Our client had recently been hired into his role as VP of IT at a very early stage, pre-commercial biotech company. In fact, this organization was so early stage that our client was tasked with building the IT organization from the ground up. Based on his previous experience, he knew that he would need to establish the basic processes needed to ensure his team understood the business’ needs and met those needs in a timely manner.
To help him achieve this goal, we established foundational concepts and processes to help build the IT team, help the IT team identify its highest-priority initiatives, and report on the progress of those initiatives to senior leadership. In doing so, we helped our client build and organize his own department, prove the effectiveness of his team, and ultimately meet the organizational expectations set upon him.
What We Did
1. Clarified Basic Project Management Processes & Expectations
Given that this organization was still a startup, we needed to establish core, foundational processes to help the IT team identify and complete important IT initiatives. To start, we defined the concept of a project, rolled out basic project management training materials, and instituted basic tools to enable project managers to communicate project progress, as well as key risks and issues.
2. Extended Hands-on Support to Project Managers & Project Teams
To reinforce the processes and expectations established, we followed up with project managers on a weekly basis, as needed, to ask questions about their project management artifacts to ensure adherence and adoption. In doing so, we were able to coach and advise project managers, helping them to improve their skillset and ensuring that project progress was being reported accurately and consistently across the board.
3. Developed Executive-Level Portfolio Summaries
We developed a portfolio Gantt and sent it to senior leadership monthly to show progress against planned projects.
Additionally, we developed a more detailed deep dive deck for the most critical organizational projects to ensure senior leadership had ample information about the deliverables, progress, and risks and issues encountered for each of these projects.
Through these efforts, we helped to proactively demonstrate the productivity of the IT team and, ultimately, showcased our client’s ability to establish and manage a highly effective IT team.
Client Results
As a result, our client showcased their IT team's effectiveness and secured leadership's confidence by completing 82% of projects and adhering to their budget for the year
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IT Projects Completed in 1st Year