A successful partnership

IN THE PAST YEAR, I have had the pleasure of working with a highly dedicated and professional team of project managers—Karen Wadams and the Project Management Council at AT&T. As project sponsors, their deliverables were so clearly defined that we worked backward from the deliverables to create the scope definition document. Their rigorous adherence to the best in project management principles enabled the project team to be successful in delivering complete curricula to AT&T employees on a very aggressive schedule. Now, almost one year later, enrollment in the classes is at an alltime high, increasing both the skills of AT&T employees and the influence of the project management discipline throughout the organization.

Here are the details of this successful partnership.

During the fourth quarter of 1998, the AT&T School of Business and Technology (ASBT), in partnership with the AT&T Project Management Council, defined business requirements outlining the project management discipline within the corporation. As part of an AT&T Best Practices Initiative, ASBT sent out a Request for Proposal to various vendors who could fulfill the training requirements pertaining to the Project Management Master's Certificate Program. As PMSI•Project Mentors migrated through this RFP process, it became apparent that they would be able to meet the following criteria:

■ Teach the principles according to PMI^®, directly mapping to the PMBOK^® Guide

■ Offer a program that would meet AT&T's high-quality requirements

■ Provide a rigorous hiring and training program to certify instructors

■ Meet the demand of course offerings

■ Offer a condensed version of the current program

■ Show proven successes in project management

■ Offer customization for AT&T

■ Participate in development of nontraditional courseware

■ Partner with the AT&T Project Management Council to meet their business requirements

■ Partner with Stevens Institute of Technology to meet their academic requirements.

Once PMSI•Project Mentors Inc. was awarded the contract as the vendor to develop and deliver the Master's Certificate Program for AT&T, both ASBT and the vendor knew that a lot of work would have to be completed within a relatively short timeframe.

The first step was to assign a project team that would define the requirements, establish a timeline of milestones, design and develop the curriculum, pilot the courseware, modify and rework the courseware as necessary, and train the instructors.

Once the team was established, the team leaders met at the Stevens Institute of Technology campus in Hoboken, N.J., USA. During this time all of the existing vendor's courseware was reviewed, Stevens' academic requirements were compiled, and the AT&T business requirements were reviewed and documented. The draft version of the Project Management Master's Certificate Program was completed. Team members' roles and responsibilities were determined, as well as the dynamics of the project team, that is, the creation of the preliminary project charter document.

Within two weeks, the draft version of the project charter and program requirements was refined into a final version and approved by both AT&T and the vendor. The first course was rolled out in mid-February 1999, followed by a release of the remaining six courses within four months. By the end of 1999, the program was offered to approximately 2,000 project managers, who would have the opportunity to complete the master's certificate within the next two years.

What made the transition of this project so successful? As we considered this question, we knew the answer:respectful relationships. Everyone worked together as one unified team to complete the deliverables. As problems arose, there was no finger-pointing, no one saying “Not my problem.” The entire project team focused energy on the problem at hand, worked together long and hard to overcome the issues to meet the desired commitments. As the vendor worked on designing and creating the courseware and training the instructors, AT&T worked on defining the requirements, editing and reviewing the products, reproducing and distributing the courseware, and performing instructional evaluations of content, design, and instructor presentations. Each Monday, a four-hour meeting was conducted with various members of the team to review, re-analyze, re-evaluate risks, and to plan for the next successful deliverable. This team effort was so powerful because the causes of problems were not only quickly identified, but action plans were also put into place by all parties to resolve open issues and jeopardies. Within a few short weeks, this team was no longer known as “AT&T” and “PMSI•Project Mentors” but was referred to as the “Project Management Curricula Team”—the team that would successfully create and deliver a Master's Certificate Program for AT&T employees.

Once the pilots were completed and changes identified, this team stayed intact to complete the Stevens Institute of Technology approval and ACE PONSI/CCRS (American Council for Education) accreditation. Because such care had been taken to gather the requirements at the beginning of the project, it was no surprise to the team that approvals were granted after the initial meeting with Stevens. Stevens reviewed the completed courseware during a one-day meeting, made a few minor recommendations and awarded their approval. Upon successful completion of the AT&T program, each student is now awarded a formal Master's Certificate, co-signed by both the dean of the Graduate School of Stevens Institute of Technology and the director of ASBT. As the next step, a board associated with ACE PONSI/CCRS reviewed and approved the program. Again, with a few modifications, each course within the program was recommended for both undergraduate and graduate level credits.

Credit for the success of the project also goes to the infrastructure of each company, and the support they provided to us. The management teams of both AT&T and the vendor were instrumental in helping us overcome some of the major boundaries and roadblocks. The vendor was able to redesign the infrastructure of their staff in order to meet the project deadlines, hiring experienced personnel to fill gaps as needed within the project. AT&T's current staff and temporary consultants assisted in the project management aspect and final evaluation and approval of the courseware.

As part of this project, we, along with the AT&T Project Management Center of Excellence and the AT&T Project Management Council, have designed and developed an AT&T Executive Program for Vice-Presidents and Directors. The four-hour workshop leads top executives through the strategic planning phase integrating the project management discipline and through the implementation phase utilizing project management teams.

BASED ON THE SUCCESSFUL relationship resulting from this endeavor, we are not only expecting to continue the partnership, but are also looking forward to exploring the feasibility of creating advanced curricula. ■