Session Three

Seminars

1. Setting up an effective portfolio office

Steve Watkins is the Head of the IT Portfolio Office for Corporate Information Services (CIS) of the Environment Agency.

Projects still coming in late and over cost?
Qualified project managers still not making a difference?
Senior managers not yet fully engaged in supporting their projects?
Project managers suffering from low status?
Not sure how your projects contribute to strategic direction?

Then maybe you need an effective Portfolio Office!

This talk focuses on the approach adopted by the Environment Agency when designing, setting up and running its IT Portfolio Office.

We will share with you our innovative trend reporting, our use of project management tools, and our delivery lifecycle. We will be open about the problems as well as the successes. We will provide a structure for setting up a Portfolio Office that made a big difference to our project delivery.

To match best practice, we ‘left no hiding place’ by setting a demanding target to move from project management maturity model level 0 to 2, in 12 months.

Did we achieve it? Come and find out

2. The Maasvlakte 2 Project, two times a public accreditation in PRINCE2. What can be learned from the fourth largest land reclamation in the world?

Paul Swanenvleugel, MV2 Project
Drs. R. Moret, Director of the PRINCE2 Academy, PRINCE2 Consultant

New land in the sea
Directly to the west of the current port and industrial area, a new top European location for port activities and industry is to be created in the North Sea. Maasvlakte 2 will shortly cover 1000 hectares net of industrial sites, located directly on deep water. 

Sand will become land
The reclaimed land will emerge after the construction of a combination of hard and soft sea defences in the North Sea. Beach and dunes form the soft part of the sea defence, rubble or concrete blocks the hard sea wall. Inside these defences, the sites will subsequently be sprayed on. The sand for this will come from carefully selected locations at sea, but will also become available when the port itself is deepened. The land reclamation will measure around 2000 hectares in total. Half of this will consist of infrastructure, such as sea defences, fairways, railways, roads and port basins. The other 1000 hectares will provide the space for industrial sites.

Container throughput, distribution and the chemical industry will be given plenty of room on Maasvlakte 2. Not only in terms of surface area, but also depth. As it happens, Maasvlakte 2 will shortly be accessible for the container ships of the future. With a depth of 20 metres, the port is accessible for container ships which are unable to berth in other European ports. 

Due to the immediate location at and the open connection with the North Sea, Rotterdam is one of the most accessible ports in Europe. Therefore Maasvlakte 2 can be reached within one or two hours from the pilot station.

The Maasvlakte 2 is now using PRINCE2 for four years in the project. It has two times a public accreditation in using PRINCE2 with the P3M3 and P2MM model.
The project is now going into a new phase and the organisation is changing. Because of the difficult political decisions around the project it was very important that the project management process was absolutely clear.
After using PRINCE2 for four years it is the example for mega infrastructural projects.
In this presentation we will share the experience in using PRINCE2 in this mega infrastructural project.

3. Programme Management in the Police Service: a contradiction in terms?

Dr Bob Golding, lately Assistant Chief Constable and currently Programme Manager for the National Ballistics Intelligence Programme
Supported by Xansa

Police forces are constantly managing programmes of change – but are they doing it well, or are benefits being left unrealised for want of the application of sound Programme Management?

The presenter, with 30 years police experience and involvement at all levels in change management in the police service up to and including the rank of Assistant Chief Constable, will give an overview of how programmes of change within police forces are often tackled –  exposing strengths and weaknesses, lessons to be learnt and pitfalls to avoid using the police paradigm, as well as research exposing the gaps and needs that police organisations have identified in terms of programme management.

The presentation will expose the scepticism in some quarters in the police sector, up to and including Chief Officer level, with project and programme management methodology, and explore why that has developed and what needs to be done to overcome it.

In the light of that, observations will be made in relation to current training provision and accreditation, and the presenter will, from both a ‘police customer’ and practitioner perspective, provide some hard hitting observations and recommendations on how current approaches to presenting the benefits of programme management (MSP) methodology to a sceptical audience might be developed, and how current training arrangements might be developed to meet customer requirements. For example is the current training emphasis on achieving accreditation counter productive from the perspective of the organisational (as opposed to the individual) customer. What alternatives might be developed to meet the needs of organisations in need of programme management expertise?

4. Implementing PRINCE2 in response to the local government Comprehensive Performance Assessment: a case study.

Paul Bradley, Managing Director, SPOCE Project Management

5. Project and programme management enabling a broadband Wales

Simon Renault, Welsh Assembly with OGC

Simon Renault is Head of ICT Policy Co-ordination in the e-Wales Division of the Welsh Assembly Government. He has over 17 years experience working in the public sector leading on strategic business change and business process improvement projects. Simon is a qualified practitioner in OGC’s best practice methodologies of PRINCE2, Managing Successful Programmes (MSP) and Management of Risk (M_o_R). He is a qualified OGC Gateway Reviewer and has led on several Welsh Assembly Government Gateways. Simon established and managed the Programme and Project Support Office, supporting the major capacity building programme delivering the Welsh Assembly Government policy of ‘Broadband Wales’.

Birds of a Feather Sessions

1. Beyond MSP: benefits management in the real world

Alan Ferguson, Managing Director, AFA

Benefits Management is a key element of Programme Management. It involves measuring the effect of change. So it helps the organisation to judge if the outputs from projects are being exploited in the business. But it can come across as a dry, academic exercise.

Since last year’s hugely successful presentation on Benefits Management at Best Practice Showcase, Alan Ferguson has been helping organisations around the world to put in place practical benefits management frameworks.

This Birds of a Feather Session is an opportunity to catch up with developments over the last year or to talk, for the first time, about the reality of Benefits Management. The topics are up to you, but it is likely that our discussions will include

• The role of a Benefits Co-ordinator in the PMO
• Practical Benefits Management Frameworks
• Aspects of the Benefits Management lifecycle:
  • Benefits Identification and Modelling
  • Benefits Definition including Profiling
  • Transition Management and Benefits Preparation
  • Benefits Tracking and Reporting
  • Benefits Assurance, including scrutiny and the relationship with Gate Reviews
• Workable benefits modelling techniques
• Benefits Management Workshops

Alan has also been heavily involved in the next edition of ‘Managing Successful Programmes’. So with the official release of MSP 3rd Edition at Best Practice Showcase 2007, this will be the first public opportunity to discuss how the authoritative interpretation of Benefits Management has moved forward since MSP was last updated.

So whether you want:

• The latest Best Practice
• Practical Tips and Tricks or
• Advice on embedding Benefits Management  in your organisation

Come along and chat with Alan Ferguson and fellow benefits management practitioners at “Beyond MSP – Benefits Management in the Real World”.

2. Delivering what people need, despite what they want…….How to choose the right project portfolio

Charles Fox, Director, Core IS

Running projects in the right way is good, however it’s even better to run the right project in the right way. A classic problem for project sponsors when starting up new projects is to ensure that the scope and purpose of a project fits in with higher level business strategies, and that it genuinely meets a business need.

Often stakeholders will be highly articulate in stating their requirements, however how can a project sponsor ensure that these requirements are what the users need to fulfil their part in the value chain, rather than just what they want?

A further concern is how to develop vague user requirements such as “better internal systems” into a clear Project Brief, so that the optimum project is run rather than the one we first thought of in the pub on a Friday night.

To help make good project scoping decisions, budget holding managers need to strike a rational balance between time, cost, quality and function based on an objective statement of what users really need.

This workshop describes simple yet powerful techniques for making rational decisions about project scope, using Benefit Definition to link higher level business objectives to a clear statement of what users need  from projects.

Benefit definition is a key part of both the MSP programme management method from OGC, and also the new American programme management standard from PMI. It is a powerful approach to articulating, defining (and then managing) business driven requirements. It is particularly useful where there is lack of clarity about what users need, or user requirements are articulated in vague language.

3. PRINCE2™ and the ‘squidgy’ project.

Chris Hadden, Director, Midlands and South, EnterpriseConsulting

Widely adopted as a project management methodology, PRINCE2™ is designed to be tailored flexibly to suit project circumstances.  This works well across a very wide range of projects, but does it really live up to the claim of “any type of project, in any environment?”.

One type of project that does challenge the PRINCE2™ approach is the ‘squidgy’ project – typically, these might involve cultural change, HR, new ways of working, mergers between companies or organisations, and/or behavioural change.  They are typified by factors such as a small (or even non existent) budget, difficulty in defining measurable objectives, intangible benefits, part time staff, and even an unwillingness to describe the activity as a project at all.  Yet they involve considerable complexity and high organisational risk, they are normally strategically important to the organisation, they are frequently novel and the staff involved may have little experience in what is being undertaken – all key reasons arguing for taut project control, and hence for PRINCE2™.

Can the challenges of this sort of project be reconciled with PRINCE2™?  Is it possible, for example, to develop a proper controlled start in such a way that the project board and corporate management have a clear understanding (and buy in) to the way in which the project will be run and controlled?  Can enough clarity be provided at the outset to provide a baseline against which change control can operate – indeed, is change control even appropriate in a ‘squidgy’ project where the very nature of the project argues for a ‘learning’ approach?  How can ‘products’ be defined, and should product based planning be used?

This BOF session will explore the issues involved in a lively and challenging way, drawing on the experience of those around the table and asking some uncomfortable questions about how organisations handle these issues.

4. Leadership in Project Management; find out which type of leader you are and how to enhance your leadership profile

Melanie Franklin, Chief Executive, Maven Training

During this session, the participants will try to establish which type of leader they are, focusing on the skills required to lead people through a structured change. The facilitator will address the leading theories and models of leadership, while applying these to real world project situations. Project managers need to understand how best to lead teams, stakeholders and even project boards to reach the project fulfillment on time and on budget.  During the session, we will discuss leadership and how it relates to project management, recognize natural leadership styles in a context of project situations, build a leadership profile and develop plans for managing progress.

This session will be of benefit to project managers and project leads who wish to improve their leadership skills, as well as managers responsible for leading teams through transition or change.

5. Running projects with PRINCE2 and DSDM Atern: an agile marriage made in heaven

Keith Richards, Director, DSDM Consortium

Over the last decade PRINCE2 has established itself as one of the most internationally accepted structured project management methods. However in recent years the prominence of ‘agile’ project management has increased to such an extent that there is now a real choice in the methods marketplace. This session will look at running PRINCE2 projects in conjunction with DSDM Atern and thereby creating an agile project delivery framework that delivers the right product at the right time without compromising strong project governance.

6. What makes a winning project team for IT project success

Alwyn Welch,  Chief Executive , Parity Group plc

We look at research into the major contributing factors for excellence and the competencies required for successful project teams. We compare and contrast successful projects to those that did not meet success criteria and discuss the differences in teams’ performance. Finally we evaluate the effect of qualifications and use of different methodologies on success.

Billions of pounds are spent every year on change projects and many are characterised by delay and overspends, poor performance and abandonment. Good practice guidance in project and programme management can help bring greater efficiency to all types of projects but we ask is this enough. Are qualifications enough to acquire the competencies required for managing teams on large scale IT projects?

One of the stated benefits of the OGC gateway process to achieve business aims is ensuring that the best available skills and experiences are deployed on the programme or project. But what are the skills and how do these translate to competencies with a team environment?

We are told that productive time improvement is about "working smarter" - doing the right things, in the right way, with the right people, using the right tools and equipment. We propose that this definition of ‘right’ is very loosely applied when trying to select a successful team for mission critical projects.

This discussion is about the search for excellence in the winning team. To find out what made the greatest contribution to success/failure and what individual competencies are required in the project team.

We will be presenting our findings from the research looking first at how success was measured and the importance attached to the performance criteria and second at our respondents and their ratings on the success of their project and the elements that went into this rating.

7. The New Edition of Managing Successful Programmes: A detailed briefing for practitioners

Andrew Rock , Training Consultant, pearcemayfield
John Edmonds, Senior Training Consultant,  pearcemayfield

What is the gap between the 2nd and 3rd editions?
Is this a major change or a more detailed development of thinking?
What are the practical implications for me and my programme?

This Birds of a Feather session answers these questions and others in a more detailed tour through the 3rd edition of this best practice guide.

pearcemayfield, through the contribution of Patrick Mayfield on the authoring team, is able to bring you insights and further detail to what has already been announced in today’s Showcase.

By participating in this Birds of a Feather session, pearcemayfield will leave you more fully briefed on the extent of the changes and the implications for practising programme managers. The briefing will include these and other topics:

• The concepts of vision-led, emergent and compliance programmes and the practical differences in handling these programmes
• The Principles of programme management and how to apply them
• Changes to stakeholder engagement and the stronger linking with leadership: why this emphasis, and how should it express itself?
• Transition management, how this is explained
• Concept, document and technique changes in Benefits Realisation Management, including the Benefits Map
• Business Case management and the new cost categories
• Blueprint design and delivery: how the concept of the Intermediate Blueprint should work
• Changes to the Organisation structure and the wider concept of Governance
• The Management of Risk and its consistent link with M_o_R
• The updated Glossary, important terms and the new Programme Information section
• The fit with PRINCE2 project management
• Adding to and tailoring MSP

8. Applying Project Management skills as "Agents for Change"

Bob Black, Organisational Change Facilitator, People Skills Worldwide
Course Author and Instructor, Learning Tree International

Project Management has many benefits based on proven methodologies, skills and techniques. As an agent for change, project management the emphasis placed by PRINCE2 on accurate scope and metrics for success provide a great starting point for change. A significant number of organisations embark on change without having a clear definition of what project success/change outcome would look like nor interim or final metrics.

The climate in which project management is used is critical for success. By clearly defining what success would look like, the scope of activity and developing a communication strategy we provide both context and climate for the successful delivery of project/ change programme.

A significant issue in the successful delivery of any project or change delivery is scope creep.  The methodologies available in the discipline of project management provide a framework for managing stakeholder expectations (formal and informal), managing the politics around project deliverables, developing engagement strategies for key players and positively managing the inevitable conflict of interest.
 
A significant body of knowledge is available for the metrics required for successful project delivery.  This "birds of a feather" session looks at these best practices and explores how to develop a compatible body of knowledge for the context and climate required to successfully use a content/context approach for the delivery of project management as an agent for change.

9. Maturity – the final solution for project delivery?

Adrian Dooley, Managing Director, The Projects Group plc

In this session, Adrian Dooley will be discussing the application of Maturity Models to Programme and Project Management. He will address questions such as:

• What is Maturity?
• Is Maturity a workable framework for better project delivery?
• What models are available?
• How is assessment done?
• What results can you expect?

Adrian will be using real life examples and rigorously examining the value of Maturity Models such as the SEI Capability Maturity Model, PRINCE2™ and OPM3® for project management.

International research has demonstrated that organisations with structured development programmes achieve higher levels of maturity, and that organisations with higher levels of maturity deliver more successful projects. Adrian will highlight that developing staff is an important factor, but all parts of an organisation do not start at the same point. Blanket training programmes waste time and money, and can demotivate more experienced staff.

Participate in this session to learn more about Maturity Models and how they might be able to help your organisation.  Adrian will respond to your questions and help you to understand how considering assessment against a model could help you improve your project delivery.

10. Making change happen – a vision for success

Andrew Hudson BEng, Managing Director, ChangeDirector UK Ltd

This session explores some of the reasons why change fails and the practical steps you could take to increase the likelihood of success in your organisation.  The topics Andrew will cover includes:

• Leadership
• Stakeholder engagement & communications
• Outcome and benefits management
• Procedures and controls
• Information management

11. Are sponsors born or bred?

Eileen J Roden, Managing Consultant, PMProfessional Learning

The role of project sponsor is key to project success - so the theory goes.  However, what preparation do sponsors get before taking on the mantle?  When was the last time you saw a course for Project Sponsors? 

In this short 45 minute session, we will review the roles and responsibilities of sponsors and discuss:

• What skills, knowledge and experience are required by project sponsors
• How do sponsors acquire these
• Additional opportunities/challenges for the project manager with an inexperienced sponsor

12. Realise the benefits from establishing Portfolio, Programme and Project offices with new guidance from OGC

Sue Vowler, Project Angels and Zoe Peden, TSO supported by OGC

There is currently no single place that either organisations or individuals can go to find advice on setting up and running effective delivery “support” offices in alignment with OGC best practice in PPM.  OGC have decided to fill this gap in both the market and its current portfolio of products by developing a set of guidance covering Portfolio, Programme and Project Offices (P3O).

The proposed P3O guidance will fulfil a number of key objectives:

• To enhance and pull together in one place the existing published OGC guidance on roles and responsibilities of support offices.
• To provide the basis for training and qualifications at a number of different levels, aimed at a number of relevant roles within each level.
• To produce a publication (or set of publications) that clearly aligns with PRINCE2, MSP and M_O_R, and where appropriate with ITIL.

OGC are launching this new initiative at Best Practice Showcase and as part of the project start-up we are seeking the input of a range of P3O practitioners from P3O directors / managers to project co-ordinators and administrators. 

We want your help in scoping the proposed guidance:

• Who should it be aimed at? Who are the audiences?
• What form should the guidance take? A single book or set of linked booklets?
• What should the content look like? What questions should such guidance answer?

If you’ve ever spent hours looking for independent guidance on P3O’s then we want to hear from you. This session gives the potential users of P3O guidance a chance to contribute their ideas on the new guidance and influence its “look, feel and content”. 

Go to session 4