Major Programmes: Setting Up for Success
Summary
It is no secret that major programmes typically struggle to come in on time and on budget. A number of reports and academic literature on major programmes from the last decade suggest that these programmes spend an insufficient amount of time setting up the organisation in the right way, with the right capability, to achieve the standards required for delivery throughout the programme lifecycle. This leads to problems further downstream for programmes which cost time and money to resolve.
This Deloitte paper shares a perspective on how major programmes should set up and transition the organisation over time in line with the programme’s needs:
- Whilst on the surface each major programme may appear to be different, they are ultimately driven by three lifecycles: the ‘Financing’ lifecycle (focusing on investment), the ’Organisational’ lifecycle (focusing on capability), and the ‘Programme’ lifecycle (focusing on delivery milestones).
- The most effective and successful major programmes prioritise the Organisational Lifecycle – the dynamism of any Major Programme means that its organisation will need to transition its capability and structures several times to continue to be effective, and organisations which do not flex as the programme changes fail to deliver the programme benefits.
- The single end-to-end framework, ‘Setting up for Success’ is focused on defining, developing, and demonstrating organisational capability from the start across people, processes, and systems. Flexing this to the needs of the programme over time is a critical component to managing delivery and being able to respond to inevitable future unknowns (as was the case for Brexit and COVID-19).
- The Framework is brought to life in the paper through Deloitte’s work with High Speed 2 Ltd. where they supported the organisation to define, develop and demonstrate that it has the right capability and operating structures in place to begin construction for Phase One of the programme. The work at High Speed 2 Ltd. has subsequently been used as a case study in the Infrastructure Project Authority’s (IPA) Project Routemap providing guidance and best practice to Major Programmes.