Profile in Project Management 

Ines Deschamps
Business Operations Manager, Customer Advocacy
Advanced Services for the Global Operations Group
Cisco Systems SCPM '03

Marking New Territory: One Leader's Global Roadmap
Ines Deschamps, a seasoned program manager with Cisco Systems, has led projects in Canada, Europe, Asia, and throughout the United States. The global team she currently leads received Cisco's Project Management Award for the design and implementation of the Global Dashboard prototype. Deschamps also earned the Stanford Certified Project Management Credential in March 2003. She discusses the challenges her team faces, and explains how Stanford Advanced Project Management courses help her meet them.

Virtual Communications and Consensus
The Global Dashboard is an internal tool that increases visibility into Cisco's operational health, for improved management decision-making. "It provides a 'one-stop reporting shopping' experience on Cisco's Advanced Services performance metrics," explains Deschamps. "We got this award because we delivered within times, within budgets, and within scope."

"I led a team of 35 or 40 people from 10 locations across the U.S., Latin American, Europe, Middle East, Asia Pacific, and Japan theaters," she says. "We collected the business requirements, created the technical requirements and launched the prototypes. It's very cross-functional, with input from business, finance, and IT." While the prototype phase is completed, Deschamps stresses that it is part of a much broader, long-term program for the global team.

Efficient, clear communication was a major challenge, requiring regular meetings to gather information and consensus. "Of course, we didn't see each other. It was all virtual. We held weekly meetings with team members in each theater," she continues. "It's not easy to get consensus across the world, but we have been able to do that. Ours is a very new area of service for Cisco and we're finding our own way—there is no road map."

The Stanford APM program provided tools that are helping Deschamps develop that road map with her team.

Creating a Global Puzzle: Analysis and Integration
"When I received the award," says Deschamps, "I was only halfway through the program. Converting Strategy Into Action was the most powerful course I had taken. I still remember the pyramid with portfolio, programs and projects, along with people, process and tools. Those visualizations help you see things in a much broader context. I cannot look at things in isolation, but more as a global puzzle, where all the pieces must fit together at all times." She adds, "You have to be very flexible in these kinds of programs, and I think this kind of a picture helps you think through the processes."

The Organizational Mastery Workshop also was directly relevant. "What was most useful was the Integrated Roadmap, a tool to look at what parts of the strategies were most important to you. In this class, I analyzed aspects of my project, how my PMO was set up—did I have enough staffing, people with the right skill sets, and strong organization. Usually in the workplace you're so busy doing things you don't have the time to look at the whole project in perspective. I learned to examine things in a far more integrated fashion."

Another part of this course gave Deschamps insights into a crucial issue in complex, highly dispersed programs: how to link the critical paths of multiple projects together. "If we start consolidating and integrating releases, we can do things concurrently and maximize resources—for instance, you may be able to consolidate communications, training, preparation, and chain management processes."

Prioritization and Planning for Change
Highly complex, cross-functional projects involve constant change, risks and resource limitations. Deschamps found two exercises gave her tools to factor these areas into her processes.

"The scoring model from Mastering the Project Portfolio shows you how to prioritize with limited resources," she says. "You take into account your resources, productivity, ROI, give it a weighted rating and then give each project an overall rating. This was one of the most effective exercises, and the tools we were given have been invaluable."

"Another exercise that stands out deals with contingency planning. We broke down into teams to examine what would happen if one element of your project is missing—how it might impact the end result of the program," says Deschamps, and adds. "I think the greatest learning experience in the courses was the teamwork exercises—they are the most relevant to the real world."

Future Challenges for Global Leaders
Deschamps feels that defining and acquiring leadership and communications skills that are unique to dispersed, global teams will be increasingly important. She points to many challenges that global team managers face including: creating a cohesive culture without face-to-face interactions, developing effective rewards systems to keep team members motivated, developing systems for long-term projects that allow for change, "listening" in the virtual meeting, and effectively empowering dispersed members to act independently.

While the Stanford APM program did not yet address all these issues when Deschamps took courses, she knows it has helped her in her own growth. "After completing the program I was more aware of doing things in a more structured manner," Deschamps says. "Before I began, my approach was mostly by intuition and experience. Now I have a toolbox I can use."

Stanford APM is offering two courses, Strategies for Contemporary Team Leadership [now Leading Effective Teams] and Project Risk Management, that address these and other issues highly relevant to management professionals involved in dispersed, complex projects.