Pilewski and his project management office also provided planning services to all project managers so they wouldn't feel overwhelmed by learning a new tool with new requirements. Specifically, the PMO built a project manager's individual plans into the standard plan framework. All a manager had to do was specify the way she wanted to break down her work and whether she wanted the plan in Word, Excel or on a whiteboard. Pilewski says providing those services prevented a groundswell of negative energy from forming around the framework.

Finally, Parker cajoled IT into embracing this new and more disciplined project management mentality by measuring project success rates and publicizing those metrics in quarterly reports delivered to AG Edwards's top brass. He figured that if his staff knew he was briefing senior management on these metrics, they would take project management more seriously.

Redefine Success

In addition to implementing the standard plan framework, Parker redefined project success. Instead of defining it as completing a project on time and within budget, AG Edwards also weighs its business value, a key criteria to the project sponsors. So if a project is not completed on time but delivers the expected business value, the company still considers it a success.

Parker didn't change the definition of success to lower the bar; he redefined victory so internal customers had the final say on project success and so it more closely aligned with their needs. For example, when IT was asked to create an application to recruit financial consultants, the project looked like a quick, low-cost development effort, according to Pilewski. In working with the sponsors on the functional requirements, the project team realized the competitive advantage of using this software to recruit the best and brightest brokers. They realized they'd have to devote more time to getting the application just right. The project took three times longer than planned and cost more than double its original estimates, but it's still considered a success because it has enhanced the recruiting process.

"Project managers focus so much on cost and schedules," says Pilewski. "The real trick to project management, though, is making sure that project managers understand that their customers play a key role in the project, and that the customers define success."

He also restructured the PMO to foster joint accountability between project managers and functional managers within IT, whose agendas are often at odds. "People in IT infrastructure have day jobs," says GlassHouse's Lawler. "They're dealing with production outages and fighting fires, and those issues often take precedence over a project, so projects slip and slip."

Pilewski says that scenario was the reality at AG Edwards when he arrived. To fix it, he moved the project managers out of the PMO and into the functional areas to give them skin in the game. When the managers reported into the PMO, they didn't have to live with the changes made to IT systems as a result of their projects. The new arrangement increases a project manager's stake in a function because he is working with those systems every day.

This new reporting structure also eases the burden on functional managers, who sometimes coordinated with multiple project managers for each initiative their group worked on. Now they meet with one project manager, who is assigned to their functional group. Additionally, functional managers now have access to reports that identify the projects their groups are responsible for so that they can plan workloads and effectively allocate their teams across projects.

Credibility Gain

IT's stock within the brokerage house is on the rise these days due to its newfound ability to manage projects and help the business meet its goals. Project write-offs are a thing of the past. "We're getting more for our money because we're running projects more efficiently," says Parker.

And what of that $US196 million mainframe migration that he was hired to steer? Parker says the first phase of the multiyear project, while taxing, went smoothly. The project team converted the old legacy system to the new one in May 2005 as originally planned. And although the budget grew 5.5 percent, Parker says it remained "well within established parameters". Impressed, AG Edwards funded the final phase of the project, which should be complete by 2008.

"We've made huge strides," says Parker. "If we had a 1000 percent improvement we needed to make, we've probably made 700 percent of it. We still have 300 percent to go." v

SIDEBAR: 8 Steps for Improving Project Management

1) Identify current project success rates and publish those metrics to your IT staff so they're aware of shortfalls.

2) Set and communicate your new expectations for good project management. This may include redefining project success.

3) Provide leadership training to all managers to boost their confidence, improve their credibility with the business and prepare them for the challenges that come up over the course of projects.

4) Train staff in any new project management methodologies you're implementing.

5) Communicate new methodologies to business users, and make sure they're on board with new processes and procedures. If they don't adopt them, you won't be successful.

6) Foster joint accountability between project managers and functional managers by getting them to work together more closely on a daily basis.

7) Monitor and report on the progress of projects to hold people accountable for completing projects successfully.

8) Encourage project managers to communicate better and more frequently with project sponsors and stakeholders by evaluating them on the business value their projects provide rather than solely on whether their projects are completed on time and within budget.