Johannesburg, 20 Feb 2012
As businesses clamber for lead generation and turnover amid difficult market conditions, the benefit of well-entrenched project management in operations merits serious consideration.
This is the view of management at FOXit, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and service provider focused on project and portfolio management in business.
A project is globally defined as being “a temporary endeavour with a defined beginning and end, undertaken to meet unique goals or objectives”.
In order to ensure that these goals and objectives are achieved, and that the business derives the benefits quickly, the project has to be managed. This is the basic premise behind project management as channelled to the market by FOXit.
“Project management is the discipline of planning, organising, securing and managing resources to achieve specific goals. Sounds like a mouthful, but the reality is project management makes all the difference within business,” explains Anita Potgieter, COO at FOXit.
FOXit is adamant that progress in business and operational efficiency depends on project management and the methodology that helps define the principle. More specifically, the company encourages the broader market to adopt radical, more 'out-of-the-box' thinking when it comes to methodology.
“A methodology in the perspective of project management is a set of guidelines, principles or rules that is usually the outflow of certain organisational policies. It is about managing the main effort and activities needed to achieve the goal,” says Potgieter.
“Too many people that have certified in one of the many project management methodologies/frameworks see it as the Project Management Bible, the be all and end all of project management. One is not allowed to think otherwise, or disagree with any one of the 'knowledge areas' or principles. Out-of-the-box thinking is also something that has very specific boundaries. We believe this is wrong,” she adds.
Potgieter and her colleagues at FOXit subscribe to the idea that, regardless of the methodology used, the key factor is to adapt it to a given set of circumstances.
According to the company, the project management strategy works best when it is applied to a specific project for a specific type of industry or company.
“The solution to any difficulty in implementing a methodology will differ greatly, depending upon the organisation and environment it operates in. Various smaller organisations have no choice but to adopt agile methods to remain tactful and responsive to market needs, which will help them get their product out quicker into the market,” adds Potgieter.
FOXit believes the best way to apply a methodology is to look at what is available, incorporate where possible, and review other methodologies to see what will be the best 'fit' for the company.
“Pick a few 'required processes' and make them a way of life - 80% compliance with a basic methodology beats 20% compliance with a more difficult methodology,” Potgieter continues.
Relying on methodology alone is not the answer, says FOXit. The company's advice is to achieve clarity about what needs to be done, who will be doing it, and deciding how project deliverables, risks and issues will be dealt with.
This also means identifying what milestones and project processes will be used to keep projects on time, on budget and to the mutually agreed requirement.
This implies a breakaway from traditional approaches to project management in business.
As far as FOXit is concerned, it is the most effective way to ensure results in the market today.
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