How an IT Project Manager Can Help Turn Customers Into Raving Fans

If you want your Customers to trust you and become raving fans of your Managed Services, you must grow your project management expertise.

But if Projects are not properly Managed, they are a losing proposition.

Have you ever thought about justnot doing them?

The problem is that poorly managed projects are not delivered On-Time or On-Budget, causing both profit losses and eroding Customer relationshipsFYI: the #1 reason MSPs contact Advance Global MSP Coaching is because their Service Delivery is just not delivering. Most of the time it is because the MSP has matured to the point where Projects are disrupting the Service Delivery Operational workflow.

This is based on experience, working with a Service Delivery Team that grew its project portfolio from 8 projects per year to over 500 per year over a 9-year period.

While not all projects were delivered On-Time and/or On-Budget, by developing strong Project Methodologies, we were able to reduce the losses to less than 10% of the time.

Developing well thought-out project methodologies created a high demand, not only for projects, but also for Managed Services after the projects were completed. It also reduced the churn as New Customers felt the love while being onboarded and became very sticky without disrupting the Managed Services Support Team.

Playing Nice: Project Work & Managed Services Support

It takes finesse, and a background in Resource Planning, to get both Project Work and Managed Services Support (along with all the other Types of Customer requests we deal with) to play nicely and not disrupt each other’s world.

I would like to say that background includes PMP training and certification, but truth be told, only part of PMI’s PMP certification came in handy. What’s useful is understanding where PMI is coming from, and the MSP reality, while weaving a blend of the two for the Customers benefit - not to mention the bottom-line.

I fundamentally believe that project managers in the MSP universe are more like project coordinators than managers. The reason I say this is that according to the project management Institute (PMI), project managers in the MSPs world do not have total control over the project, the lead techs do.

What the MSPs project manager is responsible for is making sure all the information needed to deliver a project On-Time and On-Budget is available and gathered. They are also responsible for taking ownership of the project so the salesperson can be released to go out and sell something.

But the most important responsibility is to keep the customer updated on every facet of the project - especially when the project is going to start and end, and when there are going to be disruptions to production. At the end of the project, the MSP's project manager is responsible to close out the project, including facilitating the handoff between the project team and the support team.

As you can see by this list of responsibilities, none of this is directly managing the project. The project plan and the execution of all tasks within the project plan are the responsibilities of the lead Tech. Now, it is logical to expect the two will collaborate, but for the project manager, it’s more of a facilitation aspect than actually controlling the project.

This is not to say that the role of an MSP's project manager is not critical. As we have discussed before, the world of an MSP is quite different. If all we did was manage projects, project management would be easy…but we do not.

We live in a world where customers’ requests can take on 11 different flavors. Only one of these types is project work. And none of these types are exclusively staffed by a single person, group, or team of engineers.

This creates an environment where an MSP's project manager needs to have exceptionally good negotiation and collaboration skills, as well as communication skills. Most of their time, responsibilities, and activities are in the form of communication (go figure).

Here is a list of MSP project management responsibilities:

·      Sales: What was sold

·      Customer: What was purchased

·      Lead Tech: SoW and BoM

·      Lead Tech: Project Plan

·      Dispatch: Project Scheduling

·      Support Team: Escalation Availability/Need

·      Customer: Start Date, End Date, and anticipated disruptions to their production environment

·      All Stakeholders: On-Time and On-Budget weekly project updates

·      Customer: Out-of-Scope (OoS) work that is being done and will be invoiced

·      Customer: Close out project with task review, OoS review, final billing and Lessons Learned

·      Support Team: Acceptance Sign-Off

·      Internal 360 Stakeholders: Lessons Learned and Project Execution Rating 

Compare that to what is missing from the PMI world of responsibilities:

·      Creating a Project Charter

·      Identifying a Project Champion

·      Developing the following plans-

o   Execution

o   Scope Management

o   Risk Mitigation

o   RACI chart and Stakeholder management

o   Communications

o   Project Budget

o   Predecessors and Successors

o   Success Criteria

o   Staffing

o   Purchasing

See the difference?

There are two ways to move from having no Project Methodologies to WOWing Customers into Raving Fans:

1)    Hire a Project Manager

2)    Send a Service Manager to PM training

Both have their pros and cons.

When to Hire a Project Manager

Project Managers, I could talk all day about the pros and cons, the benefits, and challenges, when to hire and when not to hire.

As a matter of fact, one day I did. I was asked to speak to a Peer Group of MSP owners about when it was time to hire the first Project Manager. The answer is: as soon as you cannot afford not to.

At some point, doing project work will be so disruptive to the rest of the Types of Requests MSPs receive, that you need to hire someone to manage them. This way, they are no longer disrupting the Managed Services Support – you know, the Bread-and-Butter MRR.

An MSP normally realizes that the project work is disrupting the organization when the disruptions to the project cause them to be over time and over budget more than the cost of hiring someone. But what is really happening is, projects are being scheduled first, leaving no room for Managed Service Support. The Managed Service Support has a contractual obligation attached to it, so it trumps project scheduling.

If an MSP paused (to make a brief stop or delay; wait; hesitate) to look at the historical data and determine how many Incidents, Moves, Adds, Changes, and Installs they do per week or per day, then never overschedule the staff with project work, there would be fewer disruptions and no need to hire a Project Manager.

Well, not really. After not being able to pause, the next biggest problem is an MSP’s ability to communicate. Don’t believe me? Ask your Service Coordinator how many open tickets there are and who is working on what in the organization. Most likely, they do not know because no one has communicated with them. If the Service Coordinator does not know, then the Customer surely does not know.

Training the Service Manager to Manage Projects

So, where does that leave us?

How about option two: Send a Service Manager to PM training

1)    Make sure the Service Manager has Project Management training and expertise before selling the 1st Project.

a.    Which means, starting with defining what is a project, so you know when you sold one.

2)    Sit down with the Service Manager and determine how many hours per week you expect them to work as a(n):

a.    Service Manager – focusing on Company and Individual Performance and Performance Improvements.

b.    Operations Manager – mapping the various processes and looking for ways to improve each one of them.

c.     Project Management – making sure projects stay on-time and on-budget.

d.    Chief Cook and Bottle Washer

3)    Develop a Resource Staffing plan, so you know how many at each skill level you will need in order to:

a.    Protect the Economic Engine (MRR).

b.    Deliver Projects On-Time and On-Budget.

c.     Absorb Underutilization.

So, where do you get great Project Management training for MSPs?  

I have no idea.

I do know it is not PMI, because as a PMP not in good standing (I did not keep up with my PDUs), what to call MSP Project Management does not exist in the world of PMPs. According to Paul Dipple, there is no MSP training available.

My best suggestions:

1)    Follow Newgrange IT Consulting as they have the best handle on PM for MSPs

2)    Join us on an Autotask/Datto RMM Ask the Expert Call

3)    Join the PM for MSPs forum area within the Advanced Global Membership Area (Coming soon)

4)    Ask us about our 8-week Project Methodologies Training program