Discussion on ppm (Project Portfolio Management)

Preface:

This article focuses on purely theoretical ppm and does not involve specific implementation. I will introduce the detailed ppm implementation solution later.

 

 

Ppm, which is a concept that has become popular in recent years and is short for project portfolio management.

Project Portfolio Management is literally translated into Chinese, that is, project portfolio management, that is, combining many projects for management. Here (csdn) Many people believe that it is related to the development work. There should also be many leaders who are more or less aware of project management. I am also a small leader, the common understanding of management is to manage and do a good job. However, have you ever wondered what the company's top leaders know about management?

If I am the boss, I have invested in this company, and I have put all my efforts into it, I should not just care about what I want to do, I am not very concerned about whether your work is done.Can the product be released on schedule?,Overspending project?,Controllable risks,Are all personnel in place?,Is sales steadily increasing?,Continue to be satisfied,Decrease in ROI...... Alas, it seems that the boss needs to think about things that our so-called small leaders think about. (try to think about these aspects and turn yourself into a boss .)

 

Well, if you know what the boss is thinking, let's assume you are the boss. Let's see how we know what he thinks. First lookCan the product be released on schedule,The boss certainly won't write the code on his own (if he is writing the code, either a newly established company or the company is almost finished), so he won't know the degree to which the product is developed, so he can only ask his men,

Boss:Manager he, how far have you taken charge of that product? Can it be released on schedule?

Manager he:Today, Manager Wang reported that it is still normal, but recently I have added several more features, so I cannot estimate when to complete them. Let me ask Manager Wang again.

Manager Wang:Boss, the progress is still normal, but didn't Lao Wang say that he has added several features just now, and two developers have asked for leave these two days, so this time is really not a good estimate, and we will try our best.

Boss:...... (I still don't know if it can be completed on schedule)

 

The next day, the boss continued to ask, but still did not know. In fact, they really did not know, because there are too many variables, it is difficult to estimate. (Believe it or not, I believe it anyway)

The third day... the boss finally cried.

 

Haha, just kidding. In fact, this is not a strange joke, because they do not know or are difficult to estimate, but as the boss, he is in this position, you have to know how to proceed. So really, the boss is very tired. He always wants to know the exact progress of the incident, but he is always unable to know it. He always has to wait until the last moment, whether there are any problems or whether it will be postponed before he can see it, but in that case, the initial marketing plan may have to be changed, thus affecting other more aspects, that is, the so-called one-stop action.

 

So think about what the boss wants to know. If there is a positive answer to every question, how happy he should be. He can arrange various plans with confidence. I believe every boss thinks so.

How can we achieve this goal?

 

In fact, there are many "methods" to achieve this goal, and even the boss can force his staff to know the progress, so he is very nervous, so he needs to force his staff to report every day and evaluate every day, this is what my team looks like. Therefore, perfect is very good. Everyone knows the progress of the part in charge, so the boss will hear a sound good answer, but is that true?

Is it possible?I forgot to estimate a piece of data?

Is it possible?The two parts have a prefix relationship (one can start another), but only one time period is taken into account?

Is it possible?A guy suddenly asks for leave, but the delay may not be counted at once (for example, the problem he handled is unknown or he didn't take over )?

Is it possible?The efficiency of the previous period of time is too high, leading to an incorrect estimation of the next period of time?

Is it possible?Is there a serious difference between the final data and the actual data obtained through layer-by-layer data statistics (filtering or polishing?

Is it possible?Suddenly the customer proposed another function. Can we release it on time?

Is it possible?......

 

Nothing is impossible!

 

Therefore, it may not be good to come up with a good idea. Why? So manyIs it possible?Let you know why.

 

The above is just what the boss wants to know. What is the data that the product knows best? The data that the developers want to know is different, the product manager may want to know to what extent the product has been developed and whether all the functions have been completed according to the customer's requirements. The development team lead only wants to determine whether all the jobs assigned to him last week have been completed. Therefore, the data that people at different levels need is different, but the data must be obtained and correct. If you do not know the answer, maybe, probably... Then you can think about how the company makes decisions and how it develops.

 

So now, to sum up, actually the success is nothing more than two problems that need to be solved:

First, I need to obtain the actual data from all aspects of the company as much as possible to know what the company is like. (Grasp the current)

Second, I need to analyze the data to find out what problems the company has, what is the progress trend, and whether there is any risk ...... (Predict the future)

 

Whether it's the boss, the manager, the team leader, or even the soldierGrasp the current situation and predict the futureThe only difference between the GRASP and prediction points is that the boss is responsible for the operation of the company, while the small soldier only checks whether he needs to improve according to his recent work conditions.

(After taking over a week off, I finally have the opportunity to write it again today, so that everyone can wait for a long time .)

 

As mentioned above, a company, a boss, and a leader need to understand two problems:Grasp the presentAnd the other isPredict the futureYou also need to know thatAnalyze past,Analyze pastIn fact, it is the best thing to do, because something has already happened. We only need to sum up experience, analyze the problem, and find out which areas should be retained, which should be improved, and which should be removed. In a word,Extract its essence to get its dregs.

 

Analyze the past, grasp the present, and predict the future,I believe that you will agree with these three points. There may be some other differences, but I think these three points can be referred to as a baseline and can be derived from other aspects, after all, as a boss or a leader, there will be more things to do, but as long as he grasps the main points, the development of the entire company will be guaranteed. In this article, the next part will focus on the topic from the perspective of a boss. Of course, there will also be a lot of discussions from the perspective of others.

 

The word "boss" may seem like a small business or a major task. Next I will replace "boss" with "CEO, of course, not every CEO needs to talk about the following things, because the people below have helped to do it, so I think the so-called CEO is still responsible for the overall operation of the company.

 

The first two articles have already mentioned the CEO's pain. Next, let's take a look at how to solve this pain. In fact, for some small companies, the "pain" mentioned above is nothing, because the company is so large, there are only a few things to think about, most decisions can be made quickly, but for a company with many branches and many departments, for many product line companies, the question that needs to be thought out is not what the human brain can think about. Too much data, too many changes, and the human brain is insufficient in strength, next, I will introduce the solution with the most familiar software enterprises as the starting point (of course, this solution is also applicable to most companies)

 

For a software enterprise, let's take Microsoft as an example. Microsoft is very large now, but she also developed from the garage. Of course, Google, HP, and, so if your company is not very big now, you still need to read this article, because it is very likely that your company will grow into a big company, and then you will need it.

 

From the very beginning, Microsoft has been selling Basic to cover so many product lines. If Bill Gates has been thinkingAnalyze the past, grasp the present, and predict the futureI guess he has already been in a mental hospital and cannot analyze so much data in his head. At the beginning, we only had to consider selling IBM products. Now we have to sell so many series of products, and we have to take into account the attacks of Google and apple, without a good solution, gates won't be able to solve it. Of course, Gates is now retired with honor, but this is the end.

 

When Microsoft was a child, we started to talk about it from the time Microsoft grew up (that is, when Windows came out, what do you think Bill wants to do every day?

 

At that time, Microsoft should have not reached its peak, so there were still a lot of jobs. So every day bill arrived at the company. When Secretary Lu Bao made coffee for him, he began to want to know some of the company's situations. What are the main reasons?

To sum up, the main items are as follows:

1.Are you running the correct project:After all, you need to pay for the product, so you cannot invest in the wrong project. You have to check whether the product is correct at any time. Once the product is incorrect due to any factors, it is necessary to immediately dial the chaos.

2.Can the process be optimized:The so-called optimization, that is to say, only these limited funds, limited manpower, limited time, whether every resource is used in a maximized and best way, so that the entire process is carried out in an orderly and efficient manner.

3.Whether to implement the features required by the customer:This is the most practical. products are generally sold out. Of course, you have to sell the products that the customer wants. Therefore, the functions that the customer wants become very important, we need to implement what the customer wants to make it possible for the customer to buy our products.

4.Project Progress:This is very important for the CEOs of most growing companies, because they need to determine the progress, whether the delay, and whether the overspending will occur, use the data to guide the next step.

5.Can some of the latest design concepts be added to the product:We know that today is the information society, and every day all kinds of information are changing rapidly. For products, our functions may be better developed by competitors, therefore, we need new improvements to surpass our competitors. For customers, they may want to buy our products, but they feel that our functions are not as good as they think, where can we improve. Customers are God, so we have to change. However, the problem is that the product has already achieved this level, and new features are added to improve the old features to determine whether the normal release of the product will be affected.

 

(To be continued)