There is one simple thing most SES officers get wrong with programmes and projects, and it is this: they think about them the wrong way. Common Misconceptions Whenever I mention to that I specialise in programme and project management to senior executives, it is always interesting to see what kind of responses I get. [...]
To The Fourth of July (excerpt from Poem by Swami Vivekananda) Behold, the dark clouds melt away, That gathered thick at night, and hung So like a gloomy pall above the earth! Before thy magic touch, the world Awakes. The birds in chorus sing. The flowers raise their star-like crowns— Dew-set, and wave thee [...]
I was delighted to attend the Prime Ministers address to the APS in the Great Hall of Parliament House last week, and before I say anything else I must congratulate IPAA for arranging such a tremendous event. It is impressive that over 13 secretaries and heads of agencies attended. In his address the PM [...]
I am pleased to have been a contributor to the report “Learning from Failure”1 by Professor Peter Shergold AC, which was published in early February 2016. On page one of the report he says: “Leadership begins with finding the courage to say, ‘I accept personal responsibility for contributing to the failure to which I [...]
Here are three typical responses to the question “where are you with programme and project management?”: All our project managers are (say) PRINCE2®-qualified and we have a full set of templates on the intranet that they have to fill in. We’re given much theory and not enough about how to really do it. The [...]
As a PRINCE2® trainer for many years, I have often been asked whether you can use Agile delivery in a PRINCE2 project management environment. I typically give the ‘short answer’ – ‘Very much so; in fact they are very well suited to one another’, More often than not this has inspired lots of challenging [...]
“Risk, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing, say it again,” as Edwin Starr never sang. But, a bit like insurance, risk is one of those things that you wish you’d paid attention to after the fact. And it is a vital component of project and programme management regardless of the mental model you [...]
We are all very familiar with the childhood phrase “have we got there yet”? Whilst most of us associate that question with our childhood it is a question we should continue to ask for the rest of our life. Whilst the child in an exasperated way is asking have we achieved our goal by [...]
If you are familiar with PRINCE2 you will know that the method has 7 processes, each of which comprises a number of activities. I counted the activities the other day, and there are 40 of them. I have been quite vocal about the need to apply PRINCE2 skillfully and tailor it to suit, so [...]
Why do PRINCE2 training? It’s an obvious question if you are moving to a project or organization that uses PRINCE2. And it’s obvious what the answer will be if you ask a provider of PRINCE2 training. Or is it? Someone said to you: “you should do the PRINCE2 training” Let me guess. Something just [...]
