Government Technology - September 2008 - (Page 26)

Vivek Kundra, CTO of Washington, D.C., approaches project management from a financial investment standpoint. IT projects are categorized in five clusters: economic development, education, public safety, health care and government operations. Each cluster is assigned a portfolio manager, so areas can be tracked to determine which projects are viable and should get funds based on benchmarks. Leave Well Enough Alone In Minnesota, one basic tenet of the portfolio management philosophy is one size doesn’t fit all. Some departments are expert at managing their IT projects, said Lally. His office tends to leave them alone. Other departments don’t conduct IT projects often enough to develop strong skills or their track records point to a need for supervision. “We have a stronger working relationship with them,” he said. If a project led by a strong team starts to go astray, members probably will notice early and report the problem, Lally said. Other teams need more careful monitoring. “A lot of projects get into trouble, and they don’t realize that they’re in as deep a trouble because their heads are down working on it, trying very hard to make it successful,” he said. Minnesota’s Planning and Portfolio Management Division sets project management COLORADO EXECUTIVE GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE (EGC) STRUCTURE cuts have kept the division from marketing or updating this resource, he said. Such programs aim to cultivate basic management proficiencies, like organization, planning and budgeting. They also try to promote softer skills, such as communications, team building and anticipating roadblocks. “The skill sets, obviously, that are required are great communication skills, amazing ability to organize, the ability to convene people [and] the ability to spot problems before they explode,” Kundra said. “Clearly people skills are very high on the list,” said Takai. “It has to be someone who can express issues very well, in a noncontentious way — someone who is skilled at collaboration and how you draw people together.” A project manager must be able to communicate with upper management and project team members. “They also, to a certain extent, need to be a public information officer because there are so many constituents who are interested and have a vested interest in the success of these projects,” said Locatis. Those constituents include elected officials and end-users. Along with educational initiatives, government IT officials have developed numerous strategies to promote strong project and portfolio management. SEPT_08 Colorado’s Integrated Tax Architecture project represents the model for how the state will manage all large IT projects. The state Department of Revenue manages the project steering committee, and the steering committee reports project status to the EGC for ﬁnance. The EGC is made up of state finance leaders and IT officials. Office of Information Technology State CIO Finance Executive Governance Committee Independent Verification & Validation (IV&V) Project Sponsor Project Steering Committee Project Manager Department of Revenue Project Team Vendor 26 Source: Office of the State Chief Information Officer. http://www.govtech.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Government Technology - September 2008

Government Technology - September 2008 Contents Point of View On the Scene Big Picture Four Questions for... Up Close Fork in the Road On Time and On Target On the Record, Off the Charts Government’s Greatest Asset? Easy Access Finding the Money Security in the Wireless World The Case for Mobility Spectrum Products Two Cents signal:noise Digital Communities Contents A New Government Paradigm News is Now Transformation Web 2.0 Style Protecting Community Media Thinking Regionally Government at La-Z-Boy Speed

Government Technology - September 2008

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