WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.265 --> 00:00:01.365 So, welcome everybody. 2 00:00:01.825 --> 00:00:05.365 Uh, my name is Stewart and, uh, I'm the CEO 3 00:00:05.545 --> 00:00:07.605 and one of the founders here at Transparent Choice. 4 00:00:07.825 --> 00:00:11.925 And every month we do, uh, we do these, these demo webinars. 5 00:00:12.385 --> 00:00:14.725 And a few months ago we, we kind of accidentally 6 00:00:15.785 --> 00:00:19.365 did something and, uh, the, the attendees loved it, 7 00:00:19.735 --> 00:00:21.765 which is we, we had somebody join us who, 8 00:00:21.775 --> 00:00:23.485 who'd never really seen the software before. 9 00:00:24.145 --> 00:00:26.405 Uh, so the, the first one was Stuart Taylor. 10 00:00:26.485 --> 00:00:27.925 I don't, do you know Stuart Luann? 11 00:00:27.925 --> 00:00:29.245 He, he's a, he does a lot 12 00:00:29.245 --> 00:00:31.445 of YouTubeing on pro project management. 13 00:00:31.825 --> 00:00:33.965 Yes. And, um, 14 00:00:34.785 --> 00:00:36.285 and people loved it so much that we've, 15 00:00:36.285 --> 00:00:37.445 we've just kept doing it, right? 16 00:00:37.545 --> 00:00:41.645 So, so this time I'm absolutely over the moon to, to welcome 17 00:00:41.715 --> 00:00:46.045 with us, uh, Luann Picard, um, if you don't know Luann, 18 00:00:46.545 --> 00:00:51.005 uh, uh, she's, uh, professor, uh, of project management 19 00:00:51.025 --> 00:00:54.445 and various other things at, uh, uh, university of, 20 00:00:54.665 --> 00:00:56.325 of Anchorage, university of Alaska. 21 00:00:56.705 --> 00:01:00.505 What's the proper mm-hmm. The proper term, Luanne. Yep. 22 00:01:00.845 --> 00:01:02.105 And, uh, uh, and yep. 23 00:01:02.275 --> 00:01:07.145 Until, until December, she, she also had the privilege. 24 00:01:07.645 --> 00:01:08.665 She had the burden. 25 00:01:09.205 --> 00:01:11.705 You could choose which one you like of being the chair 26 00:01:11.705 --> 00:01:15.585 of the, the PMI, uh, globally, which, 27 00:01:15.765 --> 00:01:16.945 uh, which was great. 28 00:01:17.005 --> 00:01:20.625 So Luann is a super expert in all things project management. 29 00:01:21.405 --> 00:01:22.865 Um, so, so Luann, do you, 30 00:01:22.865 --> 00:01:24.665 do you wanna just take a minute and introduce yourself? 31 00:01:26.275 --> 00:01:28.485 Sure. Um, and thank you Stuart, 32 00:01:28.625 --> 00:01:30.045 for inviting me to be here today. 33 00:01:30.045 --> 00:01:32.165 It's really delightful to partner 34 00:01:32.165 --> 00:01:34.285 with you in this, um, in this session. 35 00:01:34.675 --> 00:01:37.845 It's really a great opportunity, I think, for you to be able 36 00:01:37.845 --> 00:01:39.485 to share new insights 37 00:01:39.585 --> 00:01:41.405 and opportunities for how 38 00:01:41.405 --> 00:01:43.325 to help people be more effective in what they're doing, 39 00:01:43.325 --> 00:01:45.405 particularly in this really important subject. 40 00:01:46.145 --> 00:01:47.645 And, um, I'm delighted to be here. 41 00:01:47.645 --> 00:01:49.365 So, as Stuart mentioned, I'm a professor 42 00:01:49.365 --> 00:01:52.525 of project management at the University of Alaska Anchorage. 43 00:01:53.065 --> 00:01:56.125 And through the end of December, I was, um, served 44 00:01:56.125 --> 00:01:58.365 for six years on the PMI Board of Directors. 45 00:01:58.365 --> 00:02:01.405 And last year, uh, specifically as chair, but 46 00:02:01.405 --> 00:02:02.885 before I started in academia, 47 00:02:03.125 --> 00:02:05.685 I also spent 20 years in, in industry. 48 00:02:05.745 --> 00:02:08.885 So I was an executive for Hewlett Packard and, um, 49 00:02:09.145 --> 00:02:12.405 and gonna be a pr I was a practitioner like many 50 00:02:12.425 --> 00:02:15.125 of you in the sense that I managed a very, 51 00:02:15.125 --> 00:02:18.245 very large global portfolio of products 52 00:02:18.245 --> 00:02:20.925 and projects around the world for hp. 53 00:02:20.985 --> 00:02:24.125 And so this challenge of how to do prioritization and, 54 00:02:24.545 --> 00:02:26.605 and manage an effective PMO 55 00:02:26.605 --> 00:02:29.485 and portfolio is, is something that was, uh, 56 00:02:29.725 --> 00:02:32.045 critically important to me and the work that I did then. 57 00:02:32.185 --> 00:02:33.685 So I'm delighted to join you, 58 00:02:33.705 --> 00:02:35.085 and hopefully we'll be able to 59 00:02:35.955 --> 00:02:38.245 support Steward in providing some insights 60 00:02:38.275 --> 00:02:39.405 into this important topic. 61 00:02:39.545 --> 00:02:41.725 So thank you for the invitation to be here today. 62 00:02:43.395 --> 00:02:45.325 Awesome. Thank, thank you Luann. 63 00:02:45.785 --> 00:02:49.685 Um, and, um, uh, anybody who's worried for Luanne, 64 00:02:49.925 --> 00:02:52.365 'cause obviously, um, if you know your time zones, 65 00:02:52.365 --> 00:02:54.805 Anchorage is, you know, it's, it's like five in the morning, 66 00:02:54.905 --> 00:02:55.925 six in the morning over there, 67 00:02:56.305 --> 00:02:58.845 but Lu Ann's actually on the East coast today, so, so, 68 00:02:59.065 --> 00:03:00.125 so it's not too early. 69 00:03:00.505 --> 00:03:02.365 Um, so I'm delighted about that. 70 00:03:03.105 --> 00:03:04.965 Um, so before we, uh, 71 00:03:04.965 --> 00:03:07.725 before we jump in too far, uh, just very quickly, 72 00:03:08.105 --> 00:03:09.445 um, uh, apologies. 73 00:03:09.735 --> 00:03:12.045 Luann is as, as I mentioned, traveling 74 00:03:12.545 --> 00:03:16.005 and the, her, uh, her connection is not perfect, 75 00:03:16.265 --> 00:03:19.165 but, uh, we'll soldier on and see how that that goes. 76 00:03:19.705 --> 00:03:24.165 So, kind of the format here is that Luann is here basically 77 00:03:24.165 --> 00:03:25.845 to represent you guys, right? 78 00:03:26.025 --> 00:03:28.205 To ask the questions to react. 79 00:03:28.735 --> 00:03:30.405 She's never, you, you've never seen the software 80 00:03:30.405 --> 00:03:31.525 before, Luann, I don't think. 81 00:03:32.185 --> 00:03:34.925 No, no. There we go. So, never seen the software before. 82 00:03:35.105 --> 00:03:37.005 So it, it's a little bit like a celebrity 83 00:03:37.085 --> 00:03:38.365 unboxing video, right? 84 00:03:38.365 --> 00:03:39.485 That's, that's the idea. 85 00:03:40.345 --> 00:03:42.125 Uh, so we're gonna unbox some portfolio 86 00:03:42.125 --> 00:03:43.325 management stuff today. 87 00:03:43.545 --> 00:03:45.525 Um, so, so kind of two chunks to it. 88 00:03:45.525 --> 00:03:47.885 First is a little bit of Stewart doing 89 00:03:47.885 --> 00:03:49.205 what Stewart does with ducks. 90 00:03:49.785 --> 00:03:52.005 Um, and then we will, uh, 91 00:03:52.075 --> 00:03:53.685 then we'll jump into the software itself. 92 00:03:54.265 --> 00:03:57.445 And, you know, Luanne is hopefully gonna interrupt 93 00:03:57.445 --> 00:04:02.285 with questions, stories, observations, anecdotes from, uh, 94 00:04:02.435 --> 00:04:05.085 from her background where, where that feels appropriate. 95 00:04:05.225 --> 00:04:07.165 And Luanne, I know you won't be shy, 96 00:04:07.165 --> 00:04:09.245 but do, do, jump in whenever you want to. 97 00:04:09.665 --> 00:04:13.985 Um, fantastic. So let's, let's go. 98 00:04:14.365 --> 00:04:18.065 Um, I will be keeping half an eye on the, um, uh, 99 00:04:18.095 --> 00:04:19.705 half an eye on the chat. 100 00:04:19.845 --> 00:04:21.465 So if you have questions 101 00:04:21.465 --> 00:04:23.545 or comments, please do drop them into the chat 102 00:04:23.765 --> 00:04:27.545 and, uh, I will do my best to, to deal 'em as we go. 103 00:04:28.605 --> 00:04:33.345 Um, excellent. Right? We're gonna have some fun ducks. 104 00:04:33.565 --> 00:04:34.825 Why, why do we talk about ducks? 105 00:04:34.825 --> 00:04:36.585 We have to talk about portfolio management, right? 106 00:04:36.605 --> 00:04:37.825 So why are we talking about ducks? 107 00:04:37.825 --> 00:04:40.065 Well, look, here's, here's the harsh reality. 108 00:04:40.855 --> 00:04:42.825 Your projects are like ducks, right? 109 00:04:43.005 --> 00:04:46.105 So, so your executives don't care if you have a boy 110 00:04:46.105 --> 00:04:47.305 duck or a girl duck. 111 00:04:47.305 --> 00:04:49.465 They don't care about waterfall. 112 00:04:49.835 --> 00:04:52.225 Agile don't care about your Gantt charts 113 00:04:52.225 --> 00:04:53.225 or your burn down reports. 114 00:04:53.225 --> 00:04:55.185 They don't care about any of that, right? 115 00:04:55.185 --> 00:04:57.025 So they don't care if you have a boy duck or a girl duck. 116 00:04:57.335 --> 00:04:59.305 They just want eggs, right? 117 00:04:59.305 --> 00:05:01.385 They want the value from the project. 118 00:05:03.365 --> 00:05:06.585 So as a, as a community, our, our job is to try 119 00:05:06.605 --> 00:05:09.665 and maximize the eggs, right? 120 00:05:09.685 --> 00:05:11.585 The value that we're giving executives. 121 00:05:11.585 --> 00:05:14.025 And that's why we're gonna talk about portfolio management. 122 00:05:14.465 --> 00:05:16.585 'cause it's one of the, it's one of the biggest levers 123 00:05:16.585 --> 00:05:19.545 that you've got to increase the value for the execs. 124 00:05:20.445 --> 00:05:23.145 And unfortunately, um, you know, 125 00:05:23.835 --> 00:05:25.705 execs are generally unhappy, right? 126 00:05:25.705 --> 00:05:26.825 So we've got got the, 127 00:05:27.445 --> 00:05:30.105 the incredible duckling here on the left who's really not 128 00:05:30.105 --> 00:05:31.345 very happy stomping around. 129 00:05:32.125 --> 00:05:36.875 Um, and, and the statistics kind of explain why right? 130 00:05:37.015 --> 00:05:39.435 Around half of projects don't deliver the egg, right? 131 00:05:39.435 --> 00:05:42.035 They don't actually deliver the value that was, that, 132 00:05:42.035 --> 00:05:45.355 that was intended about a third of the day projects. 133 00:05:45.655 --> 00:05:47.315 And in a total loss, you know, 134 00:05:47.315 --> 00:05:49.515 project failed budget loss, right? 135 00:05:49.565 --> 00:05:52.795 Total disaster. Um, and, uh, 136 00:05:52.975 --> 00:05:57.340 and, you know, research looking at PMOs, uh, talks about 70% 137 00:05:57.340 --> 00:05:58.765 of PMOs being called into question. 138 00:05:58.965 --> 00:06:02.725 'cause they're just not delivering the value that, uh, 139 00:06:02.725 --> 00:06:05.605 that the, that the world wants, that the executives want 140 00:06:06.155 --> 00:06:07.885 from, uh, from the PMO. 141 00:06:08.265 --> 00:06:11.205 So, quick question. When projects fail, right? 142 00:06:11.205 --> 00:06:12.805 Fingers on keyboards, we may do this once 143 00:06:12.805 --> 00:06:14.085 or twice through the, through the session. 144 00:06:14.145 --> 00:06:15.925 So get your fingers ready on the chat. 145 00:06:16.585 --> 00:06:19.005 Um, so when projects fail, who gets the blame? 146 00:06:24.345 --> 00:06:28.185 I should have warned you, Hulk Duck. There we go. 147 00:06:28.365 --> 00:06:30.185 That's pretty and ambiguous. 148 00:06:30.535 --> 00:06:31.665 Project management, 149 00:06:31.725 --> 00:06:33.585 the project manager gets the blame, right? 150 00:06:34.365 --> 00:06:36.465 Um, so the project manager gets the blame. 151 00:06:36.465 --> 00:06:41.185 You're absolutely right. Um, but do they deserve it? 152 00:06:42.145 --> 00:06:45.845 And, and the point of this is that, um, I think a lot of, 153 00:06:45.915 --> 00:06:48.325 well, actually what the research suggests is that 154 00:06:48.835 --> 00:06:52.365 most projects that fail, um, were set up 155 00:06:52.365 --> 00:06:54.105 to fail, right? 156 00:06:54.105 --> 00:06:55.585 It's like sending this guy to the top 157 00:06:55.585 --> 00:06:56.985 of the ladder to juggle knives. 158 00:06:57.295 --> 00:06:59.345 What could possibly go wrong in this scenario? 159 00:06:59.935 --> 00:07:02.505 Well, everything right is being set up to fail. 160 00:07:02.925 --> 00:07:06.425 And a lot of projects are set up to fail with, uh, you know, 161 00:07:07.135 --> 00:07:09.945 when, when organizations try to do too many projects 162 00:07:10.485 --> 00:07:11.745 or do everything all at once, 163 00:07:12.485 --> 00:07:14.865 or they're always changing direction, right? 164 00:07:15.045 --> 00:07:16.865 Uh, and, you know, these are just some of the, some 165 00:07:16.865 --> 00:07:18.425 of the things that, that set you up 166 00:07:18.425 --> 00:07:20.505 as a project manager to fail. 167 00:07:21.045 --> 00:07:24.945 So, so Luann, you must have wrestled with this a lot at hp, 168 00:07:25.405 --> 00:07:29.225 um, where, you know, you've got a big portfolio, um, 169 00:07:29.625 --> 00:07:33.585 figuring out how to not overload people. 170 00:07:33.895 --> 00:07:35.705 Does that, does that resonate with you? 171 00:07:37.175 --> 00:07:41.145 Yeah, and I think too that what, what I often saw, 172 00:07:41.485 --> 00:07:44.145 and probably we'll talk a little bit more about that today, 173 00:07:44.325 --> 00:07:47.345 is that it's not always clear whether the, 174 00:07:47.535 --> 00:07:49.745 what the executives consider to be success 175 00:07:49.925 --> 00:07:51.225 and what the measures are 176 00:07:51.225 --> 00:07:54.145 for a specific project are always well aligned. 177 00:07:54.725 --> 00:07:57.305 And so the, the work that a project manager 178 00:07:57.365 --> 00:08:00.545 and their team might be doing when it's not fully aligned 179 00:08:00.545 --> 00:08:03.705 with what the objectives are for the executives, no matter 180 00:08:03.775 --> 00:08:07.905 what is done, it can sometimes be perceived as a fail. 181 00:08:08.125 --> 00:08:10.625 And so that's why the setup to fail sometimes happens 182 00:08:10.695 --> 00:08:12.785 because that strategic alignment 183 00:08:13.285 --> 00:08:16.185 and that line of sight between what the executives expect 184 00:08:16.185 --> 00:08:19.145 and what the project is doing aren't always as clear 185 00:08:19.485 --> 00:08:20.985 and as aligned as they could be. 186 00:08:22.255 --> 00:08:24.465 Yeah. And, and one example of that actually would be, 187 00:08:24.485 --> 00:08:29.465 you know, my very first, um, foray into, into projects, 188 00:08:29.885 --> 00:08:31.665 um, I knew nothing about projects. 189 00:08:31.805 --> 00:08:33.225 I'd just joined a software company 190 00:08:33.815 --> 00:08:35.945 that did telco billing systems. 191 00:08:36.185 --> 00:08:38.585 I knew nothing about telco, I knew nothing about billing. 192 00:08:39.165 --> 00:08:41.465 So of course, the natural thing was to give me profit 193 00:08:41.485 --> 00:08:43.865 and loss responsibility for their two biggest accounts. 194 00:08:44.565 --> 00:08:45.905 Um, that's, that's naturally 195 00:08:45.905 --> 00:08:48.505 what you do when somebody has no idea what to do. 196 00:08:49.365 --> 00:08:52.625 And so the, you know, they just closed the, uh, a huge deal 197 00:08:52.935 --> 00:08:55.245 with, uh, with the world's biggest telco at the time. 198 00:08:56.025 --> 00:08:59.085 And so literally my second week, I, I, I flew down 199 00:08:59.545 --> 00:09:03.165 for the project kickoff and our project manager, you know, 200 00:09:03.165 --> 00:09:04.645 before we walked in and said, look, Stuart, 201 00:09:04.655 --> 00:09:05.765 let's get one thing straight. 202 00:09:05.785 --> 00:09:07.125 You don't know anything about billing, 203 00:09:07.145 --> 00:09:08.285 you don't think about telco, 204 00:09:08.285 --> 00:09:10.125 you don't know anything about project management. 205 00:09:10.505 --> 00:09:14.165 So your job is to smile, nod, shake people's hands 206 00:09:14.225 --> 00:09:15.485 and be nice, right? 207 00:09:16.105 --> 00:09:17.925 But whatever you do, don't say anything. 208 00:09:19.145 --> 00:09:22.685 And so the, so the, the customer's project manager kind 209 00:09:22.685 --> 00:09:24.685 of stood up and said, you know, kind of did the daily, 210 00:09:24.685 --> 00:09:26.165 beloved, we are gathered here today 211 00:09:26.505 --> 00:09:27.685 to replace a billing system. 212 00:09:28.185 --> 00:09:29.205 My hand went straight up 213 00:09:30.185 --> 00:09:33.645 and, um, you know, my project manager's looking at me like, 214 00:09:33.985 --> 00:09:35.405 you had one job, keep quiet. 215 00:09:36.225 --> 00:09:38.085 Um, so they said, yeah, what Stuart, 216 00:09:38.085 --> 00:09:39.165 what's, what's, what's your point? 217 00:09:39.205 --> 00:09:40.445 I said, well, we're not here to replace 218 00:09:40.485 --> 00:09:41.525 a billing system, are we? 219 00:09:42.375 --> 00:09:43.945 They're like, well, yeah, we're paying you 220 00:09:44.145 --> 00:09:45.865 $13 million to replace the billing system. 221 00:09:45.945 --> 00:09:47.905 I said, no, you're not. You're paying us 222 00:09:48.145 --> 00:09:50.065 $13 million to grow revenue. 223 00:09:50.245 --> 00:09:52.495 You, right? 224 00:09:53.355 --> 00:09:54.535 And, and I think that's, 225 00:09:54.535 --> 00:09:55.775 that's what you're talking about there. 226 00:09:55.775 --> 00:09:58.855 That, that, that, yes, disconnect between, you know, oh, 227 00:09:58.855 --> 00:10:01.295 well, I, I'm looking at the deliverable versus I'm looking 228 00:10:01.295 --> 00:10:02.615 at the, the business outcome. 229 00:10:03.905 --> 00:10:06.285 And so, you know, this whole portfolio management thing is 230 00:10:06.285 --> 00:10:10.165 about trying to align those two, trying to maximize the, 231 00:10:10.165 --> 00:10:13.365 the value that the business, uh, that the business gets. 232 00:10:14.955 --> 00:10:17.575 And so, you know, one of the key things, one 233 00:10:17.575 --> 00:10:20.455 of the key ways in which organizations usually set project 234 00:10:20.455 --> 00:10:22.695 managers up to fail is they try 235 00:10:22.695 --> 00:10:24.695 to do too many projects, right? 236 00:10:24.715 --> 00:10:26.455 And, and if you're doing too many projects, 237 00:10:26.835 --> 00:10:28.095 you people are overloaded. 238 00:10:29.075 --> 00:10:32.295 And so we all talk about multitasking. 239 00:10:32.885 --> 00:10:35.175 What the psychology research actually tells us is 240 00:10:35.175 --> 00:10:36.695 that people do not multitask. 241 00:10:36.765 --> 00:10:38.735 They task switch, right? 242 00:10:38.735 --> 00:10:40.575 So they go from task to task to task. 243 00:10:40.865 --> 00:10:43.815 We're not really capable of multitasking on anything 244 00:10:43.815 --> 00:10:46.335 that requires any kind of cognitive, any kind of thinking, 245 00:10:46.915 --> 00:10:48.015 uh, engagement. 246 00:10:48.835 --> 00:10:52.535 And so when you're mul, when you're task switching, um, 247 00:10:52.915 --> 00:10:56.655 you lose up to 40% of capacity, right? 248 00:10:56.725 --> 00:10:58.695 It's just lost to managing the task switching. 249 00:10:58.695 --> 00:11:01.735 So if you imagine you are somebody delivering tasks on a 250 00:11:01.735 --> 00:11:02.935 project, right? 251 00:11:02.955 --> 00:11:04.335 You settle down to do your project, 252 00:11:04.915 --> 00:11:06.935 and then you get interrupted 10 minutes later 253 00:11:07.035 --> 00:11:08.695 by someone asking you about a different project 254 00:11:08.695 --> 00:11:09.895 that you're meant to be working on. 255 00:11:10.555 --> 00:11:12.575 And so it takes you 15 minutes to answer that. 256 00:11:12.635 --> 00:11:14.695 And then, and then, and then you've gotta get your head back 257 00:11:14.695 --> 00:11:16.575 into it, and you're just getting going 258 00:11:16.575 --> 00:11:17.935 and someone comes along and asks you about 259 00:11:17.935 --> 00:11:19.095 another project, right? 260 00:11:19.515 --> 00:11:20.935 And, and before you know it, 261 00:11:20.935 --> 00:11:22.895 you've lost 40% of your capacity. 262 00:11:24.655 --> 00:11:28.275 Um, so when, when prioritization's gone wrong, right? 263 00:11:28.275 --> 00:11:29.595 So you have too many projects. 264 00:11:30.485 --> 00:11:33.675 Often we find that it's hard to say no to, to projects. 265 00:11:33.675 --> 00:11:36.315 So, so in the chat, by the way, as I'm going through this, 266 00:11:37.055 --> 00:11:40.195 please jump in and just say, yay, or give me a thumbs up 267 00:11:40.195 --> 00:11:43.115 or a heart or something to let me know whether 268 00:11:43.135 --> 00:11:45.275 or not these, these things resonate with you. 269 00:11:45.775 --> 00:11:47.915 So having too many projects is one of the, 270 00:11:48.055 --> 00:11:49.235 one of the key things, right? 271 00:11:49.815 --> 00:11:53.645 Saying, you know, it's hard to say no to projects, right? 272 00:11:53.645 --> 00:11:55.365 This we see again and again and again. 273 00:11:55.545 --> 00:11:57.565 You know, executives will defend and defend 274 00:11:57.565 --> 00:12:01.005 and defend their projects and never want to kill them, okay? 275 00:12:01.005 --> 00:12:03.165 That's a real problem that gets in the way of delivery. 276 00:12:03.185 --> 00:12:06.445 So you end up with a whole bunch of, uh, of pet projects 277 00:12:06.445 --> 00:12:08.205 and zombie projects and all kinds of stuff 278 00:12:08.515 --> 00:12:10.365 because you're not able to kill them. 279 00:12:11.545 --> 00:12:14.845 Um, Luann you mentioned this a a few minutes ago, that, 280 00:12:14.845 --> 00:12:18.005 you know, the, the line of sight from what do we want 281 00:12:18.005 --> 00:12:20.205 to achieve as a business and the work we're actually doing 282 00:12:20.855 --> 00:12:22.445 isn't always clear, right? 283 00:12:22.445 --> 00:12:26.885 So, so the, the, the, the, the phrase when I ask PMO leaders 284 00:12:26.885 --> 00:12:29.485 around the world, you know, is your are are your project. 285 00:12:29.505 --> 00:12:31.845 So how, you know, how well aligned are your projects 286 00:12:31.845 --> 00:12:34.685 with strategy, the most common answer to that is 287 00:12:35.395 --> 00:12:37.725 what strategy, right? 288 00:12:37.785 --> 00:12:40.165 So, so again, if, if this sounds familiar, 289 00:12:40.775 --> 00:12:43.165 let's get those hearts going in the thumbs up. 290 00:12:43.215 --> 00:12:44.525 Let's, let's get in there 291 00:12:44.525 --> 00:12:46.125 and let's feel the pain, share the pain. 292 00:12:47.605 --> 00:12:50.945 And when this happens, very often it means if you don't have 293 00:12:50.995 --> 00:12:54.265 clear, um, clarity around the strategy 294 00:12:54.325 --> 00:12:55.465 and what you're trying to achieve, 295 00:12:55.855 --> 00:12:58.505 then often the good projects get disguised, right? 296 00:12:58.505 --> 00:13:00.905 They're hidden, you don't realize they're the good projects. 297 00:13:00.905 --> 00:13:02.145 So you've got, you know, the kind 298 00:13:02.145 --> 00:13:05.465 of the Groucho Marx duck here, um, the, you know, with this, 299 00:13:05.465 --> 00:13:08.945 with this false nose disguised, um, which means 300 00:13:08.945 --> 00:13:10.625 that you can't focus on them. 301 00:13:10.925 --> 00:13:14.185 And worst of all, you get the vampire projects, the ones 302 00:13:14.185 --> 00:13:16.345 where, you know, we just shouldn't be doing them. 303 00:13:17.085 --> 00:13:19.785 But then they get into trouble and they start sucking more 304 00:13:19.845 --> 00:13:22.785 and more resources from, from the projects 305 00:13:22.785 --> 00:13:24.705 that really matter, right? 306 00:13:24.765 --> 00:13:27.545 So, so then, then you're not delivering the 307 00:13:27.545 --> 00:13:28.745 projects that actually matter. 308 00:13:29.565 --> 00:13:32.465 And this, this all comes down to portfolio management. 309 00:13:32.765 --> 00:13:35.385 If you, you know, this, this is all at the root cause. 310 00:13:36.055 --> 00:13:39.265 It's, this happens because we don't have clarity on which 311 00:13:39.265 --> 00:13:40.385 projects we should be doing. 312 00:13:40.965 --> 00:13:42.185 And at the end of the day, it means 313 00:13:42.185 --> 00:13:45.505 that our projects are over budget, our projects are late, 314 00:13:45.965 --> 00:13:47.625 and everybody's, everybody's unhappy. 315 00:13:47.625 --> 00:13:49.585 So I want to share, we've got quite a few people from the 316 00:13:49.585 --> 00:13:50.825 NHS on the this call. 317 00:13:51.525 --> 00:13:53.905 So I'm expecting, I dunno what I'm expecting, 318 00:13:53.905 --> 00:13:55.145 I don't think I'm gonna get thumbs up 319 00:13:55.145 --> 00:13:56.585 for this one 'cause it's gonna hurt too much. 320 00:13:56.785 --> 00:13:58.265 'cause I suspect that it's gonna resonate 321 00:13:58.765 --> 00:13:59.785 too much with some of you. 322 00:14:00.205 --> 00:14:03.345 But I was speaking with one PMO leader a while ago 323 00:14:04.325 --> 00:14:05.585 within the NHS, 324 00:14:06.365 --> 00:14:08.065 and they, they basically said, look, 325 00:14:08.965 --> 00:14:10.585 we were just given these targets 326 00:14:10.645 --> 00:14:12.625 and we have, we don't get to negotiate. 327 00:14:13.165 --> 00:14:15.625 And management said, there's 120 projects, 328 00:14:15.655 --> 00:14:17.185 just find a way, right? 329 00:14:17.205 --> 00:14:21.655 Has anybody ever heard that? Just find a way. Okay? 330 00:14:21.755 --> 00:14:23.175 So, so what happened? 331 00:14:23.405 --> 00:14:26.455 Have a guess who, who'd like to have a guess how many 332 00:14:26.455 --> 00:14:27.975 of these projects they actually 333 00:14:28.255 --> 00:14:32.535 finished jump onto the chat? 334 00:14:32.675 --> 00:14:34.335 How many projects do you think they actually 335 00:14:34.535 --> 00:14:35.615 finished out of 120? 336 00:14:36.845 --> 00:14:40.915 So they started all of those projects. There we go. 337 00:14:41.135 --> 00:14:43.875 So, so Jim, you're even more skeptical than I am. 338 00:14:46.055 --> 00:14:47.195 Oh, there's some good numbers. Three, 339 00:14:47.275 --> 00:14:49.275 I like three 50 bit optimistic. 340 00:14:50.215 --> 00:14:53.645 Uh, 20%. Yeah. So it was actually about 20 projects. 341 00:14:53.645 --> 00:14:55.445 They finished around 20 projects. 342 00:14:57.345 --> 00:15:01.815 So, you know, so, so i i, from the executive's point 343 00:15:01.815 --> 00:15:03.735 of view, then Luann, right? 344 00:15:03.995 --> 00:15:05.775 If you were mm-hmm. If you were running that portfolio, 345 00:15:05.915 --> 00:15:07.255 how much value did you get outta 346 00:15:07.255 --> 00:15:08.375 the other a hundred projects? 347 00:15:08.555 --> 00:15:10.775 The ones that, that they put all the effort into, 348 00:15:10.775 --> 00:15:11.895 but you didn't actually finish? 349 00:15:12.275 --> 00:15:14.375 How much value would you have got from that? 350 00:15:15.965 --> 00:15:17.665 In fact, negative value, right? 351 00:15:17.665 --> 00:15:21.465 Because, um, if the opportunity cost of having spent all 352 00:15:21.465 --> 00:15:23.345 of those resources and time on things 353 00:15:23.345 --> 00:15:25.425 that ultimately didn't produce any sort of outcomes, 354 00:15:25.445 --> 00:15:29.185 you never get that time or those resources back to be able 355 00:15:29.185 --> 00:15:31.385 to apply them to things that actually do matter. 356 00:15:31.805 --> 00:15:34.585 So it's not just a zero, it's actually less than zero 357 00:15:34.615 --> 00:15:36.505 because of the opportunity cost. 358 00:15:36.725 --> 00:15:41.225 And so, um, that is, um, it, it's, I'm sorry to have heard 359 00:15:41.225 --> 00:15:43.905 that because that is not just frustrating 360 00:15:43.905 --> 00:15:46.705 for the organization and the limited resources organizations 361 00:15:46.705 --> 00:15:48.265 have to deliver value, 362 00:15:48.365 --> 00:15:49.585 but for the individuals 363 00:15:49.585 --> 00:15:51.905 that are involved working their hearts out, trying 364 00:15:51.905 --> 00:15:54.225 to do the right thing according to what they were asked 365 00:15:54.225 --> 00:15:55.745 to do, and feeling that 366 00:15:55.745 --> 00:15:57.625 what they did ultimately didn't produce 367 00:15:57.625 --> 00:15:58.825 an outcome that mattered. 368 00:15:59.245 --> 00:16:01.625 So it's, um, it's a systemic issue. 369 00:16:02.865 --> 00:16:04.315 Yeah. Yeah. And, and it's, 370 00:16:04.315 --> 00:16:09.005 and do you know what the people on those projects, how, 371 00:16:09.065 --> 00:16:10.085 how do they feel at the end 372 00:16:10.085 --> 00:16:11.485 of the project when the project fails? 373 00:16:11.865 --> 00:16:13.645 You know, they, they don't feel good, right? 374 00:16:13.645 --> 00:16:14.645 They feel they feel bad. 375 00:16:14.835 --> 00:16:16.485 Exactly. And in, 376 00:16:16.505 --> 00:16:20.285 and in fact, the, you know, the, the PMO team are the ones 377 00:16:20.285 --> 00:16:21.685 who ended up getting beaten up, right? 378 00:16:21.825 --> 00:16:24.845 So, so, you know, they worked really hard for the year. 379 00:16:24.875 --> 00:16:28.205 They did the best they could, but they were set up to fail 380 00:16:28.205 --> 00:16:30.725 because there was no good portfolio 381 00:16:30.725 --> 00:16:32.125 management process in place. 382 00:16:33.345 --> 00:16:36.405 And, you know, my guess is that for, for a lot of you, 383 00:16:37.065 --> 00:16:40.925 you've probably raised this issue with a leadership team 384 00:16:41.785 --> 00:16:42.885 one way or another, right? 385 00:16:43.535 --> 00:16:45.525 About, you know, we need you guys to engage 386 00:16:45.525 --> 00:16:48.285 with project management or with, with prioritization 387 00:16:48.425 --> 00:16:51.405 or not, uh, you know, helping us, uh, 388 00:16:51.765 --> 00:16:53.165 allocate resources more effectively. 389 00:16:53.865 --> 00:16:56.605 And very often the answer that you get is just go, 390 00:16:56.605 --> 00:16:57.725 just make it happen, right? 391 00:16:57.785 --> 00:17:02.605 Go away and make it happen. So the first step in fixing any 392 00:17:02.605 --> 00:17:04.325 of this is what we call a case for change. 393 00:17:06.405 --> 00:17:08.065 And this is, this has got nothing to do 394 00:17:08.065 --> 00:17:09.385 with our software or anything like that. 395 00:17:09.415 --> 00:17:11.465 This is, this is a little workshop that we, 396 00:17:11.765 --> 00:17:14.585 we help people go through where essentially 397 00:17:14.585 --> 00:17:16.185 what you're doing is you're looking at the business 398 00:17:16.425 --> 00:17:19.625 challenges that you, that the executives have around 399 00:17:20.385 --> 00:17:22.145 strategy execution or project execution, 400 00:17:23.085 --> 00:17:25.345 and do a little bit of root cause analysis 401 00:17:25.405 --> 00:17:27.745 and just help the executive team understand 402 00:17:28.555 --> 00:17:29.825 where the root causes are. 403 00:17:29.825 --> 00:17:33.745 And the root cause is almost always, uh, prioritization, 404 00:17:34.745 --> 00:17:35.785 resource capacity planning, 405 00:17:36.405 --> 00:17:38.145 and maybe a little bit of skills, right? 406 00:17:38.425 --> 00:17:39.425 Training and things like that. 407 00:17:40.005 --> 00:17:42.025 Um, not just for project managers, 408 00:17:42.025 --> 00:17:44.105 but also for the executive team themselves sometimes. 409 00:17:44.965 --> 00:17:46.985 And, and so those are the, those are the three big things. 410 00:17:46.985 --> 00:17:50.885 And so the case for change will help you, um, uh, 411 00:17:50.985 --> 00:17:53.125 engage the executive team in that discussion 412 00:17:53.785 --> 00:17:58.445 and create the, um, create the plan for them, you know, 413 00:17:58.445 --> 00:18:01.525 the visibility from their pain to the root cause. 414 00:18:02.465 --> 00:18:06.345 And then what does the plan look like to fix it? Okay? 415 00:18:06.605 --> 00:18:09.545 So if you want to take one of these, uh, workshops, uh, 416 00:18:09.885 --> 00:18:12.145 Lenora just dropped the link into the, into the chat, 417 00:18:12.685 --> 00:18:14.305 go book it now before you forget. 418 00:18:14.925 --> 00:18:17.305 Uh, and whether you use our software or not, right? 419 00:18:17.335 --> 00:18:19.025 It's got nothing to do with the software, really. 420 00:18:19.095 --> 00:18:21.625 It's to do with engaging your executives in this 421 00:18:21.625 --> 00:18:25.105 conversation so that you don't get that reaction, right? 422 00:18:25.165 --> 00:18:26.865 The just, you know, talk to the hand. 423 00:18:27.085 --> 00:18:28.505 Nobody wants to talk to the hand. 424 00:18:30.285 --> 00:18:32.945 So why should you listen to us about how to fix this stuff? 425 00:18:33.415 --> 00:18:35.385 Well, to start with, we're a bunch 426 00:18:35.385 --> 00:18:36.625 of decision science geeks. 427 00:18:36.725 --> 00:18:38.465 We actually, one of my co-founders used 428 00:18:38.465 --> 00:18:39.545 to teach decision science. 429 00:18:39.885 --> 00:18:41.185 So we, this, you know, 430 00:18:41.185 --> 00:18:42.905 this whole portfolio management thing, by the way, 431 00:18:43.365 --> 00:18:45.625 is not a project management problem. 432 00:18:46.985 --> 00:18:49.555 It's a decision management problem, right? 433 00:18:49.665 --> 00:18:50.795 Portfolio management 434 00:18:50.795 --> 00:18:53.235 and governance are, is all about decision making. 435 00:18:53.825 --> 00:18:55.915 It's not about projects, it's about decisions. 436 00:18:56.335 --> 00:18:59.155 So the, the domain of, of, uh, research 437 00:18:59.175 --> 00:19:00.195 and knowledge that we need 438 00:19:00.195 --> 00:19:02.915 to draw on is decision science rather than 439 00:19:03.025 --> 00:19:04.275 project management. 440 00:19:04.815 --> 00:19:06.555 And so, you know, one of my colleagues used 441 00:19:06.555 --> 00:19:07.755 to teach at university, 442 00:19:08.015 --> 00:19:10.075 and we've done this with a bunch of organizations 443 00:19:10.075 --> 00:19:12.155 around the world, large and small. 444 00:19:12.735 --> 00:19:15.355 So, you know, we, we, this is what we do all day long, 445 00:19:15.355 --> 00:19:16.835 is this portfolio management stuff. 446 00:19:18.415 --> 00:19:20.795 So the big question is, can portfolio management 447 00:19:21.175 --> 00:19:22.515 fix all of this? 448 00:19:23.615 --> 00:19:26.595 And, and the answer is, it, it, it, it really can, right? 449 00:19:26.595 --> 00:19:28.595 We'll, we'll, we'll see it in action in a minute, 450 00:19:29.295 --> 00:19:32.995 but it's about, you know, aligning your investments, 451 00:19:32.995 --> 00:19:36.515 your projects, and your resources with the goals, right? 452 00:19:36.515 --> 00:19:39.475 So being goals oriented, not projects oriented, 453 00:19:39.695 --> 00:19:41.475 having clear prioritization, 454 00:19:41.675 --> 00:19:43.755 having visibility into the pipeline 455 00:19:44.295 --> 00:19:47.155 and control into the pipeline, being able 456 00:19:47.155 --> 00:19:48.755 to optimize the portfolio. 457 00:19:49.735 --> 00:19:53.715 Um, so that means picking the combination of projects 458 00:19:53.715 --> 00:19:56.475 that maximizes the value, given the shape 459 00:19:56.475 --> 00:19:57.995 of your resources, right? 460 00:19:58.305 --> 00:19:59.675 It's not about just budget. 461 00:19:59.785 --> 00:20:01.435 It's not just how much can we afford? 462 00:20:01.905 --> 00:20:04.675 It's about do we have enough DBAs or enough testers 463 00:20:04.675 --> 00:20:06.275 or enough, you know, whatever your key, 464 00:20:06.415 --> 00:20:08.035 key constraint is, right? 465 00:20:08.055 --> 00:20:10.395 So you have to be able to optimize that portfolio 466 00:20:11.215 --> 00:20:13.475 and then turn that into a capacity plan. 467 00:20:13.675 --> 00:20:15.355 'cause if you're try and deliver everything all at once, 468 00:20:16.795 --> 00:20:18.555 suddenly you've created resource contention. 469 00:20:18.555 --> 00:20:20.835 Again, people are task hopping, you lose your productivity 470 00:20:20.895 --> 00:20:22.995 and projects run late, right? 471 00:20:23.135 --> 00:20:25.195 So, so you're gonna be able to do all of that. 472 00:20:25.255 --> 00:20:28.315 And, and this piece is all about decision science. 473 00:20:28.535 --> 00:20:31.235 And this piece is all about being able 474 00:20:31.235 --> 00:20:33.875 to leverage technology to, to optimize things better. 475 00:20:34.215 --> 00:20:36.515 Uh, and we've got some really cool AI toys 476 00:20:37.105 --> 00:20:38.515 that I'll share with you shortly. 477 00:20:39.175 --> 00:20:41.595 So, um, I encourage you, again, 478 00:20:41.595 --> 00:20:43.355 whether you ever use our software 479 00:20:43.355 --> 00:20:45.875 or not, I encourage you to, to take on the, the case 480 00:20:45.875 --> 00:20:47.445 for change book a case for change, 481 00:20:48.185 --> 00:20:51.165 and, uh, we'll plug you in with one of our, our folks. 482 00:20:51.785 --> 00:20:54.725 Uh, I like doing these case for change, so it may well be me 483 00:20:55.065 --> 00:20:56.085 or one of our partners. 484 00:20:56.425 --> 00:21:00.085 Um, and, uh, uh, we'll, we'll get you 485 00:21:00.085 --> 00:21:01.125 through that, that process. 486 00:21:01.825 --> 00:21:05.445 So let's go look at some software and how to fix it. 487 00:21:07.835 --> 00:21:08.055 Um, 488 00:21:12.885 --> 00:21:13.455 well, that seems, 489 00:21:13.455 --> 00:21:15.695 While you're, uh, question up while holding that up, 490 00:21:15.715 --> 00:21:18.975 Stuart, I just thought maybe I would add just a, um, 491 00:21:19.155 --> 00:21:23.935 an observation of when I was, um, one of the amount of time 492 00:21:23.935 --> 00:21:26.295 that I spent when I was at hp, one of the things 493 00:21:26.295 --> 00:21:29.695 that we spent, the executive spent quite a bit of time on 494 00:21:29.695 --> 00:21:32.095 what I would call dealing with the messy middle, 495 00:21:32.635 --> 00:21:36.415 and I'll just use that term where we would have, um, a list, 496 00:21:36.655 --> 00:21:39.535 a one, we would look at our portfolio, we would try 497 00:21:39.535 --> 00:21:41.775 to make sure that all of our investments fit into multiple 498 00:21:41.775 --> 00:21:44.215 boxes, like things that we're gonna be game changers 499 00:21:44.235 --> 00:21:46.255 or transformative investments in r 500 00:21:46.335 --> 00:21:49.615 and d, um, as well as things that were incremental, things 501 00:21:49.615 --> 00:21:51.015 that kind of were our bread and butter. 502 00:21:51.395 --> 00:21:54.615 And we would allocate a percentage of our portfolio to each 503 00:21:54.615 --> 00:21:57.895 of those different types of categories of projects. 504 00:21:57.955 --> 00:22:00.095 But every quarter we would do 505 00:22:00.095 --> 00:22:02.375 what we would call our waterline, where we had a one 506 00:22:02.375 --> 00:22:05.455 to end list of all the projects that we were working on in 507 00:22:05.475 --> 00:22:06.775 inside of the organization. 508 00:22:07.155 --> 00:22:08.375 And we had a waterline. 509 00:22:08.395 --> 00:22:09.655 And everything that was above 510 00:22:09.655 --> 00:22:11.975 that waterline was, was being done. 511 00:22:11.975 --> 00:22:14.135 Things that were below that waterline were things 512 00:22:14.135 --> 00:22:16.815 that we wanted to do, but we weren't necessarily resourced 513 00:22:16.815 --> 00:22:18.815 or we didn't have the revenue or the ability 514 00:22:18.815 --> 00:22:20.015 to support that investment. 515 00:22:20.675 --> 00:22:23.375 And we probably spent 80% of our time managing 516 00:22:23.495 --> 00:22:25.135 that particular boundary. 517 00:22:25.795 --> 00:22:27.255 And we called it the messy middle, 518 00:22:27.255 --> 00:22:28.655 because things that were clearly 519 00:22:28.745 --> 00:22:31.015 above the waterline were things that were a priority, 520 00:22:31.015 --> 00:22:32.535 and they were being worked on things that were 521 00:22:32.535 --> 00:22:35.175 below the waterline were, were more or less on hold, 522 00:22:35.395 --> 00:22:37.735 but depending on what was going on with the organization, 523 00:22:37.795 --> 00:22:39.535 it was in, it was in that messy middle 524 00:22:39.535 --> 00:22:40.695 that we spent a lot of our time. 525 00:22:41.355 --> 00:22:43.855 But the, the point that I, that I would make 526 00:22:43.915 --> 00:22:47.375 as you're getting this set up is that that was the, the, 527 00:22:47.525 --> 00:22:50.815 that dynamic orderly conversation was where we built 528 00:22:50.815 --> 00:22:53.295 that kind of alignment between the executive team 529 00:22:53.315 --> 00:22:55.255 and the people that were working on the projects. 530 00:22:55.255 --> 00:22:57.055 Because as we well know in field of tech 531 00:22:57.115 --> 00:22:58.775 and certainly what the NHS is doing, 532 00:22:58.875 --> 00:23:01.895 and it's not just a matter of having the static list 533 00:23:01.895 --> 00:23:02.935 of things that you work on 534 00:23:02.935 --> 00:23:05.975 because the world is changing around you as you're executing 535 00:23:05.975 --> 00:23:08.615 that work and people's expectations change, 536 00:23:08.665 --> 00:23:11.015 technology changes, a lot of things occur. 537 00:23:11.395 --> 00:23:13.455 And so you constantly have to, uh, 538 00:23:13.635 --> 00:23:15.975 engage in the what's happening in the here and now, 539 00:23:15.975 --> 00:23:18.855 and what's likely to happen from a risk management point 540 00:23:18.855 --> 00:23:21.495 of view to modify that priority list 541 00:23:21.715 --> 00:23:24.495 and to, um, make adjustments as are necessary. 542 00:23:25.235 --> 00:23:27.495 So I think that that conversation 543 00:23:27.555 --> 00:23:30.015 and that continuous alignment is super important 544 00:23:30.015 --> 00:23:31.895 because a lot of times what will happen is just 545 00:23:31.895 --> 00:23:33.255 what you said, uh, Stewart, 546 00:23:33.355 --> 00:23:35.135 the executives will decide on something 547 00:23:35.135 --> 00:23:36.855 and then they'll say, just go and do it. 548 00:23:36.855 --> 00:23:39.615 And then there's no conversation with the teams of people 549 00:23:39.615 --> 00:23:42.295 that are actually executing that work in a very, 550 00:23:42.295 --> 00:23:43.815 very dynamic environment. 551 00:23:44.315 --> 00:23:48.085 And so constantly being able to reset rere, 552 00:23:48.085 --> 00:23:51.285 reset constantly reconnect is super important. 553 00:23:52.145 --> 00:23:55.805 So, um, and I, I noticed Sharon said in one of her comments 554 00:23:55.915 --> 00:23:58.325 that there were some issues around skills 555 00:23:58.795 --> 00:24:01.645 that we may not always have as project managers. 556 00:24:01.665 --> 00:24:04.725 And so those power skills of being able 557 00:24:04.745 --> 00:24:07.365 to effectively guide sponsorship 558 00:24:07.425 --> 00:24:09.445 and make sure that you've got that connection 559 00:24:09.445 --> 00:24:12.485 and that line of sight and conversation super important 560 00:24:12.485 --> 00:24:14.925 because we can have a lot of different tools, 561 00:24:15.025 --> 00:24:19.445 but it's our capacity as project managers to drive realign, 562 00:24:19.925 --> 00:24:23.165 reestablish, ensure constantly that what we're doing 563 00:24:23.995 --> 00:24:25.325 fits the needs of the priority. 564 00:24:25.325 --> 00:24:26.765 So this tool is fantastic 565 00:24:26.765 --> 00:24:29.005 because it really helps to provide the data 566 00:24:29.435 --> 00:24:31.045 that you will then be able to go 567 00:24:31.065 --> 00:24:34.845 and talk to executives with a clear mind, a clear head, 568 00:24:34.845 --> 00:24:36.605 clear understanding of what's happening, 569 00:24:36.905 --> 00:24:38.165 and be able to have that kind 570 00:24:38.165 --> 00:24:42.165 of conversation in a very professional and competent manner. 571 00:24:42.785 --> 00:24:44.845 So I'm really excited to see this 572 00:24:44.845 --> 00:24:48.285 because I think it often is what people lack is that kind 573 00:24:48.285 --> 00:24:51.325 of data that's compelling enough for executives to look at 574 00:24:51.345 --> 00:24:53.365 and understand the implications of these things. 575 00:24:53.465 --> 00:24:55.165 So I'm really delighted to be here 576 00:24:55.165 --> 00:24:57.805 and really excited to see this actually, Stuart. 577 00:24:58.585 --> 00:25:03.245 Oh gosh, no pressure, right? Uh, fantastic. 578 00:25:03.245 --> 00:25:05.565 Thanks, Luann. Um, so, so here's 579 00:25:05.565 --> 00:25:06.605 what we're gonna go and look at. 580 00:25:06.615 --> 00:25:08.405 We're gonna start actually with that discussion 581 00:25:08.405 --> 00:25:10.925 that Luann was just talking about in the, in the C-suite. 582 00:25:11.025 --> 00:25:13.965 So this is, this is the execs up here, right? 583 00:25:14.825 --> 00:25:18.285 And, um, what we're gonna do is we're gonna take the 584 00:25:18.485 --> 00:25:20.145 business goals, right? 585 00:25:20.245 --> 00:25:21.985 The strategy of the business, if you like, 586 00:25:22.325 --> 00:25:24.505 and we're gonna convert it into something we can 587 00:25:24.505 --> 00:25:25.625 use to drive decisions. 588 00:25:25.625 --> 00:25:27.305 We're gonna convert it into a set of criteria, 589 00:25:28.285 --> 00:25:31.145 and we're gonna weight those criteria using a, a, a, a, 590 00:25:31.225 --> 00:25:32.625 a funky little bit of decision science. 591 00:25:32.625 --> 00:25:34.505 I'll show you in a minute. And then, 592 00:25:34.765 --> 00:25:36.225 and then what we're gonna do is we're, 593 00:25:36.225 --> 00:25:39.105 we're gonna collect a bunch of projects, right? 594 00:25:39.125 --> 00:25:40.305 So projects coming in, 595 00:25:41.005 --> 00:25:43.825 and when projects come in, they're not well defined. 596 00:25:43.825 --> 00:25:45.705 They're, they're usually pretty, pretty loose. 597 00:25:45.775 --> 00:25:48.345 It's normally just a name and a description or something. 598 00:25:48.645 --> 00:25:51.825 So we're gonna take them through a series of steps to 599 00:25:52.345 --> 00:25:53.345 evaluate them, right? 600 00:25:53.925 --> 00:25:55.945 So prioritization, this is really important. 601 00:25:55.945 --> 00:25:58.185 Prioritization is not a meeting, 602 00:25:59.425 --> 00:26:01.385 it's a process, right? 603 00:26:01.455 --> 00:26:04.465 It's a process of evaluating, testing, evaluating, 604 00:26:04.875 --> 00:26:06.585 maybe having multiple stage gates. 605 00:26:06.585 --> 00:26:09.025 So you might do a, a lightweight assessment 606 00:26:09.765 --> 00:26:11.225 and kill some projects here. 607 00:26:11.365 --> 00:26:13.385 And then you might have another stage gate here 608 00:26:13.395 --> 00:26:14.985 where you kill a few more projects, 609 00:26:15.405 --> 00:26:18.345 and eventually you might do a proper resource plan 610 00:26:18.485 --> 00:26:19.625 and all the rest of it, 611 00:26:19.625 --> 00:26:22.105 and then we'll make a final decision, go no go decision. 612 00:26:22.605 --> 00:26:26.905 So, so you need to take projects through a series of steps 613 00:26:26.925 --> 00:26:29.025 to get them ready to be selected. 614 00:26:30.005 --> 00:26:32.345 And as part of that, we're gonna score them against 615 00:26:32.365 --> 00:26:33.825 our criteria, obviously. 616 00:26:34.365 --> 00:26:36.705 And then, and then you get some nice pretty pictures at the 617 00:26:36.705 --> 00:26:39.065 end that tell us which projects are the 618 00:26:39.065 --> 00:26:40.185 good ones and the bad ones. 619 00:26:40.765 --> 00:26:43.525 And then what we're gonna do is we're gonna drop it into ai, 620 00:26:44.345 --> 00:26:48.525 uh, into our little AI engine, uh, which will allow us 621 00:26:48.585 --> 00:26:49.645 to select 622 00:26:49.665 --> 00:26:51.405 and optimize, run a whole bunch of 623 00:26:51.405 --> 00:26:55.645 what if scenarios incredibly quickly to work out to, right? 624 00:26:55.645 --> 00:26:57.325 And that's important precisely luann, 625 00:26:57.325 --> 00:26:59.525 because things change, right? 626 00:27:00.345 --> 00:27:03.165 So, so we've got to be able to respond to that change. 627 00:27:03.745 --> 00:27:05.925 And then from there, once we know which projects we wanna 628 00:27:05.925 --> 00:27:08.285 do, we're gonna lay them out on a timeline. 629 00:27:08.385 --> 00:27:11.325 And again, we're gonna use AI to do that a 630 00:27:11.325 --> 00:27:13.845 because it's a lot quicker, but more importantly, 631 00:27:13.845 --> 00:27:14.965 we're going to use ai. 632 00:27:15.145 --> 00:27:18.285 You know, if you can, instead of this process taking a day, 633 00:27:19.025 --> 00:27:21.645 if you can do it in 10 seconds, it means 634 00:27:21.645 --> 00:27:23.605 that you will do it right? 635 00:27:23.625 --> 00:27:25.085 If it takes you a day to do it, 636 00:27:25.585 --> 00:27:28.205 you're not gonna do it more than, you know, once a month, 637 00:27:28.235 --> 00:27:29.685 once a quarter, something like that. 638 00:27:30.145 --> 00:27:32.765 So again, it's all about being responsive to change 639 00:27:32.785 --> 00:27:36.445 and being able to replan really quickly and, 640 00:27:36.505 --> 00:27:39.685 and to give real transparency to the impact of change 641 00:27:40.545 --> 00:27:41.645 within the portfolio. 642 00:27:42.185 --> 00:27:43.765 So that's, that's what we're gonna do. 643 00:27:43.935 --> 00:27:47.365 Let's go have a look, draw, get rid of that. Come up here. 644 00:27:47.865 --> 00:27:50.525 So we're gonna start off with, uh, we're gonna start off 645 00:27:50.525 --> 00:27:53.405 with, um, uh, criteria. 646 00:27:53.705 --> 00:27:55.165 So why is this important? 647 00:27:55.985 --> 00:28:00.735 Um, Luann, can I ask you at hp Sure. 648 00:28:00.735 --> 00:28:03.015 The CEO, did the CEO have a strategy? 649 00:28:03.115 --> 00:28:04.615 Did they have a clear vision, do you think? 650 00:28:06.665 --> 00:28:09.585 I would say, and, and, and I'm being honest here, I was 651 00:28:09.645 --> 00:28:12.585 so lucky to work at a company like HP where the, uh, 652 00:28:12.795 --> 00:28:15.985 where the importance of that kind of clear strategy 653 00:28:16.325 --> 00:28:19.825 and clear strategic alignment across the organization was a 654 00:28:19.825 --> 00:28:21.305 really important value set. 655 00:28:21.805 --> 00:28:24.665 So I would say yes, um, it was fairly clear. 656 00:28:24.805 --> 00:28:27.025 And one of the things that we kind of measured 657 00:28:27.025 --> 00:28:30.585 or prided ourselves on was if whatever that strategy was, 658 00:28:30.585 --> 00:28:32.705 could you talk to people throughout the organization 659 00:28:32.705 --> 00:28:33.985 and could they repeat it? 660 00:28:34.165 --> 00:28:36.105 And if they could repeat it, then you knew 661 00:28:36.105 --> 00:28:38.185 that it resonated across the organization. 662 00:28:38.685 --> 00:28:41.665 And so the documentation of it, the sharing of it, 663 00:28:41.685 --> 00:28:43.585 and the alignment across the organization, 664 00:28:43.785 --> 00:28:44.985 I felt was really strong. 665 00:28:45.365 --> 00:28:48.065 So I'm one of those lucky people that in my career, 666 00:28:48.295 --> 00:28:50.185 I've had a chance to be in an environment 667 00:28:50.185 --> 00:28:53.465 where I can say the right thing to do was easily observable. 668 00:28:53.805 --> 00:28:55.745 But I know that's not always the case. 669 00:28:55.885 --> 00:28:57.385 In fact, it's rarely the case. 670 00:28:57.685 --> 00:29:01.785 Rarely, Yeah. And so, um, I, uh, it's why, uh, the role 671 00:29:01.785 --> 00:29:03.825 that we play is so critically important 672 00:29:03.825 --> 00:29:06.545 because we constantly have to bring that information back 673 00:29:06.545 --> 00:29:08.385 to people who may not realize that 674 00:29:08.385 --> 00:29:10.545 what they say hasn't really percolated 675 00:29:10.545 --> 00:29:11.585 through the organization 676 00:29:12.285 --> 00:29:14.345 and doesn't have the kind of understanding 677 00:29:14.375 --> 00:29:15.865 that they expect or think. 678 00:29:16.445 --> 00:29:18.745 So I would say I was lucky in that sense, 679 00:29:18.885 --> 00:29:21.145 and as an executive myself, that was something 680 00:29:21.145 --> 00:29:22.265 that we chose to do. 681 00:29:22.365 --> 00:29:24.665 But the power of that is incredibly important. 682 00:29:24.805 --> 00:29:26.865 So if you're in a role that allows you to do that, 683 00:29:26.865 --> 00:29:27.865 it's critically important. 684 00:29:28.125 --> 00:29:31.785 But I recognize that's probably not the case for 80% of us. 685 00:29:33.035 --> 00:29:35.975 And, and I'd suggest the number's more like 90, 95%. 686 00:29:36.175 --> 00:29:37.695 'cause there was a recent study, there 687 00:29:37.695 --> 00:29:39.215 Was a recent I'm an optimist. Yeah, 688 00:29:39.215 --> 00:29:41.285 Yeah, no, well, there was a recent, the reason I say 689 00:29:41.285 --> 00:29:44.045 that is there was a, a recent study, um, that, 690 00:29:44.235 --> 00:29:46.165 that polled people across organizations 691 00:29:46.185 --> 00:29:47.245 and 95% 692 00:29:47.245 --> 00:29:50.445 of people in organizations could not articulate 693 00:29:50.665 --> 00:29:51.685 the strategy at all. 694 00:29:52.585 --> 00:29:54.925 And, uh, so that, that's a real challenge. 695 00:29:55.505 --> 00:29:57.525 Um, but even within the boardroom, right? 696 00:29:57.545 --> 00:30:01.325 So the CEO very often has a fairly clear vision 697 00:30:01.385 --> 00:30:03.565 and Strat, you know, idea of what they want to achieve. 698 00:30:04.745 --> 00:30:06.885 But around the board table, right? 699 00:30:06.905 --> 00:30:08.005 You might have 10 people, 700 00:30:08.825 --> 00:30:10.045 and from those 10 people, 701 00:30:10.745 --> 00:30:12.845 you'll have 10 different interpretations of 702 00:30:12.845 --> 00:30:14.245 that strategy, right? 703 00:30:14.775 --> 00:30:16.825 They won't all have the same understanding of what 704 00:30:16.825 --> 00:30:18.865 that strategy translates into. 705 00:30:19.365 --> 00:30:20.745 And when you go the next level down, 706 00:30:20.765 --> 00:30:22.505 it gets even worse, right? 707 00:30:22.575 --> 00:30:24.585 Because they, you know, the, the, 708 00:30:24.805 --> 00:30:26.665 so you'll then you've got lots of people 709 00:30:26.845 --> 00:30:29.625 who are working within their stovepipe, right? 710 00:30:29.625 --> 00:30:31.785 And they only care about my particular division 711 00:30:32.165 --> 00:30:33.265 or my particular product, 712 00:30:33.405 --> 00:30:35.745 and they, they're, they're, they're not thinking about the, 713 00:30:36.005 --> 00:30:37.305 the, the overall goals. 714 00:30:38.125 --> 00:30:40.705 And what this means for the PMO is that all 715 00:30:40.705 --> 00:30:44.825 of these powerful people are advocating for their projects 716 00:30:45.595 --> 00:30:49.065 based on their interpretation of what the strategy is, 717 00:30:49.065 --> 00:30:50.225 or at least their piece of it. 718 00:30:51.805 --> 00:30:54.185 And that's why prioritization is so difficult, 719 00:30:54.535 --> 00:30:57.225 because there isn't actually agreement 720 00:30:57.495 --> 00:31:00.505 between the leadership team on what the strategy, 721 00:31:00.645 --> 00:31:03.855 how the strategy should be interpreted 722 00:31:03.855 --> 00:31:05.455 and turned into a decision framework. 723 00:31:06.035 --> 00:31:09.535 So that, so this is where we use a bit of decision science. 724 00:31:09.535 --> 00:31:12.095 This is called a HP analytic hierarchy process. 725 00:31:12.305 --> 00:31:13.455 Luann, you've prob you may have come 726 00:31:13.455 --> 00:31:14.575 across that in the literature. 727 00:31:15.435 --> 00:31:16.495 Yes, absolutely. 728 00:31:16.515 --> 00:31:17.815 Um, so, so in 729 00:31:17.815 --> 00:31:21.015 and around, um, project prioritization in, 730 00:31:21.075 --> 00:31:24.895 in complex organizations, a HP is is king, right? 731 00:31:24.925 --> 00:31:26.535 This is the way that it should be done. 732 00:31:27.115 --> 00:31:29.375 So what you basically do is you, you take the business goals 733 00:31:29.375 --> 00:31:31.095 and you turn them into a set of criteria. 734 00:31:31.515 --> 00:31:34.375 And those criteria are naturally hierarchical. 735 00:31:34.835 --> 00:31:36.335 So, you know, your strategic goals, 736 00:31:36.355 --> 00:31:38.455 you break them down into lower level goals. 737 00:31:38.915 --> 00:31:42.735 So if you are, if you're a okay, fingers on keyboards, 738 00:31:42.735 --> 00:31:44.455 please, I'm gonna ask you a question. 739 00:31:44.575 --> 00:31:47.415 I want you all to pretend that you are a, uh, 740 00:31:47.535 --> 00:31:49.935 a business manager and you're requesting a project. 741 00:31:50.035 --> 00:31:53.415 And on the project request form, there's a field that says, 742 00:31:54.045 --> 00:31:56.335 does your project support our strategy? 743 00:31:57.555 --> 00:32:01.025 What answer are you gonna give to that question? 744 00:32:02.895 --> 00:32:04.965 There we go. Our shocks straight in there. 745 00:32:05.395 --> 00:32:07.525 Yeah, nobody's gonna say no to that, right? 746 00:32:07.945 --> 00:32:10.985 So that's not useful. That's not useful. 747 00:32:11.205 --> 00:32:13.345 So you have to break it down a little bit further 748 00:32:13.925 --> 00:32:17.505 and say, okay, not, not, do you support this, 749 00:32:17.685 --> 00:32:22.035 but what, what contribution does your project make 750 00:32:22.775 --> 00:32:25.635 to these elements of our strategy to these, 751 00:32:25.645 --> 00:32:27.795 these components of our strategy? 752 00:32:29.175 --> 00:32:31.955 And so you build, you build this, this, uh, a model 753 00:32:31.955 --> 00:32:34.435 for scoring, and you might include risk, 754 00:32:34.495 --> 00:32:36.435 and you might include technical fit, 755 00:32:36.435 --> 00:32:38.155 and you might include all kinds of things, right? 756 00:32:38.185 --> 00:32:40.725 That, that represent how you think of the world. 757 00:32:41.585 --> 00:32:44.205 And then the crucial step is you bring the executives 758 00:32:44.365 --> 00:32:45.605 together to weight the criteria. 759 00:32:45.705 --> 00:32:47.125 Now, in a traditional world, 760 00:32:47.125 --> 00:32:49.125 what you would do is you'd write those criteria up on the 761 00:32:49.125 --> 00:32:51.245 whiteboard and you say, criteria number one, 762 00:32:51.245 --> 00:32:52.325 what weight should we put on that? 763 00:32:53.265 --> 00:32:55.045 And, um, uh, 764 00:32:55.105 --> 00:32:59.285 and the, um, the CEO will will turn around 765 00:32:59.285 --> 00:33:00.845 and say, 23.7%. 766 00:33:01.825 --> 00:33:03.475 Okay? Now there are two problems with that. Number. 767 00:33:03.925 --> 00:33:06.675 First, she just made it up, right? 768 00:33:07.535 --> 00:33:09.155 Um, that's, that's the first problem. 769 00:33:09.975 --> 00:33:10.955 Uh, and there's loads of 770 00:33:10.955 --> 00:33:12.315 psychology research that backs that up. 771 00:33:12.315 --> 00:33:14.915 By the way, if anybody doesn't believe me, uh, secondly, 772 00:33:15.895 --> 00:33:17.995 now everyone's sitting around the, around the table 773 00:33:18.895 --> 00:33:20.315 is thinking, what's, you know, 774 00:33:20.775 --> 00:33:22.115 what's really going through their head? 775 00:33:22.115 --> 00:33:24.395 They're not really thinking about what the weight should be. 776 00:33:24.625 --> 00:33:27.915 What they're really thinking is, well, it's not 23.7%. 777 00:33:29.225 --> 00:33:30.945 I don't think it's 23.7%, 778 00:33:31.285 --> 00:33:33.225 but I've only had one cup of coffee this morning, 779 00:33:33.525 --> 00:33:35.705 so I'm not ready to do battle with the CEO. 780 00:33:36.865 --> 00:33:37.885 So you move on to the next, 781 00:33:38.065 --> 00:33:39.925 the next criteria, and same thing happens. 782 00:33:39.995 --> 00:33:41.365 Next criteria, same thing happens. 783 00:33:41.825 --> 00:33:45.045 So by the end of the meeting, the only thing 784 00:33:45.045 --> 00:33:46.165 that everyone's agreed on, 785 00:33:46.345 --> 00:33:50.725 but nobody actually says, is that the, the weight 786 00:33:50.785 --> 00:33:52.885 of the criteria is wrong. 787 00:33:52.905 --> 00:33:55.725 The scoring model you've just built is wrong. 788 00:33:57.665 --> 00:33:59.885 And so when you, so, so if that's the case, 789 00:34:00.035 --> 00:34:01.485 there's absolutely no point moving 790 00:34:01.485 --> 00:34:02.725 forward in scoring projects. 791 00:34:03.655 --> 00:34:06.065 Because any work that you do in scoring projects, 792 00:34:06.065 --> 00:34:07.225 people will just look at those scores 793 00:34:07.245 --> 00:34:08.665 and go, I don't believe them. 794 00:34:08.925 --> 00:34:11.225 I'm just gonna go into battle anyway, the same old way. 795 00:34:11.405 --> 00:34:14.225 And you're back to he who shouts loudest and horse trading. 796 00:34:15.325 --> 00:34:17.665 So the decision science helps fix this. 797 00:34:17.695 --> 00:34:20.385 This is this, this is a HP at work. 798 00:34:21.125 --> 00:34:24.025 So the idea is we never ask 799 00:34:24.895 --> 00:34:27.065 what weight should we put on a criterion? 800 00:34:27.065 --> 00:34:30.105 Instead, we present pairs of criteria A and B, 801 00:34:31.005 --> 00:34:33.025 and we say, which one is more important? 802 00:34:33.285 --> 00:34:36.225 And is it a little bit more important or a lot? 803 00:34:36.925 --> 00:34:39.425 So what this is doing is it's forcing the team, and, 804 00:34:39.445 --> 00:34:41.425 and you do this as a team sport, right? 805 00:34:41.885 --> 00:34:46.255 So it's forcing the team to think, right? 806 00:34:46.285 --> 00:34:51.095 It's forcing them to make difficult decisions about what, 807 00:34:51.755 --> 00:34:54.775 how we're going to interpret and execute our strategy. 808 00:34:55.685 --> 00:34:58.895 Because you have to make trade-offs in business 809 00:34:59.235 --> 00:35:02.335 and in government and in life generally, right? 810 00:35:02.915 --> 00:35:05.135 And so this is us agreeing the rules on 811 00:35:05.135 --> 00:35:07.455 how we're gonna make those trade-offs. 812 00:35:07.675 --> 00:35:10.015 Now notice we're not talking about projects right now. 813 00:35:10.395 --> 00:35:11.975 So nobody's project is at risk. 814 00:35:13.255 --> 00:35:15.645 We're talking about the business goals. 815 00:35:15.935 --> 00:35:17.885 We're talking about, you know, so, 816 00:35:17.905 --> 00:35:20.685 so the guy in sales over here, right? 817 00:35:20.745 --> 00:35:22.445 We say, well, can you explain your point of view? 818 00:35:22.445 --> 00:35:23.925 And he says, yeah, well, you know, there's the, 819 00:35:23.925 --> 00:35:26.725 these five new competitors, the new technology come out, 820 00:35:26.725 --> 00:35:29.125 we're gonna get killed if we don't do this, right? 821 00:35:29.125 --> 00:35:30.285 If we don't solve this problem. 822 00:35:30.945 --> 00:35:32.805 And the manufacturing guy sits over here 823 00:35:32.805 --> 00:35:33.845 and his jaw's on the floor. 824 00:35:34.005 --> 00:35:35.765 'cause he knew none of that. He thought all 825 00:35:35.765 --> 00:35:38.325 that the sales guy did was take people out for lunch 826 00:35:38.325 --> 00:35:40.155 and play golf, right? 827 00:35:40.855 --> 00:35:43.955 And so, so he's sitting there going, oh, I didn't know that. 828 00:35:44.055 --> 00:35:46.355 And maybe he's, maybe he changes his, his vote, 829 00:35:47.175 --> 00:35:48.155 but then we can say, well, 830 00:35:48.155 --> 00:35:49.115 can you explain your point of view? 831 00:35:49.115 --> 00:35:51.155 And says, yeah, yeah, but we've got all this new legislation 832 00:35:51.155 --> 00:35:54.275 coming down where we have to put in place safety protocols 833 00:35:54.275 --> 00:35:55.675 and environmental protocols 834 00:35:55.675 --> 00:35:58.515 and all these things if we're gonna keep our factories open. 835 00:35:59.295 --> 00:36:01.555 And this guy goes, oh, I didn't know any of that. 836 00:36:02.735 --> 00:36:05.155 So what's, what this is doing is it's forcing them outta 837 00:36:05.155 --> 00:36:08.555 their individual kind of worldview outta their stove pipes 838 00:36:08.815 --> 00:36:13.195 and forcing them to have a really good conversation about 839 00:36:13.665 --> 00:36:15.835 what do we want to achieve as a business 840 00:36:16.885 --> 00:36:18.265 and what are the trade-offs we're willing 841 00:36:18.265 --> 00:36:19.585 to make or that we need to make? 842 00:36:20.365 --> 00:36:24.985 And usually they walk away from that meeting with a really 843 00:36:26.045 --> 00:36:28.625 strong, you know, we've had customers say things like, 844 00:36:29.135 --> 00:36:30.505 this is the first time we 845 00:36:30.505 --> 00:36:32.105 as a leadership team have been aligned, 846 00:36:33.495 --> 00:36:36.155 or finally we're having the conversation we should 847 00:36:36.155 --> 00:36:37.195 have had years ago. 848 00:36:38.415 --> 00:36:42.955 Um, and as a PMO, this is a really big win 849 00:36:43.305 --> 00:36:46.075 because first of all, you've just added value 850 00:36:47.325 --> 00:36:48.345 to the leadership team. 851 00:36:49.555 --> 00:36:51.695 And secondly, you've now got a model. 852 00:36:52.455 --> 00:36:54.415 'cause the software, you know, takes the answers 853 00:36:54.415 --> 00:36:57.135 to all these questions and turns it into a weighted, uh, 854 00:36:57.255 --> 00:36:58.535 a weighted criteria model. 855 00:36:58.555 --> 00:37:01.215 So you've now got a, a set of criteria, weights 856 00:37:01.215 --> 00:37:03.095 that you can use to score projects. 857 00:37:04.145 --> 00:37:06.235 Does that make sense? Luann? Does that, does that, 858 00:37:06.465 --> 00:37:10.075 Yeah, I, I'm just shaking my head and reminiscing 859 00:37:10.075 --> 00:37:14.435 because I think the point, um, what's so critically, um, 860 00:37:15.025 --> 00:37:17.475 visible here using a HP 861 00:37:17.475 --> 00:37:20.115 and others is just to be able to build alignment. 862 00:37:20.435 --> 00:37:22.595 'cause you're exactly right. People come in with a, 863 00:37:22.835 --> 00:37:24.315 a very narrow understanding, 864 00:37:24.365 --> 00:37:26.075 maybe based on their functional area 865 00:37:26.335 --> 00:37:27.995 or what they believe to be important 866 00:37:27.995 --> 00:37:29.115 based on what they know. 867 00:37:29.975 --> 00:37:31.795 And if this executives 868 00:37:32.445 --> 00:37:35.435 truly do crave making better decisions faster, 869 00:37:35.625 --> 00:37:38.195 that is really something that they take pride in. 870 00:37:38.695 --> 00:37:40.515 But if the data that they're using 871 00:37:40.615 --> 00:37:43.995 to make those decisions is deficient or flawed, 872 00:37:43.995 --> 00:37:46.075 or not well aligned within the leadership team, 873 00:37:46.105 --> 00:37:48.795 it's not surprising that the way that trickles down 874 00:37:48.855 --> 00:37:51.115 to the rest of the organization is unclear. 875 00:37:51.815 --> 00:37:56.675 So this makes, um, a really great case for if nothing else, 876 00:37:56.825 --> 00:37:58.795 it's just really bringing them their, 877 00:37:58.845 --> 00:37:59.955 their thinking together 878 00:38:00.095 --> 00:38:02.155 and appreciating the different perspectives 879 00:38:02.155 --> 00:38:04.515 that come from the different members of that executive team, 880 00:38:04.775 --> 00:38:06.955 and building a more holistic understanding 881 00:38:06.955 --> 00:38:08.515 of what's critically important, 882 00:38:08.845 --> 00:38:11.955 which can then ultimately drive the, the prioritization 883 00:38:12.015 --> 00:38:13.075 of the work to be done. 884 00:38:13.215 --> 00:38:14.595 So this is very useful. 885 00:38:15.665 --> 00:38:17.195 Awesome. And, 886 00:38:17.215 --> 00:38:20.795 and it's also, uh, I mean we've had, we've had exec teams 887 00:38:20.975 --> 00:38:24.115 who decided that we were gonna share this with, uh, 888 00:38:24.265 --> 00:38:26.075 with kind of the next tier down. 889 00:38:26.615 --> 00:38:29.035 And they, they, they, one I'm thinking of in particular, 890 00:38:29.035 --> 00:38:31.235 they actually held a town hall meeting for all the mid, 891 00:38:31.375 --> 00:38:34.155 mid managers to kind of say, Hey, we've just done this thing 892 00:38:34.155 --> 00:38:35.550 and we thought you might be interested 893 00:38:35.550 --> 00:38:37.690 and we're gonna use it to prioritize your projects. 894 00:38:38.505 --> 00:38:41.245 And when they put this up on the screen, there was a riot. 895 00:38:41.385 --> 00:38:43.565 And, and they, they had to stop the meeting 896 00:38:44.155 --> 00:38:46.245 because everyone in, everyone in the middle 897 00:38:46.245 --> 00:38:47.365 of the organization said, 898 00:38:47.825 --> 00:38:49.565 we have never seen anything like this before. 899 00:38:50.145 --> 00:38:53.725 And finally, you were communicating your strategy in terms 900 00:38:53.795 --> 00:38:55.525 that we can action, right? 901 00:38:55.525 --> 00:38:57.525 That we can turn into decisions and actions. 902 00:38:58.105 --> 00:38:59.805 And they had to stop the meeting and go 903 00:38:59.805 --> 00:39:02.925 and print out 50 version, 50 slides, you know, 50 versions 904 00:39:02.925 --> 00:39:05.525 of this amazing, so that people could take it away 905 00:39:05.525 --> 00:39:06.645 and do some stuff with it. 906 00:39:07.025 --> 00:39:08.405 So, so this is really powerful. 907 00:39:08.605 --> 00:39:10.405 'cause not only does, can we use this 908 00:39:10.405 --> 00:39:11.605 to prioritize projects, 909 00:39:11.605 --> 00:39:14.565 but we can also kind of say, well, you know, tell you 910 00:39:14.565 --> 00:39:16.725 what we've got, um, you know, 911 00:39:16.775 --> 00:39:20.165 let's say this quarter we're gonna focus on this criterion. 912 00:39:20.625 --> 00:39:24.005 And so we can actually use that now to drive, uh, 913 00:39:24.105 --> 00:39:25.125 to drive ideation. 914 00:39:25.825 --> 00:39:29.125 So we can create ourselves a nice little ideation page. 915 00:39:29.455 --> 00:39:33.085 Let's open it in a separate tab. Oh, let's get rid of that. 916 00:39:34.825 --> 00:39:37.245 So we can, we can have our own little ideation page 917 00:39:37.775 --> 00:39:39.485 where you say, great, this month 918 00:39:39.625 --> 00:39:41.325 or this quarter, we're gonna focus on this, 919 00:39:41.475 --> 00:39:42.805 this particular criteria. 920 00:39:43.225 --> 00:39:45.005 So give us all, you know, we want every department 921 00:39:45.005 --> 00:39:47.485 to give us three ideas for how we can move the needle on 922 00:39:47.485 --> 00:39:48.925 that thing that's important to us. 923 00:39:49.945 --> 00:39:52.045 Now, compare that with the normal way that, 924 00:39:52.275 --> 00:39:54.405 that people request projects, right? 925 00:39:54.405 --> 00:39:57.245 People, people kind of grum, you know, something goes wrong. 926 00:39:57.555 --> 00:39:59.885 Well, I'll have a project fix that, right? 927 00:39:59.955 --> 00:40:02.285 I'll request a project that's not strategic, 928 00:40:02.285 --> 00:40:03.725 that's react, that's reactive. 929 00:40:04.425 --> 00:40:06.805 Now we're being strategic, we're using the strategy 930 00:40:06.865 --> 00:40:08.405 to drive the ideation. 931 00:40:09.265 --> 00:40:10.405 So, so we end up 932 00:40:10.885 --> 00:40:12.445 Questions for just a quick question. 933 00:40:12.445 --> 00:40:15.965 Yeah, yeah. Um, I think that Jim asked this in the, 934 00:40:16.025 --> 00:40:18.965 in the chat, and so I'm curious myself, um, I, 935 00:40:19.205 --> 00:40:21.125 I would assume that in this particular case, 936 00:40:21.245 --> 00:40:24.525 a PMO leader is, is facilitating this conversation 937 00:40:24.595 --> 00:40:28.045 with the executives using this as a tool to help them 938 00:40:28.705 --> 00:40:30.085 to, to make this. 939 00:40:30.275 --> 00:40:33.005 It's, is that, is that who would be the, is that 940 00:40:33.005 --> 00:40:34.205 how the process would work? 941 00:40:34.675 --> 00:40:36.605 Yeah. Yeah. So if you remember this picture, 942 00:40:37.105 --> 00:40:39.365 so this bit up here, this is the executive team. 943 00:40:40.435 --> 00:40:42.735 And you would typically do this once a year, no more. 944 00:40:42.795 --> 00:40:44.135 You don't need to do it anymore than that. 945 00:40:44.635 --> 00:40:47.415 Um, maybe twice if things are 946 00:40:47.535 --> 00:40:48.575 changing really, really quickly. 947 00:40:49.155 --> 00:40:53.415 But your strategy shouldn't be changing that quickly, right? 948 00:40:53.475 --> 00:40:56.575 So, so you would typically do this once a year, um, 949 00:40:56.715 --> 00:40:58.775 and then, and then you're collecting projects, 950 00:40:59.175 --> 00:41:01.135 continuously scoring projects. 951 00:41:01.875 --> 00:41:03.135 And then when you get to the end 952 00:41:03.135 --> 00:41:06.835 and you've got nice little pictures, um, you know, this is, 953 00:41:06.835 --> 00:41:09.155 this is in your portfolio board meeting. 954 00:41:09.375 --> 00:41:11.795 So depending on your organization, that might be monthly 955 00:41:11.895 --> 00:41:13.635 or quarterly or something like that. 956 00:41:14.135 --> 00:41:16.755 So this is where we're making decisions about, uh, 957 00:41:16.775 --> 00:41:17.955 and, and all the AI stuff. 958 00:41:17.955 --> 00:41:21.995 This all belongs in the, in the portfolio board box, right? 959 00:41:22.095 --> 00:41:24.715 So, so this is, this is the bit that you're doing monthly 960 00:41:24.815 --> 00:41:26.955 or quarterly with the portfolio board 961 00:41:27.205 --> 00:41:29.875 where you're making decisions about which projects to do 962 00:41:29.875 --> 00:41:32.635 and what resources to allocate and so on and so forth. 963 00:41:33.145 --> 00:41:34.885 So there's sort of three separate processes. 964 00:41:34.885 --> 00:41:38.005 There's a, an a roughly an annual process, kind 965 00:41:38.005 --> 00:41:40.125 of a continuous process of projects coming in 966 00:41:40.125 --> 00:41:43.445 and being assessed, and then your, your governance boards 967 00:41:43.655 --> 00:41:45.485 where you're, you're making the decisions. 968 00:41:46.855 --> 00:41:48.805 Great. Thank you. Great question. 969 00:41:48.825 --> 00:41:52.965 And, and you know, executives, this is mostly PMO 970 00:41:53.025 --> 00:41:54.405 and subject matter experts. 971 00:41:54.425 --> 00:41:55.685 So you'll, you'll see that in a minute. 972 00:41:56.105 --> 00:41:58.125 And then this obviously is whoever's on the, the, 973 00:41:58.145 --> 00:41:59.205 the governance board. 974 00:42:00.605 --> 00:42:03.705 Um, fantastic. Let's do that. Okay. 975 00:42:04.045 --> 00:42:06.585 Um, so your projects come in, people fill in that, 976 00:42:06.975 --> 00:42:09.985 that ideation form, project request form, 977 00:42:10.285 --> 00:42:12.705 and it drops into this Kanban, right? 978 00:42:13.045 --> 00:42:15.105 And the idea, if you remember, we had that pipeline 979 00:42:15.105 --> 00:42:18.025 where you're, you're evaluating projects as they go along. 980 00:42:18.025 --> 00:42:19.225 So each tile is a project 981 00:42:19.405 --> 00:42:21.705 and we, we kind of move it along from step to step. 982 00:42:22.085 --> 00:42:26.385 So whatever your governance process flow is, uh, 983 00:42:26.445 --> 00:42:30.025 or evaluation flow, these columns would reflect those, 984 00:42:30.075 --> 00:42:31.105 those different steps. 985 00:42:31.325 --> 00:42:33.425 And you can edit them and make them your own. 986 00:42:33.425 --> 00:42:35.145 You know, you just jump in here and you just edit it 987 00:42:35.145 --> 00:42:36.985 through a user interface through the gui. 988 00:42:37.565 --> 00:42:39.545 Um, and as you're going through here, 989 00:42:39.545 --> 00:42:40.665 you're collecting data. 990 00:42:40.765 --> 00:42:42.865 So we have these things called notifications. 991 00:42:43.525 --> 00:42:46.705 So when a project drops into, uh, into this bucket, 992 00:42:46.705 --> 00:42:49.905 for example, where you're adding the business case, then, 993 00:42:50.045 --> 00:42:52.545 you know, it might send an email to the business, to the, 994 00:42:52.565 --> 00:42:54.785 to the project sponsor and say, Hey dude, 995 00:42:54.805 --> 00:42:56.025 can you fill in this form, please? 996 00:42:56.605 --> 00:42:58.505 And the data just automatically gets added. 997 00:42:58.885 --> 00:43:02.345 So you're not sending emails with little bits of information 998 00:43:02.345 --> 00:43:03.985 and trying to update spreadsheets 999 00:43:03.985 --> 00:43:06.225 and forgetting which version of the spreadsheet you're in. 1000 00:43:06.805 --> 00:43:10.445 Um, everything's in a tool with an audit trail. 1001 00:43:11.185 --> 00:43:14.245 And, uh, and as part of that, you know, some step in the, 1002 00:43:14.305 --> 00:43:16.485 uh, some stage in the process when it's appropriate, 1003 00:43:16.545 --> 00:43:17.605 you can actually go in 1004 00:43:18.025 --> 00:43:20.005 and get down to the level of, you know, 1005 00:43:20.005 --> 00:43:21.125 what, what are the benefits? 1006 00:43:21.125 --> 00:43:22.165 What's the revenue that this 1007 00:43:22.165 --> 00:43:23.565 project's gonna drive over time? 1008 00:43:24.195 --> 00:43:27.525 What resources do we need to deliver it, you know, by team, 1009 00:43:27.935 --> 00:43:31.845 month by month, how much do we need to spend on consultants 1010 00:43:31.845 --> 00:43:35.245 or whatever to support it, CapEx, et cetera. 1011 00:43:35.385 --> 00:43:37.325 So you end up with kind of a little mini profit 1012 00:43:37.345 --> 00:43:39.645 and loss statement for the project, right? 1013 00:43:39.645 --> 00:43:42.605 Which is kind of cool. Executives like that we're, 1014 00:43:42.665 --> 00:43:45.165 so we're now talking about a business case. 1015 00:43:45.225 --> 00:43:47.125 That's actually a business case, right? 1016 00:43:47.195 --> 00:43:49.885 It's not a project case, it's a business case. 1017 00:43:50.545 --> 00:43:52.405 Uh, which is, which is really powerful. 1018 00:43:53.765 --> 00:43:55.185 Now, at some point on this journey, 1019 00:43:55.185 --> 00:43:56.545 we're going to score our projects. 1020 00:43:57.165 --> 00:43:58.865 And here's the thing. If you're doing this at any kind 1021 00:43:58.865 --> 00:44:02.905 of scale, um, uh, you have 1022 00:44:03.625 --> 00:44:05.545 a bit of a mess on your hands today probably, 1023 00:44:05.785 --> 00:44:07.465 'cause you've got a spreadsheet and you've got all sorts 1024 00:44:07.465 --> 00:44:08.905 of people sending you information, you're trying 1025 00:44:08.905 --> 00:44:10.705 to put it in the spreadsheet and keep everything straight. 1026 00:44:11.365 --> 00:44:12.745 Uh, and it's a bit of a nightmare. 1027 00:44:13.325 --> 00:44:14.985 Now, here's the thing is that you, 1028 00:44:15.085 --> 00:44:16.665 you want your technical people 1029 00:44:17.445 --> 00:44:19.945 to be scoring the technical aspects of the project. 1030 00:44:20.005 --> 00:44:21.265 So you want project manager 1031 00:44:21.285 --> 00:44:23.665 or something evaluating the, the delivery risk. 1032 00:44:24.165 --> 00:44:27.105 You want finance people evaluating the finance criteria. 1033 00:44:27.125 --> 00:44:29.225 You want the, the business people evaluating 1034 00:44:29.225 --> 00:44:30.345 the strategic impact. 1035 00:44:30.805 --> 00:44:32.725 You don't want the project manager 1036 00:44:33.575 --> 00:44:35.605 evaluating the strategic impact of the project 1037 00:44:35.925 --> 00:44:37.885 'cause they don't know anything about it, right? 1038 00:44:37.885 --> 00:44:41.525 That's not their job. So what we do is we allow you to kind 1039 00:44:41.525 --> 00:44:44.725 of, it's like a, it's, uh, to, to create little panels 1040 00:44:44.785 --> 00:44:48.565 of people who have, uh, subject matter experts 1041 00:44:49.025 --> 00:44:51.165 who score the different aspects of the project. 1042 00:44:51.345 --> 00:44:52.925 So you might have, um, 1043 00:44:53.105 --> 00:44:54.845 you might have a strategy person in Europe 1044 00:44:54.945 --> 00:44:56.325 who does all the European projects 1045 00:44:56.325 --> 00:44:57.805 and a strategy person in North America 1046 00:44:57.805 --> 00:45:00.405 who does all the North American projects and so on. 1047 00:45:00.985 --> 00:45:04.765 So you're always getting people scoring projects, um, 1048 00:45:05.185 --> 00:45:06.605 who actually know something about it. 1049 00:45:08.415 --> 00:45:10.675 And when they, when they go in to score them, 1050 00:45:10.845 --> 00:45:12.435 let's have a look at this one, this one will be fun. 1051 00:45:12.815 --> 00:45:15.035 Um, really what you're doing is this is the project name. 1052 00:45:15.415 --> 00:45:17.715 Uh, this is the criterion that we're scoring it against. 1053 00:45:18.255 --> 00:45:19.755 And you can click on there and it'll give you 1054 00:45:19.755 --> 00:45:20.835 details about the project. 1055 00:45:21.415 --> 00:45:23.235 And there's a whole bunch of decision science. 1056 00:45:23.435 --> 00:45:25.715 Goodness, this, this page is so dense with decision science 1057 00:45:25.735 --> 00:45:27.235 and you won't even notice. 1058 00:45:28.015 --> 00:45:29.715 Um, things like, from the way 1059 00:45:29.715 --> 00:45:33.195 that we we've structured the scales is driven by the, 1060 00:45:33.215 --> 00:45:34.475 the research into what works. 1061 00:45:35.055 --> 00:45:37.315 The fact that you've got these nice descriptions is driven 1062 00:45:37.375 --> 00:45:38.955 by the, the research into what works. 1063 00:45:39.055 --> 00:45:41.955 The fact that we're having multiple people scoring projects 1064 00:45:42.195 --> 00:45:45.675 whenever possible is driven by the fact that, um, 1065 00:45:45.815 --> 00:45:48.795 people are biased, individuals are biased, 1066 00:45:49.535 --> 00:45:51.675 and we're also little random noise generators. 1067 00:45:51.675 --> 00:45:54.035 And by having a process where you get people 1068 00:45:54.055 --> 00:45:55.235 to vote independently, 1069 00:45:55.615 --> 00:45:57.835 and then you say, gee, can you explain your point of view? 1070 00:45:58.295 --> 00:45:59.435 Can you explain your point of view? 1071 00:45:59.815 --> 00:46:01.355 You're balancing out those biases 1072 00:46:01.575 --> 00:46:03.395 and you're reducing the randomness. 1073 00:46:03.395 --> 00:46:05.315 We're gonna that random noise. 1074 00:46:05.735 --> 00:46:08.195 So when you take the average, you, you collapse 1075 00:46:08.195 --> 00:46:09.435 that, that randomness. 1076 00:46:09.735 --> 00:46:11.515 So you're getting better data. 1077 00:46:11.975 --> 00:46:14.355 So we're collecting it more easily, right? 1078 00:46:14.355 --> 00:46:16.755 With less headache and we're getting better data. 1079 00:46:17.255 --> 00:46:20.715 So this is all building trust so that when we get 1080 00:46:20.775 --> 00:46:25.075 to the point where we're, we're actually looking at, um, 1081 00:46:26.835 --> 00:46:28.695 uh, we're looking at the projects that are, 1082 00:46:28.765 --> 00:46:32.695 that are potentially in the pipeline, um, we have, uh, 1083 00:46:32.695 --> 00:46:34.415 something that looks like this. 1084 00:46:35.315 --> 00:46:39.065 Um, so these are my, um, 1085 00:46:41.205 --> 00:46:43.125 I thought I'd cleaned those out before we started. 1086 00:46:43.215 --> 00:46:44.925 Let's just go over here and do that really quickly. 1087 00:46:45.465 --> 00:46:49.165 Um, so these are all the projects that are, um, 1088 00:46:49.395 --> 00:46:50.485 available to us. 1089 00:46:50.945 --> 00:46:53.085 So I'm just gonna add them all back in. There we go. 1090 00:46:53.425 --> 00:46:54.445 And then we'll come over here. 1091 00:46:54.475 --> 00:46:56.605 Alright, so these are the projects that are available to us. 1092 00:46:57.105 --> 00:46:59.165 And what you can see, let's just make that a little smaller. 1093 00:46:59.755 --> 00:47:03.245 What we can see is, um, on, on this one, 1094 00:47:03.255 --> 00:47:06.005 we've got the value, uh, which is basically the score. 1095 00:47:06.005 --> 00:47:08.045 So we have criteria and we scored 1096 00:47:08.045 --> 00:47:09.325 projects against the criteria. 1097 00:47:09.425 --> 00:47:12.125 So this score represents how well aligned, 1098 00:47:12.125 --> 00:47:16.165 what contribution does this project make to our strategy, 1099 00:47:16.265 --> 00:47:17.325 to our business goals. 1100 00:47:18.105 --> 00:47:20.365 Uh, and this is cost along the bottom. 1101 00:47:20.985 --> 00:47:24.245 So top left, these are projects that are good. 1102 00:47:24.385 --> 00:47:26.565 We like these projects down here. 1103 00:47:26.615 --> 00:47:27.885 These are projects that are bad. 1104 00:47:27.945 --> 00:47:30.365 We don't want to do these projects, right? 1105 00:47:30.385 --> 00:47:32.925 So it's super clear where the good projects are, 1106 00:47:32.925 --> 00:47:34.045 where the bad projects are. 1107 00:47:35.015 --> 00:47:36.045 We've also got this view. 1108 00:47:36.045 --> 00:47:38.085 This is, this is something we stole from, uh, 1109 00:47:38.275 --> 00:47:40.765 from the portfolio management theory, portfolio theory. 1110 00:47:42.185 --> 00:47:44.085 And the idea is it's called the efficient frontier. 1111 00:47:44.305 --> 00:47:49.285 So the idea is that, um, uh, what we're trying to do, 1112 00:47:50.185 --> 00:47:51.365 you mentioned earlier, Luann, 1113 00:47:51.365 --> 00:47:53.365 that we don't actually have one portfolio. 1114 00:47:54.025 --> 00:47:55.525 You have multiple portfolios. 1115 00:47:55.905 --> 00:47:58.085 You've got your run the business portfolio, 1116 00:47:58.235 --> 00:48:00.485 grow the business portfolio, transform the business. 1117 00:48:00.485 --> 00:48:02.005 You've got your North America portfolio, 1118 00:48:02.005 --> 00:48:03.365 you've got your IT portfolio, 1119 00:48:03.585 --> 00:48:05.525 you've got all these different portfolios, 1120 00:48:06.465 --> 00:48:08.125 and for each one of them, you would end up 1121 00:48:08.125 --> 00:48:09.685 with this kind of efficient frontier. 1122 00:48:10.545 --> 00:48:12.125 So what what this tells us is, 1123 00:48:12.265 --> 00:48:14.805 if I spend 50 million euros on this portfolio, 1124 00:48:15.625 --> 00:48:17.955 I'm gonna get this much value, right? 1125 00:48:18.215 --> 00:48:21.435 That's nice. The next 50 million I spend, 1126 00:48:21.495 --> 00:48:22.755 I'm gonna get this much value. 1127 00:48:23.775 --> 00:48:25.475 The next 50 million, I'm only gonna get 1128 00:48:25.475 --> 00:48:26.515 this much and so on, right? 1129 00:48:26.515 --> 00:48:27.515 So we're getting less 1130 00:48:27.515 --> 00:48:30.915 and less value each time we spend another 50 million, right? 1131 00:48:30.915 --> 00:48:32.635 So we're getting into diminishing returns. 1132 00:48:33.415 --> 00:48:36.075 Um, this is Pareto's law, the 80 20 rule, 1133 00:48:36.475 --> 00:48:37.675 whatever you, whatever you call it. 1134 00:48:38.375 --> 00:48:39.875 So this is, this is really powerful. 1135 00:48:39.875 --> 00:48:41.715 So first of all, it's powerful for a couple 1136 00:48:41.715 --> 00:48:43.195 of reasons within this portfolio. 1137 00:48:43.255 --> 00:48:47.395 We can now ask the question, how much should we spend? 1138 00:48:48.295 --> 00:48:50.995 So if we do everything, let's say you're in the IT portfolio 1139 00:48:51.695 --> 00:48:53.875 and people tend to use the language like, oh, 1140 00:48:53.875 --> 00:48:56.385 it's a must do project, right? 1141 00:48:56.605 --> 00:48:58.505 And as a result, they all get done. 1142 00:48:59.705 --> 00:49:04.335 So, so we could do them all and we could spend $300 million 1143 00:49:04.435 --> 00:49:06.175 or Euros dollars in this case, 1144 00:49:07.155 --> 00:49:08.615 or we could drop, pull it back 1145 00:49:08.715 --> 00:49:12.175 and we could do, say we could spend 70% of that 1146 00:49:13.155 --> 00:49:17.845 and we're still getting 93% of the value, right? 1147 00:49:17.845 --> 00:49:19.045 So we're not losing much value, 1148 00:49:19.065 --> 00:49:20.965 but we're freeing up a lot of resource to go 1149 00:49:20.985 --> 00:49:22.405 and do the business projects, 1150 00:49:22.405 --> 00:49:24.365 which are the ones the execs really care about. 1151 00:49:24.905 --> 00:49:27.125 So what this is doing is if you imagine you've got, 1152 00:49:27.345 --> 00:49:29.525 you know, this is, this is your IT portfolio, 1153 00:49:30.425 --> 00:49:32.965 and this is, so these are all your database upgrades 1154 00:49:32.965 --> 00:49:34.085 and all that kind of stuff, 1155 00:49:34.945 --> 00:49:36.325 and this is your business portfolio. 1156 00:49:36.325 --> 00:49:38.765 What of often happens is you end up doing so much of this 1157 00:49:38.825 --> 00:49:42.285 for compliance and, um, you know, keep the lights on, 1158 00:49:42.285 --> 00:49:44.885 reasons that you only have a little bit 1159 00:49:44.885 --> 00:49:46.965 of resource left in this portfolio. 1160 00:49:47.585 --> 00:49:50.245 So if we, if we back this off to here, right? 1161 00:49:50.705 --> 00:49:52.725 We lose a bit of value, but not much. 1162 00:49:53.715 --> 00:49:57.855 But if we take that resource and move it over here, right? 1163 00:49:58.425 --> 00:50:00.215 We've just doubled how much value 1164 00:50:00.865 --> 00:50:03.935 we're getting in the portfolio that we really care about, 1165 00:50:03.985 --> 00:50:06.615 which is the, you know, the grow the business or transform. 1166 00:50:06.635 --> 00:50:09.575 So for our friends in the NHS on this call, you know, 1167 00:50:09.575 --> 00:50:12.215 you guys are about to get slammed with the mother 1168 00:50:12.235 --> 00:50:13.335 of tsunamis, right? 1169 00:50:13.335 --> 00:50:16.015 Project tsunamis as, as all the changes come in. 1170 00:50:16.675 --> 00:50:19.935 Um, so, so it's understanding, you know, how do we, 1171 00:50:20.435 --> 00:50:24.135 how do we allocate, how do we get more, deliver more of 1172 00:50:24.135 --> 00:50:27.405 that change agenda, which is what we really care about. 1173 00:50:27.405 --> 00:50:29.685 This is what's gonna drive patient care in the NHS, 1174 00:50:29.745 --> 00:50:33.485 for example, without leaving ourselves open 1175 00:50:33.545 --> 00:50:36.245 to too much risk in the IT portfolio. 1176 00:50:37.025 --> 00:50:39.165 So we, by putting numbers on this stuff, 1177 00:50:39.465 --> 00:50:42.325 we can actually drive real decisions, um, uh, 1178 00:50:42.325 --> 00:50:43.485 amongst the leadership team. 1179 00:50:44.465 --> 00:50:45.645 So let's figure out, 1180 00:50:45.875 --> 00:50:47.965 this is telling us which projects are most attractive, 1181 00:50:48.095 --> 00:50:50.285 let's overlay now the resources. 1182 00:50:50.705 --> 00:50:52.645 So these, these are the resources 1183 00:50:52.645 --> 00:50:54.125 that we have available to do the work. 1184 00:50:55.145 --> 00:50:56.765 And I pressed that button, 1185 00:50:57.025 --> 00:50:58.725 and in about a second, 1186 00:50:59.315 --> 00:51:01.325 what the software actually did was it ran hundreds 1187 00:51:01.325 --> 00:51:02.525 or possibly even thousands. 1188 00:51:02.525 --> 00:51:03.885 I've seen it run about three, three 1189 00:51:03.885 --> 00:51:05.325 and a half thousand scenarios. 1190 00:51:06.385 --> 00:51:08.245 Um, hunting for the portfolio 1191 00:51:09.075 --> 00:51:11.925 that delivers the most value, right? 1192 00:51:11.925 --> 00:51:14.165 So it's managed to find one where, you know, 1193 00:51:14.165 --> 00:51:16.445 we're just a little bit over capacity on this, 1194 00:51:16.825 --> 00:51:17.885 but close enough, right? 1195 00:51:17.885 --> 00:51:19.765 We're, we're, we're within a a margin of error 1196 00:51:20.225 --> 00:51:22.205 and it's figured out that the portfolio, 1197 00:51:22.465 --> 00:51:25.525 the best portfolio it can find, having simulated hundreds 1198 00:51:25.525 --> 00:51:28.085 of them, thousands of them potentially, is one 1199 00:51:28.085 --> 00:51:31.125 that's gonna deliver, you know, 1400 value points 1200 00:51:31.665 --> 00:51:36.005 and a thousand, uh, a thousand, uh, uh, sorry, uh, uh, uh, 1201 00:51:36.345 --> 00:51:39.085 uh, billion dollars of new revenue. 1202 00:51:39.825 --> 00:51:42.165 And we can see really clearly that our developers are the, 1203 00:51:42.225 --> 00:51:43.365 are the, are the bottleneck. 1204 00:51:43.865 --> 00:51:45.405 So what would happen if we went in 1205 00:51:45.425 --> 00:51:47.935 and added a few more developers, right? 1206 00:51:47.935 --> 00:51:51.455 Let's make it 120 and just see what happens, right? 1207 00:51:52.195 --> 00:51:53.255 So, so there we go. 1208 00:51:53.255 --> 00:51:55.935 We've just added another a hundred million of revenue just 1209 00:51:55.935 --> 00:51:57.815 by adding 10 more developers, right? 1210 00:51:58.255 --> 00:52:00.735 Probably slightly unrealistic numbers, but you get the idea. 1211 00:52:01.435 --> 00:52:04.575 So being able to run these what if scenarios super, 1212 00:52:04.575 --> 00:52:08.705 super quickly and give the leadership team visibility 1213 00:52:09.375 --> 00:52:12.945 into what the impact of that is, is, is tremendous. 1214 00:52:13.525 --> 00:52:15.625 Um, and, and of course there's always, there's always, 1215 00:52:15.645 --> 00:52:17.505 you know, an executive's always gonna say, yeah, yeah, 1216 00:52:17.505 --> 00:52:19.065 but you've got to do this project 1217 00:52:19.205 --> 00:52:22.105 and you've got to do this project 'cause I'm clever than you 1218 00:52:22.105 --> 00:52:23.835 and I know, right? 1219 00:52:24.335 --> 00:52:26.515 So that's great. What, what impact does it have? 1220 00:52:26.865 --> 00:52:29.035 Well, let's see. Right? 1221 00:52:29.055 --> 00:52:31.635 So normally when the execs say, what impact would 1222 00:52:31.635 --> 00:52:33.595 that have you go, you have to go away 1223 00:52:33.595 --> 00:52:35.595 and spend a week with your spreadsheet figuring it out. 1224 00:52:35.895 --> 00:52:39.995 Now we can answer it in the meeting on demand when they and, 1225 00:52:39.995 --> 00:52:41.755 and just run these what if scenarios 1226 00:52:41.775 --> 00:52:43.435 and each time know 1227 00:52:43.435 --> 00:52:45.555 that we're optimizing the portfolio afterwards. 1228 00:52:47.175 --> 00:52:50.795 So that gives you tremendous power in that, that meeting. 1229 00:52:52.205 --> 00:52:57.065 Um, so once we've done that, the next thing that we want 1230 00:52:57.065 --> 00:53:01.865 to do usually is look across portfolios. 1231 00:53:02.025 --> 00:53:05.025 'cause your resources usually are supporting multiple 1232 00:53:05.035 --> 00:53:07.145 portfolios, especially if you're in it, right? 1233 00:53:07.205 --> 00:53:09.025 It supports everything 1234 00:53:09.025 --> 00:53:11.105 that goes on in most organizations these days. 1235 00:53:11.565 --> 00:53:13.185 So you have shared resources. 1236 00:53:13.185 --> 00:53:14.785 So these are our portfolios, 1237 00:53:16.045 --> 00:53:18.225 and what we've done is we've allocated resource 1238 00:53:18.285 --> 00:53:22.025 to those different portfolios and, uh, 1239 00:53:22.205 --> 00:53:26.085 and so now, uh, a a a percentage of the resource, 1240 00:53:26.145 --> 00:53:28.165 so basically what we're doing there is we're doing 1241 00:53:28.165 --> 00:53:32.325 that balancing between portfolios that we talked about. 1242 00:53:32.585 --> 00:53:35.045 So if you remember, um, we had these, 1243 00:53:35.055 --> 00:53:37.315 these two pictures, right? 1244 00:53:37.315 --> 00:53:39.115 So what we've said is we're gonna take, you know, 1245 00:53:39.115 --> 00:53:41.275 so we started with most of our resources here, 1246 00:53:41.765 --> 00:53:43.315 we're gonna ramp that one back 1247 00:53:43.335 --> 00:53:44.955 and we're gonna move this one from here 1248 00:53:45.575 --> 00:53:46.955 and move it to there, right? 1249 00:53:47.015 --> 00:53:49.875 So that, that's what what I was just showing you down below. 1250 00:53:49.895 --> 00:53:52.315 So you can, you can do that on this screen 1251 00:53:52.535 --> 00:53:54.315 and start moving those resources around. 1252 00:53:55.015 --> 00:53:59.055 And then what we want to do is figure out how we would 1253 00:53:59.845 --> 00:54:01.415 turn that into a portfolio plan. 1254 00:54:01.435 --> 00:54:03.775 So Luann, if you were, if, do you have, 1255 00:54:04.035 --> 00:54:05.815 do you have a feel you're maybe a bit too senior, 1256 00:54:05.815 --> 00:54:07.855 you've been been away from the coalface for a while, 1257 00:54:08.075 --> 00:54:09.695 but do you have a feel for how long it would 1258 00:54:09.695 --> 00:54:10.775 take you to work out? 1259 00:54:11.485 --> 00:54:14.095 What order should I do my projects in 1260 00:54:14.635 --> 00:54:16.135 so I don't overload your people? 1261 00:54:18.445 --> 00:54:20.465 Oh gosh. You know, that's a really great question. 1262 00:54:20.685 --> 00:54:25.425 And I would say that there was, what we were lucky 1263 00:54:25.485 --> 00:54:28.305 to have is a lot of people with a lot of familiarity, 1264 00:54:28.365 --> 00:54:31.785 but based on judgment, you know, based on our experience 1265 00:54:31.785 --> 00:54:34.945 and our judgment to be able to make that sort of assertion. 1266 00:54:35.685 --> 00:54:37.025 But this is fantastic 1267 00:54:37.025 --> 00:54:39.545 because it really presents it in a much, 1268 00:54:39.545 --> 00:54:40.985 much more objective way. 1269 00:54:41.045 --> 00:54:44.105 So I think one of your items was bias busting, right? 1270 00:54:44.205 --> 00:54:46.945 You know, I think that people have a bias 1271 00:54:47.005 --> 00:54:49.625 around their knowledge and their experience, and so it, 1272 00:54:49.845 --> 00:54:53.465 but that doesn't always translate into perfect decisions. 1273 00:54:54.005 --> 00:54:57.585 And so this really helps to, um, make that very, very clear 1274 00:54:58.005 --> 00:55:00.905 and, and to be able to, uh, as you suggest, 1275 00:55:01.055 --> 00:55:02.785 it's like it's data. 1276 00:55:02.975 --> 00:55:04.745 It's not about people's opinions. 1277 00:55:04.855 --> 00:55:06.825 It's about something that you can actually make an 1278 00:55:06.825 --> 00:55:08.305 objective decision based on. 1279 00:55:08.765 --> 00:55:12.715 So I would say it would've taken us quite a long time, 1280 00:55:12.895 --> 00:55:15.195 and it would've had multiple conversations 1281 00:55:15.375 --> 00:55:20.155 and probably months, um, months to be able 1282 00:55:20.155 --> 00:55:22.075 to really understand that at some level 1283 00:55:22.095 --> 00:55:23.475 of detail at that time. 1284 00:55:24.215 --> 00:55:26.515 And this is in almost instantaneous. 1285 00:55:26.735 --> 00:55:29.035 And so it gives you an opportunity to play a lot of 1286 00:55:29.035 --> 00:55:30.635 what if analysis, like you said, 1287 00:55:30.735 --> 00:55:33.195 cha changing resource allocation, what does that mean? 1288 00:55:33.695 --> 00:55:36.995 And, um, it gives you instantaneous ability 1289 00:55:37.135 --> 00:55:39.115 to have conversations, which is really 1290 00:55:39.115 --> 00:55:40.555 where the value is about 1291 00:55:40.555 --> 00:55:42.115 what then are you gonna do with this? 1292 00:55:42.735 --> 00:55:44.875 Um, but it object makes it objective 1293 00:55:45.015 --> 00:55:47.955 and it reduces that bias, which I think is tremendous. 1294 00:55:48.995 --> 00:55:51.115 Absolutely. And, and thank you for that. 1295 00:55:51.215 --> 00:55:53.115 So, so while you were talking there, 1296 00:55:53.235 --> 00:55:54.515 I pressed a little blue button 1297 00:55:55.575 --> 00:55:57.835 and what, so the, the, the challenge 1298 00:55:57.835 --> 00:55:59.475 that we're we have now is how do we lay 1299 00:55:59.475 --> 00:56:00.595 that out on a timeline? 1300 00:56:01.535 --> 00:56:04.515 And you'll see in, in, and it just took a few seconds. 1301 00:56:05.375 --> 00:56:08.795 It, it ran through 24,000 scenarios 1302 00:56:10.285 --> 00:56:13.305 and it found 13,000 that, that, that worked. 1303 00:56:13.925 --> 00:56:15.585 And here's the best one, right? 1304 00:56:15.645 --> 00:56:18.465 So we, we can look at the, the, the sequence. 1305 00:56:18.465 --> 00:56:20.865 So this is the sequence in which we should deliver our 1306 00:56:20.865 --> 00:56:25.285 projects in order to maximize the flow, right? 1307 00:56:25.305 --> 00:56:27.725 To minimize overload, to minimize hotspots. 1308 00:56:28.105 --> 00:56:29.845 And, and traditionally in a PPM tool 1309 00:56:29.845 --> 00:56:32.525 or something, right, you would be doing, you would sit there 1310 00:56:32.525 --> 00:56:34.405 and you would start moving projects, right? 1311 00:56:34.405 --> 00:56:36.165 You'd say, well, I'll put that one there. 1312 00:56:36.165 --> 00:56:37.725 Oh no, I've got a hotspot in July. 1313 00:56:37.725 --> 00:56:40.845 So I'd move it and move a project to August. 1314 00:56:40.995 --> 00:56:43.005 Okay, that's great. But now we've broken September, 1315 00:56:43.065 --> 00:56:44.245 so now I move another project. 1316 00:56:44.805 --> 00:56:47.045 I fixed September, but I've broken May. Right? 1317 00:56:47.045 --> 00:56:49.125 And, and you, it's like playing whack-a-mole, right? 1318 00:56:49.195 --> 00:56:50.405 It's never ending whack-a-mole. 1319 00:56:50.405 --> 00:56:53.885 Trying to find a sequence of projects that actually 1320 00:56:54.555 --> 00:56:55.925 doesn't overload our people. 1321 00:56:56.985 --> 00:57:00.955 Yeah. Well, and putting 'em all together in one place. 1322 00:57:01.105 --> 00:57:03.275 It's just fantastic to see it all in one. 1323 00:57:04.815 --> 00:57:06.615 Absolutely. And, and again, this is one view, 1324 00:57:07.035 --> 00:57:08.295 and this is taking account 1325 00:57:08.315 --> 00:57:11.495 of resources across multiple portfolios. 1326 00:57:12.195 --> 00:57:14.135 And so I can very quickly go in and, 1327 00:57:14.135 --> 00:57:17.135 and look at, you know, the original portfolio we were in 1328 00:57:17.595 --> 00:57:20.175 and just see that view and just see, okay, what does 1329 00:57:20.175 --> 00:57:21.255 that mean for my portfolio? 1330 00:57:22.275 --> 00:57:24.815 And the really cool thing about this is that this is then, 1331 00:57:25.395 --> 00:57:30.335 uh, this then translates into, uh, if I can come right back 1332 00:57:30.335 --> 00:57:34.095 to, to where we started, um, uh, 1333 00:57:34.095 --> 00:57:36.455 this translates into a profit 1334 00:57:36.475 --> 00:57:40.115 and loss forecast for the business. 1335 00:57:40.935 --> 00:57:42.675 Or if you're the, if you're the NHS 1336 00:57:42.675 --> 00:57:45.355 or a government body, it's showing you an income versus 1337 00:57:45.535 --> 00:57:46.795 income versus outgoing. 1338 00:57:47.655 --> 00:57:49.275 Uh, and, you know, what are the benefits 1339 00:57:49.275 --> 00:57:50.635 that we're, that, that we're getting? 1340 00:57:51.575 --> 00:57:56.075 Um, uh, uh, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. 1341 00:57:56.825 --> 00:58:00.315 Andy, um, uh, you know, you can set all of this up 1342 00:58:00.315 --> 00:58:03.395 and you can kind of define what you know to, to a degree, 1343 00:58:03.395 --> 00:58:04.755 what, what the rules are of 1344 00:58:05.135 --> 00:58:06.915 how you do depreciation and things like that. 1345 00:58:07.015 --> 00:58:08.235 So there, there's, there's a bit 1346 00:58:08.235 --> 00:58:09.515 of configuration behind the scenes. 1347 00:58:09.855 --> 00:58:11.435 But the important thing here, I have 1348 00:58:11.475 --> 00:58:12.835 A sort Yeah, go ahead. 1349 00:58:12.945 --> 00:58:16.475 Just a quick question. So yeah, one thing that, that this, 1350 00:58:16.665 --> 00:58:19.275 that you've really done an an excellent job of being able 1351 00:58:19.275 --> 00:58:20.995 to show kind of what the sensitivity is 1352 00:58:21.015 --> 00:58:23.915 of resource allocation by project and so forth. 1353 00:58:24.365 --> 00:58:25.675 Where else do you, um, 1354 00:58:25.895 --> 00:58:28.875 do you envision incorporating other kinds of risks 1355 00:58:29.425 --> 00:58:31.915 that would 'cause, 'cause this provides us with a lot 1356 00:58:31.915 --> 00:58:34.475 of data, but what other risk, um, 1357 00:58:35.035 --> 00:58:37.435 analysis gets factored into this to understand 1358 00:58:37.435 --> 00:58:38.995 what the overall impact is 1359 00:58:39.055 --> 00:58:41.515 of these decisions on the planned 1360 00:58:41.875 --> 00:58:43.035 outcomes for the portfolio? 1361 00:58:44.355 --> 00:58:45.385 Great, great question. 1362 00:58:45.525 --> 00:58:47.945 So, so what you can, what you, so there's a couple 1363 00:58:47.945 --> 00:58:49.265 of things, actually, two, two levels. 1364 00:58:49.365 --> 00:58:51.865 One is the outcomes of the portfolio. 1365 00:58:52.685 --> 00:58:54.745 So one of the things that you can do is you can keep 1366 00:58:55.325 --> 00:58:56.385 asking the question 1367 00:58:56.725 --> 00:58:58.625 of the team while the project's going on, 1368 00:58:59.205 --> 00:59:01.585 how confident are you in, 1369 00:59:02.915 --> 00:59:04.295 uh, in these outcomes? 1370 00:59:04.995 --> 00:59:09.245 And so you end up with a risk adjusted view of the portfolio 1371 00:59:09.585 --> 00:59:10.805 of the, of the outcomes. 1372 00:59:10.805 --> 00:59:14.175 Mm-hmm. Uh, that lets you kind of say, okay, well, you know, 1373 00:59:14.575 --> 00:59:16.295 I know we said we were gonna get a hundred million dollars 1374 00:59:16.295 --> 00:59:18.375 in revenue, but actually, you know, 1375 00:59:18.375 --> 00:59:19.895 something's changed while we've been doing it 1376 00:59:19.915 --> 00:59:21.765 and we think it's only gonna be 30 now, right? 1377 00:59:21.765 --> 00:59:24.085 Right. So, so you can do that. 1378 00:59:24.785 --> 00:59:27.205 Um, you can also score risks. 1379 00:59:27.585 --> 00:59:30.445 So you can actually use this to do, for example, to, 1380 00:59:30.545 --> 00:59:32.085 to do enterprise risk management. 1381 00:59:32.705 --> 00:59:34.365 So you can look across the enterprise 1382 00:59:34.365 --> 00:59:35.845 and say, what are the risks in the business, 1383 00:59:35.865 --> 00:59:37.685 the systemic risks that we carry in the business? 1384 00:59:38.385 --> 00:59:40.365 And then prioritize that 1385 00:59:41.105 --> 00:59:43.205 and come up with your mitigation strategies 1386 00:59:43.205 --> 00:59:45.965 and then integrate the, integrate those mm-hmm. 1387 00:59:46.045 --> 00:59:49.285 Effectively as projects within the portfolio, right? 1388 00:59:49.345 --> 00:59:52.645 So usually enterprise risk management is done over there 1389 00:59:52.915 --> 00:59:54.045 somewhere, right? 1390 00:59:54.045 --> 00:59:55.045 There's someone that does that, 1391 00:59:55.385 --> 00:59:57.525 but it's not connected to anything else. 1392 00:59:57.675 --> 00:59:59.085 It's not connected to your strategy, 1393 00:59:59.085 --> 01:00:00.765 and it's not connected to the 1394 01:00:00.965 --> 01:00:02.125 resources and the implementation. 1395 01:00:02.985 --> 01:00:05.685 Um, right. So, so you can, so you can involve that, 1396 01:00:05.785 --> 01:00:07.445 so you can include that in the, in the, 1397 01:00:07.865 --> 01:00:08.885 in the system as well. 1398 01:00:12.495 --> 01:00:16.495 Excellent question. Um, so, so, you know, we've, we've, 1399 01:00:16.585 --> 01:00:18.655 we've done a big loop here, right? 1400 01:00:18.755 --> 01:00:23.535 So we've, we've gone round, we've looked at, um, you know, 1401 01:00:23.535 --> 01:00:25.975 the prioritization piece, how to optimize 1402 01:00:26.035 --> 01:00:28.455 and select the portfolio, um, 1403 01:00:30.235 --> 01:00:31.575 uh, and, and so on. 1404 01:00:32.115 --> 01:00:33.935 Um, so are there any questions? 1405 01:00:33.955 --> 01:00:36.255 We we're pretty much at the top of the hour actually. 1406 01:00:36.255 --> 01:00:38.015 We're just a little, little over the top of the hour. 1407 01:00:38.275 --> 01:00:39.695 So any questions from anybody? 1408 01:00:40.235 --> 01:00:44.255 Uh, and if not, uh, I'm, I'm gonna give the, the, the, 1409 01:00:44.315 --> 01:00:48.015 the last word to Luann, um, you know, on the scale from 1410 01:00:48.795 --> 01:00:51.335 stinky banana to superhero, where, 1411 01:00:51.335 --> 01:00:52.695 where, where do you put this? 1412 01:00:52.695 --> 01:00:55.415 And how would you, how would you, uh, how, 1413 01:00:55.635 --> 01:00:58.455 how might this have changed your life at, at hp? 1414 01:00:59.905 --> 01:01:02.715 Well, I have to give it superhero duck status, 1415 01:01:03.015 --> 01:01:04.355 so a duck with a cape. 1416 01:01:04.815 --> 01:01:06.435 So, um, um, 1417 01:01:06.735 --> 01:01:10.635 I'm really just absolutely fascinated by this. 1418 01:01:10.735 --> 01:01:13.955 And I can tell you that had I had such a thing like this, 1419 01:01:14.675 --> 01:01:17.115 I mean, it's been quite some time since I was doing this 1420 01:01:17.115 --> 01:01:19.715 type of work, it would've made a huge difference. 1421 01:01:19.815 --> 01:01:22.315 And I have to say that the, 1422 01:01:23.455 --> 01:01:26.875 as I probably we all experience, is that the hardest thing 1423 01:01:26.875 --> 01:01:30.795 to do is to build that kind of aligned mindset around data 1424 01:01:30.985 --> 01:01:32.835 that is objective and clear, 1425 01:01:32.835 --> 01:01:36.315 because we all wanna make better decisions faster that lead 1426 01:01:36.315 --> 01:01:37.875 to more and more positive outcomes. 1427 01:01:37.965 --> 01:01:39.635 Executives wanna do the same thing 1428 01:01:39.635 --> 01:01:41.155 because you never get that time 1429 01:01:41.175 --> 01:01:45.035 or those resources back if you, if you make a decision, uh, 1430 01:01:45.105 --> 01:01:47.435 that is, is unqualified in many ways. 1431 01:01:47.935 --> 01:01:50.395 And so this puts it in the cold light of day. 1432 01:01:50.615 --> 01:01:53.035 It just really shares all of the different aspects, 1433 01:01:53.035 --> 01:01:55.395 and it gives you an opportunity to kind of play around 1434 01:01:55.395 --> 01:01:57.075 with different potential scenarios 1435 01:01:57.075 --> 01:01:58.275 to say, what if we did this? 1436 01:01:58.295 --> 01:01:59.955 Or what if we did that? But you get 1437 01:01:59.955 --> 01:02:02.115 to see the entire holistic set 1438 01:02:02.115 --> 01:02:03.915 of information all in one view, 1439 01:02:04.575 --> 01:02:06.755 but it also aligns everybody's thinking. 1440 01:02:06.775 --> 01:02:10.955 So it removes that bias, it removes that, um, well, 1441 01:02:10.955 --> 01:02:13.715 I've done it this way 25 times before, and so there, 1442 01:02:13.785 --> 01:02:17.395 therefore I know because executives are guilty of that 1443 01:02:17.395 --> 01:02:20.325 because they're paid because of the decision making judgment 1444 01:02:20.355 --> 01:02:21.405 that they've had in the past. 1445 01:02:21.545 --> 01:02:23.885 But that doesn't necessarily always translate to 1446 01:02:23.885 --> 01:02:26.365 where we are today or where we're headed in the future. 1447 01:02:26.945 --> 01:02:30.085 And then what it also does, which I find really compelling, 1448 01:02:30.385 --> 01:02:32.685 is how it knits together that myth, messy middle. 1449 01:02:32.745 --> 01:02:35.965 So if there's this strategic conversation that use, uh, 1450 01:02:36.485 --> 01:02:38.925 everyone's aligned around what those criteria are, 1451 01:02:38.925 --> 01:02:40.485 what should drive decision making, 1452 01:02:40.785 --> 01:02:43.525 but if the people that are doing that work don't understand 1453 01:02:43.555 --> 01:02:45.645 that, that in, in the same way, 1454 01:02:46.345 --> 01:02:48.285 and they're off executing their projects, 1455 01:02:48.285 --> 01:02:51.045 wouldn't you like them to also have, when they get 1456 01:02:51.045 --> 01:02:53.525 to a fork in the road and they need to make decision X 1457 01:02:53.545 --> 01:02:55.565 or decision Y, that the decision 1458 01:02:55.725 --> 01:02:57.245 that they're making is aligned with 1459 01:02:57.245 --> 01:02:59.165 that same set of criteria. 1460 01:02:59.825 --> 01:03:02.925 Um, and that it, it, i, it really helps to cascade 1461 01:03:02.955 --> 01:03:05.685 through the organization that first of all, 1462 01:03:05.685 --> 01:03:08.525 that clear understanding, but then it enables 1463 01:03:08.525 --> 01:03:10.485 and empowers people to make better decisions. 1464 01:03:10.825 --> 01:03:13.725 And when they, in their own work, in their own projects, 1465 01:03:13.785 --> 01:03:16.165 see things that are kind of in that lower left hand, 1466 01:03:16.625 --> 01:03:19.645 not very, um, attractive projects, they can also bring 1467 01:03:19.645 --> 01:03:21.365 that forward and say, Hey, 1468 01:03:21.475 --> 01:03:23.165 this is not really working out well. 1469 01:03:23.165 --> 01:03:25.685 Maybe we should be considering translating some 1470 01:03:25.685 --> 01:03:28.925 of these resources into other higher value projects 1471 01:03:28.925 --> 01:03:30.165 because this project 1472 01:03:30.165 --> 01:03:33.605 that we're working on isn't necessarily gonna deliver the 1473 01:03:33.605 --> 01:03:34.805 value to the organization 1474 01:03:34.805 --> 01:03:36.365 that the executives are looking for. 1475 01:03:36.425 --> 01:03:38.245 So it gives people an, an opening 1476 01:03:38.745 --> 01:03:41.405 to having a conversation about their own projects 1477 01:03:41.405 --> 01:03:43.125 and not just heads down doing the work, 1478 01:03:43.425 --> 01:03:45.845 but really understanding how that work applies 1479 01:03:45.905 --> 01:03:47.085 and aligns with everything else 1480 01:03:47.085 --> 01:03:48.965 that you're trying to accomplish. 1481 01:03:49.465 --> 01:03:50.605 And I think that's what we need 1482 01:03:50.605 --> 01:03:53.045 to empower our project managers to do more 1483 01:03:53.045 --> 01:03:56.565 of leading those conversations, leading with data, leading 1484 01:03:56.595 --> 01:03:59.525 with insights, and saying, here's where we are. 1485 01:03:59.825 --> 01:04:02.805 And, and, and really driving that sponsorship process 1486 01:04:02.875 --> 01:04:03.885 with the executives 1487 01:04:03.885 --> 01:04:06.005 because they may be like out of sight, out of mind, 1488 01:04:06.005 --> 01:04:07.565 and think everything is going fine, 1489 01:04:08.105 --> 01:04:10.885 but the more we can actually bring this information 1490 01:04:11.595 --> 01:04:14.205 into the conversation and to really help steer 1491 01:04:14.265 --> 01:04:17.645 and guide what's happening around us in a very dynamic way, 1492 01:04:18.145 --> 01:04:20.845 the more strategic contribution that we're gonna be making. 1493 01:04:21.585 --> 01:04:22.685 So I love this. 1494 01:04:22.885 --> 01:04:26.925 I love the, uh, the quality of the, the data, the insights, 1495 01:04:27.065 --> 01:04:28.445 the way it's presented, 1496 01:04:28.705 --> 01:04:30.925 and how it can be really meaningful in helping 1497 01:04:30.985 --> 01:04:32.605 to just drive better decisions, 1498 01:04:32.625 --> 01:04:34.845 but build that kind of common alignment 1499 01:04:34.945 --> 01:04:37.965 and understanding among all of the people that are involved. 1500 01:04:38.185 --> 01:04:41.165 So, um, definitely a red cape 1501 01:04:41.305 --> 01:04:44.325 and, uh, um, a magic wand. 1502 01:04:44.325 --> 01:04:46.365 Great job, Stewart. Thank you for inviting me 1503 01:04:46.365 --> 01:04:47.445 to be here today. 1504 01:04:48.035 --> 01:04:49.405 Well, Luanne, thank you for joining. 1505 01:04:49.565 --> 01:04:50.725 I really do appreciate it. 1506 01:04:50.865 --> 01:04:54.085 Um, Luanne was not paid for any of that, by the way, folks. 1507 01:04:54.745 --> 01:04:59.045 Uh, uh, so I'm very grateful to have you have you join. 1508 01:04:59.385 --> 01:05:00.645 Um, so, uh, 1509 01:05:00.645 --> 01:05:02.445 before we end, just two, two really quick things. 1510 01:05:02.535 --> 01:05:04.925 First one is, um, I, I hadn't spotted 1511 01:05:04.925 --> 01:05:06.205 that Harry Max was on here. 1512 01:05:06.205 --> 01:05:09.085 Harry wrote a book, I think it came out about a year, year 1513 01:05:09.085 --> 01:05:13.005 and a half ago on prioritization, not just in projects, 1514 01:05:13.005 --> 01:05:16.245 but in your life and your work life and everything else. 1515 01:05:16.875 --> 01:05:19.645 Superbook, go grab a copy. Uh, it's a good lead. 1516 01:05:19.815 --> 01:05:22.365 Harry has lots of experience in this domain 1517 01:05:22.985 --> 01:05:24.205 and is something 1518 01:05:24.205 --> 01:05:27.445 of a superstar out in Silicon Valley, worth a read. 1519 01:05:27.785 --> 01:05:29.605 Um, and, uh, 1520 01:05:29.605 --> 01:05:31.485 and then the other thing is that I want to do is just, 1521 01:05:31.605 --> 01:05:33.605 I just wanna acknowledge Luanne, 1522 01:05:33.665 --> 01:05:35.805 and not just your contribution today, 1523 01:05:35.805 --> 01:05:37.405 but your contribution to the community 1524 01:05:37.985 --> 01:05:41.205 and to the evolution away from triple constraints 1525 01:05:41.265 --> 01:05:43.525 to value centric and all this kind of good stuff. 1526 01:05:44.105 --> 01:05:45.205 Um, a lot 1527 01:05:45.205 --> 01:05:47.125 of this wouldn't have happened without Lu 1528 01:05:47.175 --> 01:05:48.725 Ann's contribution to the community. 1529 01:05:48.785 --> 01:05:52.805 So, um, if you can just big thumbs up, clap round 1530 01:05:52.805 --> 01:05:55.125 of applause for Luanne just to say thank you 1531 01:05:55.145 --> 01:05:56.725 for everything you've done for the community. 1532 01:05:57.105 --> 01:05:58.365 We really appreciate you. Thank 1533 01:05:58.365 --> 01:05:59.365 You. 1534 01:05:59.485 --> 01:06:02.985 And what you guys do matters. So please be the, the leader. 1535 01:06:02.995 --> 01:06:04.345 Light the way for all of us. 1536 01:06:04.785 --> 01:06:08.225 'cause every project you work on, sometimes it's super hard, 1537 01:06:08.285 --> 01:06:09.385 but you matter. 1538 01:06:09.385 --> 01:06:12.865 Everything you do matters. And we appreciate you so much. 1539 01:06:13.165 --> 01:06:14.625 So thank you for all you do 1540 01:06:14.625 --> 01:06:17.825 and persevering through some of these kinds of challenges. 1541 01:06:17.825 --> 01:06:20.305 And with tools like this, it just makes you even more 1542 01:06:20.605 --> 01:06:23.105 and more of a strategic asset 1543 01:06:23.165 --> 01:06:24.825 to the organizations you're a part of. 1544 01:06:24.885 --> 01:06:26.185 So thank you for all you do. 1545 01:06:26.965 --> 01:06:28.775 Beautiful. Thank you everybody, 1546 01:06:28.795 --> 01:06:30.015 and thanks for joining us today. 1547 01:06:30.465 --> 01:06:31.855 Watch out for the next webinar, 1548 01:06:31.945 --> 01:06:33.655 which is gonna be Hebert Al Shahi. 1549 01:06:33.995 --> 01:06:38.895 Uh, the only person ever so far to have won two PMO Leader 1550 01:06:38.895 --> 01:06:42.455 of the Year award, uh, gongs from the PMO Global Alliance. 1551 01:06:43.035 --> 01:06:45.975 Uh, Heba has a new book out on leadership, uh, 1552 01:06:45.975 --> 01:06:48.815 particularly written for, specifically written for PMOs. 1553 01:06:49.315 --> 01:06:52.375 Um, and I have a copy of it right here. 1554 01:06:53.155 --> 01:06:55.935 Um, and so we're gonna be talking about leadership, 1555 01:06:56.075 --> 01:06:58.095 so watch out for the for the next webinar. 1556 01:06:58.675 --> 01:06:59.975 And I hope to see you all there. 1557 01:07:00.745 --> 01:07:02.535 Luann a million. Thanks. Thanks again. 1558 01:07:03.155 --> 01:07:05.415 Thanks for inviting me. Thanks 1559 01:07:06.065 --> 01:07:06.265 Everyone.