Last week I gave a talk on Project Management vs. Service Management at the IT Service Management Forum Conference here in Singapore. It wasn’t the best presentation I’ve done in recent years, but the topic was relevant.
My most recent project, in the manufacturing sector, lasted 18 months and was not the most challenging from a project perspective. However, it highlighted several areas that I come across in many projects, more vividly than most.
The interface between project management and service management when it comes to the IT world is broken. Yes, I know, we all know, we all have known for a long time too. In most cases, project people like to keep their unique role as a special function and not be seen as the art of a “service” organization.
Hey, I was like that many, many years ago. It’s nice to be different from the crowd, to have different responsibilities, and to be in a high-profile job, like a major project. Well, that’s fine, but it’s not good for the organization investing in the project and it’s a very inefficient way to operate. And here’s why:
Project Management v Service Management
Without a clear definition of project deliverables including service management needs;
- customer requirements may not include support requirements resulting in the project delivering products and services that do not meet the service and support needs.
- the integration of the change process between the two organizations is prone to problems and risks if not operated as one. This can and often does lead to clashes and delays when two organizations attempt changes related to common infrastructure and operations.
- strategic business decisions that can influence the support model may not be incorporated into the project solution.
- The outcome of the project may satisfy the initial requirements, but be a nightmare for support services and therefore prove to be a bad investment in the long run and not 100% compliant with the business strategy.
- transferring the project to an operational environment will prove more challenging than it needs to be.
- Lack of “sync” between project management and support management will lead to delays and higher costs against the project.
- Many processes and procedures that the project organization needs to use or interact with are either inefficient for the work of the project or are created specifically for the project and do not interact with or take advantage of the operating procedures they are meant to be a part of.
If you look at the ITIL model, the service lifecycle approach almost emulates the project lifecycle at a high level, in Prince 2. This is no coincidence. In business, strategies are discussed and presented. A solution design is drawn up to deliver that strategy and then the solution is built. Once the new solution is in place, well, someone doesn’t have to support it, right?
Not surprisingly, the service management organization is key to delivering business strategies and, in doing so, encompasses a high degree of project management in delivering those strategies.
The link between project management and service management organizations is more like an intimate link. So why is it missing in action in so many organizations?
I don’t have the answer here. I could speculate, based on many years of experience in project management and service management. But I won’t, here and now.
My message is this;
- The project scope and requirements should include service management or support organization requirements, as well as business needs.
- The management process and procedures that support a project should align with operating procedures as much as possible. That means operating procedures must be flexible and efficient to support project needs as well as operational needs. i.e. Procurement, Resource Commitment, Financial Reporting, Change Management, etc.
- Project skills are not easily learned and are different enough from a service management skill set that it pays to recruit experienced project managers for major investment projects. However, never miss an opportunity to develop a good service staff by adding them to the project in support roles.
Project management is about people, just like service management. Both have similar needs and common threads, both also require training and practice (experience) to become professional delivery agents.