Why is it important to align projects with organizational strategy?-The Project Management Talks

Summary

In this podcast episode of 'Project Management Docs', host Vinita interviews Natalia, a project manager at Alpha Surf. They discuss the criticality of aligning projects with organizational strategy, using Alpha Surf's focus on expanding marketplaces and enhancing business intelligence tools as a case study. Natalia emphasizes the importance of strategic alignment for resource optimization and achieving company goals. She outlines their feedback-driven development process, which balances client requests, project strategy, and technical improvements. Tools like Jira, Confluence, and various Atlassian apps facilitate this alignment across teams, ensuring everyone works towards a common vision.

Takeaways

• 📚 Natalia from Alpha Surf discusses the importance of aligning projects with organizational strategy for achieving company goals.
• 🌟 Alpha Surf is a marketplace vendor with a focus on business intelligence tools, aiming to extend their presence across various marketplaces.
• 🔍 The company's strategy includes not only adding new apps but also ensuring the success and growth of existing ones to outperform competitors.
• 👥 Strategic alignment requires collaboration across all teams, including development, marketing, sales, and customer support, to work towards common goals.
• 💡 Natalia emphasizes the need for a balance between customer-requested features and those that align with the organization's strategic objectives.
• 🛠 The company uses a feedback-driven development process, incorporating client requests and strategic tasks into their product roadmap.
• 📝 Scrum framework is utilized for task management, with a backlog of tasks prioritized based on alignment with goals and client value.
• 🔄 Regular evaluation and reassessment of tasks and goals ensure that the development process remains flexible and responsive to change.
• 🛑 Natalia warns of the risks of resource wastage and project delays if teams work on features not aligned with the overall strategy.
• 🔧 Tools like Jira, Confluence, and various Atlassian apps are used for project management, ensuring all team members have access to the same information and tools.
• 📊 Business intelligence tools, such as dashboards for Microsoft Power BI, help visualize progress and team efforts, allowing for better strategic decision-making.

Q & A

What is the main topic of the podcast session with Natalia?

The main topic of the podcast session is the alignment of projects to organizational strategy.

Who is Natalia in the context of the podcast?

Natalia is an experienced project manager from Alpha Surf who is invited to share her insights on project management.

What does Alpha Surf primarily focus on in terms of business?

Alpha Surf primarily focuses on business intelligence tools, such as connectors from Jira to various platforms like Microsoft Power BI, Tableau, BigQuery, and Oracle Analytics.

What is the significance of strategic alignment in project management according to Natalia?

Strategic alignment ensures that all company processes are built to best support the achievement of company goals, and it's crucial for effective resource utilization and meeting project goals.

What is Alpha Surf's goal for the upcoming year as mentioned by Natalia?

Alpha Surf's goal for the upcoming year is to extend the number of marketplaces they work on and add new apps, ensuring the success and growth of both new and existing projects.

How does Natalia describe the importance of collaboration among different teams in an organization?

Natalia emphasizes that all teams, including development, marketing, sales, and customer support, must work together and be on the same page to align projects with the organizational strategy.

What is the role of the development team in the context of strategic alignment?

The development team should devote its resources to features that align with the overall project and organizational goals, avoiding the development of features that are not aligned with the strategy.

What is the potential consequence of a team working on projects not aligned with the organizational strategy?

The potential consequence is a waste of resources, delayed or unmet project goals, and a negative impact on the company's ability to achieve its objectives.

What process does Natalia's team use to ensure that projects align with their strategy?

Natalia's team uses a feedback-driven development process within the Scrum framework, where they maintain a backlog of tasks, evaluate client requests, and plan sprints to balance feature development, client requests, and technical improvements.

What tools and technologies does Natalia mention for promoting alignment across teams in an organization?

Natalia mentions using Atlassian tools like Jira and Confluence, as well as other tools such as Canva, Pajero, Microsoft Power BI, and various add-ons for Jira to promote alignment and collaboration across teams.

How does Natalia view the role of customer feedback in the development process?

Natalia views customer feedback as a crucial part of the development process, as it helps to prioritize features and improvements that are valuable to clients and align with the organization's goals.

What is the purpose of using the Appraise tool in Natalia's organization?

The Appraise tool is used for tracking OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) for the organization and teams, allowing them to align their objectives and evaluate their performance at the end of each quarter.

How does Natalia plan to integrate the feedback from using their own products back into their development process?

Natalia plans to use the feedback from using their own products to improve the user experience, integrate the feedback into their development strategy, and potentially visualize the data through dashboards for better understanding of team efforts.

Outlines

00:00

😀 Introduction to Project Management Alignment

The video script opens with an introduction by Vinita, a product manager at Emmy voids Technologies, to a series of podcasts featuring project managers discussing project management insights. Today's focus is on aligning projects with organizational strategy, with guest Natalia, a project manager from alpha surf. Natalia explains that strategic alignment ensures all company processes support the achievement of company goals, using alpha surf's focus on business intelligence tools across various marketplaces as an example. The company's strategy includes expanding the number of marketplaces and improving existing apps to stay competitive.

05:03

😨 The Consequences of Misalignment

In the second paragraph, Natalia discusses the potential consequences of projects not aligned with the organizational strategy, using a hypothetical scenario of a software company with various teams. If one team, such as development, works on features not aligned with the company's goals, it can lead to wasted resources and misalignment across other teams like sales and marketing. Natalia emphasizes the importance of all teams working together, having a shared understanding of the company's direction, and frequently checking in to ensure everyone is on track with the strategy.

10:04

🔄 Feedback-Driven Development Process

Natalia shares alpha surf's feedback-driven development process, which involves a plan for the year that includes implementing new features, improving infrastructure, and addressing client requests. The company uses the scrum framework, maintaining a backlog of tasks that are evaluated for alignment with company goals. If a client requests a feature, it's discussed and, if valuable, added to the backlog. Sprint planning involves estimating task complexity and building a roadmap, with an emphasis on balancing client requests, project strategy tasks, and technical debt to ensure continuous product improvement and customer satisfaction.

15:05

🛠️ Tools for Promoting Alignment Across Teams

In the final paragraph, Natalia discusses the tools and technology used at alpha surf to promote alignment across teams. She highlights Atlassian's suite of tools, including Jira for task management, Confluence for documentation, and various other apps for collaboration. The company also uses business intelligence tools like dashboards for Microsoft Power BI to visualize team progress. Natalia mentions the importance of communication and feedback, not just from customers but also from internal stakeholders like developers, to improve the product and align it with the organization's strategy.

Keywords

💡Project Management

Project Management is the process of planning, organizing, and managing resources to achieve specific goals within a defined timeframe. In the video, it is the central theme, with discussions revolving around how projects are aligned with organizational strategies. Natalia, an experienced project manager, shares insights on the importance of this alignment for successful project outcomes.

💡Organizational Strategy

Organizational Strategy refers to the long-term plan of action designed to achieve a company's vision and goals. The script emphasizes the importance of aligning projects with this strategy to ensure all company processes support the overarching objectives. Natalia explains that strategic alignment helps in focusing on the right projects that will extend the company's reach and beat competitors.

💡Alignment

Alignment in the context of the video means the harmonization of projects with the company's strategic goals. It is crucial for ensuring that all efforts contribute to the company's direction and success. Natalia discusses how projects should be planned and executed in a way that they align with the company's strategy to avoid resource wastage and achieve set goals.

💡Marketplace

In the script, Marketplace refers to the digital platforms where Alpha surf operates, such as Atlassian, Shopify, ServiceNow, and Zendesk. These marketplaces are central to Alpha surf's business model, and their expansion is part of the company's strategic goals. Natalia mentions the intention to extend the number of these marketplaces as a strategic move.

💡Business Intelligence Tools

Business Intelligence Tools are software applications used to analyze an organization's data and present actionable insights. In the video, Natalia mentions that Alpha surf focuses on developing such tools, like connectors from Jira to various analytics platforms, which are crucial for strategic decision-making and aligning projects with business goals.

💡Scrum Framework

The Scrum Framework is an agile project management methodology that emphasizes iterative progress through regular 'sprints' with defined goals. Natalia explains how Alpha surf uses this framework to manage their development process, allowing for flexibility to incorporate client requests and align with strategic objectives.

💡Feedback-Driven Development

Feedback-Driven Development is an approach where the development of products or services is guided by customer feedback. Natalia describes how Alpha surf incorporates client requests into their development backlog, evaluating whether they align with the company's goals and adding them to the sprint planning, thus ensuring customer-centric product evolution.

💡Technical Debt

Technical Debt refers to the consequences of choosing a quick, short-term solution instead of a more robust, long-term one. Natalia mentions that developers at Alpha surf are aware of the technical debt that needs to be addressed, and it is considered when planning sprints to maintain product quality.

💡Jira

Jira is a project management tool used for bug tracking, issue tracking, and project management. Natalia mentions Jira as the primary tool for task management at Alpha surf, highlighting its integration with other tools like Confluence and its role in the scrum framework for organizing tasks and tracking progress.

💡Confluence

Confluence is a team collaboration software used for creating, organizing, and discussing work with colleagues. Natalia explains that Confluence is used at Alpha surf for documentation and knowledge sharing, which is essential for maintaining alignment and understanding across teams.

💡Atlassian

Atlassian is the company behind tools like Jira and Confluence, which are used for project management and team collaboration. Natalia identifies herself as a project manager at the Atlassian team, indicating that the company's own tools are integral to their workflow and strategic alignment.

💡OKRs

OKRs stands for Objectives and Key Results, a goal-setting framework used to align and track the progress of an organization's objectives. Natalia mentions the use of OKRs at Alpha surf to ensure that teams are working towards common goals and can measure their performance against set targets.

Highlights

Vinita introduces the podcast series focusing on project management insights.

Natalia, an experienced project manager from Alpha Surf, discusses the importance of aligning projects to organizational strategy.

Strategic alignment ensures all company processes support the achievement of company goals.

Alpha Surf's focus includes business intelligence tools and expanding their presence on various marketplaces.

The company aims to extend the number of marketplaces and apps while maintaining success in existing ones.

Natalia emphasizes the need for all teams to work together for strategic alignment.

Discussing the consequences of teams working on misaligned projects within a company.

The importance of aligning projects to avoid wasting resources and meeting organizational goals.

Natalia shares feedback-driven development processes at Alpha Surf.

The use of the Scrum framework for task management and incorporating client requests into the development cycle.

Balancing customer feature requests with the company's strategic goals for product development.

The collaboration between development, marketing, and sales teams for successful project alignment.

Utilizing Atlassian tools like Jira and Confluence for project management and documentation.

Integrating business intelligence tools for visualizing team progress and efforts.

The use of Appraise for tracking OKRs and aligning team objectives within the organization.

Natalia's personal experience with using the company's own products for project management.

The potential for integrating Appraise with Microsoft Power BI for better visualization of project metrics.

Vinita thanks Natalia for her insights and invites viewers to follow for more content.

Transcripts

foreign

and welcome to project management docs

my name is Vinita I am a project product

manager at Emmy voids Technologies

in the series of podcasts we bring

together project Managers from around

the world to share their insights and

learnings about project management

in today's session we will be discussing

about alignment of projects to

organizational strategy we have with us

today Natalia who is the project manager

and experienced project manager from

alpha surf hi Natalia Welcome to our

show and thank you so much for joining

us

hello thank you so much for inviting me

so

um Natalia we would like to know

um what do you think or organizational

strategy uh is and why do we I mean what

is the importance of aligning

um projects to organizational strategy

um so yeah uh as I said uh strategic

alignment means that all processes in

the company are built to

uh best support the achieving of the

company goal

uh that sounds a bit extra so I think

we'll dive deep in more details and see

our example

um I know you've already had a talk with

my colleague Anna drinska earlier

she told a lot about officer how it

started what we do what our goals and

plans which is most important for us

here

uh so to recap it briefly uh Alpha surf

is a multiplayer multiple Marketplace

vendor

so we have

a few marketplaces we are working on for

example atlassian Shopify servicenow

um

zendesk and I think I might forget a few

because I'm

strictly focused on the International

Development team so it's my

field of responsibilities but we have a

lot of other Max bases and we have a lot

of

apps on the atlasian marketplace mainly

our focus is again on business

intelligence tools like

connectors from jira to Microsoft

powerbit tableau bigquery

Oracle analytics sub analytics and we

have one more on the go we are

developing it right now I'm not sure I

can say it yet but I think Anna will

announce this just soon soonish so we

are going to test it and

bring into release

I can go on and on here again because

that's my most favorite topic to talk

about our apps but back to strategy

our main goal is to in this upcoming

year to extend the number of these

marketplaces so not only these I named

in maybe a few wife a lot but if you

want and to add new apps so we have to

we want to have a lot of marketplaces

and not to remain

solely all the one so don't keep all

layers in one basket right and of course

we want to beat our competitors on the

existing Marketplace because we don't

want to chase new things and neglect the

old ones right that are already

successful yes yeah so so this is how

our strategy has to be aligned with the

goals so we won this new marketplaces we

want new add-ons and we want the old

ones to be successful and to thrive so

we have to plan all projects and

everything within to accomplish it to

make it happen and this is where all our

processes and all teams like development

Marketing sales

quality assurance customers support so

we all have to work together

to make it happen

that's really that's so I think this is

the Strategic alignment here yes so I

guess it's about all the teams working

together and uh having being on us being

on the same page while understanding

what the organization is moving towards

and hence putting their efforts towards

uh similar projects that are going to

contribute to that

yes

um so uh having said this like what do

you think is the most

um important thing like why do we need

to consider

um like why do new companies or startups

need to consider uh you know picking up

projects that are aligned to their

organization strategy

okay so yeah going back to that

organizational strategy uh let's imagine

um

average software company so it's been

working for quite a while it has some

experience it has a few teams like

development teams sales team marketing

teams so everything is there it's not

brand new and to people just there so

but what happens if they have a goal

like have a lot of money have a lot of

customers so something like everyone

does

they have a strategy how to achieve that

but let's say one of the teams for

example development teams decides to

devote it its resources to some features

that are not aligned with this project

goal so they developed some features

that are fun and useful for them but not

for the overall strategy

I think what we'll we'll see there is

soon enough is that other teams like

sales teams marketing team will see the

consequences pretty soon after this and

the project will always be will be heard

in this studies in this way and the same

goes to other teams but for marketing

teams sales team if one team or if was

other or a few teams work separately and

not align with the project at all and

project strategy uh the project goal

will be at least postponed or

even not met

in the nearest Future so

all resources all managing systems have

to work together to have to come have to

come up with a plan and strategy discuss

it together and check up on it uh

frequently to see that everyone is on

the same page and everything everyone is

going in the right direction so the

strategy is working and the plan is on

track so everything should be fine right

right I think it's also a huge waste of

resources right to do something that is

uh not aligned and eventually won't help

uh the company or the customers in the

long run

yes maybe if it's just one feature or

something small is just fine because it

won't hurt but if it's a tendency if

it's

something that happens normally

throughout the long period of time it

will hurt the project level for sure

right

um so I was um thinking about what you

said regarding you know

um all the teams uh you know being on

the right page and coming together

working together uh I was wondering if

you could share with us uh a few

processes uh that you know would help

our organizational organizations to um

align their projects better towards uh

their strategy

yeah that's a great question

um I think we'll share the officer for

example here uh so

we have a so-called feedback driven

development

so of course we have a plan which we

um for the upcoming year we discussed it

we

we want to achieve some

to implement some features new features

to get those new add-ons and everything

to improve infrastructure so we have a

plan to of what we want to do but this

plan is not to time dance it's not too

crammed with all those features so we

plan ahead to have a lot of time to be

devoted to the client requests right so

how it works for us we work by scrum

framework

um

we have a backlog of all tasks and that

our team wants to

to implement to complete

so let's see let's say that a client a

customer reaches our technical support

and requests some kind of feature okay

um technical support engineers

pass this request to the development

team and we discuss it together and we

evaluate whether it's meeting our goals

I if it has value to our other clients

and to our add-on

so if I want to do it

if the answer is yes then we put this

task into the backlog

and on the next spring planning we

discuss this task and developers

estimate its complexity estimate how

much time it

they they assume will take to continue

of course life happens and everything

can change quickly but still we try to

estimate everything to to build our

roadmap

so they estimated and

we also try to put tasks from different

categories to the Sprint

so we try to add client requests because

uh we want to have a superior customer

service and to

to work towards this feedback yes we

want to add some tasks from our project

strategy uh because we again want to be

on track with everything we wanted to

achieve in the beginning of the year

what we planned

we also try to add developers requests

uh it's usually some kind of technical

debt because it's also can be neglected

because developers know what has to be

done so what our product is inter

quality so we pick a few tasks from each

category and

then the client can

receive his feature anytime soon so it

might be not the upcoming screen because

we have a lot of clients and the feature

can be too complex to achieve it in one

screen but

um we will achieve it in the nearest

feature and if we don't select this

feature to poor development for some

reasonable maybe it's available just for

this one client or something

we say this to the client but I think

it's a pretty rare situation I don't

remember much of listings

so that's how it works here we have

scrum we have a requests we try to mix

and match every types of these two to

come along with the goal yeah so yes I

believe I think um that there has to be

a right balance between uh you know

which features we accept from the

customers and uh which features you know

are eventually going to help uh the

product or the project uh evolve and for

the organization to be successful in the

future and I really like about how you

spoke about the collaboration you know

taking inputs from all the stakeholders

and not just the customers and I think

that's really important because um in

the end even developers actually work

very closely with the product even

internal stakeholders work closely with

a product and and are able to suggest a

lot of features

um or improvements uh within the product

or the project uh which will you know

eventually

um

help in a better user experience for the

customers

um yes and we work with our marketing

team for example uh in club enclosed so

when the feature is ready and to be

released we tell them that it's a nice

feature to be promoted to be told to to

people so yeah that's something we

we work with other team to achieve too

but yes I believe that that involves a

lot of communication and back and forth

with a with several teams right so uh I

was wondering if you could share with us

some of the tools uh or what is the

technology that you would use uh to you

know uh promote this alignment across

all the teams in the organization

yeah well as I'm a project manager of

the atlasian team that's not a bigger

surprise that I choose jira and

Conference and classical apps various

apps to work with so the main advantage

of potassium tools is that everything is

in one place so you have all tasks

including all Financial tasks and

marketing desks so they also work with

scrum they have Sprints they have

goals to achieve so they have their

separate backlogs

uh all workloads reports so everything

in Amity we have a project documentation

customer documentation we have

everything there when we perform

retrospective meetings or planning

meetings or anything like that uh we

keep this information in Confluence and

we can refer to it later so everything

is there and it's really convenient of

course we use our own apps because we

are our main customers I could say yes I

agree not I mean of course but still but

we are testing it thoroughly yeah we use

for example checklist for jira uh to

list all tasks steps we need to complete

before the task can be moved to release

we use Smart gate integration but jira

it's awesome tool for developers the way

they see how issues are synchronized

with the branches in gitlab in our

situation about other providers are fine

too we have canva Pajero and Canada for

conference this is the tool that our

marketing team uses a lot

and many others we use our business

intelligence tools tool for example

dashboards for Microsoft

power bi uh they visualize the progress

and the effort of the teams

and in a beautiful way and again we can

test our own Solutions so we see our own

data we see how it's visualized and we

see if everything is okay

yes I think yeah you can input some some

new ideas to the backlog and then again

we're

incorporate it into the plan to the

strategy and

make it better and we use other apps too

like other vendors we have face tools

Pro for Confluence because Confluence on

its own is a bit harder to use

uh we have white boards or

retrospectives

we have tempo of course everyone knows

it we use it for work logs and we

have partnership with them

so I I can name even more but it's just

I will take more time I guess

thank you about uh release notes yes and

I always wanted to check it out so um I

think I'll do it in the next print yes

please do I mean we use it too for our

application and it's really helpful

um you know can we keep communicating

the information to uh our stakeholders

internal and external stakeholders as to

which uh which new features have been

released which are the bugs that have

been fixed and I think they have made

quite a few improvements on the uh

application as well in the last few

weeks

um I think it's very interesting how you

know while while working on the product

that we're working on we also use the

product and hence you know we are able

to experience it as a Creator and as a

customer and uh I think one of the

products that I work on is appraised and

um appraises an organizational tool to

help uh you know apart from HR other HR

activities we have okrs which are you

know objective and key results so uh in

this tool the organization can track

um how like we can have objective and

key results for Organization for teams

and we can align them together and

um so each team can be working on their

own objectives and own okrs and at the

end of the quarter we come together and

say okay how did we do this quarter uh

have you achieved our goals and how can

we uh you know an exporter which are the

goals which are the objectives that we

want to carry forward or

um you know some of the learnings that

we get from here are how do we want to

explore that and you know improve on

that in the next quarter I think

um uh we have started we want to start

using this app ourselves and uh see you

know how it benefits us and also taking

that back

um you know giving feedback to our

employees using the same application

giving feedback to team members as to

how we can

um you know appreciating them for their

help for example

um uh sujit who normally uh you know

conducts these project management talk

really helped me out this time as to how

to set it up what kind of questions to

ask I was nervous before attending the

session as well but I think talking to

somebody who's done it like really

helped me out so I think um giving going

back to the application giving him the

feedback about that really helps as well

um is that something we could use too

and I also can see how we can

incorporate it integrate it to our

Microsoft power bi connector so

if these metrics help project managers

to see or even stakeholders to see the

effort of the team we can use it for the

dashboards and to visualize it and you

know add some nice pie charts and

everything else and make it nice

so yeah we can even integrate our tools

together

yes definitely would love to do that

yes

um with that Natalia we've come to the

end of our session and um thank you so

much for sharing your insights and

learnings with us and I would also like

to thank

um our viewers who are watching this

podcast right now and if you would like

to see more of this content you could

subscribe to YouTube channel of amiboids

Technologies or also follow us on

LinkedIn

thank you so much everyone bye-bye

thank you so much