Project management: ‘Undervalued in sports orgs but proven to drive business value’

The key to effective project management is to be able to deliver successful projects on time while ensuring a clear line of communication to the team or client you are working alongside. This element is relevant to the sports industry. In modern times, we are seeing more clubs, leagues, and federations seeking to digitize their operations, for example – therefore, ensuring the wider team clearly understands the reasons behind a particular project and how to deliver on its operational objectives is vitally important.

However, when it comes to introducing new software solutions into an organization to assist on its project management and to ensure that everyone is working from the same page and towards the same objectives, without strong communication between parties, that’s when workflows begin to hit unforeseen challenges and are confronted by barriers to growth. 

What’s also telling, among the sports organizations undergoing a digital transformation, in my experience, many don’t have a project management office (PMO) working behind the scenes to ensure that their transformation is delivered on time and within budget. Nor do they own the relevant level of digital literacy to adopt new, innovative software solutions. 

This is reflected in other industries too. According to data published by the Project Management Institute (PMI), companies are more likely to prioritize the delivery of customer value (70 percent) over project management (46 percent). Here we can infer that organizations are still unclear around the return on investment (ROI) a dedicated PMO can generate, including a reduction in costs associated with project failures and where projects didn’t meet their budget.

Project management has invariably played an important role in the delivery of major events. If we take for instance the Games Operations Office (GOO) and the frameworks which are put in place to deliver multi-sport, multi-games events, no matter whether it’s the Olympics or the FIFA World Cup, the rights holder usually has in place an operations team dedicated to the successful running of their sporting spectacle.

When it comes to the implementation of projects inside the front office, however, for many sports properties, this level of attention isn’t always met, while many rights holders don’t have a PMO at all. This isn’t all that surprising considering that sport’s modernization, including its digital transformation, is still very much in its infancy, especially among the field of mid- to lower-tier properties finding their feet in the age of direct-to-consumer (D2C) fan engagement and digital disruption.

Increasing the level of digital literacy inside your organization doesn’t necessarily mean improving the employee’s “technical” skill-set. It can also be achieved by undergoing simple soft-skills training, including how to use third-party, cloud-computing project management solutions and productivity and collaboration tools, such as ClickUp and GSuite, to enhance operational workflows. 

At N3XT Sports, we advocate the use of our library of templates built on well known project management standards, such as RACI matrix, a metric that identifies who should be responsible and accountable for any given project, as well as deciding on who consults and informs on a project.

Increasing the level of digital literacy inside your organization doesn’t necessarily mean improving the employee’s “technical” skill-set. It can also be achieved by undergoing simple soft-skills training, including how to use third-party, cloud-computing project management solutions and productivity and collaboration tools

Lara Ammar, PMO Director, N3XT Sports

This approach helps sports organizations to delegate new projects and the management of technology and software solutions based on expertise and to realize where improvements can be made to the team’s digital literacy. While digitalization can seem costly and is often undervalued or dismissed by the executive board, one way to overcome this reluctance to change is to present a client with a roadmap that adopts easy-to-use, affordable third-party software solutions tailored to the organization’s operational needs and provides a clear ROI.

By facilitating connections with third-party services in this manner, our project managers and consultants at N3XT Sports both help to run an organization’s PMO and recommend technologies to assist project delivery. This forms part of N3XT Sports' bespoke PMO Framework, which takes an agile approach to project management, where a project is adapted to the customer’s needs and the technologies and software solutions we recommend are based on the organization’s existing digital infrastructure. 

Organizations which practice agile project management, which the PMI also refer to as “gymnastic enterprises”, combine new approaches to working on projects with traditional methods. 

Whereas traditional project management consists of planning and executing a set of tasks devised to meet a specific target, gymnastic enterprises take an agile approach to the management of a project, adapting the process and tools required whereby the methodology is tailored to meet a desired outcome or goal.

According to PMI research, gymnastic enterprises achieve greater success (see table below) by “developing a range of value delivery capabilities” inside the PMO - but warns that, unless traditional enterprises can emulate this approach, they “risk becoming obsolete in an increasingly [digitized] and unpredictable world”. In relation to our own Project Management Framework, N3XT Sports also recognizes the importance of what the PMI describes as a “values-based organizational culture”, which focuses on: customer value; digital adoption; and diversity, equity, and inclusion. 

Although PMI data shows that organizations value project management less than other areas of their business, it also demonstrates that companies which own a higher level of project management maturity are more likely to meet goals, and within budget, compared to those that do not. This tells us that organizations which advocate a culture built on communication and team alignment are more likely to meet their operational objectives, generating value for the business and helping to reduce operational costs through effective project management.

While the methodology behind any given project will vary depending on the organization’s unique objectives, one area where the sports industry shares common ground rests on the importance of data for making business decisions. As part of our role at N3XT Sports, it’s our responsibility to demonstrate how data – via data visualization dashboards – fits to our client’s business objectives and to help them understand what’s happening throughout a project.

According to research published by Fortune Business Insights, the value of the data visualization market is projected to surpass US$19.2 billion by 2027, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.2 percent. Data visualization dashboards enable decision-makers to create projections based on real-time data that outline opportunities to improve the organization’s operational and business performance and to build a technology stack that drives value.

Therefore, as sports organizations look to develop and augment their digital footprint, creating data visualization dashboards based on real-time data will be vital for executive decision-makers to understand how their data informs their ongoing projects and represents the future of project management. That’s what we’re currently working towards for every project that we support throughout the sports industry.

Of course, innovation is important in sport but doesn’t necessarily mean reinventing the wheel. It doesn’t always require building a new product but creating the right partnerships. At N3XT Sports, we recommend the types of innovation a client should go through. One might do that via third-party providers, whereby they can test new products. Another might be to create an internal innovation lab. It really depends on the client. 

At N3XT Sports, just as we consult our clients on the development of a digital roadmap, as well as the development and implementation of new technologies and digital assets within its infrastructure, our team also plays the role of “project manager” within the sports organization and effectively becomes a part of the team or department we’re called upon to support.  

This includes managing the evolution of the organization’s digital acumen, including the introduction of educational pathways to upskill and educate the entity’s workforce on new project management and tech solutions being adopted into their digital ecosystem and how they can be adapted to support the flow of information, the analysis of data, and how this supports projects that drive value for the business.

To find out more about how N3XT Sports can support your organization’s digital transformation and project management needs, please fill out the form below and we’ll be in touch. We look forward to hearing from you.