Everyone in the world of project management seems to be getting excited about portfolio and programme management. The Association for Project Management (APM) is putting the APM Body of knowledge through major heart surgery to align it with a portfolio, programme and project view of the world. Government departments have identified that the failure of projects is often down to the constraints imposed by the portfolio of projects planned for the year. It seems, that everyone has moved on from trying to deliver successful projects, to play with strategic issues like project prioritisation, corporate alignment and strategic implementation. These are very important topics, but are they areas in which project managers can make a significant contribution or are we drifting into areas more often associated with strategic and business planning; areas which have their own well developed and substantial body of knowledge. The danger is that this effort on portfolio and programme management will divert us from Mike Nichols vision of a world in a world where all projects succeed.

Link between strategy and portfolio management?

No one doubts that the strategic choices organisations take has major impacts on project and programme implementation. For example the strategic defence review at the MoD will have a significant impact on the priority and resources dedicated to specific programmes or a decision to invest in high speed rail, changes to strategy of Network Rail. Hence strategy and portfolio management are very close bed fellows. We can see portfolio as a powerful and structured framework to implement corporate strategy. The issue at point is the degree to which project and programme managers should be involved in exploring the strategic options for an organisation and influencing the strategic choices.

What is Strategic Planning?

The models for strategic and business planning, as taught in many business schools on MBA and business studies programmes, are well developed. They are often highly intuitive and set against a background of high ambiguity and uncertainty. In summary the aim is to match the internal capability of the organisation, with an understanding of the changing external environment and plan which is flexible enough to respond to emergent change. As a result they rely heavily on the experience, expert judgement and vision of the organisation’s leaders. Think about the following examples

1. An electricity generator deciding which type of power station to build nuclear, coal, gas or wind.
2. A technology company deciding if they should enter the mobile tablet market.
3. A transport provider deciding which mode of transport to invest in, metro, heavy rail or bus.
4. A water utility deciding which infrastructure investment should get priority.

The factors organisations consider when taking these decision are focused on understanding the market demand, understanding the actions of competitors (if any), understanding the organisations current capabilities, and an analysis of the general business outlook. Project feasibility is only one minor element of an organisations capability. The tools and techniques to use to support these strategic decisions are well understood and documented. But what is the role of project and programme managers in this strategic planning process?

The role of project managers in strategy development and strategic choice?

In this article we argue that strategic planning is primarily the responsibility of the leaders of an organisation (normally its board of Directors) and with input from the heads of function, Finance, HR, Marketing, Operations etc. Project and programme management has a role to play in these decisions, by providing advice of the practical feasibility of the planned changes. However this role certainly is no more significant than the evaluation of the market demand or the assessment of the ability of the organisation to raise the finance required to implement the planned changes. The strategic decisions and implementation must the owned by the organisations leaders.

So what might be the role for portfolio management or a portfolio manager?

1) Developing the strategic objectives for the portfolio.
2) Evaluating projects and programmes against the strategic objectives to ensure they support the organisations goals.
3) Evaluating the priority of project and programmes within the portfolio to ensure that those that meet the organisations objects receive sufficient resources.
4) Balancing the capacity of the organisation of the organisation to deliver projects and programmes with the resources available.

The problem is that these sound very like the roles of the CEO and a Board of Directors.

Will we see project managers joining the board rooms of major organisations?

The natural conclusion of this argument is that project and programme managers should have a much stronger voice in the board rooms of major organisations. It has long been a cry that engineers are under represented in the board room, maybe it is time for project and programme managers to get more involved in the strategic planning process. For this we do not need to re-write the project management body of knowledge, we just need to learn the language of corporate strategy, in its many forms. To my mind the project management body of knowledge (and APM) should continue to focus on Mike’s vision of vision of a world in a world where all projects succeed and leave portfolio management to the world of strategic analysis, choice and implementation.

Parallel Project Training offer project management training across the whole range of roles from an introductory to strategic level.

“I expect all our staff to hold APMP by the end of the year” says Julian Foster, programme Directory at BAA. In an interview with the Assocaition for project management he identified the follwoing benefits

1. Common language
2. Consistent approach
3. Best in class approach
4. Flexibility

It is good to see another major project organisation such as BAA Heathrow recognising the important of APMP, as part of an integrated approach to development of project management capability and competence. Liz Wilson from the APMP said.   “We are delighted that such an important employer and contributor to the UK economy has recognised the practical and business value of APM’s flagship qualification.” As a leader in the industry Parallel Project Training is delighted that BAA have implemented their commitment to develop their project managers. They are setting the benchmark others in the sector should seek to follow.

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It has never been so important to be well prepared for the workplace. With fewer companies hiring and greater competition for jobs, individuals need to be skilled and educated in order to excel. For this reason, Parallel Project Training is committed to empowering students, now offering a new and improved website to support business education for motivated professionals.

Parallel Project Training offers a range of educational opportunities for individuals who wish to aspire in project management. These opportunities include cutting edge coursework both in the classroom and through distance learning. To this end, Parallel Project Training is accredited by the Association for Project Management and is a PMI Registered Education Provider. These credentials ensure students that their time with Parallel Project Training will be well spent, especially since the courses and support staff have helped countless students achieve their educational and career goals. Specific courses include APM certification, PRINCE2 courses, PMP certification and more. These options are ideal for a wide range of career goals, supporting individuals who wish to get started in project management for the first time and those who want to take their skills to the next level.

While Parallel Project Training has offered these services for some time, the new website offers some distinctive improvements for students to enjoy. The first noticeable improvement is the ample opportunities for students to better connect with others. This includes the integration of social networking, allowing students to use familiar mediums to thrive in their studies. In particular, the website is now fully integrated with Facebook, widening the effectiveness of the program overall. In addition to established social networking options, Parallel Project Training now also has online study groups, which are designed to help students get the support needed to succeed in their coursework.

These connective additions are noticeable gains but the website redesign has other perks as well. At first glance, many visitors may notice the improved layout, which has been conceptualized to streamline navigation. On top of this, the site also hosts podcasts covering a range of topics related to the industry, all offered free of charge for individuals who are interested in extending their learning even further.

Overall, the improvements only enhance the powerful content and curriculum offered by Parallel Project Training. Coursework continues to be offered both on site and remotely. Individuals who are interested in these opportunities should call 0845 519 2305 or visit http://www.parallelprojecttraining.com.

Everyone seems to recognise that the London 2012 Olympic Delivery Authority have done a fantastic job. Even the press is struggling to find things to criticise. This success is even more outstanding given the historic performance of public projects in the past. Failures in the past include Olympic projects in other countries and public projects in the UK such as the Jubilee Line, Millennium Dome to mention just two. The whole project acts as a real demonstration of ability of the UK construction industry to perform. UK PLC should be proud of this achievement. It should act a flag ship to demonstrate the professionalism of UK based project management around the world. The involvement of the Association for Project Management (APM) in the post project lessons learned reviews is a very positive initiative. This should generate plenty of true best practice guidance that can be integrated into future versions of the Body of Knowledge. However it is already clear that the formation of a dedicated Olympic Delivery Authority had a huge impact on the success of the project.

Can these approaches and structures be replicated across different sectors and industries? The political classes seem to be convinced, Ken Livingston’s speech to the PMI Synergy event at the O2 in London in September 2011, implied that the 2012 project was successful because of the formation of the ODA. Resources by the best project management people from around the world and had an arm’s length relationship with civil servants. We await the formal lessons learned review to see if these conclusions are confirmed.

What is a Delivery Authority?

There are many forms of delivery authorities; however they are generally temporary, standalone organisations establish specifically to deliver a major public project or programme. Typically they are formed of private sector consortium reporting to public authorities via a clear governance structure. The consortium usually combines organisations with a combination for the skills required to deliver projects. For example a project and programme management organisation might combine forces with a construction company. As a commercial animal they form a fire break between the political classes and the contractors delivering the project.

What advantages to they bring to Public Projects?

The advantages of delivery authorities over publicly managed projects are:

1. They are staffed by project professionals not career civil servants. Often these individuals have a life time of experience delivering complex projects around the world.
2. They have a dedicated focus on the successful completion of the project, without the distraction of possible changes in policy or political interference.
3. They tend the hire (and fire) the best people for the duration of the project and because the organisation in temporary, just for the purposes of the project, these people tend to gain experience by moving from project to project.
4. Their independence from the political classes gives them the ability to act in a commercially effective way, whereas it is more difficult for a career civil servant to defend a project from political pressures to change the scope or reduce the budget.

    

Can they be applied in other sectors?

With the UK government committed to a wide range of capital infrastructure project, such as HS2, are delivery authorities the solution to the difficulties of completing these projects to time, cost and quality? Furthermore do they represent a better way to manage a wide range of government projects from defence procurement to investments in the transport infrastructure? The government seem convinced, with tenders already being placed for development partners for HS2 and Network Rail being restructured to introduce competition, even the defence procurement agency seems to be heading this way. However these projects are very different from the Olympics, they are highly integrated with existing and complex operations. It is more difficult to draw boundaries around the project because the influence day to day operation in the organisations they serve. Redeveloping a main line station while it is in operation, or upgrading an operational tank is a high complex endeavour with many stakeholders to satisfy. The question to ask is if these projects will benefit from the independence and focus of a delivery authority, or if the complexity means that they are better managed by public servants; who put the priorities of the traveling public or the soldier before that of the project.

What are the risks?

The risk is that many of these capital project are being prioritised as a way stimulate economic growth, hence the benefits may not be challenged in the way they should be and the mantra of the private sector is best may win out. However for many of these projects the complexity lies not in the solution but the stakeholder environment in which they are delivered and the constraints this imposes. Efficiency and profit may be less important than delivering these stakeholder needs. In these stakeholder driven environments then public organisation may be the best way to deliver projects which meet all the needs of different stakeholders. It will be interesting to see how these trends play out over the next few years.

Around the world project management is changing. It’s now all about professionals delivering successful projects which produce real benefits for organisations and their customers. Project managers help companies make better decisions, reduce costs, increase profits, and communicate more effectively.

Good project managers are aligned in their approach, create effective and accountable structures, define clear roles and responsibilities, use common terminology and instil values of trust. We’ll help you to develop these valued skills, so that you can be a good project manager, more than that you’ll be able to become a great project manager. One with a successful track record and enhanced career prospects.

As a project manager you face many choices and one of these is deciding which development roadmap you should follow. The main choices are PRINCE2, the PMI or APM.

PRINCE2 is a method sponsored by the UK government and is extensively used in the UK public sector and industries that service this market. As a result it has become the de-facto standard for many projects in the UK.

The PMI is the Project Management Institute in the USA and their PMP credential is the most widely recognised qualification in the world with over 400,000 PMP professionals. This certification is ideal if you work, or aspire to work, in a global market.

The APM is the UK Association for Project Management, and as a professional body they focus on competence development. Of the three the APM offer you the most complete development roadmap. They start at an introductory level and progress to “Registered Project Professional” for the managers of complex projects.

Whichever roadmap you select our Academy develops confidence and capability; you can become certified to any of these project management standards, and ultimately be capable of delivering the most complex projects around.
With us you can learn in your own way, with cost effective and flexible printed guides, online e-learning, podcasts on iTunes, and there’s even an online study group for exam preparation. In the classroom, slides are few and far between – you will be too busy running mini-projects, reducing risk, planning budgets and resources, all the things needed to get you those skills and qualifications.

If that all sounds like what you’re looking for, get in touch with us, and we’ll work together to help you become not just a good project manager, but a great one.

What is a high performing project team and how does it differ from a regular team? All managers recognize a high performing team when they see one. They are the people who can take a project and run with it, requiring little intervention from superiors before bringing the project to a successful conclusion. Unlike typical teams, the high performance team resolves its own conflicts through effective interpersonal communication. The high performing team is also centered on its purpose; individual members subordinate themselves to the task at hand. While the high performing team has a chair, every team member assumes shared responsibility for the successful completion of each project. Such a team is not dependent upon a single strong personality to pull the team along.

Developing a high performing team requires deep understanding of individual employee strengths and weaknesses. Each role on the team must be cast with a person well suited to the role, just as a movie producer must cast the right actors and a coach must have the right athletes in each position. It can be helpful to have an outside consultant help with the initial building of teams. An outsider may see things that managers miss in the daily grind. For example, a consultant may discover hidden treasures in employees who have been “flying under the radar” or anticipate problems with certain combinations of people before mistakes are made.

What are the advantages of taking extra time and effort to develop high performing project teams? Once superstar teams are in place, they are an enduring asset to the company—a form of intellectual capital. Well-chosen teams will improve with time and experience, with each team developing expertise with particular types of projects. Having several high performing teams in a firm means there is always a place to send the next big project. From the perspective of the individual employee, there is increased job satisfaction from being part of a successful team. Employees who have been cast in a role that uses their individual creative talents and temperamental strengths are in a position to improve their individual performance as well as that of their teams.

One disadvantage of creating high performing teams is the danger of assembling a team so autonomous it might lose touch and diverge from the larger company vision. Managers must be sure to stay in touch with the teams in their areas of responsibility. While high performing teams probably do not need much direct help with projects, they do need to know why the project is important to the company and how their projects fit into the firm’s overall mission. This disadvantage is largely avoidable and should not dissuade anyone from creating a high performing project team.

Every year the recruitment consultancy Arras People conduct a detailed Project Management Benchmark Report. Over the years it has become widely respected as a measure of the state of the UK project management jobs market. In this year’s review of salary rates for project managers they examined the difference between the salary rates of those with and APMP project management qualification and those with. The results are shown in the graph below

The mean result is that those with an APMP qualification typically earn £10k more than those without.

What is the APMP?

The APMP qualification is a foundation level project management qualification based on the APM Body of Knowledge. As such it represents a good grounding in project management as practiced by a wide range of practitioners. The qualification is sponsored by the Association for Project Management which is the professional body for project management in the UK. The exam has the reputation for being quite tough as the national pass rate is only 65%.

The APMP qualification is recognised by several major players in the project management space, including

1. BAA
2. Siemens
3. Network Rail
4. Transport for London
5. EdF
6. BT
7. EC Harris

These organisations are often delivering the most complex projects as are often willing to pay well for world class people.

How does the APMP fit with my career development?

Professional development qualifications from the APM define a clear career development road map for project managers from the start of their careers to the recognitions of a capability to deliver the most complex of projects. At each level the APM has the right qualification and standards to recognise your status and prepare you for the next level. These levels include

1. APM Introductory Certificate for new project managers and team members.
2. APMP for those who are beginning to move into professional project management
3. APM Practitioner for those who can demonstrate the behavioural skills and competences needed to lead projects.
4. APM Registered Project Professional is a standard for those project managers who can show a track record delivering complex projects

Parallel Project Training Academy

Parallel Project Training is one of the very few training providers to cover the entire range of APM qualifications and our unique blended approach to the delivery of APMP training, our study guides, on-line e-learning, exam prep forum and engaging teaching methods deliver consistently high pass rates with several groups attaining 100% pass rate.

Regimes around the world have been crumbling as large protests amass globally. There is unrest among the civilian population who seek strong leaders free from corruption and greed. The Arab Spring has lead to overthrows in Libya, Egypt, Bahrain and numerous other surrounding countries. The Occupy Wall Street movement is sweeping the nation and protesters are refusing to back down. With large social media outlets available on-line, these revolutions never go undocumented and inspire countless other would be docile citizens to take action. These often justified up rises around the world beg the all important question; what makes a good leader?

Leadership qualities are determined by several characteristics. One of the most important traits in an effective leader is communication. People in charge need to listen to their constituents and their needs. In fact, it is commonly believed that a leader is responsible for serving its people; not the other way around. Communication means openness to new ideas. There needs to be a public forum in which people can inform of their grievances. A leader should listen to their people, hear what they have to say and develop a plan to meet their needs whenever possible. A leader who does not serve public interest is nothing more than a dictator.

Of course, it should not be expected that everyone will agree to any particular decision. This is where the ability to compromise plays a very important role. Leadership skills dictate that given a situation with several particular outcomes, it may be wisest to change initial thoughts and procedures. Compromise was once defined as, “where both parties leave unhappy.” This demonstrates that ruling with an iron fist is no longer acceptable and sometimes sacrifices will have to be made. It is foolish to think that any person is right all the time. However, an effective leader will be able to admit when they are wrong and change course to mitigate further harm done by prior actions in order to restore public support.

This being said, a good leader is not without a backbone. It necessary for a leader to be strong willed in the times where compromise is not a viable action. Like Winston Churchill in World War II or George Washington in the Revolutionary War, some pursuits are worthy of fighting for, even if it means casualties. A leader should be able to distinguish between situations that necessitate negotiation versus those which allow for no compromise. Furthermore, a leader should act as swiftly as possible. Procrastination is not an effective way to take charge.

A leader should not be corrupted by corporate interest. Previously stated was the importance of leaders to serve the people. While corporations may employee citizens of the country, often times, there are ulterior motives. Leaders should be able to rule without influence from large companies and do what is best for their country and its people. This means the ability to say no and standing by the citizens in their support.

If a leader is in a precarious situation in which they are not able to solve by themselves, they should be able to ask for help from allies and neighboring countries for help. Open forums, like the United Nations, serve as a global support system for countries in need of assistance. Leaders should only use these services when the situation is dire and the public interest is in jeopardy.

Taking these steps will create the most effective leader. Being open to suggestions and always ruling with the public interest in mind is imperative for success in today’s society. Remember, with high tech cellphones, the internet and social media outlets, the whole world is watching.

IT Project Management has become known as its own separate field which is maintained by a body of research and knowledge spanning fields with approved professional certification. The IT field is fast becoming more dependable, quicker and more affordable, the costs, complications, and dangers of IT projects keep increasing.

Extensive cited studies and reports show the majority of IT projects are either discontinued or completed over budget and/or over schedule and failed to meet the original instructions. Failure can be credited to several factors, most of them which are easily fixed. Companies have to recognize information technology as a long-term investment to be controlled and not just a cost to be managed. New techniques of IT project management welcome the socio-technical approach and see the execution of new IT systems as planned organizational revision.

IT Project Management is rooted on a project life cycle that is a group of well-organized stages that defines the life of a project from its beginning to end in order to explain, build, and carry out the product of a project — that is, the information system.

The Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) explains nine understanding areas for understanding project management:

• Project Integration Management
• Project Scope Management
• Project Time Management
• Project Cost Management
• Project Quality Management
• Project Human Resource Management
• Project Communication Management
• Project Risk Management
• Project Procurement Management

These parts are all crucial to the successful result of any IT project and show the best practices in IT projects.

The start of an IT project begins with an idea and opening phase. This phase explains the project goal and measurable organizational value (also known as MOV). The MOV shows the real calculation of the success or failure of an IT project and is based on an organizational aim or master plan. Stakeholder examination and buy-in is a crucial function of this phase as well as the recognition and connection of the senior organizational sponsor. Another vital deliverable is the business case that interprets the project team, measurable organizational value (MOV), substitutes (if any), total price of ownership, total benefits of ownership, and the benefit-cost analysis of substitutes and recommended possible alternatives.

The next phase of the IT project focuses on the evolution of the project charter and project baseline plan. The project charter is an agreement between the organizational senior sponsor and the IT project manager that defines what is going to be, and needed to be, done, how it will be achieved, when it will be completed, and how much the total cost will be by the end of the IT project. The answers to these questions are clearly explained in the Project Charter or the baseline project plan and budget.

The next phase is the implementation of the IT project plan. This phase of the project puts the plan into effect. As work on the project moves forward, the scope, the schedule, the cost and budget, and the people, must be actively managed to make sure that the IT project reaches its desired goal. The communication of the project’s progress and operation production to the stakeholders is a vital component of the execution phase.

The concluding phases of the IT project require the official acceptance and assessment of the IT project. The rating of the IT project shows the critical importance of process advancement and improvement and the capture of organizational understanding for future IT projects.

Parallel Project Training offers a wide range of courses suitable for IT project managers including PMP certification from the USA based project management institute and APM qualifications from the UK Association for Project Management