must understand the differences in culture, language and time zones and develop a plan to transform these differences from challenges into opportunities. Address these considerations in your written proposal: ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● The outcomes from a 360o analysis of the cultural dimensions on your project team Do you hire? Plans to set up local leadership and how to deal with challenges you would encounter with local leadership that is distributed globally? o Comment on developing local leadership ▪ Commitment ▪ Motivation Identify the level of trust required Establishing and maintaining trust and moving towards long-term trust Identify global sources of conflict Elaborate on relevant global management conflict resolution issues Leadership coaching and development plan Are management and leadership theories valid across different countries or should they be validated and customized to consider cultural dimensions? Deliverable Write a 2-3 page proposal on how you will set up your global teams. Add mind maps, charts, tables and illustrations to support your proposal. 2 Week 3: Global communication Overview Global project managers must know the communication channels between stakeholders and define a communication strategy. Address these considerations in your written proposal: ● ● ● ● ● ● Identify and analyze the global key stakeholders Ascertain the global communication channels Guidelines for Meetings and communication templates Strategies and techniques for exchanging project information Can the use of communication techniques change the commitment levels of global stakeholders? How? Can internal politics and social networking be more important than communication? Deliverable Write a 2-3 page proposal on how you will develop a global communications strategy along with processes and methods. Add mind maps, charts, tables and illustrations to support your proposal. Week 4: Global organizations Overview International projects can be structured in different ways. The project manager will have to choose a relevant project structure based on several complexities. Address these considerations in your written proposal: ● Identify the project structure and elaborate on the additional benefits this structure will bring to your global project. ● Main challenges of this structure to your project and strategies to overcome them ● Recruiting and selecting personnel processes ● Features of global project offices ● Developing and promoting global project management methodology ● Design of performance appraisals ● Benefits of the implementation of a PMO, PSO. What are the negative sides of these structures? ● Evaluation of the use of telephone and video conferencing to interview and hire candidates. Other alternatives to select global resources? 3 Deliverable Write a 2-3 page proposal on how you will develop an international project structure for AgileHoya, along with processes and methods. Add mind maps, charts, tables and illustrations to support your proposal. Week 5: Collaborative tools Overview As Global project managers, you must be able to determine which types of tools are required in your company to foster collaboration on global projects. Address these considerations in your written proposal: ● ● ● ● ● ● Recommendations for the evaluation and deployment of hardware and software to facilitate communication over distance, covering the central implementation of tools within the company and their installation and setup by project managers and team members. Identification of basic criteria for evaluating products and services for virtual teams or globally dispersed projects. Methods and procedures to increase adoption of new technologies Evaluation of the implementation of selected tools and technologies. Evaluate efficiency of collaborative project management software, if any. Problem solving when technology does not work. Deliverable Write a 2-3 page proposal on how you will select, evaluate, test and deploy collaborative technologies and tools. Add mind maps, charts, tables and illustrations to support your proposal. Week 6: Collaborative techniques Overview It is important to understand how the employees perceive the use of various technologies to collaborate and to identify and evaluate different pain points in the process. 4 Address these considerations in your written proposal: ● ● ● ● ● In order to achieve efficiency, what practical recommendations are to be followed when employing the tools? For example, the establishment of common rules and tips for emails. Identify areas of improvement and detecting areas of good practices. Troubleshooting techniques when technologies are not used correctly. Strategies to build constructive behaviors and how they help to increase collaboration and understanding. What collaborative recommendations are hardest to implement in which countries and why? Deliverable Write a 2-3 page proposal on how you will put processes in place to assist employees to adopt global collaboration. Describe how you will help the global employees adapt their communication style to the different technologies made available to them. Add mind maps, charts, tables and illustrations to support your proposal. Week 7: Implementing the Global Project Framework Overview The implementation of the Global Project Management Framework is most likely to succeed when implemented in a collaborative and phased manner. Address these considerations in your written proposal: ● ● ● ● ● Scope of the implementation Implementation strategy selection process and rationale. Advantages and limitations of this selected method. What can you change? Ways to communicate and enumerate the benefits of the implementation of this framework to global employees. Recommendations for the next implementation – lessons learned. Deliverable Write a 2-3 page proposal on how you will implement the global project framework strategy for AgileHoya, along with the processes and methods. Add mind maps, charts, tables and illustrations to support your proposal. 5 Week 8: Semester Project Portfolio Submission Deliverable Assemble your Project Submissions Deliverables from Weeks 2 to 7 along with all associated tables, charts, graphs and mind maps into a Project Portfolio Word document to be submitted for grading. This will be your Global Project Management Framework Portfolio. Week 8: Individual Reflection Paper Deliverable As an individual, write a 1-2 page reflection on the team project by focusing on lessons learned through the exercise. ● ● ● ● ● What did you learn? Were you surprised by anything that you did not expect? What is the biggest challenge that you encountered? How do you expect that challenge to be magnified in a real-life scenario where personnel are located all over the globe? Any other deep thoughts that you want to share? Every group member will need to complete and submit the reflection paper individually. This is not a collaborative assignment. 6 SCENARIO AgileHoya, a local Washington DC software development firm has made plans to expand as a global organization and will set up project and development teams in England, Brazil, India, South Africa and Australia. You and your group are the Project Managers who are tasked with the job to implement this global expansion project. The Global Project Management Framework, as shown below, suggests good practices required for global projects. Your group must develop a global project management framework plan as well as an implementation plan that you will recommend to the CEO. Organizations may need to adapt their cultures, procedures and technological environment when moving from co-located to virtual and global project management. Please use the Book for Cite https://books.google.com/books?id=8o1xCMaW6nMC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_ r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false ● ● ———QUESTION’s (only 2) ———–Can the use of communication techniques change the commitment levels of global stakeholders? How? Can internal politics and social networking be more important than communication? Understanding of Topics and Issues (How the global team was put together) – 25 of 25 points Analysis of All Issues Identified (Critical trap to avoid) — 25 of 25 points Evaluation (opinions, arguments, evidence in the form of critical success factors) – 25 of 25 points Recommendations (What would you have done differently?) — 25 of 25 points Please refer to the Rubric for more detailed descriptions on requirements. Required Headers: Write a critical analysis on how the global team was put together. Which trap is the most critical to avoid? Why? What critical success factors were present? What would you have done differently? Weekly Project Submission Rubric Criterion Score: Excellent (100-90), Good (89-80), Adequate (79-70), Not Good Enough (69-0) Criterion Description Score Weight (1-100) Depth of Study Gathered information includes the basics of the topic and an in-depth study of the topic. Information is organized in a logical manner to support the conclusions. X 0.25 Project Analysis and Application X 0.25 The deliverable demonstrated knowledge of the course content by integrating major and minor concepts into the response. The deliverable also demonstrated evidence of extensive research effort and a depth of thinking about the topic. Shows insight from drawing conclusions from information gathered. Required Components Response includes all components and meets or exceeds all requirements indicated in the instructions. Each question or part of the assignment is addressed thoroughly. All s and/or additional documents are included, as required. X 0.25 Supporting Diagrams Diagrams (referenced if necessary) are included that aid in the communication of gathered information. X 0.25 Maximum Points: 100 THESE ARE EXAMPLES FROM LAST YEAR PLEASE DON’T COPY BUT SHOULD HELP YOU KNOW WHAT THEY WANT FOR ANSWER: THEY LIKE CHARTS AND VISUAL GRAPHICS EXAMPLES Communication techniques change the commitment levels of global stakeholder We believe that communication techniques can change the commitment levels of global stakeholders for several reasons. If there are established communication techniques for the entire project from the beginning this will ensure that the stakeholders are informed and know what to expect when communicating scope, cost and performance metrics to the team. “Global projects will benefit from a standard method, to be used by all project team members” (Binder, 2007, p. 109). It is important to standardize this from the beginning of the project because it allows all project team members to understand how to communicate and what communication channels to use as they are working through issues on the project. When the communication channels are not clear, stakeholders may not feel as engaged with the project and feel as if they are operating alone. In a global environment where everyone is geographically separated utilizing video or when conferencing technologies as the communication technique is preferred. “The main objective of video conferencing is to improve trust on global projects by allowing a visual contact among the participants” (Binder, 2007, p. 192). Utilizing these web conferencing tools and established channels will increase trust amongst global stakeholders and build that commitment that is necessary for a successful project. One strategy we feel is effective is a project status dashboard that outlines an overall status, time/schedule, costs/budget and resource status of the project (see figure below). This type of slide can be used to start every project meeting to ensure all global stakeholders understand the status of the project and how their role in the project is developing over the course of the project. Displaying information about the project in this manner requires input from all stakeholders which increases that commitment because individuals on the project would not want to start a meeting in a negative manner because their segment of the project is behind. Can internal politics and social networking be more important than communication? At AgilaHoya, we believe that internal politics and social networking play an important role in analyzing stakeholders and understanding how to communicate with the right stakeholders on a global project. We believe that internal politics and social networking are of equal importance when it comes to global project managers understanding of communication channels with these stakeholders. Identifying stakeholders at the beginning of the project and having global team members in different countries provide additional information on these stakeholders is key for establishing these proper channels (Binder, 2007). Once these stakeholders are identified, as the project manager we must learn how to communicate with these stakeholders. “The project manager can build on the local knowledge of the participants of the brainstorming session to identify and document the stakeholders’ characteristics that depend on their status and geographical location, and can determine their expected behavior” (Binder, 2007, p. 83). Once this is completed we can decide on if internal politics is more important than communication because in some countries this may be true but in others it may not be. As with all activities in a global project, there is not one right answer for each country. Every culture and every country bring their own level of uniqueness to the project and project managers must understand this in order to effectively communicate with all stakeholders involved. AgileHoya Effectively Forming a Global Company: United States, Brazil, United Kingdom, South Africa, India and Australia Contents Executive Summary Presented by: Melissa , George Ty Mayberry and AJ Team Building, Avoiding Ethnocentrism 4 6 Global management conflict resolution issues 6 Level of trust required 7 Establishing and maintaining trust 7 Global sources of conflict 8 Global management conflict resolution issues 9 Leadership coaching and development plan 9 Global or customized management and leadership theories 9 Global Key Stakeholders 10 Global Communication Channels 11 Meeting and Communication Templates 12 Strategies and Techniques for Exchanging Project Information 13 Project Virtual Room 13 Communication techniques change the commitment levels of global stakeholder 14 Can internal politics and social networking be more important than communication? 15 Identify the project structure and elaborate on the additional benefits this structure will bring to your global project. 15 Main challenges of this structure to your project and strategies to overcome them 16 Recruiting and selecting personnel processes 16 Features of global project offices 17 Global Project Management Methodology 18 Design of performance appraisals 18 2 PMO and PSO, Benefits and Challenges 19 Visual Conferencing Interviews v. Traditional Face to Face 20 Evaluation and Implementation of Unified Communications 21 Prior to cloud technologies a typical engagement may follow these steps: 22 Cloud Technology has simplified the deployment: 22 Basic criteria for evaluating products and services for virtual teams or globally dispersed projects 24 Methods and procedures to increase adoption of new technologies 25 Evaluation of the implementation of selected tools and technologies 27 Evaluate efficiency of collaborative project management software, if any. 27 Problem solving when technology does not work. 28 Practical recommendations to be followed when employing the tools 28 Areas of improvement and detecting areas of good practices 30 Troubleshooting techniques when technologies are not used correctly 31 Collaborative recommendations and Difficult Implementations 34 Global Project Framework 34 Implementation strategy selection process and rationale. 35 Advantages and limitations of this selected method. What can you change? 36 Ways to communicate and enumerate the benefits of the implementation of this framework to global employees 36 Recommendations for the next implementation – lessons learned 37 Conclusion 39 References 40 3 Executive Summary As AgileHoya moves forward with our plan to become a global company with newly formed offices in Brazil, the United Kingdom, South Africa, India and Australia, we must establish a plan for managing our worldwide expansion that considers all of the factors that will contribute to making it a success. When we consider that according to the Project Management Institute, 122 million per 1 billion dollars spent by companies on project implementation are wasted because of poor project management, AgilaHoya will need to commit to a very thoughtful and strategic project plan for our worldwide corporate development (PMI, 2016). Further, a global expansion of this magnitude will require that the project implementation team consider several additional factors, which differ from other projects that we have undertaken, to include; organizations, locations, languages, cultures and time zones. For this reason, the project management team proposes the use of the Global Project Management Framework (see figure below) as the method for managing our global expansion to ensure that it is completed in a holistic manner which accounts for all of the challenges that come with forming a worldwide team (Binder, 2009). To provide some background, the proposed framework of best practices for global project management considers five strategic areas that should be considered to help with the creation and management of multicultural, multilingual, and geographically dispersed teams like we are charged with creating for AgileHoya. While the Global Project Management Framework consists of 25 different knowledge areas that should be considered by the project team and while we may not apply all of them to AgileHoya’s expansion, the project team should reflect on all of the areas to determine where our greatest risks lie and look to mitigating them from the very start (Binder, 2009). Firstly, we will need to build our global teams, by understanding how we want to develop them. For example, we will need to be cognizant of the cultural nuances of our team members, and the dynamics between how cross-cultural teams will work together. This will certainly involve our project management team needing to utilize standard or develop customized approaches to conflict management and resolution, trust building and coaching and mentoring (Binder, 2009). Secondly, we will need to think creatively about our global communication strategy (Binder, 2009). We will need to better understand our internal and external stakeholder communities, establish rules, guidelines and templates for best communication practices, master techniques for global team engagement, strategize on relevant information sharing across team and stakeholder groups, and be creative about brainstorming sessions and idea generation (Binder, 2009). The team will also need to think of the challenges and opportunities for our newly formed global organization from the structural and human resources prospective. We must consider how we want our global teams to be structured, and understand what challenges we will face when building our 4 global networks (Binder, 2009). Additionally, we will need to adapt our internal processes to account for differences in issues such as human resource management, performance appraisals, consistency across business units, and the availability of training and coaching (Binder, 2009). Finally, the last two categories on the Global Project Management Framework, which are interrelated, are collaborative tools and techniques (Binder, 2009). Our AgileHoya project team will need “to evaluate the requirements, investigate different solutions to satisfy these needs, and then select, implement, and provide basic training on the chosen technologies” (Binder, 2009). We will for example need to decide which technologies will work best for effective collaboration and also be the most likely to be adopted and used by our teams. For example, we should investigate audio, video and web conferencing tools. Additionally, we should consider project management and knowledge sharing tools to inform the project teams and organize the implementation and find ways to encourage their use (Binder, 2009). Finally, we should create best practices and rules around their implementation to ascertain that they are used efficiently and effectively (Binder, 2009). The scope of AgileHoya’s global expansion is quite large and potentially very complicated, but if we use the holistic approach that we are proposing, we will be in a better position to mitigate the risks associated with a project of this scale. We will need to assess our progress throughout the implementation and plan on using a maturity model to track our progress. Finally, we will need to underscore the importance of self-evaluation and reflection and include lessons learned as a key component of the project. Our complete proposal addresses the Global Project Management Framework in great detail, and illustrates why AgilaHoya should follow this methodology to ensure that our global expansion will be a success. 5 Team Building, Avoiding Ethnocentrism Building a global project team will be challenging from both a human capital and logistical view. A full view of the project reveals we have five countries around the globe including England, Brazil, India, South Africa and Australia. As the project team leaders, we have deployed five team members to each location. The goal is to gather in person data and get a better understanding of the ethnocentricity towards our corporation, community and team members. Ethnocentrism defined by Webster’s Dictionary as the evaluation of other cultures per the preconceptions originating in the standards and customs of one’s own culture is a human capital factor that needs to be addressed to open to doors to trust. Trust will not be gained from being on the ground, but it removes obstacles that could cause issues later in the project. Obtaining information from each of the countries allows us to set a normalized list of expected outcomes and timelines for all team members to follow. This also provides a standard to be measured against for performance evaluations. The standard is the standard, if we can find a common language of expectations across the globe that will remove another obstacle towards trust. Trust needs to be developed over time with focus on the three pillars of trust: Ability, Integrity and Benevolence (Blakey, 2015). No matter the region the goal will remain understanding what makes our team members feel empowered and productive. Understanding Power Distance, individualism, community and other cultural differences will be critical to building the criteria for the perfect candidates we will interview. India for example views the family and community is more important than the individual compared to the United States where our culture celebrates individuals who rise above the crowd (community) and “stand out.” Leaders in the United States may misunderstand silence for weakness which is not what may have been intended by our Indian counterparts. In India the best mode of communication may be through the most senior leader on the team, as team members may feel better communicating through their direct superiors versus speaking to senior leadership (Schuler, et al, 2011). Considering the “Dimensions of global projects” represented in the graphic below, will be a key component for AgileHoya’s development into a multi-national company (Binder, 2009). Global management conflict resolution issues This challenge makes the choice of local leadership the most critical hire. The leader in each country will need to have a blend of autocratic and democratic leadership qualities. The goal is to get the most out of the talent we have in market, so understanding what motivates our team members and providing them a voice or a conduit to a place to voice their opinion. Autocratic leadership is needed when setting the pace and communicating the project plans, but democratic leadership is needed to garner feedback on the plan and timelines for the project. We will have challenges we cannot overcome with time zones and work schedules so our plan is to make the work schedule equally bad for all. Every week we will rotate to ensure one team in not disadvantage with work time and that will mean each team member 6 can experience what it means to sacrifice time after normal business hours, but also make sure that each team member can also take the time needed after business hours to recharge. Our goal is to motivate our team, celebrate the small victories and look at the final deadline as a finish line Level of trust required Since AgileHoya plans to globalize, the need to gain a deeper understanding and to identify the level of trust that will be required to build a successful global team should be a consideration from the very beginning. Best practice tell us that there are several factors that we should consider when determining how much trust will need to be built between the key stakeholders. First we must look at the complexity of our mission and how much risk is involved in developing the global presence that we desire (Binder, 2007, p. 52). The more complex, the broader the scope and the greater the risk to the company, the more trust we will need build between our global units and teams. Secondly, we must understand how AgileHoya hopes to operate in the global environment (Binder, 2007, p. 52). If we are planning for projects to cross international boundaries, than we must work to establish trust between teams despite potential cultural, linguistic or geographic difference. Since our strategy is to build our global team across five nations, we must work to incorporate “team-building exercises” in lieu of the traditional social interactions and activities that are a natural part of single-location working environments to bridge the social divides and foster trust (Binder, 2007, p. 52). Additionally, we need to consider the cultural difference that may exists between the countries involved, and find ways to remediate them through diversity training and fostering cross-cultural understanding (Binder, 2007, p. 52). Finally, it is important for us to remember that newly formed teams make take more time to fall into a rhythm than teams in our Washington DC office, who have worked together on other projects (Binder, 2007, p. 52). Establishing and maintaining trust Since establishing and maintaining trust in such a widespread global organization can be challenging, key stakeholders from across the globe will need to institute a plan for bridging these gaps. As one of the 7 first steps towards building trust, we should host a face-to-face or virtual meeting for all of our teams to establish the goals and mission of AgileHoya (Binder, 2007, p. 55-59). From the beginning, frequent communication should be established between the teams, and a schedule of standing meetings determined to help keep them synchronized and abreast of what questions, issues or progress are being seen throughout the organization (Binder, 2007, p. 55-59). Maintaining open lines of communication will foster trust between the different branches of the company. In the long-term, we should continue to find ways to bridge gaps that can occur, such as teams feeling or seeming more powerful or important than others to the rest of organization (Binder, 2007, p. 55-59). Our managers will need to find ways to encourage open discourse, healthy disagreement, a fostering of ideas, cultural understanding and an overall sense of belonging for all teams regardless of their location. Promoting a culture of respect, inclusion and trust can be accomplished, through methods such as standing meetings, brainstorming, frequent training opportunities and mentoring (Binder, 2007, p. 55-59). Global sources of conflict In global projects and teams, conflict can come from a number of sources such as location, organization, language, time zone and differences in culture (Binder, 2007, p. 62). Although this list is far from conclusive, one or more of these sources of conflict will likely impact the culture of a team and ultimately the project. Cultural differences impacting global teams tend to amplify differences in points of views and/or perspectives. It can be difficult mediating such conflicts as language barriers often cause misunderstandings which in themselves have to be resolved. For example, time zone differences oftentimes cause meeting times to be scheduled outside normal workings hours (for a least part of a team or group). A lack of consideration for the difference in time zones can cause an impact to a team or individual’s work-life balance causing inefficiencies and ultimately, conflict. Compromise or the alternating of meeting times between time zones can help to share the potential burden and alleviate such a problem. Additionally, Project teams working in foreign countries may be impacted by ethnocentrism, which is the evaluation of other people and teams based on standards established by their own culture (Binder, 2007, p. 62). This can be a specific source of conflict as the consideration and appreciation of the differences in cultural perspective are often overlooked. To overcome this, the project manager (or other responsible party) must make a point to establish common criteria that includes cultural differences for the purpose of project reviews and evaluations. Power Index by country (Binder, 2007): 8 Global management conflict resolution issues Sources of conflict can vary drastically from team to team and by location. The resolution for such conflicts can vary as much and can often cause issues of their own. It is well known that teams go through several stages as they form and mature. Conflict resolution is dynamic and situational and will likely transition through stages as well. Global conflicts can cause risks and issues in a project and must be tracked accordingly. Conflict mitigation plans must be executed in the same way as other risks and issues. They must be managed at the right level frequently reviewed for effectiveness. Global project teams are more commonplace today, and therefore, effective global conflict management and resolution is critically important to a project’s progress and its success. Including risks and issues derived from these global sources in the project’s risk register will help to ensure they are realized, monitored, remediated or resolved. Recognizing and appreciating the value of multinational/cultural teams is paramount but the true value isn’t realized until all facets of global team are able to contribute in effective and beneficial ways. The team and project’s success are dependent on it. Leadership coaching and development plan “Global project managers can improve the performance of distant team members by adopting a coaching style and encouraging them to think for themselves” (Binder, 2007, p. 69). In order to establish this type of culture we must set up efficient and useful tools to support this coaching across geographical boundaries. One of the first things we will establish is a knowledge exchange, as the coach we will teach our coaches about project management tools and techniques and use our expertise to help increase their knowledge. In turn, they can provide us some contextual knowledge on the local culture, languages and working practices (Binder, 2007). Once we understand the methodologies we will be using and the local culture, we can coach these individuals to utilize their knowledge of the local environment to fit into the project management frameworks we have taught them. This is a critical aspect of the leadership coaching and development plan in that we should assist these leaders to adapt the project management framework to fit their local environment. It may not be ideal to attend planning and collaboration sessions in person with these leaders but the meeting and collaborative tools we establish will allow us to observe these leaders in action with their local employees. This will serve as an opportunity to provide feedback on the techniques these leaders are using and how they can improve or sustain it. Our coaching plan will follow the four stages of effective coaching, “the establishment of the context for coaching, the creation of understanding and direction, review of learning and completion” (Binder, 2007, p. 71). Global or customized management and leadership theories Management and leadership theories should be validated and customized to consider cultural dimensions. Our text states, “The main characteristics of a good leader are valid for most countries and cultures” (Binder, 2007, p. 48). This sentiment is true however, we should adapt some of these characteristics to fit the global environment we are operating in. The way a leader operates in India is not the same we should expect in South Africa or here in the United States. The biggest thing to consider here is the different cultures across these different countries involved in this project. The diversity on this project can be an asset but also can be a pitfall we must acknowledge and prepare for. “This diversity can sometimes be the source of conflicts and misunderstandings, and project managers must apply some basic rules and practices to take advantage of the cross-cultural communication, and 9 to avoid its pitfalls” (Binder, 2007, p. 2). This is why we believe that validating and customizing management and leadership theories to fit cultural dimensions is critical to the success of the project. One management theory will not be effective in all these different countries, we must establish a baseline or foundation of our leadership styles but once that is established each leader in the different countries must build on that to fit their respective country. Global Key Stakeholders As a global company, AgileHoya will need to look beyond our traditional borders to understand who are stakeholders are in our new multinational organization. It will be the job of our Global Team Leader to identify our key stakeholders and to ascertain their roles and levels of commitment to making our global expansion work. Best practice for developing a stakeholder list would be for the Global Team Leader to gather information from our Senior Management Team, to rely on feedback from our local team members in each of the countries, to potentially regional specialists who know the local business climate and cultures, to consult with documentation, publications or other written materials about the communities, to review other global team implementations in these countries to learn what will work and what will not work, and finally to gain an understanding of the organizational structures that are in place that may have an interest in the success or failure of our venture (Binder, 2007, p. 82). Brainstorming sessions with local team leaders will also help our team leaders better understand the climate and power structure and to better assess and document perceived stakeholder behaviors. Our Global Team Leader should use this information to: 1. Determine the types and levels of political, social, economic or organizational power for each stakeholder (Binder, 2007, p. 83). 10 2. 83). Understand and find ways to measure the influence level of each stakeholder (Binder, 2007, p. 3. Define how stakeholders fit into the different cultural dimensions (Binder, 2007, p. 83). Once this is achieved, our Global Team Leader will need to analyze stakeholder feelings about the project to better be able to manage our relationship with them. This can be accomplished by having brainstorming sessions with the key project constituents such as local team leaders, senior managers or outside consultants/specialists (Binder, 2007, p. 83). The information collected in this session will enable our Global Team Leader to understand how each stakeholder feels about the project and work to manage and/or balance their reactions. Finally, once our team leader understands the stakeholders and their positions relative to the project, interviews should be conducted to substantiate these facts. It is at this point that a Global Stakeholder Registry can be created for the project (Binder, 2007, p. 87). Global Communication Channels The PMBOK® Guide suggests that, “the project manager should consider the number of potential communication channels or paths as an indicator of the complexity of a project’s communications” (PMI, 2004). Because our team will be working with a global team stationed across six countries, that will likely only meet face-to-face one or two times a year, it is extremely important to understand how these teams communicate and establish best practice for ensuring that communication happens in the most productive and comprehensive way. First we must work to understand the various and numerous communication channels that will exist for our global community. The more locations and stakeholders involved the more complex our communication plan will be (Binder 2007, p. 87). Finding ways to reduce the number of communication channels that are open, by perhaps assigning projects to certain teams versus expanding them globally, can help eliminate some of the back and forth that will occur between locations (Binder 2007, p. 87). While the teams will still be responsible for communicating their progress to the entire global team, the day to day interactions can be limited to that segment of the organizational structure. Once we better understand the complexity and breadth of our global stakeholders, we will be able to better assess how our communication channels should be managed. The figure below illustrates how complex communications channels can be across multiple locations (Binder 2007, p.88, figure 6.3). 11 Meeting and Communication Templates Meetings with our global team will be challenging due to the physical distance, time zone differences and workday challenges. In addition, religious holidays, personal time off and as we are learning here in the United States this winter 2018, sick days are causing collaboration to be difficult. Due to the challenges meeting in real time may be difficult so there are communication techniques and templates that will allow the global team to collaborate in the time when an all hands meeting opportunity is not available. Our minimum requirement is a live all hands meeting at least once per week at 8:00 AM local time across our team members’ countries on a rotating schedule. This meeting will occur on Wednesdays and will ensure no one is working on a non-business days, but every team member will have to work at some point in the rotation after business hours. Creating a project virtual room and publishing project information, key milestones, outstanding items and overall project performance will help to keep team members informed. Team members will also know what their tasks are in the outstanding items section. Like the time zone challenges in the United States, global visual and collaborative tools help keep data flowing in real-time and allow each member to meet anywhere, anytime. One of the most important and critical items that should be addressed in the meeting and communication templates is security. Secure space to collaborate openly without the threat of ideas or designs being stolen is paramount. As the team searches for meeting templates we must only consider tools that have native encryption, Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) and behavioral analytics. AgileHoya’s software is the lifeline of the company, protection of intellectual property and human capital collaboration with the most secure application tools available is critical. BlueJeans, Zoom or iMeet from Premiere Global are tools that address the concerns for the challenges using multiple endpoints in a visual conference. The technology adjusts the video codec to ensure a 12 clear video signal without interruption. These tools allow content to be shared as well as a visual of each team member. Having a shared space for the project template or the living and breathing document that lets everyone see the progress of the project and the timeline for completion of tasks. Strategies and Techniques for Exchanging Project Information One of the biggest challenges with project teams (especially those that span the globe) is being able to effectively communicate project information. Almost every facet of a project needs to be shared with at least one other person or team. A project can consist of thousands of pieces of information and tasks. Building and maintaining a project management information system that is capable of managing the vast amount of project information, restricting access to sensitive information (when necessary), and open to cross-border data restrictions can be quite a feat. Software licenses, system and hardware requirements must also be considered. Depending on the type and size of the project, it must be determined to what extent project information must be collected and shared. A Global Project Binder could be created to hold vital project information (Binder, 2007). In some organizations, project information must be maintained or archived for some period of time based on regulatory requirements. Larger projects will require collaboration systems like Microsoft Project Server, SharePoint, or perhaps Atlassian’s Confluence software suite to manage project information. The project plan and charter, risk/change management plan, communication plan, and work breakdown structure (WBS) are just a few of the artifacts that need to be managed and shared. Having the appropriate system (based on the needs of the project) capable of exchanging critical project information when and where it is needed is paramount. Having the right level of detail and the ability to retrieve a consistent and timely audit trail is vitally important. Based on the stakeholder/communication plans, routines must be established to ensure the right people get the right information (to the right degree) when and where desired. A robust project information management system can help to automate these tasks. The overall project’s success is dependent on getting this right. Project Virtual Room The Project Virtual Room must have the following tools and access to these tools for every team member as there may be 24 hours of work being done by team members across the globe: 1. Visual Conferencing Tools 2. Collaborative Tools 3. Real-Time Interaction tools like Google Documents allow teams to work simultaneously in shared resources Folders from Enterprise Box.com or SharePoint allow for a collaborative folder to avoid hitting email sizing quotas and keeping documents secure. 13 Communication techniques change the commitment levels of global stakeholder We believe that communication techniques can change the commitment levels of global stakeholders for several reasons. If there are established communication techniques for the entire project from the beginning this will ensure that the stakeholders are informed and know what to expect when communicating scope, cost and performance metrics to the team. “Global projects will benefit from a standard method, to be used by all project team members” (Binder, 2007, p. 109). It is important to standardize this from the beginning of the project because it allows all project team members to understand how to communicate and what communication channels to use as they are working through issues on the project. When the communication channels are not clear, stakeholders may not feel as engaged with the project and feel as if they are operating alone. In a global environment where everyone is geographically separated utilizing video or when conferencing technologies as the communication technique is preferred. “The main objective of video conferencing is to improve trust on global projects by allowing a visual contact among the participants” (Binder, 2007, p. 192). Utilizing these web conferencing tools and established channels will increase trust amongst global stakeholders and build that commitment that is necessary for a successful project. One strategy we feel is effective is a project status dashboard that outlines an overall status, time/schedule, costs/budget and resource status of the project (see figure below). This type of slide can be used to start every project meeting to ensure all global stakeholders understand the status of the project and how their role in the project is developing over the course of the project. Displaying information about the project in this manner requires input from all stakeholders which increases that commitment because individuals on the project would not want to start a meeting in a negative manner because their segment of the project is behind. 14 Can internal politics and social networking be more important than communication? At AgilaHoya, we believe that internal politics and social networking play an important role in analyzing stakeholders and understanding how to communicate with the right stakeholders on a global project. We believe that internal politics and social networking are of equal importance when it comes to global project managers understanding of communication channels with these stakeholders. Identifying stakeholders at the beginning of the project and having global team members in different countries provide additional information on these stakeholders is key for establishing these proper channels (Binder, 2007). Once these stakeholders are identified, as the project manager we must learn how to communicate with these stakeholders. “The project manager can build on the local knowledge of the participants of the brainstorming session to identify and document the stakeholders’ characteristics that depend on their status and geographical location, and can determine their expected behavior” (Binder, 2007, p. 83). Once this is completed we can decide on if internal politics is more important than communication because in some countries this may be true but in others it may not be. As with all activities in a global project, there is not one right answer for each country. Every culture and every country bring their own level of uniqueness to the project and project managers must understand this in order to effectively communicate with all stakeholders involved. Identify the project structure and elaborate on the additional benefits this structure will bring to your global project. Determining the right structure for project management will be critical to the project’s overall success. Considering the global and multi-cultural nature of this project, special consideration will need to be given to requirements gathering and their interpretations. It has been decided by our project team to use a methodology our text describes as distributed project management with local coordinators (Binder, 2007). 15 This structure tends to be the most effective for global projects. In this methodology, local coordinators manage teams with planning and execution responsibilities and are the central points for local reporting. Each of the countries in our project will have a local coordinator responsible for their respective work packages and deliverables. These local coordinators will report to the project manager as defined in the project communication plan. Managing project teams in this way can be very beneficial. It allows multi-country/cultural teams to work globally yet have the benefit of working collocated with other team members building a sense of camaraderie. Additionally, project teams can express themselves and their cultural diversities in the work they do as long as project requirements and expectations continue to be met. Main challenges of this structure to your project and strategies to overcome them Although the distributed project management with local coordinators structure is most ideal for most global projects (and in particular, our project), it is not without challenges. Considering the number of countries and their global positions, it will be critical to implement a unified collaboration system for timely, consistent, effective communications. The project’s success will be dependent on getting this right. Training among the project team will be paramount. Understanding and appreciating each other’s culture will be of utmost importance. Cultural training (to included diversity and inclusion) must be given the attention it deserves. For some, this will be the only experience one team gets or learns about another. There is no room for misinterpretation among the teams. Each location will have to be empowered to deliver their respective part of the project with the same expectations across the teams. Collaboration (both formal and informal) will make the difference in this project’s success. It will be a challenge to construct a single system that is capable of supporting all the distinctive and diverse requirements from all the country’s project teams, but it will be necessary to do so. Understanding the project’s expectations and requirements, knowing the progress of project deliverables, knowing who to communicate a report to, or where to log project risks are all part of this collaboration system. Not only will it have to be developed, but it will have to be trained to across the globe and maintained globally. This may be the toughest challenge yet. Recruiting and selecting personnel processes Our recruitment process will follow a standard process to ensure we attract the right candidates for any open positions. We will examine candidates both internally and externally, striving to avoid having insider bias for any one position. Our job descriptions will cover the necessary information such as “the mor responsibilities of each team member or project manager, the specification of the professional experience and skills required by their roles, the potential sources of candidates, reporting positions, salary and grade levels” (Binder, 2007, p. 143). Once the job description is developed we will move to the recruitment of internal and external employees. As mentioned above, the focus here will be to find the best candidate for the personnel regardless if they are internal or external. Key factors will be determined based on the position and the need for local resources or if the position can be filled by 16 someone working remotely. As we move into selection, the nature of a global project will require us to conduct interviews remotely in most situations. We will use audio and video collaboration tools in order to obtain as close to a face to face interview feel as possible. All personnel involved in the interview will complete an interview assessment form (see figure below). All members of the interview team will share the results of the assessment form with each other and make a collaborative decision on the candidate. We will identify some key topics that are important to the position prior to the interview to ensure these questions are addressed during the interview. Our goal of this recruitment and selection process is to ensure we find qualified individuals in a fair and efficient manner. Features of global project offices There are a plethora of features of global project offices that provide strategic control of global project and programs. The four major features are “knowledge management, management of portfolios, management of programs and projects and support to program and project managers” (Binder, 2007, p. 157). The knowledge management services of the global project office are the centralized consolidation of documentation, resources, and issue tracking. We will utilize our global project office to support a standardization of knowledge to track the time, budget, and quality and customer satisfaction of projects in different countries. I think out of the other features the other major feature we will take advantage of is the support the global project office can provide to other program and project managers. Since we are operating in a distributed with local coordinators project structure, it is important this feature of the global project office is taken seriously and cultivated correctly. We will engage in monitoring and health checks, coaching and mentoring, training, corporate project management methodology, good practices and standards and instruction on collaborative tools and techniques (Binder, 2007). This will all be conducted to ensure that the different countries and personnel operating on this project are prepared to face any challenges they may face and understand where to receive assistance from a centralized location and centralized group of individuals. 17 Global Project Management Methodology As a newly expanded global organization, AgilaHoya will need to develop and promote a global management methodology that helps to guarantee that our team members across the globe share and “collaborate using compatible methods, techniques and procedures” (Binder, 2007 p. 167). Without a global management methodology in place, AgileHoya runs the risk that we are unsuccessful in coordinating and synchronizing our projects across our worldwide enterprise. Because are teams are located throughout the globe and will be required to work together on projects, our project management team will benefit most from our leadership establishing and distributing the standard methodology throughout all branches of the organization. To establish our best practices and institute our approach to global management, we should begin by creating a task force under the direction of our PMO and include local or regional experts to highlight cultural or other differences that need to be considered as part of the established methodology (Binder, 2007 p. 167). Additionally, we should look to our newly developed locations to see what practices are already in use and understand if any can be incorporated into AgileHoya’s overarching methodology (Binder, 2007 p. 167). Because our expansion is in its infancy, we should also look towards other global companies to understand what established practices have worked for them. Our methodology must be defined and promoted throughout the organization, by creating a website and other documentation that considers things like language differences, creating training and coaching sessions and usable templates for the project teams (Binder, 2007 p. 168). Finally, to ensure worldwide adoption of our global management methodology, managers from the PMO should immediately begin using it and promoting its use throughout the organization (Binder, 2007 p. 168). The mind map below illustrates the factors that will go into developing our methodology. Design of performance appraisals In order for AgileHoya to “to promote equal evaluations and opportunities” for our employees working throughout the world, we should adopt a 360G performance appraisal model (Binder, 2007 p. 168). This 18 type of appraisal model will promote equity within the organization and allow for feedback from various stakeholders across the organization. For instance, an employee working on a project for AgilaHoya that crosses global locations, will have the benefit of not only having insight from their direct supervisor, but also the project manager who is heading the project in the other site. We will need to institute an evaluation format that includes feedback collected via emails, text appraisals, or more complex survey formats to better collect feedback from our stakeholders across the globe (Binder, 2007 p. 168). We must decide which stakeholders will be included and whether we wish to include a self-assessment component in our evaluation structure. While often times beneficial to the evaluation process, selfevaluations may be more difficult for members of some cultures than others. Some examples of areas we may include in our assessments to assess employee skills, knowledge and performance can be: cross-cultural or team leadership skills, conflict management and coaching skills and techniques, and participation in knowledge sharing and brainstorming events or meetings (Binder, 2007 p. 168). Moreover, we will need to evaluate employees, adherence to the company’s policies and procedures and their skills working with global teams (Binder, 2007 p. 168). Below please find an example performance survey questionnaire. In addition to setting up our 360G performance assessment model, we will need to institute a global rewards initiative to compensate individuals or teams for strong performance appraisals or for the successful completion of a team project (Binder, 2007 p. 171). Besides annual raises, we will need to determine whether additional compensation should be awarded in the form of monetary payment, such as bonuses, or more responsibility or participation in higher-level projects. In order to successful institute a rewards initiative, we will need to continue to consider local laws or customs, cultural differences and power distance before deciding on a one-policy fits all approach (Binder, 2007 p. 171). PMO and PSO, Benefits and Challenges Project Management Office (PMO) and Project Support Offices are used in corporations without clearly knowing what these offices do or what the benefits are. PMO is an entity that is involved in the creation 19 of the business strategy and portfolio of its organization, while PSO is meant to support the project team members in their daily work onsite where they are operating (Soulard, 2008). PMO aims at supporting the project managers to develop themselves and to meet the strategic objectives of their organization. The Project Support Office will facilitate the daily work of the project team members so they comply with the requirements of the environment (Soulard, 2008). The benefits of implementing a PMO for a large organization is developing a universal standard process and language for all project team members to execute against. The PMO is the source of documentation, guidance and metrics on the practice of project management (Binder, 2007). The central command center for all projects will ensure that all every enterprise modernization project has the same project management standards, steps and order that can be repeated. There is a significant startup cost when investing in launching a PMO, so from a cost perspective PMO only makes sense for large global organizations. PMO is also building a standardized universal set of steps/language, so the best return on investment is for large complex projects. The drawback with these structures are they are expensive, time consuming and very complex to launch. This combination has some large organizations shy away from this structure. Additionally, the resources required to keep a successful PMO are some of the most technical and certified project management professionals in the industry which drive wages up. Project Support Offices (PSO) is one of a central pool of skilled resources to provide the roles of Project Support such as clerical support configuration and continuity of standards across all projects. A successful PSO does not exist without a PMO in place. PSO require boots on the ground in the local offices to remain close to the project team and stakeholders. This makes the PSO cost prohibitive for smaller organizations. The PSO Manager should be PMP Certified, and the PMO Manager at the very least should be PMI certified (Soulard, 2008). The benefits of a PMO/PSO will pay immediate returns on investment for complex global enterprise modernization projects. Visual Conferencing Interviews v. Traditional Face to Face In the fast-paced global economy things move quickly, the need to connect with potential employee candidates require nontraditional methods to interview. Expatriates are on the rise and interviewing these candidates mean finding video conference rooms, mobile connections and audio conference 20 bridges to get through the interview process. The average interview process requires three meetings before a decision is made, for executives and highly technical roles the number of interviews increase. Interviewing a candidate half a globe away requires visual and audio collaboration for the early part of the process and in-person interviews to finalize the process with an offer of employment. The Visual Conferencing tools have improved over the years which can be a great replacement for in person interviews. Visual collaboration tools like Training Center allow for pre-interview testing with real-time results for the interviewer to have during the interview. Visual tools can bring a new wrinkle to the interview as these web tools are how the new employee will likely interact with the global team. Using these tools will show how proficient the candidate is with the applications they will use daily. Visual interviews also allow for easier scheduling of executives, as they only need to be near a device to connect in via video or audio conference. The alternative to using visual tools is the traditional in-person interview which could require mobilization of resources and realistically will slow down the process or worse shorten the pool of candidates to a region or country. Trying to get candidates to a company headquarters will be costly and can eat into the budget quickly. Using visual tools allow an interviewer to talk with candidates anywhere in the world so long as they have an endpoint device with a camera and internet connectivity. Evaluation and Implementation of Unified Communications The ability, or inability to communicate is an important factor in project success or failure in global projects. Organizations are challenged with finding the best solutions for their global teams that work on different continents, speak different languages and have different obstacles to overcome due to their 21 countries infrastructure. The ultimate goals of the hardware and software deployment is to increase productivity and security, reduce costs and minimize risks. The costs are sometimes confused with pricing, but they are two different arguments when trying to increase productivity; the need to invest wisely in emerging technologies is not always inexpensive. Measuring a company’s return on the investments should always be part of the evaluation of services. Cloud technology has been a disruptive force in the hardware and software industry by creating a new and innovative way to unify a global communications team for a lower cost of deployment and lowering the total cost of ownership. Prior to cloud technologies a typical engagement may follow these steps: · Choose an office location for workers to share space and resources locally · Find connectivity options for data and internet connectivity · Select a phone system, handsets and voice provider · Select hardware and software options for computers, networking, file sharing and storage · Select a Professional Services organization to install the physical services (1990s office -left; powered by wires and cables from a telecom closet – right) Cloud Technology has simplified the deployment: · End user receives a mobile device, notebook or tablet with Login credentials · A hosted, managed or virtual desktop is loaded with all necessary applications · Voice services are delivered via an application downloaded from Google Play or the Apple Store · No professional services needed 22 (Virtual Desktops that run on any endpoint device that has internet connectivity; apps fully loaded) (Virtual Office Mobile, the ability to have an enterprise voice system on a mobile device) Evaluating options requires an agnostic consultant, resource or advisor to provide the organization with access to critical information about the options available and the ability to ethically compare the options against each other. Is cloud the best option for the organization or do they use traditional methods to deliver their technology? Is the company focused on Capital Expenditures or Operational Expenditures? What are the infrastructure and connectivity challenges in the countries being deployed? The case(s) for cloud services are customers looking for scalability, remote managed services or the ability to manage infrastructure from remote locations and flexibility. If the project fails, cloud services can be “spun” down and organizations only pay for what they use. In contrast traditional on premise services that are paid for in capital expenditures will need to be moved and the costs are sunken. Does the organization have the capital to survive an investment that does not work out? These are additional questions that need to be asked. Ease of use is one that is overlooked, but it critical in evaluating and ultimately implementing a solution. Cloud has transformed end user expectations, the need for in depth training is replaced with the need to spin up applications/resources quickly so a project can run. They 23 expect the office to run like their mobile phone asking questions “I can share my photos and files with friends using box.com, why is there not a version I can use at work?” Cloud brings the bleeding edge into an enterprise environment that is safe, scalable and cost effective, but evaluation requirements will tell an organization if they need bleeding edge or slow and steady. (The office of the future, no need for phones or tower computers just a desk and port to plug in endpoint devices) Basic criteria for evaluating products and services for virtual teams or globally dispersed projects To successfully become a global company, AgileHoya will need to identify basic criteria for evaluating products and services to manage our projects and teams dispersed throughout the world. Our basic criteria will obviously include “functionality and stability” as key factors for any product that we look to employ as a management, communications and/or knowledge sharing tool (Goncalves, 2005). Additionally, we should consider the following elements: 1. Cost of the product should be investigated and reviewed for things such as licensing, maintenance fees, and support (Goncalves, 2005). 2. Ease of use for stakeholders, which should include how easy it is to use, install and support should be evaluated. Additionally, the product will need to be flexible enough to deal with different languages, time zone and cultural considerations (Goncalves, 2005). 3. Security will need to be considered. We will want a product that ascertains our data is secure, and our systems require user authentication, have transmission security, and auditing capabilities (Goncalves, 2005) 24 4. Strong administration capabilities for data backups and recovery, data updates, version control, and to be location specific (Goncalves, 2005). 5. Flexible technical integration for either other internal (accounting, billing, etc) or external systems (suppliers or customers) must be investigated. We should also ascertain that we have access to the published APIs, that the system is scriptable and will allow us to make modifications, that it will interface with other standard products and that it is modular (Goncalves, 2005) 6. Being a fit for our organizational needs is of the utmost importance. While we should flexible enough to change our processes when it makes sense, we should not need to rework our entire organization based on our software choice. Some key considerations would be can we model our organization with the tool, can we easily build and assign stakeholders rights and permissions within the system, are there templates available to make the process standard across the organization and finally is there the ability to create workflows (Goncalves, 2005). 7. Distribution will be a core element of the systems that we choose. We must make sure that the software is compatible for use by all of the branches of the organization, and will the system architecture support our global distribution. Finally, there will need to sufficient channels available for communication and data transfer within our global organization (Goncalves, 2005) Finally, we must work to be an organization that places communication of individuals at the highest possible level of consideration as we build our global company (Goncalves, 2005). Facilitating the ability for our dispersed teams to communicate and work together effectively will mean the difference for us between success and possible failure of our organization. Methods and procedures to increase adoption of new technologies While it is important to select the best technologies possible for our company, AgileHoya will need to make sure that these technologies are adopted across our global organization (Knight, 2015). It is not enough for us to select what we consider to be user friendly technologies to support our organization, but we must find ways to promote their use by our global teams and key stakeholders. Perhaps one of our most important steps towards getting our global teams to adopt our chose technology, will be to communicate why it is important to the organization to do so. Educating users about where the points of failure can happen if important discussions or development are happening outside of the system will help to gain their acceptance of the importance of using the product to manage our projects and operations (Knight, 2015). Additionally, creating an influencer working group of enthusiastic team members who are interested in promoting the new systems and would like to share ideas about ways to encourage its usage would be a way of finding more creative ways of institutionalizing the new software (Knight, 2015). Key influencers may be able to imagine methods for not only promoting the usefulness of the new system, but also find ways to make it more fun or interesting for employees (Knight, 2015). Training will also be a key component of promoting the adoption of our new technologies within the organization (Knight, 2015). At first we should arrange frequent training sessions for users throughout the various branches of the company until all users feel comfortable with the new systems. We will 25 need to keep at least one training session a month on the calendar for any new hires as well as for any updates to the system that will affect user behavior or interaction with it. We may also depending on our user population need to adopt one-on-one training for key stakeholders warranting more individualized attention. Once we are ready to begin using the new system, we should work to institutionalize its use among our groups and teams across the world (Knight, 2015). Local project managers should be required to use the software and insist on the adoption of the new system by their teams. Additionally, we should find ways to highlight teams that are successfully using the system and we may consider a rewards system for groups or teams that fully begin using the new software to manage their projects (Knight, 2015). In a further effort to institutionalize the use of the new software, we should establish cut-offs for using the old methods and perhaps if necessary consider penalties for users who are refusing to adopt the new system as the way that AgileHoya conducts business on a global level (Knight, 2015). While this is not the preferred method of the company, we must impress upon our employees that failure to use the system could cause negative consequences for the organization as a whole. Finally, as the product is rolled-out and adopted by user communities, user evaluations can be key to gaining an understanding of how users feel about the new system and what leadership can do throughout the organization to improve upon certain features to make them more user friendly. By soliciting user feedback, we are establishing an additional open channel of communication and helping building trust within our organization (Binder, 2007). The following is a mind map of the possible activities involved with adopting of new technologies: 26 Evaluation of the implementation of selected tools and technologies Identifying the right set of tools and technologies to support global project and program management can be tremendous task. There are a lot of criteria to consider and a lot of options to choose from. Determining the right fit does not have to be a guessing game; rather, using a systematic process for evaluating collaborative project management software tools can help get closer to an ideal solution. However, once a system (or systems) are implemented, an additional evaluation will be necessary to measure its performance against expectations. Using the same criteria and assessment survey that was used in determining the collaborative project management software to use for our project, we can measure its progress and success. Considering the global nature of this project, it is likely there will be glitches and setbacks as part of the system implementation. Executing the implementation plan and having a solid training program will help to minimize such impacts. Using the results from post-implementation survey will help to determine if course corrections are necessary. One of the biggest challenges in this area is actually conducting -implementation evaluation in the first place. Oftentimes, projects teams get caught up in the timeline (and the work) and neglect to take time to evaluate how things are going. Being able to use concrete data to demonstrate before and after survey results may help to prove such an evaluation is not only necessary but can be helpful (and perhaps healthy) for the project’s success. It takes a commitment for success to truly benefit from a post-implementation evaluation. The data may show that significant (and often costly) changes are necessary. Here is where the “commitment” will be tested. Will the project team do what is right and make the necessary changes? Or will it take the easy route and continue business as usual? Hopefully, the recommended changes won’t require a significant shift and will be easy to implement. If at first we don’t succeed, try, and try again. We can’t be afraid to change. Evaluate efficiency of collaborative project management software, if any. Once we select and implement our project management software it is imperative that we evaluate its effectiveness and make improvements as needed. Collaborative tools and software are not things that you can implement and then leave without considering post-implementation activities. It is highly likely that on a global project there will be changes to the project, turnover of personnel and perhaps an entire scope change. This will ostensibly impact the tools we use and possibly force us to change the software. Even if the drastic situation as described in the previous sentence does not happen, we still must continually evaluate the tools we are using as the project progresses. We will evaluate the effectiveness of our tools by conducting a survey (similar to the survey we conducted to implement the tool) and assess the results (see Figure 1.1). “The results will serve as a basis for the preparation of a strategy to correct the problems, improve the usability and increase adoption” (Binder, 2007, p. 214). It is important to consider two important factors when evaluating the effectiveness of our tools. We must ensure that when assessing the effectiveness of these tools that we are doing so at all levels of the project team. This cannot be an exercise that only involves project team leadership, we must ensure the 27 tools are effective for everyone involved in the delivery of the project. Secondly, the usability factor is an important aspect to consider and possibly the most important factor. This is why when assessing our tools we must understand why users are not using certain aspects of the tool and if it is because of usability we must work to improve that so we are getting the most out of the software. Problem solving when technology does not work. Technology is not perfect, there will always be potential issues and situations may come up where the system will not work. Systems failing are not the fault of an individual or the team. We must have systems in place to help project team members troubleshoot their issues at the individual user level. In order to ensure team members can react accordingly to issues we must create troubleshooting guides for individuals to use when common issues arise. We will develop this guide through multiple members of the team developing mini guides for potential issues they experience with the system. We will consolidate these individual guides into one large guide and distribute to the team on our knowledge sharing tool. This will serve as a single hub for troubleshooting the tool and also a knowledge repository where individuals can contribute and add information on how they fixed potential issues. This will facilitate group think and ensure that issues are not systemic across the project team, if one team member experiences an issue with the technology they should add to the troubleshooting knowledge sharing repository so that other team members do not experience the same problems. Practical recommendations to be followed when employing the tools As AgileHoya expands throughout the globe, we will need to create and promote guidelines and best practices for our teams when using collaborative tools to mitigate any possible “misunderstandings and conflicts” that can arise from poor communication (Binder, 2007, p. 219). For this reason, AgileHoya will need to consider how to best facilitate communication and establish a framework around our 28 collaborative tools. We must consider all forms of communication such as email, telephone, audio, video and web conferencing, knowledge sharing and collaborative tools to construct our best practices going forward. The following list of best practices, while not exhaustive will provide a starting point for our leadership in building a communications framework which will lead to increased efficiency in our communication. 1. Email communications: Common rules and tips for email communications must be established. For example, encouraging employees not use slang or difficult to translate idiomatic expressions in their written communication will promote better understanding across multi-lingual global teams (Binder, 2007). Additionally, we should encourage team members to pay attention to time differences when sending emails, use out of office messaging when appropriate, and acknowledge or respond to messages within 24 to 48 hours (Binder, 2007). Finally, email should not be used to transfer large files or sensitive information (Binder, 2007). 2. Telephone communications: Communication by telephone should be used to “replace emails on quick and timely communications, to understand concerns, feelings and motivations of global project team members, to discuss sensitive matters, to solve conflicts and to build trust” (Binder, 2007 p. 222). Best practice would suggest only using telephone communications when a quick or urgent matter needs to be addressed (Binder, 2007). Team members should pay attention to the schedules of the people they are calling, time differences, and etc. before placing a call (Binder, 2007). Leave voicemail messages when appropriate (Binder, 2007). Finally, if sensitive matters will need to be discussed over the phone, then the caller should confirm that their colleague understands the nature of the call and is able to speak freely (Binder, 2007). 3. Audio, Video and Web Conferencing: Many of the best practices surrounding all of these types of conferencing will be fairly similar with slight variations depending on the media being used. In general, to have successful virtual meeting, the meeting should be scheduled with advanced notice with invitations sent to participants, the meeting host will need to set a reasonable time expectation for the meeting (2 hours audio, 3 hours video), provide the agenda beforehand and then stick to the meeting topics, and set-up the necessary technology needed for the session in advance of the meeting (Binder, 2007). This may require additional testing sessions in advance of video and web conferencing (Binder, 2007). Additionally, there will be additional requirements for host and attendees, such as introductions of meeting attendees, speaking slowly and clearly and avoiding topics that are not on the agenda (Binder, 2007). If using video or web conferencing particular attention should be paid to the location of the camera and making sure all video participants are visible (Binder, 2007). All of these tools will require that a meeting host and participants know how to use them in advance so that meetings can be productive and without users fumbling around trying to understand how the technology works (Binder, 2007). The below image explores some of these best practices for conferencing success. 29 4. Knowledge Sharing Tools: There will also need to be defined rules for knowledge sharing tools that will help enable users to work efficiently and productively. Once the tool is deployed, a virtual project room should be established and defined as “the basis for project development” (Binder, 2004 p. 240). We should work to achieve the same or very similar structure for all of our projects to make it easier for team members to use knowledge sharing tools across the organization and across different projects (Binder, 2007). Project managers should be involved in defining the rules for knowledge sharing, rules should be widely distributed and reinforced, team members should be free to voice opinions or concerns regarding the established rules and rules should be evaluated periodically by management to make sure that the are effective. As a general practice, AgileHoya should work to educate, train and reinforce these policies with all of our team members to ascertain that we are working collaboratively and productively (Binder, 2007). 5. Collaborative Tools: In terms of project management software, our leadership should formulate best practice for their adoption and use throughout the project teams. For example, activities must be marked complete as soon as they are accomplished so that the project manager and team members are aware of changes or variances when they occur (Binder, 2007). The software should also be updated when and if responsibilities change from one team member to another, and be able to identify risks as they are noted (Binder, 2007). If we are able to establish guidelines for all of our collaborations and tools, AgileHoya will become the productive global organization that we hope to be with this expansion. Areas of improvement and detecting areas of good practices In global projects there must be a culture of consistent feedback and evaluation of the various technologies used to collaborate. It is imperative that the project manager and project leadership team 30 identify areas of improvement and detect areas of good practices. In any collaborative tools we must initially understand how the global teams utilize these tools. This can be done via a variety of means but the way we will identify these areas of improvement will be via structured interviews. These interviews will be focused on individual segments of the collaborative tools used on our global team such as effective audio and video conferences, coordinating and attending online meetings, and collaborative project management. A key activity we will have to conduct to ensure we receive feedback on these tools from all stakeholders on our global team is to translate these interview questions into the local languages of our team. Once we receive the answers to these questions on how the global teams are utilizing these tools we can consolidate these answers to identify areas of improvement. One important thing that can come out of this is we can also develop a list of good practices for these tools. If a couple teams in two different countries are utilizing additional features on our audio/video conferencing tool, we could identify this and make these features apart of normal operations for the entire team. Once these good practices are developed we can create a good practice guide and distribute it to the team. Troubleshooting techniques when technologies are not used correctly It is inevitable, the use of any technology sometimes (or oftentimes) results in “technical difficulties”. No matter the care used in the implementation of a technology solution, something will go wrong. It is important to include redundancy and/or a fallback plan when setting up collaborative tools (particularly in global environments). There’s nothing more frustrating than to spend countless hours preparing for and setting up a global town hall event, only to realize that a technical issue prevented it from being shared with the rest of the team. Troubleshooting such technologies when they fail is very dependent on the technology and service agreement in place. Considering the global nature of this project, there are likely to be several technologies and several service level agreements. The illustration below is an example of a global collaboration system implemented using Hitachi’s Advanced Collaboration System. Having alternatives and backups will be critical to ensuring the right level of service availability. Depending on the significance of an event or collaborative effort, the terms and expectations will vary accordingly. Frequent and routinely used collaboration tools that are commercially available off-the-shelf will have different support structures than for those that are internally developed, maintained and supported. 31 Setup and configuration procedures are very useful when working with complex systems. These same procedures can be used to help identify ‘root cause’ when something goes wrong. In fact, setup and configuration procedures often include troubleshooting techniques and flowcharts to follow to help bring a system back online. These procedures should be routinely tested to ensure they are accurate and that they work. Software and firmware changes are very common in today’s technology solutions, these same changes oftentimes cause systems to not work together as anticipated. Technology can be our best friend, it can also be our worst enemy when it doesn’t work as expected. In order to succeed, failure has to be considered as part of our implementation plan. If it can happen, it will. And when it does, we have to be prepared to fix it. Effective setup and configuration plans (with troubleshooting techniques and workflows) and appropriate service level agreements will better position us to recover when the inevitable “technical difficulties” bug hits us like the norovirus. Building Constructive Behaviors, Collaboration and Understanding Constructive behaviors in an organization begins with trust, faith and strong leadership. Conflicts can lead to quality improvement when the project manager employs the right techniques, adopts constructive behavior and considers the cultural differences as an important source of innovation (Binder, 2007). If the team trusts the process and has faith in the goals the collaboration will increase natively. Individuals fall along the five stages of Tribal Leadership (Logan & King, 2011): Stage 1: Life Sucks Stage 2: My Life Sucks Stage 3: I’m Great (You’re Not) 32 Stage 4: We’re Great Stage 5: Life is Great Collaborative teams need to reside in Stage 5, this stage allows everyone to be themselves but contribute to the overall success of the team. The NFL’s New England Patriots’ head coach Bill Belichick has a famous saying he tells each individual player, “Do YOUR job!” (Kerr, 2015). Teams that collaborate believe in the end goal, which must be communicated by the leadership. If there is a lack of trust and collaboration, the autopsy of the team may find the members are living in Stage 3 which defines the individual. I’m Great (You’re Not) is a “me first” attitude that promotes individual achievements in the face of other team member’s shortcomings. Increasing collaboration starts with changing the culture of the team from a team of Lone Warriors to a team that feels empowered and proud of Team Success. Team Success is rooted in each individual knowing their role, improving productivity in their role and how their role contributes to the success of the team. Improvement comes from exposure to new ideas and learning opportunities. Culturally we teach and learn things based on the importance of how we live, as an example someone who lives in a culture where automobiles are not practical or affordable they will likely not know how to drive (New York City and Mumbai). If part of their role requires driving to meet clients, the driving portion would require an adjustment. A person who grows up near water may have an appreciation and skill for fishing versus someone who grows up in the woods. In this political climate in the United States citizens are being defined by the geography of their residence (North v. South) and their choice of residence (rural v. urban). Understanding the culture of the team members and how that will contribute to how they process the message of togetherness is a critical step in getting them to trust the team process and have faith in sharing ideas in the team process. Changing 33 a team’s culture is very challenging, but if a leader can identify what stage of tribal leadership each member is in, they can provide guidance to have everyone land in Stage 5. Collaborative recommendations and Difficult Implementations Countries that have Power Distance gaps will be very difficult to implement collaboration, because collaboration means sharing ideas, thoughts and challenging other’s thoughts/ideas. These discussions lead the team to find new ideas and improve the quality of the output. Team members coming from countries with larger Power Distance rates may find it more difficult to disagree with their project managers in front of other people than members from countries with smaller power distance rates (Binder, 2007). If a team member is submissive to the project managers, the team is potentially missing valuable insight from everyone on the team. Countries like India and Russia would pose a challenge to implement collaboration because of the high power distance rates. Power Distance Index (PDI) below in the G8: Countries that avoid direct discussions will struggle to collaborate. The greatest collaborative technologies will not help remove this challenge and the project management team should be very aware of this prior to launch. The high rate on the PDI does not mean mission impossible, but it poses challenges that need to be addressed early. Each team member will want to contribute to the team’s success, but each has different motivations, incentives and pride. Implementing a successful collaboration strategy requires the leadership to identify the motivations, incentives and pride of each team member to define their role so they can do their job. Global Project Framework Implementing a Global Project Framework is a daunting task that requires patience, diligence and perseverance. Defining the company culture, defining the mission and vision statement plus challenging the project team to live that mission and vision is critical to a successful implementation. Change is difficult, risky and scary for all involved to properly build the framework that will define the project team moving forward. The vision should have a standard to develop organizational culture that supports learning. The atmosphere for learning requires support from stakeholders to value the practices of a learning organization and safe atmosphere for experimentation (Binder, 2007). Experimentation or 34 taking chances is risky, but necessary to trial run the new framework in the company’s work culture. Some things will not work, so patience is required along with diligent notes and feedback to notate what things are working and what is not working to avoid repeating failed strategies. The team believes the Maturity Model Approach is the best implementation strategy as AgileHoya will need a holistic change in their Project Management Strategy. The maturity model such as the Software Engineering Institute Capability Maturity Model (SEI-CMM) will allow a controlled implementation that can measure the competency level and standard operating procedures of the team before moving to the next level. This implementation will be difficult and time consuming, but the end result is to be able to control and predict outcomes for improved project results. The team will be able to alter steps in the process to ensure outcomes are optimized. Meeting the needs of the organization and expectations will require leadership, stakeholders and the project team to persevere in the face of doubts and failures along the way to reaching Level 5. The Capability Maturity Model: Implementation strategy selection process and rationale. There are key factors to focus on when selecting an implementation strategy and it is important to understand the rationale behind our key selection criteria. We will focus the decision on our implementation strategy on three key elements. The first factor in our selection process will be based on effective communication across borders. Communication is essential to the success of any project, especially when working on global projects. By implementing a global project management framework such as the capability maturity model will provide us with the opportunity to improve communication on projects across borders. The second factor is focused on ensuring projects did not encounter scope creep. “The lack of formalized and agreed procedures and documents across the companies and locations can be the main reason for this problem” (Binder, 2007, p. 253). The problem referenced in the quote above is scope creep. Our global project management framework meets this criteria by us reaching level 3, defined (see graphic above), where standard processes are defined and followed. The final factor in our selection process will be determining how does this framework improves quality levels 35 within the organization. Our global project management framework in level 5 (see graphic above), optimizing which is the ability to alter processes to achieve improved results. Once we reach this level 5, we will be at a level to improve quality of our projects through continuous feedback and improvement. Advantages and limitations of this selected method. What can you change? It is expected that the implementation of our global project framework will render some advantages and perhaps some limitations. An advantage of using the Global Project Management Framework© is that it is well documented for reference and has been accepted to some degree by an international consortium (Binder, 2007). The fact that we do not have to start from scratch and that many of the tips, tools, and techniques are largely available for reuse, allows for an efficient and timelier development and implementation of our global project plan. Additionally, the ability to measure and monitor our progress through each of the project phases will help to understand where we are in the process relative to where we think we should be. Documenting and storing these critical artifacts will help with lessons learned and to develop our project management methodologies and practices as we mature. There is much to gain from having a strong foundation from which to begin; however, it will be how we apply course corrections as the need arises that will truly mark our success. With all good things come potential limitations. Unfortunately, there is no one single solution that will solve all our project needs and expectations. The global nature of our project exacerbates this concern. We have done a careful job with requirements gathering, planning, and tool selections; however, this type of project and its scope is relatively new to our organization and project teams. We have limited experience with the Global Project Management Framework ©. It will be through our existing meticulous project management routines that we will implement this global framework and our limitations will evolve into experience, and it will be this experience and our determination that this project will be a success. Ways to communicate and enumerate the benefits of the implementation of this framework to global employees As with any major (or minor for that matter) program implementation, employee (team) buy-in is one of the most critical factors to consider. For this to work, effective communications will be paramount. Additionally, the enumeration of the expected benefits from the framework implementation will also be critically important. Considering the global scope of this project, the medium and frequency in which such communications will have to be carefully selected. Project tools for global collaboration and their associated workflows and techniques have been previously covered. One factor that was thoroughly covered was its ability to help facilitate effective communications to each of the remote teams. Language barriers, time zones, and the messages themselves have to be carefully crafted to ensure their receipt will be received and interpreted most consistently. Transparency is key and will be very important as our global framework is rolled out and implemented. Using these same tools to communicate to our global team will help maintain this consistency. 36 Enumerating the benefits of the global framework implementation can be considered as important as publishing the company’s mission and vision. Global projects have unique challenges in themselves and therefore special care must be given in communicating and expressing its benefits to the company. By enumeration, each benefit will be made specific and therefore can be measured against. To gain legit…
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