Getting behind the scenes of IT project management: A big talk with Modsen's Head of PMO

What do we know about project managers? Not that much. We may know that their job involves planning, executing, and overseeing technology-related projects to achieve pre-defined business objectives. We may also be aware that it requires coordinating various tasks, managing resources, and ensuring that the project aligns with the client's goals. But what stands behind the terminology? Why IT project management takes up to 20% of a project's overall budget? And, most importantly, how can an expert project manager reduce a project's failure risks from dreadful 80 to invigorating 15%? There isn't another person who could provide more insightful and detailed answers to these and other crucial questions than Modsen's Head of PMO, Alexander Yakovets. Enjoy the read!

— Hi, Alexander! Thank you for carving out some time to dwell on topics that concern many, from our partners, who still doubt the value of project management, to junior project managers themselves, who are only starting their professional journey.

— Hi, and thanks for inviting me to talk! I'm always happy to chat and discuss key subjects and trends of today.

— The conversation ahead of us is intense, so let's delve right in. First off to the most interesting aspect – to you. Could you share a bit of your story: why did you decide to follow the project management path at all and were there moments when you wanted to pivot from it?

— Well, that's not the shortest story to tell. My professional journey began in the field of software development as I enjoyed building and architecting solutions. Over time, I started to take an interest in processes at the product level, and at some point, I became a Product Owner. In this position, I was responsible for task prioritization and striking a balance between client requirements and team capabilities. As a result, I found myself on the territory of project management as it was just the domain, where technology and business were mixed in a perfect proportion. For sure, I have warm memories of my software development and Product Owner era, but it is at the conjunction of these two worlds where I feel in the right place and see maximum value of my work.

— Head of Project Management with first-hand experience in software building and product owning – you're a rare catch! Let's move on to project management at Modsen. Our team follows the Agile approach across every aspect of our work: in product architecture development, when solving challenges, and, of course, when managing projects. But within Agile there are different methodologies each of which is effective if applied to an appropriate project. Could you explain, at which point of the process PMs choose the project management strategy and what it depends on?

— This question is worth a whole separate talk. But in short, the choice of a project management strategy usually happens during the project initiation phase, when we analyse the requirements, scope, and goals. Among the key factors that influence that decision are project type, its level of novelty, complexity, stakeholder needs, and deadlines. Such input data coupled with client goals, domain, and organizational standards help us make an informed solution about approaching a certain project.

— Answer accepted! When preparing for our conversation, I came across some disappointing statistics concerning the percentage of successfully implemented projects. The word “risk” has literally become a synonym for “IT project”. So, I wonder what main risks projects are susceptible to, and what measures does your PM team undertake to keep those risks to zero?

— Risks have indeed become an indispensable part of IT projects, but our PM team exercises the before-mentioned Agile approach to reduce them to zero. Agile might not seem to have obvious practices that are directly connected to IT project risk management but that's definitely a wrong impression. We prioritize backlog in accordance with business value and risk minimization which allows us to use every opportunity on our hands to avoid hazards. By utilizing such approaches as proof-of-concept spikes, short iterations, frequent demonstrations to the client, and feedback collection we minimize uncertainty and unpredictability. Although we might have fewer artifacts marked as “risk mitigation”, the principles of risk management are deeply interwoven into our processes. Besides, our team often goes for hybrid approaches to adjust risk management to the specifics of every project.

— Let's talk about PM as a project leader. The responsibilities are vast from building the way the whole project team will follow to ensuring a trouble-free quality development process. But a great deal depends on the project team. Can you describe the qualities of a “dream team” that could make any project a success?

— I've got two words for you: self-organized and self-sufficient – the exact description of teams that Modsen carefully assembles for our partners' projects.

— You're really good at being concise. To the next question then, brief as well. How do Modsen PMs manage to stay within deadlines and budget? Not all teams out there can guarantee that.

— What allows us to stay within deadlines and ensure proper IT project budget management is a combination of clear planning, continuous monitoring, and adaptability. We break bigger pieces of work into phases, track progress closely, and address risks early. At the same time, regular communication with stakeholders ensures alignment, while a flexible approach allows us to adjust plans as required without risking going over budget.

— Speaking of guarantees. Everybody loves them, especially if a lot is at stake. But the thing is to ensure that guarantees are not just mere words. So, what real guarantees can Modsen company give to our partners thanks to the PMO Department's efforts?

— And again, the answer is Agile. The Agile IT project management approach helps us adapt quickly to changes, ensure regular project progress updates, manage risks, and demonstrate results. This at the same time enables open communication, effective feedback mechanisms, performance transparency, client business needs comprehension, and all the other aspects that we state as our guarantees. It all starts from dedication to quality and predictability, resulting in real achievable responsibilities before our partners.

— Predictability is great but I bet that throughout your career you've faced a handful of challenges and unconventional cases. Could you share a couple of real-life stories and ways you handled them?

— It wouldn't be project management without challenges. That's why we hold regular consultancy meetups in our PMO Department, as it gives an opportunity to dive deeper into processes and help teams cope with hurdles. As for real-life stories, here's one. There was a project where we had to adapt to excessively frequent scope changes initiated by our client during the active software development stage. Needless to say, if left unregulated, such a situation could lead to missed deadlines and task prioritization chaos. To avoid that, we conducted a series of online meetups to help our team adjust more effectively to changes and to explain to our client how to formulate priorities more clearly. As a result, we managed to integrate new requirements without disrupting the project schedule. Another case was about mitigating an intra-team conflict over architectural solutions. To steer the conflict in an effective direction, I initiated a workshop where we analyzed the options together and assessed them from the point of view of risks and business value. In a couple of hours, we found a compromise that satisfied both technical and business requirements. The moral of both stories lies in the simple truth: if both parties are invested in finding a solution and there's proper facilitation – any challenge can be successfully solved.

— Absolutely. We should have this quote printed and hung in our office for motivation. Would you say project management is an innovative or rather static field? As Head of PMO, do you foster innovations and non-conventional ideas?

— IT project management is a blend of tried-and-tested best practices and a constant search for new solutions. There are long-standing approaches that work great but since all projects are unique, we often have to look for fresh ideas to achieve better results. At Modsen, all Heads of departments, including myself, always welcome and encourage our colleagues to experiment and find new methods and tools to solve tasks more effectively, stay adaptive, agile, and ready for new challenges.

— Let's wrap up by trying to foresee the future of your industry. What IT project management trends, from your perspective, define that future, and is Modsen ready for it?

— I've been waiting to answer this one. Well, the future of project management is mostly clear. It'll be determined by agility and adaptability to change, utilization of data for informed decision-making, and automation of processes. The trends that I personally see include a more active integration of hybrid methodologies that combine Agile elements and traditional approaches as well as wide utilization of AI and ML for risk forecasting and project management optimization. The PMO team knows these tendencies and is already adapting to them.

— I've got no more questions to ask you! Thanks for such an insightful talk. Wishing you and your team awesome projects!

— Thank you! I was glad to cross the t's and dot the i's on the subject.