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Key to ITIL is the Service Value Chain and Value Stream, which exists of six main activities of the value chain. These activities need to be planned and continually improved. When doing this, specific issues can come to the surface. How to handle these and how to smooth out the process, is the main focus of the ITIL Strategist Direct, Plan and Improve module. But what are the principles and methods that can be applied within the theme to support direction and planning?  

Organizational change management

When we talk about Change Management in the IT field, we tend to emphasize the technological aspect, for example, the development of functionality or changes to infrastructure. The more significant the change, the more it has an impact on the daily life of resources. Therefore the “soft” aspect of change must also be managed. Organizational Change Management is linked precisely to changes in the human environment. Organizations need to become aware of these aspects as well: in the past, IT projects have been predominantly seen as technology-only projects. According to the definition of ITIL 4, the practice of Organizational Change Management

“ensures that changes are implemented successfully and effectively within an organisation and that long-term benefits are achieved by managing the human aspect of changes.”

ITIL 4 identifies the objectives and benefits of Organizational Change Management and what resources to involve in this practice.

Objectives:

• Convince all the resources involved in the change about the positive impact.
• Reduce or remove resistance to change.
• Ensure that change is successfully implemented and supported.
• Facilitate the transition of resources, teams, and the organization to the desired future situation.

Benefits:

• Improvements are implemented smoothly and with lasting benefits.
• Resources understand the goal of the changes and their impact on work.
• Resources believe in the importance and benefits of changes.

 

Who should be involved in organizational change management?

The resources to be involved do not all have to be in IT teams: you can involve resources from other sectors of the organization, for example, human resources. Often it is in this department that you have the skills necessary to carry out the practice of organizational Change Management. The important thing is to understand which activities are to be outsourced and why they are important, and then find the resources with the right skills. ITIL 4 tip: When undertaking organizational Change Management activities to support an improvement initiative, it is important to consider the resources already present within the organization. There may indeed be a team of resources with the right skills and experience to use. It is therefore important to find time and resources to carry out Change Management activities and to involve the personnel department. Digital transformation is organizational and not just technological. It is not enough to direct software development, but also to direct resources in changing their behavior, guiding communication, and plan activities where the objectives and benefits of the project are explained. Part of organizational change is training all employees not to be afraid to undertake digital change. It is difficult, if not impossible, to improve/grow without Organizational Change Management: it is not just about digital change, but about cultural change within the organization. The ITIL 4 Direct, Plan and Improve module provides the practical skills necessary to create an IT organization in continuous improvement, with a strong and effective strategic direction. ITIL DPI provides a practical method to plan and implement continuous improvement with the necessary agility.   Follow this link to see the free registration of our webinar on ITIL 4 Strategist Direct, Plan & Improve ITIL® is a registered trademark of AXELOS Limited, used under the permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved.

Companies looking for closer project tracking are opening PMO departments. What exactly is this all about? The PMO, which stands for Project/Programme/Portfolio Management Office, is the body of the organization that is responsible for all ongoing projects and programs. It can be seen as a central repository where organizations have oversight of all change initiatives and are able to co-ordinate them. PMO ensures that business practices and operations are proceeding in the right way, on time, and on budget. This is critical as organizations deliver value through projects and programs. According to PMI's Pulse of the Profession report, companies that align their corporate PMO with business strategy not only have 38% more projects that meet goals than those that don't, but also 33% fewer projects that are considered failures.  

Why a PMO Manager?

The Project/Program Management Office is one of the fastest-growing areas of focus for competitive companies and is now fundamental to optimised project management. To keep up with market expectations, competition, and the economic conditions created by the current global competitive environment, companies must be able to do more with fewer resources. The introduction of Project Portfolio Management and PMO systems shows how to turn project management into a value-generating machine. The probably best-known description of the functions of a PMO generally includes only those functions aimed at providing support for individual projects. However, if these functions are complemented by others that support top management in defining organisational policies and action plans to link business strategies with operational planning, the PMO can play a driving role in achieving the company's business objectives and generating profits and competitive advantages. In this sense, the functions and skills to be developed relate to the following areas:

• Operational and methodological support.
• Management of delivery infrastructure.
• Management of resource integration.
• Technical support management.
• Alignment with business objectives.

Company projects may differ in terms of expectation, duration, complexity and resources involved. For this reason, a PMO Manager is needed, i.e. the person who manages all the different projects. The role of the PMO Manager, therefore, requires not only technical skills but also personal skills, transversal skills and soft skills related to team building and team management. S/he plays the role of the leader, the one who has to lead the group to achieve the result, assessing how to optimise the resources at his disposal. In addition, the PMO Manager plays a fundamental role as a link with the different offices.  

The responsibilities of the PMO Manager

PMO managers perform a wide range of tasks, in order to successfully oversee all aspects of the project development process. If the organization does not have an existing PMO yet but is planning to install one, the PMO Manager will be the one to build and design the PMO. The PMO Manager is also the one to appoint and/or recruit PMO resources based on the chosen PMO model. Once the PMO is installed, daily essential responsibilities are:

• Follow all ongoing projects and programs,
• Responsible for all PMO personnel,
• Overseeing project development,
• Facilitate project planning,
• Facilitate the governance process,
• Facilitate the change control process,
• Performing financial analysis,
• Providing financial reports and budget outlines,
• Modify processes and organize workstreams,
• Ensure that documentation is correct and up to date,
• Ensure team members uphold the organization’s standards,
• Collaborating with other department leaders,
• Project and program documentation,
• Mentor project managers.

 

The necessary skills for being/becoming a PMO Manager

The PMO Manager is responsible for a very key part of the organization as the PMO guides all ongoing projects and programs. Therefore, the PMO Manager has to be able to have a clear overview and comprehensive vision in line with the organization’s vision. At the same time, the PMO manager must be able to focus on details and technicalities and have great interpersonal skills as he/she will work closely with professionals at many different levels. Often a PMO manager has at least the following set of core skills:

• Problem-solving and pragmatic,
• High level of organizational skills,
• Great leadership,
• Critical thinking and attention to detail,
• Ability to perform under pressure,
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills,
• Exceptional stakeholder skills,
• Financial knowledge and commercial outlook,
• Wide knowledge of project and change management,
• Extensive knowledge of the use of different tools.

Successful PMO Managers have the ability to focus on details and technicalities while simultaneously retaining a comprehensive vision of the big picture. They also work well under pressure, have great interpersonal skills, and can juggle several different projects and responsibilities with ease and composure. In addition, a PMO manager can be asked to show his project management expertise by means of a PMP certification and/or a certification in Portfolio Management.  

How to become a PMO Manager?

In addition to the knowledge acquired during their studies, a PMO Manager must also possess a number of technical skills that can be acquired through a targeted training course. For example, Axelos P3O course provides a decision enabling/delivery support structure for all change within an organisation. The P3O guidance brings together a set of principles, processes and techniques to facilitate effective portfolio, programme and project management through enablement, challenge and support structures. Become now a PMO Manager booking your seat for the next P3O course!

Jeroen Franssen – Senior Expert Talent, Labour Market & Labour Organisation – talks in a series of podcasts ‘Be the change’ about the future of work with different guests about their visions and expectations. The first episode describes how the division of labour can be different and based on projects and roles instead of limited and predetermined positions. This is a vision that is shared amongst professionals and based on the ever-growing need for flexibility and digitalization. These two factors are currently the two drivers of change in the workforce. According to the principle of work organization via projects and roles, a career consists of a succession of project assignments. A professional can realize these project assignments at different employers. There will always be a need for certainty so it is highly unlikely that we will completely lose predetermined roles and contracts. However, work organized via projects and roles fits with the ongoing changes and demands from companies. It also provides professionals with the opportunity to discover new things and find a sense of belonging instead of just serving society in a limited occupation. Work organization via projects and roles is a perfect fit for our rapidly evolving world, in which new business models, technology and global unified markets are demanding flexibility and in which digitization influences everything.  

The 70:20:10 model for innovation

One thing that we can expect to see more often over the coming years is the introduction of the 70:20:10 model for innovation. Broadly speaking, the 70:20:10 model divides the job into three different sections. 70 percent of the time of a professional is focused on core tasks, 20 percent on another mission in a separate project, product or market 10 percent on transformational innovation. The divide of time spent on projects this way has proven to be very effective and to increase the ROI. Key for success is the inclusion of all employees and not to limit the use of the module to a singular team. It is important that employees across the organisation operate and innovate in their day-to-day roles. This 10 percent time spent on transformational innovation might not be 100 percent profitable for employers, only the future will tell. What is certain however is that this time investment increases the agility of the professional and the organisation and both parties will benefit from this.  

Project-based ecosystems

Jeroen Franssen thinks that in the future, professionals will no longer be committed to one employer only. Talents will work for various clients and project providers during their career. Employees might wonder what security they still have on the labour market, without a contract of indefinite duration. But job security might be guaranteed even better in a project-based ecosystem of diverse providers than when professionals work solely for one employer. Today, project-based ecosystems have not (yet) found their fixed and concrete form. The purpose of the theme around which work is organized can also form the backbone of an ecosystem. An ecosystem around healthcare than unites, for example, companies that approach the theme from a medical point of view, from a healthcare point of view and on a technological level. The stronger these ecosystems, the more job security they offer. The director of such an ecosystem is something that still needs to be defined and will always be changing. Various parties will emerge to help shape this evolution. Important is that, unlike the current situation, competition should not be part of this. It should by no means become a survival of the fittest. What we need are companies that work together. And such as making mutual agreements about the distribution of employees, depending on project needs. Perhaps one example of a potentially successful project-based ecosystem is the Corda Campus in Hasselt: a cluster of young technology companies with high mutual employee mobility. Especially tech-savvy professionals have shown to easily switch from one company to the other, once their skills are no longer needed for a certain project. The campus also has a strong focus on networking, connections with the public sector and organizes many events. This might be a clear example of what the future of work could look like.  

Digitalization

Digitalization will help solve a quantitative problem in the current labour market in Europe. Studies have shown that from 2023 onwards there will be an even higher demand from employers than that there are professionals available. Digitalization can help solve this problem by taking over certain tasks. Digitalization should not be a core focus in itself but instead should be used as a tool to humanize the business. If artificial intelligence can help save us time on standardized tasks, then there is more time available for human interaction.  

HR 2.0

The evolution of more project work also changes the way the HR department works. Today people with the same job often have the same background and the same diploma. That will be completely different tomorrow. In the coming years, projects will make people work together more and more on the basis of complementarity – on the basis of difference. Diversity will shape the team puzzle and no longer equality. That may make the HR business a lot more complex, but also a lot more challenging and exciting. For people to change their way of working, a high level of engagement is essential. Only then organisational change can show for a clear return on investment. Mastery, purpose and autonomy can help raise this change engagement.   Source: AGORIA: BE THE CHANGE – Podcast with Jeroen Franssen

The blueprint is a fundamental element of a program. The subject of the blueprint is one of the key elements of program management and in particular of Axelos MSP (Managing Successful Programs) best practice. A blueprint captures the skills an organisation wants to own at the end of the programme. It helps decide which systems and what technology the organisation requires to succeed. It helps elaborate on the needed skills and abilities and what kind of culture the organisation wants to create. While vision within a programme is key to keep work relevant and aligned, it is also true that an organisation needs a more detailed model that describes what the desired future state is and how this will work. This is the objective of the blueprint. In practice, the blueprint provides the “behind the scenes” details of the vision. It does so by describing how to get from A (where we are now) to B (where we want to be). An organisation cannot move from an existing operating model to a future one overnight. Especially considering the level of change and investment required. Instead, the changes must be gradual and develop over a period of 3 to 5 years. All these factors make that the blueprint is based on two pillars:

1. What do we need? What are the skills we need in the future organisation?
2. What will the change process be like? What is the time investment?

The blueprint directs organisations towards strategic long-term investments, as opposed to business as usual and the annual budget that drives the short term and technology solutions.  

An example of a blueprint

An organisation wants to expand its range of services over a period of 5 years: the blueprint serves to clarify which services to improve, which services to continue to offer unchanged and which to start and stop. Once the organisation clearly knows the desired service offer, it can understand what is needed to provide these services. The blueprint helps to capture the capacity gap between the current state and the future state. By definition, the blueprint exists

"to keep the focus on delivering the required transformation and business change". *

 

How to create a programme blueprint

Organisations often do not invest enough in preparing a programme and underestimate the time and detail needed to outline the vision and design the blueprint. Sometimes it happens that the "delivery mode" is activated without having a coherent view of the total capacity required. If you are not careful enough, this can turn into a misaligned and inefficient business model. The work that goes into blueprinting is critical to establish the foundations of a coherent future business model that considers processes, the organisation, technology and information as a compelling and comprehensive solution. One of the most important aspects of the blueprint is that it must be aligned with the future vision. Some organisations are skeptical of making it visible, but according to Martin Stretton

"all resources need to feel involved in the change process, not just senior management". **

In order to increase participation the question to ask is 'how can we bring the team with us on this path'? When defining roles and competencies, you may need roles other than existing ones. At this point, external people can be hired or the own team can be taught new capacities and skills. The blueprint provides the framework to inform resources about these decisions and move forward. The blueprint gives substance to the vision and includes details of the current state of the programme (where we are now) and how the future operating model will work (where you want to be). It elaborates on the differences between the two - in order to provide insight and so you can cover them with projects and other programme activities. The blueprint may contain details of the future organisational structure, processes, functions and performance levels and what technologies and information can be used to support them. In practice, the blueprint shows the skills/ competences the programme aims to achieve.  

4 tips to write a Blueprint

Some things to keep in mind when designing a blueprint are:

Involve the right resources

Involve resources who know the business and who can help define the future state of the organisation. For example business change managers.

Start an iterative process

You will be able to develop the first draft of the blueprint based on the initial vision and the benefits you want to achieve. However, this initial vision will change once you will review the benefits and see more clearly the costs and timing required to achieve them. The blueprint could therefore change. As you develop your blueprint, you may realize that the work required is too expensive, takes too much time, or does not lead to the benefits your organisation needs. So you may have to go back and rethink the blueprints needed to achieve the desired future state, or go back and review the blueprint content.

Review the overall business case

In the iterative process of creating the blueprint, at some point the programme should demonstrate an acceptable balance of cost, benefit, time and risk. Once the equilibrium is reached, you can check the business case to validate its feasibility and convenience. After that you can formally approve the business case.

Use the blueprint throughout the programme

During the programme, make sure you are in the right direction. The blueprint provides the basis for developing project requirements and should be used to check that project outputs will help develop the required business capabilities.  

Finalized blueprint

When you have completed your blueprint and achieved the expected final results, you can close the programme. As part of the closure you can review what was delivered and make sure you have the correct KPIs to continue tracking benefits realization after the programme closes. MSP Best Practice highlights the importance of the blueprint and how to use it, along with other elements such as the business case and programme plan, to design and implement a successful programme.   Sources: *Axelos, Managing Successful Programmes: setting the blueprint for a better future **Axelos, A blueprint for change Axelos, The blueprint – a cornerstone of programmes and MSP

Eralp is working as a Scrum Master at Realdolmen-Inetum and cooperates with other Scrum Masters to work wonders with our teams.  

What is your current job title? What is it you actually do?

I am a Scrum Master supporting a number of teams to improve their working processes and optimize their inter-team interactions.  

How did you arrive to follow a project management career?

Quite by chance, actually. During the first years of my career, I had the opportunity to be part of a significant restructuring effort of a bank. It showed me the importance of clear organizational structures with fluid communication channels and a strong emphasis on transparent responsibility definitions. Many years after I left the bank and while walking on an entirely different career path, a friend of mine asked me to join him in his startup for online project management training. Considering my earlier experience and readiness to make another career change, I joined him. This was about 9 years ago.  

You have an AgilePM Certificate, how did that help you reach your goals?

In the beginning, its value was very apparent in theory but highly obscure in its practical application. The reason for that was mainly because there were no documented examples out there to give an idea of how best to start implementing the AgilePM processes and structures. At the time that I got certified for AgilePM, I was already an accredited PRINCE2 trainer and I already had my PSM I certification. So I could say I knew my way around two potentially complementary frameworks and AgilePM was sort of the missing link between them. For many years, I didn’t have the opportunity to apply to AgilePM. But about two years ago, this changed and I started working in a development project as a Scrum Master / Scrum Coach for a corporate client with multiple Scrum teams. In this project, the application of Agility was paramount and the idea of teams working as Scrum Teams received complete agreement from both sides. On the team level, it was working but as Scrum does not provide a framework on the project governance side their engagement had to be coordinated. Especially because this particular project enjoyed multiple technical and business stakeholders. Fortunately, the company I was working for at the time, used AgilePM as one of its primary Agile frameworks and we applied the organizational structure of AgilePM to our project. This helped significantly to ensure alignment among the stakeholders and helped build a common vision. To summarize, we used the AgilePM organizational structure to improve the stakeholder engagement and applied the Nexus framework to organize multiple Scrum Teams.  

AgilePM is considered to be IT-oriented however we know it’s possible it can be applied for any kind of project. Could you share an experience with AgilePM outside IT?

My experience using AgilePM is limited to IT projects. However, all Agile frameworks and concepts are applicable for any kind of project. In another project, our team used the Scrum framework to transform a marketing team into a kanban-using team. On a personal level, I used Agile concepts to manage the renovation of my house. Do you think AgilePM is easy to apply for a PM Team? What would it take to do so? Actually, the structure of the AgilePM framework is very simple and straightforward. However, the mindset behind this structure is different from the traditional management mindset. For that reason, an AgilePM coach is a must, as the framework also points out.  

Did Agility offer guidance during the changes in 2020? If so, how?

Changes in 2020 forced organizations to become more Agile. Remote working removed the individuals from environments that are potentially designed for control. Now that everyone works out of those environments, both the individuals and organizations are learning to trust each other. Agile systems are great tools to build productivity on trust.  

I know that you also have a wide knowledge of using other Project Management methodologies like PRINCE2. How would you compare PRINCE2 with AgilePM?

AgilePM is an Agile version of PRINCE2. In fact, in an article, I read it was mentioned that the AgilePM was originally designed to be compatible with PRINCE2 so that the transition from one to the other could be easy. I think it is also one of the earliest Agile methods. AgilePM comes as scalable. Additional methods are not required to make it applicable to single team projects or for multiple team projects. It is very flexible and that makes it very powerful.  

How do you choose the right methodology for your project, are there projects that benefit more from PRINCE2 or AgilePM?

Now that I have at least one experience using AgilePM, I would aim to build a project based on its structure. However, methods such as PRINCE2 or AgilePM aim to optimize the information flows and decision-making mechanisms within the project. In the end, once these concepts are internalized, you tend to use whatever aspects of these methods are useful to solve your existing problems without thinking too much about which aspect belongs to which method. You end up building a custom method for the specific project you are working in and these methods change with each new project.  

How do you see your future in Project Management and what are the things you like to learn to keep on developing yourself as a professional?

There are many aspects of project management and project delivery. On the management side, I am planning to improve myself further on portfolio management and Agile leadership. On the delivery side, learning more about DevOps would be a great benefit.  

Eralp Tezcan

Scrum Master Eralp is working as a Scrum Master at Realdolmen-Inetum and cooperates with other Scrum Masters to work wonders with our teams.

The AgilePM Foundation Qualification is a professional qualification in the field of Agile Project Management. This qualification provides you with advice, supported by Hints and Tips based on the DSDM approach, on how to manage a project in an Agile way. There are no mandatory prerequisites. Work experience in project management is recommended.  

Examination Target

• Practicing project managers
• Agile team members who wish to become Agile Project Managers.

 

Exam Format

• Language: English (please add the relevant languages for your markets)
• Duration: 40 minutes
  • 25% extra time if you take the exam in a language that is not your native language
• Materials: No materials
  • No books or notes are permitted
• Questions: 50
  • All 50 questions are Objective Test Questions (OTQs)
• Pass Mark: 25 marks or above
• Exam Format: Online or Paper
• Certificate Format: Online
  • THE online certificate is usually included in the exam fee, you can ask for a paper certificate to the Exam institute after your exam

 

The AgilePM Foundation Exam Questions examples

The questions are all ‘multiple-choice’. Standard, Negative, Missing word, List, Evaluate

Example ‘standard’ OTQ:

What DSDM role ensures that the Solution Development Team functions as a whole and meets its objectives? a) Business Analyst b) Project Manager c) Team Leader d) Solution Tester

Example ‘negative’ standard OTQ:

Which characteristic does NOT relate to the Solution Development Team? a) Each role empowered to make decisions b) Flexibility to swap team members in and out of the team c) Desire and authority to make day-to-day decisions d) Business knowledge and technical expertise

Example ‘missing word’ OTQ

Identify the missing words in the following sentence. An organization amenable to incremental delivery of solutions [?] will benefit from early return on investment. a) at the lowest possible cost b) into live use c) for testing in the deployment d) with minimum effort

Example ‘list’ OTQ:

Which of the following elements make up common sense? 1. Sound judgment 2. Practical judgment 3. Normal native intelligence 4. Specialized knowledge a) 1,2,3 b) 2,3,4 c) 1,2,4 d) 1,3,4

Example ‘evaluate’ OTQ

Which of the following statements about the Solution Architecture Definition is true? 1. The Solution Architecture Definition contains the strategy for testing and review of the solution. 2. The Solution Architecture Definition contains both business and technical aspects of the solution. a) Only 1 is true b) Only 2 is true c) Both 1 and 2 are true d) Neither 1 or 2 is true  

The AgilePM Foundation Objectives 

The AgilePM Foundation level qualification aims to measure whether the candidate has sufficient knowledge and understanding of the Agile Project Management Foundation guidance to be able to recognize and distinguish between the key elements of the approach. The Agile PM Foundation qualification is also a pre-requisite for the Practitioner qualification. As a candidate you need to demonstrate the achievement of these learning outcomes:

• Understand the underpinning philosophy and principles of Agile.
• Understand the lifecycle of an Agile project, including alternative configurations.
• Understand the products produced during an Agile project and its purpose.
• Understand the techniques used and their benefits and limitations.
• Understand the roles and responsibilities of an Agile project.

 

The AgilePM Foundation Certificate

The validity of the AgilePM Foundation certificate is a lifetime. This certificate will never expire. QRP International is an AgilePM Accredited Training Organisation (ATO) by APMG International and is authorized to deliver AgilePM Foundation courses and can prepare you for the examination leading to the AgilePM Foundation Certificate in Project Management.