There are no prima donnas. A finance project may be put on hold or in queue behind a project for a new warranty services system or a parts-ordering application. Governance team members describe the result as a "healthy tension" among business unit leaders.
"We conduct an annual planning activity with representatives from every part of the business. We look at hundreds of projects and prioritize them," says Hestermeyer. "If you want to be in a room with a lot of tension, that's the place."
"No one likes to be told that their project is being slowed down" because another project is more critical to the company as a whole, says Troy McLean. He leads the business relationship management group, which acts as a liaison between IT and business. "No one likes to be governed, but they like the benefits that governance brings," he says.
Among those benefits is the ability to quickly innovate and respond to changing business conditions, says Lisa Dalmia, general manager of program and project management.
One example is Volkswagen's recently announced work with DaimlerChrysler AG on a new minivan for the North American market. Production of the Volkswagen minivan, which will be based on the next-generation Chrysler and Dodge minivans, will begin in less than two years -- a nanosecond in the auto industry.
As counterintuitive as it seems, rigorous and methodical project planning and prioritizing enable the company to switch gears quickly as new opportunities arise, says McLean. "When we do have to take quick action, this kind of planning and prioritization helps us quickly identify how taking the action will impact the rest of our project plans," he says.
Once a project is decided on, a project team is assembled that comprises a process manager, a project manager, a business relationship manager and a technical architect. The process manager works closely with business users to understand exactly what they need to do, analyzes the step-by-step tasks involved and recommends supporting technology. The business relationship manager acts as liaison between users and IT. The technical architect ensures that the project complies with overall VW technology and process standards. And the project manager, as the overall coordinator, keeps the project on schedule. These four disciplines are represented on every project team and, by design, can never accomplish anything on their own, Hestermeyer notes.
"This organization only works if the team works together," he emphasizes. "The business relationship manager, for example, can't accomplish anything on his own because processes can't work without interfaces to other processes, and those interfaces need to be in sync with our technical standards."
This is where the tensions can really set in, team members say. Not only does each representative need to balance his needs and requirements with those of his three counterparts, but all of them also have to weigh the value and consequences of what is expedient in the short term against what is in sync with long-term technology architecture standards.
"We have an emphasis on long-term perspective," says McLean. "But of course, that doesn't make immediate decisions any easier."
Still, the project process, as contentious as it may be at times, is paying off, says Hestermeyer. "Last year, with a multimillion-dollar project budget, we had less than 5 percent overspend."
That makes sense to Mark Lutchen, senior partner in the IT effectiveness practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers. "Governance is the glue that brings business and IT together," Lutchen says. "The ultimate objective of having a rule set is to have much a more efficient spend in IT and to make sure it counts."