When conceiving projects with a user or selling projects to a client, we tend to focus our attention on our technology instead of the client's business needs.   This tendency is particularly strong in technical experts and leads to problems in client relations, project delivery and client/customer satisfaction.

AdPM™ provides account managers or sales professionals with the tools to work with clients to:

The Project Portfolio Problem

The issue is that we are conceiving and selling projects with mushy business objectives and  all we can measure is the due date and the budget. That's all the client can measure as well.  That's why users hire interface people to deal with the technical experts and clients look for the low price.  Neither sees technical projects as contributing to their strategic goals.

Setting strategic project objectives with the client or user

Strategic projects drive from the measured business results of the client or user.  They are not just a "bundle of the technology" you deliver; they link your work with the efforts of client/user personnel and have as their aim a significant and measurable business result for the client.  We conceive projects at this level by analyzing the business situation and building a Measure of Success (MOS™) and a network of business achievements that lead to it.

Seeing the Project "Through the Client's Eyes"

This phrase is an easy one to say, but very difficult to do without the proper tools for seeing the project from a strategic perspective and communicating that perspective to the user or client.  It's even more difficult when they too suffer from strategic myopia.  Using our Echelons of Achievement, you'll look at the client's business through the eyes of their customers and conceive a project achievement structure of lower level achievements that will support the client's strategic result.

Effective Hand-off to Project Management

Rather than receiving a list of activities and equipment, project managers get a strategic map for the project.  They're still responsible for the budget and due date, but they also must manage the project to the strategic result identified in the High-level Achievement Network (HLA™).  The HLA lays out the spine of the project and also allows executives to track progress against unambiguous business results, budget and duration.

Portfolio Management: Allocation and Prioritization

As projects are submitted to portfolio managers, the measured achievement structure allows for efficient executive review because we know what the user or client is buying.  This process also gives us a solid foundation for prioritizing and allocating resources without having to dig through wordy project plans trying to decide who will do what and when.

Implementation