In businesses Everyone is talking about the project... but no one is talking about the same thing! Worse, we very often see that the basics of conducting steering committee meetings are not mastered. Same for the titles of the missions, the names of the positions... Everything is overused.
Whether you are a manager, CIO, transformation director, PMO, BRM, PMO, BRM, BU manager, PO, scrum master, developer, senior project manager or beginner, in the following lines, we have concocted a conceptual “cheat sheet” for you. The idea: to come back to what is at play behind the key words or phrases regularly used in the project steering committee.
Mal nommer les choses, c'est ajouter au malheur du monde.Albert Camus
In short, two problems need to be considered in the course of the project: to understand and to be understood.
Understand the real and symbolic scope of each keyword, to understand what we are talking about - and above all Understand what is not being said.
And then, to be understood, by one's peers within the project, and/or by the stakeholders of the steering committee who are less “acculturated” to the functioning of a technical project.
We are going to demystify 5 simple concepts: that of sponsor, Copil, milestones, project manager, key user and reporting.
For each term, we will focus on theory and practice, the main errors and/or misunderstandings. Finally, we will illustrate the topics with the opinions of “Pros de La Transfo.” interviewed during the CIO Revolution Podcast produced by AirSaaS. Objective value!
This article is part of the series Steering Committee or Copil: The basics which lists the essential simple and pragmatic elements to know about the project steering committee.
Discover your semantic survival micro-kit to better understand each other during your next steering committee.
Les project milestones are similar to signs on a road showing you the progress of your trip. They mark the end of a stage and a stopping point in the project management process. They guide the management of Copil such as the GPS project!
In practice, these milestones are what set the pace of projects. They make it possible to align teams with objectives, and to divide projects into several key stages. Not too much is needed! Giving too much makes effective follow-up illegible.
You don't transform an organization by first inviting teams to do project management “on task”. The aim is to structure, communicate and then manage a transformation plan.In project management and reporting, I share the status of the milestones, not the tasks!
In theory, the project manager is frequently presented as a Superman. The pilot, responsible for leading the project and managing its (smooth) progress. To lead a transversal and ephemeral team. The guarantor of respect for the “Cost-Quality-Delay” triangle with even a new passion: risk management.
In practice, the majority of projects do not happen like that, because cooperation cannot be decreed! Project managers will seek to influence, to align themselves with the sponsor and the profession. Human relationships are essential in this work and make the exercise very subtle. By being located outside the classical hierarchy, this transversal role of project management is doubly delicate.
In theory, the steering committee would be a team whose the role is to decide. A Copil refers to a meeting generally made up of one member from each business involved in the project.
In practice, the arbitration issues raised by the steering committee are complex, and the time available is limited. What's more, we rarely have all the directions represented in each Copil. We sometimes witness a gradual disengagement, or even a real escape of responsibility that is very problematic!
COPROJ: Micro = Distribution of tasks
COPIL: Macro = Arbitrations and decisions
If each steering body has its role and responsibilities in the progress of the project, the project team and the steering committee are both responsible for success.
Set high standards. The steering committee should demand performance from the project team while simultaneously showing where their help will make this possible. Demand clear information, open dialogue, respect for facts, and written expectations and responsibilities for the steering committee and the project team.
In theory, the key user is the representative of the end users. He is one of the best placed on the steering committee to assess and innovate on the creation of value provided by a new service.
In practice, this function requires a subtle blend of good field vision and the ability to take a step back to identify possible workarounds.
We are talking about a key user - but the correct meaning would rather be: “group of key users and its representative”!
It is essential that they have both enough leadership to decide during the meeting and enough intelligence to know when they should no longer decide alone. to return to communicate and consult its “base”, for decisions with a more political dimension.
The role of the profession is essential, and it's a real charge, a real mission. We sometimes do not allocate enough time, training and remuneration to value and sustainably “engage” this very strategic role in project management.
In theory, the role of the PMO/Project Manager is to establish dashboards and Reportings periodic to communicate to the steering committee the main metrics relating to the project. Ideally, they should be as synthetic and visual as possible.
In practice, It takes hours, even days. And there's nothing more disheartening than being invited to work on a giant Excel once a month when you're not the person who spent dozens of hours creating it.
In summary: using a platform will simplify governance (listing of decisions to be taken, Copil view, etc.)
Confusing reporting and dashboarding! Comprehensive reporting includes both a dashboard and the report, highlights, etc. Figures and facts.
Communicating to the steering committee on an ongoing basis promotes transparency and decision-making within companies. The steering committee can and should have access to framework and implementation data between meetings.
The use of PPM software with a sufficiently intuitive interface and permanent access makes it possible to facilitate collaboration between technical and business profiles.
Congratulations on updating what you need to understand to limit confusion. Once we understand each other, it does not mean that we get along! In fact, relationships between members of the committee may be tense or even aggressive.
How do you deal with difficult personalities? How to react in case of aggressiveness? We drew on our experience, analyzed the state of the art of documentation, we interviewed our professional friends at Transfo., to offer you 7 tips that will make your office life easier. It's over here: How to deal with aggressiveness in the steering committee meeting?
