Certainty or innovation - what will your stakeholders opt for?

Despite having all the right badges and certificates for methodologies, and despite producing (at least) my fair share of PIDs, PDDs, Communication Strategies etc. etc. I remain unconvinced that they will ever lead to innovation and excellence.

This "project bureaucracy" leads stakeholders to expect - and demand - certainty, which roughly translates as "safe". Nothing great was ever achieved by taking the safe route, and it almost invariably leads to disappointment because certainty cannot be guaranteed on day 1.

We've all heard the cliches - "A project plan is only 100% accurate the day after the project completes" and "Projects never go over budget, they are under-estimated in the first place".

I have seen too many times organisations where the primary outputs of a project are the governance artefacts; woe betide anyone who is late updating the RAID Log - it's far more important than making sure the REAL project products are the best they can be.

Similarly, some organisations, most notably public sector ones, who tend to be the most risk averse, hide behind governance as an excuse when projects fail; how often have you seen a civil servant bemoaning (yet another) large failed project by saying "We followed all the processes and procedures..."?

Yes, I'm sure their governance documentation is a joy to behold but it won't cut much mustard with taxpayers who just wanted a good [insert whatever you like here... health records system, passport system, border control mechanism - you get the idea]

I think this is why I am more and more drawn to agile development. Project bureaucracy leads almost inevitably into a waterfall development, where each "gate" provides certainty before the project moves on to the next phase.

Real life isn't like that. The average person, faced with, say, a project to landscape a garden with the help of some friends doesn't create a set-in-stone project plan including quality reviews and reports to their spouse. They choose a bit to tackle, complete it and move on to the next bit until the garden is complete.

You can almost picture them standing at the edge of the garden on the first weekend saying "Let's tackle x first" (Hmm - sounds a bit like a sprint plan to me) then on day two discussing where they got to and what's next (scrum, anyone?).

When I picture this, I also picture a group of people self-organising and working as a team. No bureaucracy, no over-burdening control but plenty of ambition, fun and progress.

OK, people making the financial investment need some kind of reassurance that they will receive value for money, but this does not mean they need a library's-worth of governance documentation generating.

Far better to keep them informed along the way. Prototype, demonstrate, inform, but above all, be inspired.

Things looking up?

A new year and a  new search for a fresh assignment.

Early signs are that the market for interim programme managers is improving. The job boards seem fairly busy and agents are calling.

My fingers are crossed for something interesting to come along soon.

Two weeks with the Mac

Well, everyone who uses a Mac raved about them, so I decided to join them and see what the fuss ia about.

I bought an Apple MacBook Pro - the 13" for portability - and upgraded it to 8Gb of RAM and a 128Gb solid state hard drive. It flies like the wind!

The build quality is superb; far better than any PC I've ever owned.

I've deliberately opted to avoid using a Windows parallel system, and I've resisted the temptation to use Office for Mac.

I find that Apple Mail suits my email purposes just fine, and in place of Business Contacts Manager for Outlook I've bought Daylite, which is a very impressive CRM package for Mac, and it integrates perfectly with Apple Mail.

Instead of Office, I've installed NeoOffice (don't even get me started on how superb the Mac is for installing and uninstalling programs!) and it's great! It will open all my Word, Excel and PowerPoint files and contains all the functionality I need without the bloatedness of its Microsoft counterpart. It's also free, although you can make a donation, which seems only fair.

The only concession I've had to make in switching to a Mac is the loss of the ability to take handwritten notes as I did on my tablet. The input pen I bought to use with the Mac was very unimpressive. To get round that, I'm going to buy an iPad 2 to take notes on and integrate them with the MacBook.

All things considered I'm delighted I made the switch. The Mac boots up in 14 seconds, does what it's supposed to do - very  quickly - backs itself up to an external drive every hour without my even noticing, never crashes, needs no anti-virus software and defrags itself instantly every time I write to disc.

Am I smug? You bet I am!

Meanwhile, on the work front, it continues to be a fascinating environment to work in. It's the first time I've been involved in a brand new outsourcing site, and the amount of storming and forming has to be seen to be believed. Both sides of the equation are feeling their way. There are misunderstandings and dissatisfaction on both sides but people are doing their best to make it work.

Add to that the large offshore element of the work, and the fact that half a dozen companies are involved, and the whole thing is very challenging. At least there's never a dull moment. And of course, I get to come home to my Mac!

A good start to 2011

IBM has just asked me to manage a second programme for them at Legal & General and offered me a six-months extension to my contract with a rate increase.

All of this is really good. There are some really professional people at IBM, not least many of those who transferred over from L&G back in October, and there are some interesting challenges ahead, both in terms of the programmes I'm looking after and in helping to integrate transferred staff into IBM.

It's a new world for me because I'm far more involved in infrastructure than I ever have been before, and it's a long while since I worked at an insurance company, so it's all good personal development stuff as well.

Between this and the work I'm doing for the APM on the professional standard I ought to have a satisfying time in 2011.

APM Awards Ceremony

I've a hectic day's work for IBM today before heading off to the APM Award Ceremony in Central London this evening.

The award is for the new Project Professionals' Standard, hopefully to soon be chartered status.

Awards will be going to founder members of the Association's new Professional Standard Register and to those people who qualified as assessors for the standard.

I qualify on both counts I'm pleased to say!

The new standard will boost the professionalism of Portfolio, Programme and Project Management and reassure potential employers that they are engaging someone who is judged by his/her peers to be knowledgeable, experienced and professional.

I was delighted to be selected as a Fellow of the APM to help with the pilot process. It gave me the opportunity to put something back into the profession and to help create a meaningful standard.

It will be good to meet up again with all the other people who worked on the pilot. I'm really looking forward to the official launch next year!

IBM Assignment

I'm currently a month into my latest assignment at IBM, the end client being a major insurance company, with my attention being focussed specifically on a Solvency II programme and an online protection service improvement programme.

It's an interesting place to be.

I started before the contract start date, so I was there to witness all the TUPE process, on-boarding etc.

It took me back to my days with EDS, where my assignment started before they signed the contract with Lloyds TSB; both assignments were for American companies, both were right at the start of the contract and both involved a lot of very professional people, so all in all, work is pretty stimulating.

Most of the people I have spoken to who have transferred over to IBM as part of the TUPE process seem genuinely excited abot the move, and see it as enhancing their career prospects, so they are good to work with too.

Solvency II is interesting to be involved in because it has far-reaching implications for all insurance companies, and work will need to be well underway in every company by early 2011.

Online protection is also very interesting, being complementary to my eCommerce work at Camelot last year.

Looks like being a good run up to Christmas and the New Year for me!

Green Shoots of Recovery?

Maybe the jobs market really is beginning to look up. I'm at least finding more appropriate contracts to apply for this month.

I'm waiting for the result of an interview I had yesterday, and expect to hear today if I have been selected for interview for a second role.

Both opportunities are roles I would relish.

Having said that, I'm not easing up on my search for an assignment; competition is too tough out there to take anything for granted.

When I'm not job hunting I'm now busy working on the Stakeholder Management section of the APM's next edition of the Body of Knowledge (BoK), so at least I'm keeping my brain ticking over.

The Power of the Internet

The internet seems to be an integral part of most people's lives these days. I know that I and most of my friends, family and colleagues are connected to it most of the day.

This gives the worldwide web great power, and sometimes I wonder if that is necessarily a good thing.

My wife and I went away for a golfing weekend last weekend. We booked it through our usual golf trip arranger, so we were confident it would be OK. I then did a bit of research about the hotel at the golf course, and, much to my dismay, I found one very damning review.

The writer clearly felt very strongly, as she had written a very long review, listing a whole catalogue of things wrong with the hotel, not least the lack of hygiene.

In counterbalance to that review, I read many that praised the hotel, its staff, the food etcetera, but needless to say, we arrived at the place somewhat concerned about what we would find.

We need not have worried. It was, as one reviewer said, a place of "faded grandeur", but the cleanliness, size of the rooms and quality of the facilities was absolutely fine.

More than absolutely fine was the service given by every single member of the staff, who were very impressive.

The food was a little mixed, dinner and lunch being very good while breakfast was less impressive.

The only point of agreement I found with the damning review was the poor quality of the mattress, and we were assured that is due for replacement.

So it just goes to show - one damning review could spread like wildfire and damage that hotel for years to come, and yet we had a great weekend.

It takes a long time to build up a good reputation but only moments to build up a bad one. Never was that saying more true than in these internet days.

Association for Project Management

Another good day with the APM last Friday - a feedback session for all those involved in the work we've been doing lately.

Everyone was very positive and things are moving forward at a good pace.

I'm hoping to be involved with the rewrite of the Body of Knowledge, and I should hear about that next month.

I enjoy my work with the APM; everyone is so professional and committed. I'm really looking forward to our project going public towards the end of this year.

Programme Management cf Project Management

(with apologies for the spelling of "Program"!)

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/rational/library/4751.html

PMOs

I was recently asked why so many programme and project managers regard PMOs as an unnecessary overhead.

Too many PMO staff, in my experience, seem to think that the main purpose of a programme/project is to produce management artefacts, e.g. Risk Logs, reports etc.

They lose sight of the fact that the PMO is there to help the project achieve success via efficient and effective governance processes.

I worked on one assignment recently where the PMO person allocated to the programme had no concept of what the programme was delivering - despite my best efforts to explain it and have her read the Business Case, Vision etc. - and was simply hell-bent on having the Risk Register updated on a fortnightly basis. It wouldn't have been so bad if she insisted that the risks were actually managed, but it was only the documentation she was interested in!

Once she was removed from the programme we delivered on time and to budget, and our governance satisfied successive OGC Gateway Reviews with no-one from the PMO assigned to the programme.

I've managed other programmes where PMO staff understand that they are there to add value and to help achieve the end-goal, and in those cases they have been a tremendous aid to the programme. It's all about people understanding why good governance matters.

MSP Advanced Practitioner Exam

I'm sitting the MSP Advanced Practitioner Re-registration Exam today.

It doesn't seem like five years since I first attained the qualification, but in these hard times I think it's important to keep your core qualifications current.

The public sector in particular insists on freelance programme managers being MSP qualified, and it's also a useful addition to my Continuing Professional Development Log to maintain my standing within the Association for Project Managers (APM).

I'm confident the exam will go well; I've used MSP in practice solidly since before I qualified, so if I don't know about it by now I never will!