The UPS & Downs of an enterprise-wide project management team
The difficulties of project assignment
Making assignment of tasks within the PMT can be a challenge, at best. Even if all the
departments recognize the need to have a representative that can speak for their director, some
departments will fill the position with a technically oriented staff person, and other departments
will provide a top administrator. This kind of mix can be a challenge on many levels. You will
need to reign in the techies - who will try to discuss issues down to nth level - in order to not lose
the interest of the administrators, but you need to go into enough technical detail in order that
you can make substantive decisions. These disparities in knowledge level will become even
more crucial in making task assignments. Where possible, you want to use volunteers for key
assignments. Properly chosen and educated, your PMT should be excited about the project and
be enthusiastic to participate. For some people, their enthusiasm can cause them to over commit
beyond their abilities of time and knowledge. This is where the Project Manager must use tact
and discretion in steering PMT members to appropriate assignments. Sometimes, you may have
to come right out and assign work to people. Another issue that must be given full consideration
in enterprise-wide projects is making task assignments in consideration of the responsibilities of
Departments, Division or sections. A good example of this on our project came about on the
development of the Common Address File. Most Departments have address files. In Cleveland,
the City Engineer is responsible for assigning addresses to new parcels. The City Engineers Rep.
was appointed to head the creation of Common Address File in order to insure that the standards
would be instituted in the legal record. We also required heavy involvement by all other major
users of address files (i.e. Safety, Utilities, Health, etc.)
It was also helpful on our project to review major assignments with each Director, in order to
insure buy-in on assignments. We did find it necessary to be flexible on expanding committees
at request of Directors. The best example of this was on reviewing the project with the new
directors after a change of administration, some key changes were made. The Department of
Aging was added as a participating Department. After review with their new Director, it was
apparent that their needs were very fundamental, but that they could achieve substantial
improvement in service delivery with the use of GIS. Conversely, on review with the new
Director of the Office of Equal Opportunity, it was determined that their need could be met with
special projects and they did not need full participation status. On review with the new Law
Director, he asked that the Prosecutors Office and the Lawyers for the Dept. of Health be
interviewed. After meeting with the Prosecutors Office, they asked to be included in the
development of the Crime Analysis Package being developed for Police. The Health Department
Lawyers saw potential benefit from basic GIS use. Previously the use by the Law Dept. was
viewed as fundamentally for title searches.
Team Development
Pulling together representatives from all across the City Departments to work together as a team
has had its challenges. We have found a number of crucial elements to helping the process work
smoother.
Communicate – Talk to me
Frank communication with your team members is essential. I try to meet with my team members
on an individual basis and determine what they personally want to achieve out of the project.
Some team members see GIS as their future career, others see themselves as project managers
and implementing GIS is just one more project. - Talk to your team members; know where they
want to go. We are establishing a Core GIS Group to handle citywide GIS issues. Some
members have expressed interest in being considered for this group, some see themselves as their
department’s in-house experts. Understanding of the motivations and aims of your team is
crucial to a successful project. Parallel to this, clear communication can help insure buy-in
farther down in the organization. Within the City, most departments are funded via tax revenue;
the Water Dept. is funded through water sales. Water funds cannot be diverted to other
departments but we can “front” the costs for this project and the other departments reimburse us.
This has created misconceptions from some departments that, being a Water funded project,
Water will make all the decisions and it will be “slanted” to benefit Water the most. Clear
communication to the representatives on the decision making process and the opportunities for
input have helped us to mitigate some of these misconceptions. People still believe what they
want to believe, but making the effort has gained us support from other members of the team.
Training
The City of Cleveland has taken serious steps to insure proper implementation of industry
standard Project Management techniques. To move in that direction, we provided Project
Management Training for all members of the Project Management Team and we have
encouraged them to pursue PMI certification. The training helps bring the team up to a
minimum level of standardization so that as the project progresses we refer back to the training
to bring clarity to our goals and objectives. The training also had the added side benefit of
creating an “Esprit de Corps” that the project is committed to the members’ personal
development.
Etc.
There are a number of other ways we have worked to build a team spirit. We have had the team
members create Departmental Teams below them. On receiving support from the previous
Mayor, part of his direction on the project was that he “wanted the dogcatcher using GIS”. His
real message was that this wasn’t to be a system holed up in some back room used by a few
select techies. He wanted the staff out in the field using the system, so he wanted them involved
in the development of the system. To achieve this, over 100 people, including field managers,
participated in the kickoff meeting to inform them that the technology was coming and to start
thinking about how they could use it. We also utilize a project newsletter to keep the staff
updated. We have created a project web site where staff can download reports, agendas,
schedules, and minutes, and access a prototype GIS that has been used as a training tool. On the
PMT level, we have maintained a consistent meeting schedule so that, even when most of the
work shifted towards the consultant, the team members could continue to see progress and not
feel as if the project had stalled. We acknowledge landmarks in the project with special
celebrations. This works best when food is involved, food is the great unifier.
In Conclusion
The Citywide GIS project is a groundbreaking project for the City of Cleveland, and on a
national level. Unified enterprise wide implementation of Information Technology is a powerful
tool, but it must be implemented with care and consideration for all Departments, both big and
small. Project Management tools can assist, but the best tool is honest communication, patience,
and a good sense of humor.
References: Kerzner, H. 2001, Project Management A Systems Approach to Planning,
Scheduling and Controlling, Seventh Edition page 3
Fig. I Project Management Structure
