BUSINESS METHODOLOGIES
OPTIMIZE THE PM WORKING PATH
Whenever you want to maximize the business initiatives impact, to rise your business efficiency or  to reduce the project cost and duration, keeping the deliverables quality in the front of the line, the best approach is to follow a business methodology.
Lean Six Sigma

"BUSINESS" means clients and suppliers, products and services, processes and projects, profit and image!
Finding what it really does not work, handling the root cause not the effect, removing the non-value activities and reducing the process and outputs variation it is actually an OPTIMIZATION!

Nowadays, the most impact optimization approach is LEAN SIX SIGMA.
Finding Lean Six Sigma as a unique and logical merge between the faster "LEAN Management" which reduce the waste and increase the speed in providing products and services to the client, and the defects and variation tough killer, "SIX SIGMA" is the best you can do for raising your company.
Even if Lean Six Sigma is considered to be the most impact and efficient short and long term improvement approach, every business decision maker must understand that the system should be tailored different regarding the business specifics, products, or services outputs.

Taking into consideration that most of the training providers choose the way of delivering the Lean Six Sigma Body of Knowledge standard, focused on products delivery, Arcadia Consulting went further the standard and developed a high accredited training program, suitable for services delivery (banking, telecom, energy providers, retail, software development, or IT services).
 Read more

Send Comments mail@yourwebsite.com Sunday, April 30, 2017

For decades there have been two major approaches:  
•
Everything is done according to and based on individual skills; this is a fast solution and a cheaper one as well, because all you have to do is to invest in training.
Let's say, and it's just an assumption, that every person involved in a business initiative, a project or a daily business process has a highly level of dedicated skills; let's assume that everyone is motivated to work for and the management empower the execution field.
The result, and it is the best case scenario, will be a "sum" of technical approaches, with a significant different "language" and a huge gap between business and developer / implementation team and not a working system.
Actual parts of this result are visible all over the business and are consider "eternal issues": more time and cost and never-ending debates  to understand the purpose, the scope, expected benefits, requirements,  what to do, by who, when and how, how to specific respond to business changes; and this is just the top of the iceberg.
Rising the individual skills (technical, soft) is the first important step just is not the only one a "business" should take; definitely.
•
A well structured working path also know as methodology (for project initiative) or business process (for daily business) combined with a creativity part whenever is needed.
It is an accepted truth that a rising business needs the involvement of every employee, a productive cross-functional relation, a non-conflict organizational culture, great impact results with less time and investment.
To achieve such goals, logical and practical rules must coexist with an accepted free approach level of everyone who has the necessary skills to do this.
As a normal consequence, the rules are structured to build a methodology:
roadmaps (from a high level view to working instructions), roles and responsibilities, governance, monitoring, controling and evaluating system (including K.P.I.), documentation, tools and methods.
Develop and follow a methodology capable to provide, under pressure, the desired business impact becomes a must be for every business.
Actual top of the business methodologies:
1.
Business Analysis
A continuing applied methodology responsible for rising the business, mainly in connection with a project based approach

- monitoring and control the business area to identify problems, necessities or opportunities
- analyze every initiative to setup the "must" level
- identify the best solution according to the business view and necessities
- collect, analyze, prioritize the business and user requirements and translate these to a technical view (deliverables acceptance criteria)
- monitoring and control, evaluate and change the evolution of the requirements from a well defined target to a "go live" deliverables status
- follow up the business initiative or project with any change or release is needed
- document the analysis: problem statement, project proposal, business case, bill of requirements, BRD/RAD or product / sprint backlog, change request etc.
- represent the client / business interest in the project life
2.
Project Management
The main approach to develop and deliver projects in optimal terms of quality, time and cost

- analyze and setup the project concept based on the business case
- identify the best equilibrium for the vital project triangle: quality (for deliverables and the project approach, time and cost (fbased on resources schedule and work, financial investment, risks, assumptions and constraints)
- develop the project plan according to the scope, time, cost, quality, HR, risk and regulation analyses and management
- monitor, control and correct the project during the execution / implementation phase
- evaluate the project and resources, identify lessons learned
- manage the project documentation like project concept, PID, master plan, change requests and so on.
- represent the main authority responsible for the project success
3.
Lean Six Sigma
Unique and logical merge between the faster "LEAN Management" which reduces the waste and increases the speed in providing products and services to the client, and the defects and variation tough killer Six Sigma

- identify the actual "as-is" business status in terms of time, cost, how they work, outputs and inputs, quality and variation, critical to satisfaction and critical customer requirements, critical to quality
- setup the best option to optimize the actual state by a faster "kaizen event" or a "quick win" or a more impact DMAIC project
- work in conjunction with the  business analysis, the project management or the business process management to design or redesing the best "to-be" business process state
- setup the best norms and standards for products and services, processes and people as well   
When we decide to "engineer" or "re-engineer" the way we run the business or the project, there are a couple of factors involved in: organizational culture, processes and procedures, technical and soft skills, HR commitment and empowerment, teams maturity, managers support and top management leadership.
Based on these facts, every consultant should understand that using a "ready-made" methodology is not an option. We can try a well structured and documented approach like BABOK® Guide, PMBOK® Guide or PRINCE2® or a more flexible one as AGILE-SCRUM, or we can simply merge them, but the truth is that each organization has some important particularities.

Identifying and using those specifics as a plus, is the real challenge in order to produce quality and efficiency in the same time. 
what we are doing to
OPTIMIZE  YOUR PM WORKING PATH
Develop and Deploy Customized Methodologies
•
Business Analysis ("waterfall" - BABOK® Guide or "functional" approach)
•
Project Management ("waterfall" - PMBOK® Guide, PRINCE2® or AGILE PM approach)
•
Lean Six Sigma (for service sector)
Evaluate the "as-is" status
•
Business process (core / support)
•
Projects (any life cycle phase)
•
Project contracts
Create a vision and a concept to
•
Optimize the business processes
•
Assure a higher success rate for the projects 
•
Setup a Project Management and BA or Lean Six Sigma Organizational Function

ARCADIA CONSULTING srl
Bucharest, ROMANIA
©1999 Arcadia Consulting srl | Designed by Arcadia Consulting srl