Changing the way we work – delivering impact through better

project management Andrea Bradley and Martin Locock

Structure

• Introduction: Management theory or therapy?

• What is a Project?• How Projects go wrong Break

• What is Project Management?• Changing the way you work • Action Plan

Aims

• Understand management and project management

• Review current behaviour and attitudes

• Reflect on practice

• Create action plan

Learning outcomes

• Understand how working style affects impact of their work

• Understand key principles of project management: focusing on impact, need for defined product, importance of roles, and benefit of structured communications

• Understand planning a project including defining product and breaking a project into tasks

• Be aware of how project team should be developed• Know how to cope with project change• Know how to control the programme and cost of a

project• Understand how to work with project risk• Know what they need to do to change the way they work

Ground rules

• What happens in Vegas . . .

• Honesty

• Respect

• Commitment

Management theory or therapy?

• All professional development is personal development

• Welsh Government training

• Senior and middle managers from public bodies: LAs, Fire, Health, Police

• Strategy, planning, organisational change

• Emotional Intelligence, reflection, creativity, soft power, empowerment, self awareness

Self assessment

Self assessment

• Dunning-Kruger effect• Don’t ask don’t tell

Exercise

• 3a What was the highlight or most intense experience in the last year? (to be shared with group)

• 3b What are the 3 most important things in your life? (not shared)

• 3c What was the single best decision/action in the last year? (to be shared with neighbour)

Conclusions

• Our jobs don't define us

• We choose what matters to us

• Our actions make a difference

Conclusions

• Our jobs don't define us

• We choose what matters to us

• Our actions make a difference

Themes

• Analysis

• Communication

• Reflection

• Self-awareness

• Focus

Project Management

Project Management

•project management has its own language and can seem intricate/contrived•it takes time to get used to the principles and practices – it will get harder before it gets easy•formalising the process makes it efficient•but if it’s not useful, don’t do it – tailor to your situation•proper pm reduces risk (£), saves time (£) focuses effort (£), ensures work meets client spec (£)•MoD, EH, Bank of America all operate P2 or similar. Why?

before we start

Project Management

• delivers change• temporary roles/organisation focussed on

delivery• unique• uncertain• individuals / groups with conflicting

requirements (stakeholders)• budget, schedule and expectations of quality

and scope

what is a project?

Project Management

• Pre-course Exercise 1: why projects fail

how do projects go wrong?

Project Management

• lose focus, get bogged down or distracted• responsibilities not clear (double handling)• unexpected/last minute changes• communications are a nightmare• hard to juggle with other work – loss of

time• results are disappointing• delivered late• go over budget

how do projects go wrong?

Project Management

• controls focus• controls budget• controls use of senior management time• controls quality – results never disappointing• controls communication (bespoke language)• controls the programme• controls who makes decisions/is accountable• controls risk and change

what is project management?(think of it as a formal discipline with a theory, like teaching or business

management)

Project Management

PLAN CONTROL* DELIVER

*of what, why, for whom, how, when, how much & what could go wrong

the importance of control (!)

Project Management

1. focus on outcome (not process)2. roles and responsibilities (ownership, no

double handling)3. plan your project4. manage by stages5. manage change ‘by exception’6. have ‘fingertip’ control of time and budget7. predict and control risks and opportunities8. use reports and reviews to control progress

principles of project management(Prince 2® and MoRPHE would agree)

Project Management

• Exercise 4: Dependencies

• Take a current task you need to complete

• Define: • things you can do now• things you can’t do yet

– Why not?– Who are you waiting for?– Do they know?

processes of project management1. continual focus on outcome

Project Management

• The Director (Project Executive) / Project Board represents the stakeholders and makes high level decisions

• The Project Manager is responsible for delivering the project on time and to agreed targets for budget, scope and quality, making all the other decisions

• The Project Team carry out technical work (the PM could be/be on the team)

• These Project roles might cut across organisational roles• The Project Manager ‘delegates’ to the team and

‘escalates’ to the Director/Board according to the principles of ‘managing by exception’

processes of project management2. understand roles and responsibilities

Project Management

Exercise 5: draw up the structure of a current or recent project

Project director

Client/ other stakeholders

Project manager

Project team

processes of project management2. understand roles and responsibilities

• Exercise 6: communication

• How is communication managed in your projects?

• Does it work?

processes of project management2. understand roles and responsibilities

Project Management• At each stage the PM reports on progress and there is a

review by the Director of budget, schedule, quality and forecast progress as well as any risks or issues.

• Reporting does not happen between stages unless ‘exceptional’

• Problems are worked out and changes managed as you go along – no horrible surprises.

• Stages can be long or short. There should be at least 3 stages in a project:Stage 1: start up (produce project plan)Stage 2: deliver first product(subsequent stages)Last Stage: close project and end review

processes of project management4. manage by stages

Project Management

• You must understand the limits of authority for decision making and responding to change or risk

• Escalation can take place between stages if limits of authority are exceeded

• Limits of authority should be defined in the project plan• If changes affect the project targets, the Plan must

be revised

processes of project management5. manage change ‘by exception’

(or ‘within limits of authority’)

Project Management

• The project resource/cost plan must be kept up to date with ‘actual’ cost

• The project programme must be kept up to date with ‘actual’ progress

• The PM could be called to report on actuals at any time

Exercise 7: how do you track resources/progress?

processes of project management6. ‘fingertip’ control of time and budget

Project Management

• Risks and opportunities should be considered regularly• Once identified, the impact of the risk/opportunity and

the effect on the project’s outcomes should be analysed• Measures to reduce the risk/realise the opportunity must

be put in place and an owner and date by when assigned

• Risk management measures must be recorded• The risk must be reported to the Director • ‘Issues’ are events that occur which were not foreseen –

these must also be reported if they are ‘exceptional’

processes of project management7. forecast risks and opportunities

Changing the way you work

• Analysis

• Communication

• Reflection

• Self-awareness

• Focus

Analysis

Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do and die: Into the valley of DeathRode the six hundred

Analysis

• 5 Whys

• Root cause analysis

• Firefighting > Continuous improvement

• Can be trivial

• Simple solutions

• Exercise 8 – pairs – recent crisis

Communication

• ‘Black box’

• Feedback and feed forward

• Strengthen the positive

• The power of unexpected praise

Reflection

• Post-activity review

• Lessons learned

• Daily routine

Self-awareness

“We take a handful of sand from the endless landscape of awareness around us and call that handful of sand the world.”

• Mind/body

• Emotional Intelligence

• Real time

Focus

If multi-tasking

Is a skill we need, then so

Is single-tasking

Focus

• Set goals and limits

• The power of lists

• Remove distractions

• Zen break

Follow up

• PRINCE2

• MoRPHE

• 10 simple steps to better archaeological management website

• BIPC project management training

• IfA SIG Project Management

Action plan

“The place to improve the world is first in one's own heart and head and hands, and then work outward from there.” 

Action plan

• 5 things to change about your own behaviour

Action plan

• 3 questions to ask about your organisation

Action plan

• Swap details and arrange to check up

Feedback

• mlocock@gmail.com