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Cinda Voegtli - Example Consulting Efforts
Created and staffed a project management office and support group for a growing wireless networking company, reporting to the VP of Engineering as a consultant. Defined development program for 25 new project managers, including training, monthly PM knowledge-sharing sessions, online resources, and onsite PM library. Oversaw execution of the company’s 30 to 50 simultaneous projects. Defined monthly executive management review meeting format and content. Provided status reports to VP monthly, covering specific projects, overall progress of project management in the company, and project manager development needed. Defined and executed project support services which included facilitating project kickoff meetings for new projects, providing individual coaching and deliverables reviews, providing on-call advice for project problems and objective evaluations, and facilitating “lessons learned” meetings. Trained an in-house project manager and transitioned management of the function to him.
At request of VP of a product group, provided executive coaching to Technical Directors at a major semiconductor equipment manufacturer and facilitated problem-solving sessions to support VP goals of accelerating the Directors’ development in areas of strategy formulation, operations of their departments, and personal development.
Definedportfolio management decision-making and resource management processes and deliverables for biotech, medical device, chemical, wireless networking, and web development companies. Used the processes to help those companies create project pipeline lists and start regular management review of portfolio status. Provided guidance for using portfolio techniques during annual budgeting cycles.
Provided strategic planning, portfolio management, project management, and operations process consulting to the Deputy Director of the Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO) for the Congressionally-mandated government-industry initiative to transform the national airspace by 2025. Facilitated regular meetings with key stakeholders across six government agencies. Worked with Chief-of-Staff to set up operating processes for this ‘start-up’ Office. Consulted to Deputy Director on multi-stakeholder action planning approaches and JPDO governance responsibilities for the industry-government program portfolios to be executed over a number of years. Provided material in these areas to be used for writing initial volumes of the National Plan submitted to Congress.
Launched “communities of practice” in the IT department of a major telecommunications provider, reporting to the Executive Director. Goal of the program was to support the executive’s mandate that the 100+ project managers be developed such they could manage projects across regional sites and unfamiliar legacy systems. Led sessions with project managers and Technical Directors at 3 sites across the country to determine most important immediate learning needs and get buy-in to the program. Facilitated workshop with the in-house PM Mentoring committee to take inputs from project manager surveys, focus groups, and the facilitated sessions and design the initial community activities and launch. Trained head of mentoring committee for her role leading the community of practice. Provided recommendations for the creation of a new PM Intranet, designed to support PMs across all sites with materials such as templates, knowledge sharing session announcements and presentations, and directories of expertise.
Createdcross-functional methodology with accompanying reference materials for wireless products company. Designed project phase framework withexecutive approval points andworked with functional managers to define cross-functional deliverables and dependencies between groups. Materials included activity flow diagrams, how-to process descriptions, checklists, and one-page summaries of project documents. Created and delivered tutorial that was taught once per quarter to orient new employees to the company’s development processes and project management. Designed just-in-time workshop materials that were used each time a new team kicked off a project
Assessed state of a significantly-behind-schedule IT project for the Director of Data Warehouse projects at a major oil company. Led project session with the team and key business users to re-scope the project and allow recovery and delivery of most critical functionality within the original deadline. Coached project manager through remainder of project and provided the Director with updates to the company PM process to avoid future such project delays.
Reviewed plan for new fast-track CRM implementation project and identified organizational and technical risk factors that could lead to significant cost and schedule overruns. Recommended strategies for user testing, critical team skill level changes, and approaches for managing complex feature integration.
After an acquisition, led a project to unify the development methodologies in use across 3 different product development sites of a major oil services firm. Led team of representatives from each site to negotiate common process framework, executive sign-offs, and major reviews. Created new unified project methodology documentation for use by all 3 sites. Along with workbook defining use of the process for various types of projects across the divisions.
Example engagements continued on next page
Cinda Voegtli - Example Consulting Efforts (continued)
Audited development processes for the Director of Project Management at a maker of desktop and enterprise software. A full-featured project management methodology was in place in the company; however, some projects still experienced significant delays. Recommended enhancements to their process to avoid those delays, specific training for their project managers, and knowledge transfer activities for getting the expertise of their faster teams transferred to those experiencing difficulties.
Recommended management approach changes and project interventions to Directors of Project Management at two biotech companies to ensure accurate understanding of project scope, and adequate resource availability across multiple functional groups (information system, facilities construction, process development, and regulatory).
Audited the contract manufacturing organization’s portion of a new drug introduction program for the CEO and VP of Manufacturing of the lead company. Assessed state of the project timeline against critical regulatory milestones. Assessed capabilities of the project management office and its staff, and the soundness and completeness of their processes for planning, tracking, and communication. Recommended critical changes to their team approach, cross-functional planning, and cross-organization communication.
Instituted project manager and project team member 360 degree performance appraisal process and assessment forms to support PM capability development goals. Defined project reward and recognition programs.
Created quick reference workbooks for companies with existing project management methodology documentation, designed to helpthese growing organizations spread the use of the process quickly across all project teams by helping each team understand how the process should be used on their particular type of project and thus achieving more process “buy-in” among software developers who were “process-skeptical.”
Created ISO-9000 and FDA GMP-compliant development process for medical device manufacturer to ensure all development work fulfilled the company's Quality System requirements, reporting to the Senior Director of R&D. Included detailed process guidelines, document review checklists, quality-related completion criteria for all deliverables, design review checklists, and document templates for project plans, specifications, test plans, and status reports with full annotated outlines. Developed related materials for corporate training programs.
Introduced rapid development methods for the VP/General Manager of a major semi-conductor manufacturing equipment company division, to help recover a critical project, then spread the techniques to other efforts. Trained entire development staff on project management geared to rapid development. Served as his interim project management office – led application of the new techniques to subsequent projects, coached his project managers, led cross-functional requirements definition sessions and lessons learned meetings, and reported status to the VP. Developed and delivered customized courses on project leadership and meeting management.
Audited in-progress medical information system project to assess schedule status risks andpartner suitability, reporting to the VP/General Manager of the division. Identified major issues, led re-plan of project and re-negotiation of partner contract.Partnerlacked sufficientdesign review and testing expertise and had muchlower project management maturity. Defined development methodology to use on the project to ensure partner deliverables were on time and of high quality.Established project communication expectations, worked with project manager at partner to set schedule and develop requirements, and staffed and managed a software quality assurance effort at the medical company. Managed remainder of project and met re-planned project schedule within 2 weeks of target. .
Audited in-progress manufacturing accounting software project, assessing schedule completeness and reviewing all project deliverables. Produced detailed recommendations including critical cross-functional work missing from theschedule; additional project documents needed, and improvements needed to project meetings and status reporting.Worked with project manager to correct deficiencies. Delivered presentation to CEO and functional VPs to communicate project status, actions needed to reduce project risks and hold the desired schedule, and enhancements recommendedfor their overallproject management approach.
Negotiated common process elements to be used by a networking system company working with an outside development partner, at the behest of the VP of Engineering. Created process tutorial and held joint workshop to educate partner on the company's project management and development approaches. Led group through decision-making workshop to negotiate common process for the joint project.
Defined rapid development methodology and templates for an industrial automation company with no formal project management process and little PM experience. Reporting to the General Manager, coached the new project manager and team through application of the techniques on two critical company programs. Facilitated kickoff meetings, design and testing reviews, scope tradeoff meetings, and team meetings. Provided regular status reports to executives. Coached Dir of Customer Service on improvements to the company’s product launch processes as the company introduced major new platforms with significant customer-specials development. Provided Generagl Manager with assessment of staff’s suitability for strategic growth expected in next year. Facilitated strategic planning session with executives for upcoming year’s programs.