About Analyze

Analyze Consulting was founded in 2007 with the purpose to help businesses get to the bottom of and solve business inefficiencies. The cornerstone of this dream is a passion for quality business analysis and project management.

We are motivated and rewarded by helping businesses be more efficient and solve problems.

We believe that the best way for us to do this is to start with a deep and thorough understanding of the problem or opportunity. The discipline and insight that we apply to this enables us to be confident and truly objective about defining the best possible solution.

Our vision is to be the partner of choice in solving business challenges through the appropriate use of technology, process and people.

Project Management

/Project Management

PMO evolution – how to survive in an Agile world

The traditional role of a Project Management Office (PMO) is to define the standards for project management within an organisation.  Sounds simple enough, right?  Define the rules and then ensure everyone sticks to it… But when “the rules” in this context actually means finding the best, most effective and innovate ways to ensure strategic business alignment and delivery success, it’s easy to understand why PMOs constantly need to reinvent themselves. As project management continues to make significant shifts toward faster, smarter delivery, the key to survival for any PMO is finding the best way to facilitate agile practices by blending the right mix of technology, people and process. Leveraging technology to automate PMO tasksArtificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) technologies are being used across many different industries to automate mundane and labour-intensive tasks. For the modern PMO, it offers the opportunity to automate all of the day-to-day tasks related to data collection, tracking and reporting. This is great, not only from a time-saving perspective but because it also means the PMO team can shift their focus to activities where they can add more value.      Building a data analytics strategy A PMO’s power lies in its understanding of when and how projects succeed and fail, not only from a pure delivery perspective but also looking at post-implementation success factors like market share, customer satisfaction, employee adoption, increased profits and sales. Having access to this information allows the PMO to properly guide teams in a way that ensures a much higher rate of success. Understanding governance within an agile contextWith the shift to agile delivery methods, governance, visibility and control are all things that typically fall by the wayside due to the misconception that it only succeeds in slowing delivery down. The PMO’s mission should be finding the right governance fit for the industry type, organisational style and delivery scale by continually evaluating and assessing with the goal to make continuous adjustments and refinements. Placing a greater emphasis on coaching and upskilling With the shift to agile, PMOs typically expand to include people from across the business who come with a wealth of business expertise and experience but aren’t necessarily technically skilled from a delivery perspective. The PMO needs to step into a coaching role to support these new team members in effective ways of working while also building a better understanding of project dynamics, challenges and key considerations. Conducting a PMO audit It’s easy to fall into the trap of merely offering the PMO services that you think all PMOs should offer, but do these really make any material difference to the business? The purpose of a PMO audit would be to take a critical look at each and every service that is offered, marrying this up to what your business stakeholders need, and then stopping and starting services accordingly. In this way, you’re ensuring that you are focusing your collective energies in all the right places, thereby cementing your place within the broader organisation. Struggling with any PMO-related issues within your organisation?  Give Analyze a call on 021 447 5696 or email us on info@analyze.co.za to find out how we can help.

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Technological advancement and its impact on Project Management

Technology advancement continues to drive change throughout all facets of our personal and business lives.  No wonder then that it has also had a notable impact on the way we run projects. Today, modern project managers have realised that their success largely relies on the strength of the technological tools they choose to exploit to their (and their team’s) benefit. Letting technology take care of the mundane Consider those everyday project management tasks like reviewing and updating schedules, prepping presentations, sending out status reports and following up on statuses of issues and other work items.  These types of activities typically need to be executed regularly, in many cases daily, and can therefore become very time consuming. Without the luxury of a project administrator to assist with these tasks, which for most organisations is a resource overhead they simply can’t afford, project managers are leaning on project management software and AI tools to streamline and automate repetitive tasks.    The best of breed project management tools today are able to instantly give you a view of what work is in progress, identify what items are lagging behind and predict where you are likely to run into issues in order to help you proactively manage the situation rather than reactively.   This frees up the project manager to focus on those big-ticket items that add the most value, like recruiting skilled resources, people management, managing vendor relationships, drafting remediation plans for high impact risks, and focusing on integration management as a key driver for project success. Empowering your project team through improved accessibility and collaboration Thanks to project management software and cloud technologies, teams are now able to access and upload important project files, submit completed pieces of work for review and provide updates on what they’re working on in real-time without having to attend lengthy progress update meetings or book time with the project manager directly.  This provides a greater level of accountability and productivity while still giving the project manager the information they need to properly manage the project. As far as communication goes, today even email is outdated to a certain degree.  Teams are making use of various online chat, dial-in and screen sharing facilities to collaborate without even having to be in the same place at the same time.  Questions can be posed and answered instantly and team members can draw on the expertise and input of other team members who may even be based in a different city or country. All of this makes the project manager’s job much easier while fostering a highly collaborative environment where people manage their own time more effectively. Critical project management skills – a new view Traditional managerial and people skills are no longer giving project managers the edge.  Technological experience and expertise now play a big role in any hiring process and project managers therefore need to demonstrate that they have the right software and application knowledge to get the job done in the most effective and efficient way. The PMI has been promoting a concept of a person’s Technology Quotient which refers to their ability to adapt, manage and integrate technology based on the needs of the organisation and the project at hand. Data Analytics has also emerged as a key project management skill.  This involves the ability to analyse data from previous projects to identify trends, patterns, and an understanding of common risks and issues that can be applied to future projects to ensure a higher level of success. As you can see, project management today is starting to look very different to project management 5 to 10 years ago.  To gain access to our team of technologically proficient project management professionals, give us a call on 021 447 5696 or email us on info@analyze.co.za today.  We pride ourselves in being able to find the right resource to suit your specific project management consulting needs.

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Looking at what sets large-scale projects apart from regular projects

All project can be complex to manage, but there’s something to be said about the extra complexity that large-scale projects introduce. There are varying opinions on what exactly a large-scale project is, but to us it refers to a project that requires a much larger team (think 50 people plus), at least a year or more to complete and a much larger investment than your average project might.

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How a component-based approach can improve the delivery of new products and features within your business

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time of course… The same goes for developing a software product. Trying to tackle all of the features and functionality at once is going to feel like you’ve taken on an impossible task, and risk of failure will be high. By breaking that product down into its standalone components, you can start building the product up, one feature at a time.

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Compliance in agile teams

How to manage compliance within an agile context

Most companies are subject to some form of regulatory obligation, whether you’re building a product, or providing a service, you have to operate within a certain set of rules which have been created to ensure that your product or service is not only safe for use, but also provides value to your customers. Compliance at its core is being able to prove that you are doing what is expected according to this prescribed set of rules.

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How to define the best implementation strategy for your project

How to define the best implementation strategy for your project

The right implementation strategy is an essential component to being able to claim project success. Your project team could have spent months, even years, building what’s perceived to be the perfect product, service or process, but if it’s not implemented correctly, you could just be looking at wasted effort at the end of the day.

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Project implementation

Tips for defining and measuring project implementation success

In the cut-throat world of project delivery, it can be easy to lose sight of the real reason why you’re doing what you’re doing. With immense pressure for projects to hit their planned go live date, it’s easy to understand how teams may be eager to claim success as soon as they’ve crossed that finishing line without taking a step back to compare the project results to the original project goals.

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Backlog grooming

Backlog grooming – the what, when & how

For projects following an agile methodology, the term “backlog” refers to pieces of work, otherwise known as “user stories”, that are not currently being worked on. In traditional project thinking, the backlog would also constitute the project scope, i.e. what needs to be delivered.  The only difference here being, your backlog can (and likely will) evolve as the product you’re working on grows and new requirements and features become known.

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