Introduction
Hello and welcome to this video entitled Why Project Management is Imperative to Professional Services Companies.
My name is Michael Roberts, Vice President of Sales and Marketing here at SPK and Associates, and I’m here with Edwin Chung.
Michael:
Ed, feel free to introduce yourself.
Edwin:
Hi, I’m Ed. I’m VP of Professional Services here at SPK.
We’re here today to give you a little bit of a peek behind the curtain into our consulting delivery and share what we think are a few important points about how we help clients get value from the work that we do.
How Project Management Contributes to Success
Michael:
Ed, first question: How do we manage these projects, and how does that contribute to the success of engineering and IT projects, especially when it comes to dealing with really complex customer requirements?
Edwin:
Let me start by saying that for projects where it’s not important to know beforehand how much the total spend will be and when it will finish, project management does not contribute.
That’s where project management comes in, though. We want to do good planning upfront because we have a lot of experience doing it.
Part of good planning is planning for the unexpected, which, ironically, is expected. Including that aspect, we aim to be agile—not just by using an agile process but also by staying flexible. This way, we avoid the “come back in one year, oops we missed it” scenario.
Being flexible allows us to pivot during a project because complex requirements often change. Sometimes it’s because the world changes during a one-year project, but more often, requirements change due to new project players or additional integrations that need to be considered.
Good project management allows us to meet deadlines, stay within budget, and adapt requirements to best meet business needs. Ultimately, it’s about delivering value to the customer at the end of the day, which is what we focus on.
Challenges Without Project Management
Michael:
What are some of the key challenges we faced when we didn’t have project management practices, and how have we overcome them?
Edwin:
Let me be personal for a moment. Without good project management, it often felt like every deadline was a scramble. If two deadlines landed on the same day, it was a double scramble. At best, it was stressful, and at worst, mistakes were made. This would lead to another scramble the following day.
By implementing project management practices, we’ve avoided those stressful situations internally. For customers, it means regular and predictable status updates, partial deliveries, and early previews like the first 10% or 20% of a system.
This transparency builds credibility with customers and ensures everyone—from internal teams to management—feels more comfortable with progress.
Tools and Strategies for Project Management Success
Michael:
Over the last three to five years, we’ve implemented several tools to help manage projects effectively. Could you share some of the strategies and tools we use to ensure projects are delivered on time, on budget, and meet customer expectations?
Edwin:
The biggest tool we rely on is Atlassian Jira. It’s our core system, and everything flows through it. We’ve also selected key add-ons, such as:
- Structure: For Gantt charts.
- Tempo Timesheets: For time tracking.
- Power BI Integration: For automated reporting.
These tools help us track things granularly or at a higher level, depending on the audience. They also ensure we don’t overlook the final 20% of a project—like post-go-live tasks or presenting results to the customer.
Good project management ensures we record success metrics from day one, so when a project closes, we can present outcomes like staying on time and under budget. Without tracking these, they can easily be forgotten or assumed to be negative.
Focusing on Business Value
Michael:
Projects aren’t just about technical deliverables. They’re about achieving business goals. Could you elaborate on how our approach ensures this?
Edwin:
Exactly. A project isn’t just about migrating data or implementing a tool. It’s about making the business more productive, faster to market, compliant with regulations, or improving engineer morale.
Our process ensures we align technical work with these broader business goals. Metrics play a big role in demonstrating how we’ve delivered value, whether it’s compliance, efficiency, or cost-effectiveness.
Conclusion
Michael:
Thanks, Ed, for giving us a peek into why project management is so critical for these types of engagements.
To those watching, thank you for your time! Be sure to like this video and subscribe to the SPK YouTube channel for more content like this.
Until next time—thanks for watching!
