Topic: Governance

By Jonathan Norman
June 15th 2022

Pace of Pace – What have we achieved? Highlight Report

The Project Speed initiative was launched by the UK government in the Summer of 2020 with a promise to review every part of the major project lifecycle in persuit of Faster, Greener, Better delivery.

A series of pathfinder projects followed in the Spring of 2021, and in September the Infrastructure and Projects Authority published its Transforming Infrastructure Performance Roadmap to 2030, setting out a vision and action plan for reforming the delivery of major projects in the public sector. All of this work coincided with the COVID 19 pandemic during which a number of crucial projects had to be delivered at pace.

Chaired by Infrastructure and Projects Authority Chief Executive, Nick Smallwood, this seminar will explore what has been learnt from Project Speed and efforts elsewhere in the major projects world to accelerate delivery and secure benefits earlier.

Drawing on this insight, we will explore issues including:

  • Which projects are good candidates for acceleration and why?
  • What risks and opportunities are created by accleration and how can they be managed?
  • How can projects embrace digitisation, Modern Methods of Construction, new delivery models and other innovations to deliver outcomes faster and more effectively.
  • How should sponsorship and project leadership adapt to successfully deliver at pace…
  • … and how do project controls, assurance and other key processes also need to adapt?
By Jonathan Norman
April 7th 2022

Innovation at the Edge Highlight Report

The need to significantly improve the initiation and delivery of major projects is without question, as numerous studies point to under-performance when measured against time, cost, quality and benefits. This is somewhat unsurprising when major projects are, by definition, pushing boundaries of complexity and scale and often result in ‘first of a kind’ solutions. So what role should or could innovation play to deliver the improvements we need?

Is innovation best left to chance in the form of random mutations from current ‘best practice’? Or should it be a result from thorough investigation and analysis followed by a centrally directed transformation programme? Or somewhere in between in perhaps best realised through LEAN style continuous improvement?

Is it best to focus on product innovation (e.g. design), process innovation (e.g. project methods) or organisational innovation (e.g. delivery models). Or perhaps a bit of each?

How do we approach innovation that requires collaboration across organisational boundaries – which is typical in major projects? Can we incentivise innovation or do commercial structures and risk allocation get in the way?

Perhaps we should stop talking about innovation as a potential project panacea and instead just focus on getting the basics right first and then problem solving where the ‘basics’ are not working.

These are just some of the questions which will be explored at this seminar along with some examples from sponsors, client bodies, industry and research organisations to showcase what’s possible with “innovation at the edge”.

We’re delighted to confirm Gareth Parkes, Head of Data & Analytics, Sir Robert McAlpine as chair for this event. A full programme will be announced soon.

By Jonathan Norman
November 3rd 2021

Assurance 2030 – Creating a Project Assurance Profession Highlight Report

Assurance in projects has been around for a long time. However, it’s traditionally been fragmented, with specific aspects of a project (e.g. technical, safety and quality) being assured by specialists in those areas somewhat in isolation from each other. Furthermore, those specialists typically do not see themselves as project professionals; they are quality assurers, internal auditors, etc, probably as interested in non-project activities as they are in project ones, and subject to ways of working and reporting lines that lie outside of project management.

Integrated Assurance approaches have been an attempt to bring together these disparate assurance providers into single frameworks, but with only limited success. Who has the responsibility to make an integrated assurance work for a project? And who actually has the required authority? Who ‘owns’ project assurance as a whole?

What has been emerging in recent years is a breed of project professionals whose sole job is to provide integrated assurance on a project – or more typically a number of projects. They may originate from more specialised areas of assurance, or from specific delivery roles, but now their perspective is different: it is now the success of the entire project that they’re interested in, not just specific aspects.

Whereas quality assurance, safety assurance, internal audit and other project professionals have their own standards, competency frameworks, communities of practice, etc, wheere does the project assurance professional turn for those things? How can an organisation ensure that its project assurance people have the right skills and experience?

The challenge for this seminar is to identify what is needed to ensure that project assurance is provided efficiently and effectively by competent people following robust and effective processes against robust known standards.

In short, how do we create a project assurance profession?

 

By Jonathan Norman
November 3rd 2021

Assurance 2030 – Creating a Project Assurance Profession Full Report

Assurance in projects has been around for a long time. However, it’s traditionally been fragmented, with specific aspects of a project (e.g. technical, safety and quality) being assured by specialists in those areas somewhat in isolation from each other. Furthermore, those specialists typically do not see themselves as project professionals; they are quality assurers, internal auditors, etc, probably as interested in non-project activities as they are in project ones, and subject to ways of working and reporting lines that lie outside of project management.

Integrated Assurance approaches have been an attempt to bring together these disparate assurance providers into single frameworks, but with only limited success. Who has the responsibility to make an integrated assurance work for a project? And who actually has the required authority? Who ‘owns’ project assurance as a whole?

What has been emerging in recent years is a breed of project professionals whose sole job is to provide integrated assurance on a project – or more typically a number of projects. They may originate from more specialised areas of assurance, or from specific delivery roles, but now their perspective is different: it is now the success of the entire project that they’re interested in, not just specific aspects.

Whereas quality assurance, safety assurance, internal audit and other project professionals have their own standards, competency frameworks, communities of practice, etc, wheere does the project assurance professional turn for those things? How can an organisation ensure that its project assurance people have the right skills and experience?

The challenge for this seminar is to identify what is needed to ensure that project assurance is provided efficiently and effectively by competent people following robust and effective processes against robust known standards.

In short, how do we create a project assurance profession?

 

By Jonathan Norman
November 8th 2018

Managing Urgent and Emergency Response Projects Full Report

Over the last decade Project Management methodology has focussed on creating a controlled environment (the UK Government’s best practice methodology PRINCE2 is named with that singular focus) and, although it is generally accepted that programmes are ambiguous by nature, practitioners seek to create order and certainty through structure and process. Crisis planning is a well-established discipline, but this expertise is scarce and responses to most crisis are immediate, reactive rather than planned, so experienced practitioners cannot always be mobilised. Existing contingency plans and knowledge may not translate easily to the pace of a situation. Established processes for successful delivery can be neglected by even the most experienced P3 delivery organisation when faced with an urgent situation. These emergency and disaster response situations are categorised by the very nature of the instability the create, the problem itself is not defined and the solutions required range from the immediate tactical requirements (such as Life Safety and Asset Protection) to the later stage solutions for Recovery and Re-build. Best practice communication and stakeholder protocols usually deployed may not be effective, scheduling, cost and control processes and operations will develop in an unstable environment, where Risk is difficult to demonstrate and margin for error and iteration is restricted by unfolding events. So, what happens when an organisation which may well be steeped in PM practices finds they have to respond in an emergency situation? Where all sides of the PM triangle (Time, Cost, Quality) are at large and changing, where best practice structure seems impossible to implement given the speed at which the environment is evolving. This seminar uses case studies of a variety of different organisations Local Authority, Transportation and Humanitarian facing emergency and urgent situations and how they successfully employed P3 management strategies; the challenges they faced; and the things that happened that nobody could have expected or planned for and why being able react is more effective than trying to predict. This seminar is directed at practitioners and owners looking to learn from previous experiences from both client and project management organisation describing what happens during an emergency response projects, what processes and behaviours are necessary in order to triage the urgent situation, stabilise the environment and begin recovery, adding value at a time of crisis.

By Jonathan Norman
November 8th 2018

Managing Urgent and Emergency Response Projects Highlight Report

Over the last decade Project Management methodology has focussed on creating a controlled environment (the UK Government’s best practice methodology PRINCE2 is named with that singular focus) and, although it is generally accepted that programmes are ambiguous by nature, practitioners seek to create order and certainty through structure and process. Crisis planning is a well-established discipline, but this expertise is scarce and responses to most crisis are immediate, reactive rather than planned, so experienced practitioners cannot always be mobilised. Existing contingency plans and knowledge may not translate easily to the pace of a situation. Established processes for successful delivery can be neglected by even the most experienced P3 delivery organisation when faced with an urgent situation. These emergency and disaster response situations are categorised by the very nature of the instability the create, the problem itself is not defined and the solutions required range from the immediate tactical requirements (such as Life Safety and Asset Protection) to the later stage solutions for Recovery and Re-build. Best practice communication and stakeholder protocols usually deployed may not be effective, scheduling, cost and control processes and operations will develop in an unstable environment, where Risk is difficult to demonstrate and margin for error and iteration is restricted by unfolding events. So, what happens when an organisation which may well be steeped in PM practices finds they have to respond in an emergency situation? Where all sides of the PM triangle (Time, Cost, Quality) are at large and changing, where best practice structure seems impossible to implement given the speed at which the environment is evolving. This seminar uses case studies of a variety of different organisations Local Authority, Transportation and Humanitarian facing emergency and urgent situations and how they successfully employed P3 management strategies; the challenges they faced; and the things that happened that nobody could have expected or planned for and why being able react is more effective than trying to predict. This seminar is directed at practitioners and owners looking to learn from previous experiences from both client and project management organisation describing what happens during an emergency response projects, what processes and behaviours are necessary in order to triage the urgent situation, stabilise the environment and begin recovery, adding value at a time of crisis.

By Manon Bradley
November 25th 2017

Global Client Models

The purpose of this 2017 research into global client models was to capture the experiences of clients of major projects from a range of sectors and countries throughout the world. By explaining their models, examining the delivery  function responsibilities and considering the drivers for the approaches, this report aims to draw out important trends and lessons emerging from client models in international markets.

By Jonathan Norman
February 9th 2017

Maximising Project Performance – the role of Project Controls in assuring delivery Short Report

Project controls, assurance, accountability and governance are closely related, though mutually exclusive, but combine as being essential in the successful delivery of projects.

Whilst effective project controls facilitate the proactive management of schedule and cost risk, it is arguably only effective if assured independently within a decision framework that is logical, robust and repeatable.

Successful projects, programs or portfolios of work:
• Must take account of actual performance as the basis of future risk management predictions
• Need effective assurance for timely intervention strategies
• Need a consistent operational framework within which standards may be established and trends may be detected so that decisions may be based on accurate, meaningful and focused data
The objective of this event is to provide an insight into the relationship between project controls, governance and assurance through a wide range of case-studies.

Speakers from a range of industry sectors, perspectives and from a diverse breadth of projects, will present their experiences. It is hoped that the event will be thought-provoking and lively, with some of the industry’s leading people sharing their strategies that have assisted with greater project delivery success.

By Jonathan Norman
February 9th 2017

Maximising Project Performance – the role of Project Controls in assuring delivery Highlight Report

Project controls, assurance, accountability and governance are closely related, though mutually exclusive, but combine as being essential in the successful delivery of projects.

Whilst effective project controls facilitate the proactive management of schedule and cost risk, it is arguably only effective if assured independently within a decision framework that is logical, robust and repeatable.

Successful projects, programs or portfolios of work:
• Must take account of actual performance as the basis of future risk management predictions
• Need effective assurance for timely intervention strategies
• Need a consistent operational framework within which standards may be established and trends may be detected so that decisions may be based on accurate, meaningful and focused data
The objective of this event is to provide an insight into the relationship between project controls, governance and assurance through a wide range of case-studies.

Speakers from a range of industry sectors, perspectives and from a diverse breadth of projects, will present their experiences. It is hoped that the event will be thought-provoking and lively, with some of the industry’s leading people sharing their strategies that have assisted with greater project delivery success.

By Jonathan Norman
February 9th 2017

Maximising Project Performance – the role of Project Controls in assuring delivery Full Report

Project controls, assurance, accountability and governance are closely related, though mutually exclusive, but combine as being essential in the successful delivery of projects.

Whilst effective project controls facilitate the proactive management of schedule and cost risk, it is arguably only effective if assured independently within a decision framework that is logical, robust and repeatable.

Successful projects, programs or portfolios of work:
• Must take account of actual performance as the basis of future risk management predictions
• Need effective assurance for timely intervention strategies
• Need a consistent operational framework within which standards may be established and trends may be detected so that decisions may be based on accurate, meaningful and focused data
The objective of this event is to provide an insight into the relationship between project controls, governance and assurance through a wide range of case-studies.

Speakers from a range of industry sectors, perspectives and from a diverse breadth of projects, will present their experiences. It is hoped that the event will be thought-provoking and lively, with some of the industry’s leading people sharing their strategies that have assisted with greater project delivery success.