and that starts with the ticket-buying process. Whether they're trying to see their favorite band or searching for something new, consumers want to easily buy tickets to get them in the door.
For Ticketmaster International, based in London, England, that means creating an online experience customized to each of the 21 markets in which it operates. Since shoppers in each country have specific e-commerce expectations, the organization's project teams target products accordingly. But with different lines of business working to meet their own goals across borders, Ticketmaster's teams struggled to prioritize requests.
“In the past, it wasn't necessarily benefit- or value-based. It was he-who-shouts-loudest-based,” says Gerry McDonnell, senior vice president of technology.
“Two questions are always asked: What is the value, and how will it contribute to strategic objectives?”
—Christie Plumb, Ticketmaster International
Then, in 2010, the organization merged with Live Nation, which significantly boosted the size of the business. As the demand for internal resources ballooned, the company needed a better way to manage its project portfolio. That's why it chartered a project management office (PMO).
“That demand from the business would always exceed our supply,” Mr. McDonnell says. “So we had to make sure we were doing work that was going to deliver that value.”
The PMO's first task was to push the right projects to the top of the list. So it started by assessing how each initiative would support Ticketmaster's strategic goals and deliver a return on investment.
To create a baseline that would help the PMO better evaluate projects across markets, the team introduced a business case template. This document aimed to help product teams explain the value of their projects and outline needed resources.
“From our perspective, it would allow us to prioritize those projects easier, because we're able to compare like with like,” says John McIntyre, head of the PMO. “But initially, it's fair to say that didn't go down well.”
Product teams bristled at the prospect of additional paperwork. They complained that the template was too long and requested details, such as projected financials, they were unable to provide.
“At best, people got cross,” Mr. McIntyre says. “At worst, people were probably switching off and not actually requesting projects.”
The PMO hired a business-case template expert to help get the lines of business on board and then rolled out a simplified document asking product teams to describe their projects’ goals and requirements in their own words. From there, business analysts created a more standardized business case that the PMO could use to compare results.
“Depending on the size of the project, the business case might not have to be very big,” says Christie Plumb, software project manager. “But two questions are always asked: What is the value, and how will it contribute to strategic objectives?”
With this information in hand, the PMO then turned to delivery timelines. The team knew it needed more accurate schedule estimations to ensure it was prioritizing projects the company actually could deliver.
“Previously, strategic planning was done on a wish for something to be done at a particular time. Invariably, that would lead to disappointment.”
—Gerry McDonnell, Ticketmaster International
“Previously, strategic planning was done on a wish for something to be done at a particular time,” Mr. McDonnell says. “Invariably, that would lead to disappointment.”
Because teams were setting delivery dates based on when they wanted a new feature or functionality to go live, project timelines weren't always realistic. That meant milestones were often missed, which caused delays for other teams working on the release.
To address this pain point, the PMO put the responsibility for defining project timelines in the hands of software engineers. This increased the accuracy of schedule estimates—and allowed business leaders to determine which projects would deliver the fastest ROI.
“We're able to give the business a much better view on what could actually be achieved within a particular timeframe,” Mr. McDonnell says.
The PMO now runs annual strategic planning as a project—with a charter and a named project manager. It works closely with business units in charge of each market throughout the entire process, from competitor analysis to the moment budgets are approved at the end of the year.
“We work with the business to make sure that the priorities they have and the projects they want to deliver align to our products and the capacity we have in terms of people, expertise and systems,” Mr. McIntyre says.
WORLD TOUR
Once the right projects are selected, the PMO focuses on completing them as efficiently as possible. To this end, Ticketmaster's project managers curate a wiki of internal best practices based on lessons learned.
“By looking at what other people have done, they're taking that learning firsthand from their peers,” Mr. McIntyre says. “They're avoiding making the same mistakes.”
This format also keeps planning and execution guidelines flexible. Because regulations and work cultures vary across the company's markets, the PMO distinguishes between strict compliance processes and those that can be customized accordingly.
“Demands that the consumer and clients place on us change. So, there is never a best practice. There is practice that can always be better.”
—Gerry McDonnell
“In the PMO team alone, we're in six different countries across multiple time zones. Everyone has their own slightly different, slightly local way of working,” Mr. McIntyre says. “We chose to embrace that.”
Asking project managers to take ownership of the guidelines has also kept them engaged with the process, Mr. McIntyre says.
“If the PMO had gone in and said, ‘Here is a framework. Here are the rules. You must follow these processes to deliver your projects,’ we probably wouldn't be around today. In fact, we probably wouldn't have been around a week after we formed.”
By integrating itself into Ticketmaster's culture, the PMO has been able to find new ways for project teams to collaborate and communicate across the business.
For instance, the PMO created a web-based tool called the Dependency Master. Known informally as the “Death Star,” the tool outlines dependencies between global projects—and highlights red items that are putting related initiatives at risk.
“Managing dependencies before the PMO got involved was a very difficult thing,” says Ms. Plumb. “A project would be going full-speed, but then something would come out of nowhere and blow all the delivery dates out of the water.”
Now project managers can easily identify cross-departmental issues that could impact delivery dates. And the PMO engages executive sponsors through project steering group meetings to help teams prevent these risks from being realized.
“We introduced steering groups because we wanted to put the level of accountability for delivering the project with the people that were able to influence that the most,” Mr. McIntyre says.
By training executives on what they were accountable for—and mentoring project managers on how to manage up—the PMO ensures these expensive meetings, held every two to four weeks, run efficiently and effectively. Although the meetings often are just minutes long, they give project managers the opportunity to get direction from key stakeholders.
For instance, if the project's scope, schedule or budget needs to be changed, the project manager creates an impact assessment and sends it out to the steering group for review. The group can then make a decision on the issue in the next meeting.
“It means that any changes that need to happen can be made,” says Ms. Plumb. “And it means that the projects are much more likely to be on track because you have that support when you need it.”
A Global Presence
Ticketmaster International's PMO comprises four sections spread across six countries. The PMO Hub and the process office are located in London, while the project managers are based in several other European countries and Canada. Its US$10 million portfolio of approximately 25 projects is managed by a staff of 30 project practitioners.
The PMO Hub focuses on ensuring a “portfolio view” through reporting and strategic planning, while maintaining and assuring delivery guidelines.
Software/analytics:
Project managers in this section work long-term on specific projects. They are “agile evangelists” focused on continuous delivery.
Implementation/change:
Project managers in this section use a combination of agile and traditional techniques to deliver technical projects (e.g., new products) and change projects (e.g., launching the organization into new markets).
The process office focuses on process improvement projects, Kaizen and process training/mentoring.
GOING PLATINUM
Getting buy-in each step of the way has helped the PMO keep the company's entrepreneurial spirit alive—while still improving processes and performance.
“The Ticketmaster corporate culture is a funny one,” Mr. McIntyre says. “We've grown by acquisition, so there's a lot of people here that still have that startup, entrepreneurial feel. We have a challenge of trying to keep that energy, keep that innovation alive while recognizing we're actually a global company with a number of products—and it's massively complicated.”
Ticketmaster International offices in London, England
Given the organization's size, the PMO team avoids a top-down approach and instead uses incentives to find efficiencies. The company's Kaizen program, run by the PMO, encourages individuals across the company to find ways to streamline daily tasks. Kaizen is the Japanese concept of continuous improvement, so the program rewards employees for identifying potential process improvements, which the PMO can implement across the organization to save teams a few minutes each day.
“So many PMOs tend to focus on the big, high-profile projects, and that's an important part of the business. But the other side is the small incremental change,” Mr. McIntyre says. “That leads to savings that makes the business more efficient.”
“So many PMOs tend to focus on the big, high-profile projects, but the other side is the small incremental change.” —John McIntyre, Ticketmaster International |
Ticketmaster's human resources team, for instance, was inspired by the Kaizen program to find ways to reduce the amount of time it spends scrubbing payroll data each month. Team members cut the time from one day to one hour—with an end goal of 30 minutes.
“We have a culture of continuous improvement, which I'm very proud of,” Mr. McDonnell says, “because projects change. Demands that the consumer and clients place on us change. So, there is never a best practice. There is practice that can always be better.”
The PMO also has been able to slash the amount of time it takes to develop features on one Ticketmaster product used in 12 markets. It used to take up to a year to get a feature released across those markets. Through planning, automation and batching pieces of the process, the PMO has reduced that to as little as 10 days.
“By putting repeatable processes in place, we're able to deliver a lot more with the same amount of people and the same systems,” Mr. McIntyre says.
Regular reporting also has helped the PMO improve its project performance. Each Friday, project managers send out one-sheet status reports to everyone involved with their projects. Stakeholders get updates on status, risks, dependencies and any impediments to a project's success. The PMO also produces a monthly report that gives market directors and the executive team a digest of what's happening with all the projects across Ticketmaster's portfolio.
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“We don't go into too much detail, but we make sure we're explaining not just what we're delivering, but what the value is and what objectives we're trying to achieve,” Mr. McIntyre says.
For stakeholders who want more detailed information, project managers link to the more in-depth documents they prepare for their core team. That way, if someone wants to know what is causing a project's red status, he or she can drill down into upcoming milestones, project challenges and the risks the team is managing.
“This way, stakeholders and sponsors can know that what they're hearing from the project manager is the truth,” Ms. Plumb says.
Through a combination of collaboration, creativity and transparency, the PMO has helped Ticketmaster make better business decisions—and deliver more reliable project results. Improvements to the organization's project environment have been built on a foundation of clear communications and trust, Mr. McIntyre says.
“The project teams communicate a lot more regularly and effectively with the business. The business is more involved in the projects. And because we deliver what we say we're going to deliver when we said we'd deliver it, the business trusts us.” PM