The UK government is rumoured to be discussing a £5bn investment in infrastructure investment in projects ranging from road, rail and broadband investment, although not an official plan “B”, the aim is to stimulate economic growth in the UK, without pulling in overseas exports.

Treasury Danny Alexander Chief Secretary to the Treasury insists that this is not a diversion from the aim of eliminating the structural deficit within the lifetime of the Parliament.

“We are straining every sinew to find new things that government can do to support growth, to help private sector businesses to lead the economic recovery,” he said.

“But of course a key part of that is to retain the credibility that we’ve built up as a country by sticking to the deficit reduction plan that this coalition put in place when we first came into office.”

But has the project management community in the UK got the professional capability to deliver these projects successful?

The track record in the delivery of government infrastructure projects is not good!

According to the work of Prof. Dr. Bent Flyvbjerg the record around the word the performance on the delivery of major infrastructure projects is not good. Based on a study of a wide range of projects around the world he concluded that many major projects suffer significant overruns in terms of cost.

Given this historic performance the government could waste significant amounts of a very limits budget without getting the expected benefits.

Is professional project management a critical component of these projects?

Given the desire to invest in major infrastructure projects the professional project management is going to be critical to the success of these programmes. The Olympic 2021 programme has demonstrated the effectiveness of high quality project management to deliver complex projects on time to cost. The question is what plans the government has to ensure any major infrastructure investment programme is supported by professional project management.

Whilst working with a client I got into an interesting discussion about the similarities and differences between portfolio management and business planning. The two processes seem to have much in common. With the Association for Project Management (APM) extending the Body of Knowledge to include more on the portfolio management processes I though it might be interesting to compare and contrast to two. Are these the some process just seen from different perspectives, the view from the business and the view from the project and portfolio world?

It’s probably best to start with some definitions

What is Portfolio Management?

The 5^th edition of the APM Body of Knowledge defines a portfolio management as

Protfolio management is the selection and management of all of an organisations projects, programmes and related business as usual activities taking into account resource constraints. A portfolio is a group of projects and programmes carried out under the sponsorship of an organisation. Portfolios can be managed at and organisational, programme or functional level”

Portfolio management involves screening, analyse and selecting project and programmes which fit with and organisations strategy. This involved prioritisation of the resources of the organisation on those projects which are most important to its future growth and prosperity. It includes the management of the interdependencies of limited resources, balance of risk and returns the relative timing between the project and the avoidance of capacity bottom necks. Clearly it is a process that will involve the senior management in the decision about what should be done and when. However the current APM Body of Knowledge says very little on now these processes can be implemented.

What is a Business Plan?

Business plans can be written to address the needs of two groups. The first is external investors in a business (such as a bank or venture capitalist) who want to see a return for the investment that they make and the second is an internal business plans which targets intermediate goals required to reach the external goals. This internal business plan will cover major changes in an organisation such as the development of a new product, IT system, construction of a new factory or restructuring an organisation.

What is the Business Planning Process?

The business planning process is often quite iterative and emergent, but they generally include the following steps:

1) Set an overall strategic aims for the organisation, where do you want it to be in the future, what are the overall objectives?

2) External and internal analysis to understand the current position of the organisation and the challenges and opportunities that it may face in the future. Some simple tools like SWOT and PESTLE can help here, but is is more important to look long and hard at the business and the changes in the market.

3) Strategic choice, deciding which way to move given the understanding of the organisations capabilities, challenges ahead and the likely uncertainties.

4) Establish a plan to reach this strategic goal, including the projects and programmes what will need to be implemented. However this plan need to be fluid to cope with emergent opportunities and issues which may come along at time goes by. Because of the inherent uncertainty it is often worthwhile establishing intermediate goals along the way.

5) Write down and communicate the plan so that individual within the organisation can use it a guide when making decisions on resources and priorities.

6) Monitor progress against the plan and celebrate progress towards the goals.

Organisations who invest significant time in business planning can develop and illusion of control, however the key to success is often flexibility to adapt to events as they change and a willingness to experiment with different approaches until something that works is discovered.

Comparison of Portfolio Management and Business Planning

Comparing the two processes highlights some very strong similarities. Both are concerned with the deployment of the organisations limited and constrained resources to achieve a strategic goal. Both involve the prioritisation of the way these limited resources will be deployed. Both involve planning and monitoring progress towards the successful completion of the plan.

Differences between portfolio management and business planning

The primary difference between the two processes seems to be the starting point and intent. Portfolio management takes the perspective from the project and programme teams point of view and answers the question how we should deploy the resources to deliver the organisations objectives and goals. Business planning on the other had answers the same question but starting with a bigger question what does and can the organisation achieve and how can the resources be found and deployed to deliver this outcome. Is this two different processes or the same process from two perspectives?

In any profession where both men and women perform the same roles, they will typically deal with people and problems differently. This is just as true in project management where the style of management can be markedly different between the genders. But are there personality traits in men that make them more successful project managers than their female counterparts? Or is it purely the abilities and personal attributes of the project manager, regardless of gender, that determine their success?

What innate abilities can differentiate male project managers from their female colleagues when it comes to delivering projects successfully?

Authoritative Communicators

Men tend to be strong communicators who can deliver their message authoritatively and get the buy-in of other members of a group for their ideas and approach to a project. They are effective at convincing others of the benefits of a project and the benefits of change – all of which are useful skills in a project management role.

When communicating via email or in documentation men are concise and to the point. They do not add unnecessary detail but focus purely on the ultimate business goals and do not become diverted or distracted by side issues. They do not agonise over the options and are quick to make decisions and get projects up and running in the least possible time.

Building Strong Project Teams

Male project managers tend to encourage a sense of competition within a project team which motivates the team and creates a can-do attitude and a working atmosphere in which failure is not considered an option. Men can bring out the best in a team by encouraging individuals to achieve their best and work effectively when under pressure. This approach builds a team that expects to be successful and, consequently, usually does deliver projects successfully.

Valuing a Challenge

So the authoritative and team-building skills of men in a project management environment contribute to their success but the most successful project managers also value a challenge. Since so many projects are complex and demanding, whether due to new technology or by introducing change to a reluctant workforce, dealing with challenge is a necessary attribute for any project manager.

Businesses operate in a competitive environment so in order to succeed a project manager must be competitive and have a determination to succeed. A male project manager’s competitive instinct means they are unlikely to accept that something is not achievable and will have the courage to challenge existing practices in a constructive way.

Risk Inclined

There have been many studies by psychologists in all areas of life that show that men are more likely to take risks than women (particularly those of Wilson and Daly from 1988, 1993 and 1996). Some studies have also found that men find risky situations less stressful than women (Kerr and Vlaminkx, 1997).

Because men are more risk-inclined than women, when risks occur they deal with them more efficiently and because they are risk-takers men are more likely to deliver a project that exceeds expectations with respect to the business benefits it provides. This can, however, mean that adherence to the budget and schedule is treated as a lower priority.

A 2007 survey of experienced project managers by the Project Management Perspectives research group reported that male project managers were far more likely to deliver maximum business benefits than females, albeit without consideration of budget and schedule, but the economic impact of delivering more than was expected can outweigh the additional costs of the project.

Obviously, a project manager can be successful irrespective of gender and that success can also be attributed to the right project management training and experience backed up by professional qualifications such as PMP Certification, PRINCE2 or APM PQ. Male project managers may be authoritative, decisive and risk inclined but they do not possess all the advantages when it comes to project management particularly in the areas of soft skills, budget control and sticking to a schedule but typically masculine traits are major factors in the successful outcome of a project.

It could, of course, be argued that the most successful project managers are not determined by their gender but rather by the balance of masculine and feminine traits within their personality. For another perspective on what traits contribute to success for project managers take a look at this other article “Do Women Make the Best Project Managers“.

Quite often people get confused about the scope of the PMP exam. They mistakenly think it is based on the PMBok Guide. In fact the scope of the PMP exam is defined by a role delineation study. During this study the PMI examines the roles that a project manger actual fulfil during a project. This conducted by the PMI to ensure that the certification reflects the changes in the roles project managers follow as part of their day to day activities. The study makes sure that the exam stays in line with the changing roles filled by project managers. Based on feedback from 3,000 project managers the latest study has identified changes the PMP certification.

Key areas in this certification area are:

Initiating the Project (13% of the questions are on Initiating the Project)

• Assessment of the project based on the needs of customer to ensure the proposed project is realistically achievable.
• Define a high level scope for the project including a description of the main deliverables and acceptance standards
• Complete stakeholder management for the project to ensure that all the stakeholder requirements have been captured
• Document and record the high level risk, assumptions and constraints as part of the project management charter
• Established the project deliverables based on the project charter, assumptions constraints and assumptions.

Planning the Project (24% of the questions are on Planning the Project)

• Create a work breakdown structure to deliver the deliverables for the project focusing on the work required to complete the project
• Develop a project budget for the project based on the deliverables and integrated with the work breakdown structure.
• Develop a schedule, resource and budget plan based on the deliverables which provides enough detail to manage the project but not so much detail that it cannot be used to effectively manage the project.
• Develop a human resource plan for the project which recognised the resource demand and the skills required to deliver the project.
• Develop a communications plan for the project to ensure that stakeholder are informed of progress and issue associated with the project
• Develop a procurement plan for the project to deliver best value for the project and select supplier that have the capability to deliver the requirements.
• Develop a risk management plan for the project which fully understands the risk and opportunities for the project, the appropriate actions required to manage them and ownership for these actions.
• Present the project management plan to the stakeholders for approval, this can include the Sponsor but also other senior managers

Executing the Project (30% of the questions are on executing the project)

• Obtain the resources required to deliver the project in accordance with the human resource plan.
• Implement a quality plan for the completion of the project to ensure that the products and intermediate product meet the project specification
• Implement a procedure to control changes to ensure that the scope of the project remains in control
• Implement actions and work around to manage risk based on those identified in the risk register.
• Lead a team to develop the project team and develop a performing team.

Measuring and Controlling the Project (25% of the questions are on Measuring and Controlling the Project)

• Measure performance using appropriate measures and key performance indicators
• Updates the risk register to maintain a current view on the risks as new risk emerge, risks change and are closed.
• Addresses the corrective actions required to manage variations against the plan do that the project remains in control
• Communicate to the stakeholder the current status of the project and agree actions required to deliver the project

Close the Project (8% of the questions are on Close the Project)

• Complete acceptance of the project with the customer
• Transfer ownership of the project to the operations teams
• Close out the final commercial and legal arrangements for the project
• Distribute the final report the the project
• Archive the project
• Evaluate customer satisfaction

Plus a number of cross section skills such as facilitation, brainstorming, facilitation, leadership, problem solving, information management. For full information download the latest role deliberation study from the PMI website at: http://www.pmi.org/Certification/Project-Management-Professional-PMP/Updates-to-PMP-Certification-Exam/PMP-Role-Delineation-Study.aspx

One of the recommendations always made at the end of every project is to apply the lessons learned from the just-completed project to subsequent projects; learn from the mistakes made and try not to repeat them and, less often, learn from the successes and do try to repeat those.

The project plan probably has a task on it to do just this and has time and resources allocated. But in reality, how often do project managers actually do this – actually learn from past mistakes to increase the chances of success in the future?

The opportunity is there, and formal project management procedures recommend it, but very few people stick to this part of the plan. Now there are times when breaking some of the formal project management rules can be a good thing, but this is not one of those times. It is difficult to understand why this is so often the case because transferring all that information about what was done badly (and what was done well) from one project to the next could, over time, reap huge rewards.

Incorporating a thorough Lessons Learned review at the end of each project is the way to improve an individual project manager’s performance and also the overall success rate of projects within an organisation.

So how can Lessons Learned be effectively recorded and then be applied to subsequent projects?

Well, there are many processes available to use in an end-of-project review and also templates that can be used throughout the project in order to record issues when they are still fresh in the mind. So a shortage of suitable tools is not preventing the lessons learned from being recorded. Rather, what seems to be the case is that little, or no, priority is given to documenting failure, even when the advantage of doing so is to avoid similar situations in the future.

This could genuinely be for the reason most often given, which is a lack of time. However, this really is a feeble excuse akin to saying a house was built with shallow foundations because there was no time to build them deeper. The resulting house is ultimately far more likely to have problems because the time was not taken to build strong foundations and no project manager would recommend this as an option. Similarly the overall success of all projects in an organisation is at risk if lessons are not learnt from past mistakes. Very few, if any, projects exist in isolation where what happened before and what will come after are irrelevant.

Could this reluctance to document “lessons learned” be a subconscious way to avoid admitting to the mistakes? Particularly in an organisation where a blame culture still exists.

So whether the reasons are a lack of time, lack of resources or a reluctance to accept blame, there are ways that a project manager can encourage, and be encouraged, to learn lessons from previous projects and record issues for the benefit of future projects. One way is to ensure the project team share their experience and knowledge at the start of the project so that suggestions for avoiding mistakes may be taken into account in the planning stage. Another is to record mistakes when they actually occur and when the causes can still be recalled easily, rather than leaving this until the project has almost finished.

Learning Lessons from Past Mistakes

Initiate frank and open conversations in which the project team are able to discuss past failures in a constructive way. Make it very clear that these issues are being aired in order to learn something from them and not to apportion blame. At the same time encourage discussion of tasks or projects completed successfully to reinforce the positive purpose of the meetings and foster a learning culture in place of a blame culture.

By including these knowledge-sharing discussions on the project plan, their importance will be emphasised but also they will contribute to progress on the project schedule.

Capturing Lessons Learned to Avoid Future Mistakes

Develop a suitable project log and associated process right at the beginning of every project to record any mistakes which could be avoided in future projects (and also any notable successes). Do not be tempted to leave this process until the end of the project when memories have faded and the inclination to complete the process has been lost. This will simply lead to a rushed exercise that benefits no one. Such a log should document issues that have arisen, possible causes of the problems, how they were resolved and key decisions that were taken at the time.

Project logs used in this way effectively become the starting point for a “lessons learned” document at the end of the project, making the process simpler and quicker to complete, and the document itself more useful.

So instead of making excuses for not completing the “lessons learned” process, use it to encourage learning rather than allocate blame and see it as an opportunity to improve the outcome of your next project. It is an approach supported by major project management methodologies such as PMP, PRINCE2 and APMP and will ultimately lead to more successful projects across your organisation.

Much has been talked about and written about motivating people in all areas of business. Certainly, in a project team, a project manager who takes a personal interest in each individual and their ideas and concerns can contribute enormously to a well-motivated team. And well-motivated project teams achieve greater success than their disinterested counterparts. But much of what is discussed assumes there is a well-motivated project manager to instil enthusiasm into the team. But what motivates the project manager?

Wisdom has traditionally suggested that motivation is a combination of expected reward and worry about failure but this carrot and stick approach is becoming outdated as new evidence shows that individuals are far less likely to be creative in this type of punishment and reward environment. Since many of today’s projects require innovative solutions then encouraging creative thinking would seem to be a good thing.

The book “Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us” by Daniel Pink questions much of what we might think we know about motivation and suggests that the ability to develop and realise our full potential are the greatest motivators.

So if anticipated rewards and fear of failure are less important than a desire to grow professionally and achieve our full potential, what exactly is it that will motivate a project manager who, in turn, will motivate the project team? Assuming it is difficult, if not impossible, for an unmotivated project manager to motivate team members, then a well-motivated project manager is the key to a successful project.

There are organisations (for example Google, IBM, Sun Microsystems) which allow some of their staff a certain amount of freedom when it comes to what they work on, when or where – providing, of course, that certain goals are met. This approach uses the power of inherent motivation rather than superficial reward mechanisms and recognises that an individual is most driven to succeed at something they enjoy.

However, it is a bold approach for a company to take and one that is dependent on a level of maturity and experience in the project manager and the team members. This type of Results-Only Work Environment (ROWE) is an approach first promoted by Ressler & Thompson at Best Buy and produced dramatic results with increases in productivity, higher employee satisfaction and lower turnover rates. But can this approach work for a project manager within a project environment?

Projects need structure and, yes, of course, the results are important but only within the boundaries of a schedule and budget. How can a team work collaboratively if they, and the project manager, choose what to work on at any particular time? It’s difficult to see how this could be achieved if the project team are all working at different times and in different places. With less opportunity for impromptu discussions or brainstorming sessions there are also fewer opportunities for team-building.

An unstructured work environment may well encourage creativity, and creativity can certainly be good for a project but there is much more to a motivated team than the opportunity to be creative. And that includes the fundamental requirement of working as a team towards a common goal. Having a defined structure to both workplace and projects can, in itself, be a motivational factor for many people. Established project processes and methodologies provide that structure and define what is expected and when. They remove uncertainty, which can be de-motivating, and establish clear goals which is a motivational factor.

 
So the carrot and stick approach of reward and punishment is not the ideal way of motivating a project manager. But neither is the ROWE approach, although its attempt to give freedom and autonomy to employees is laudable.

Clearly a middle ground where the project manager is continually developing on a professional level and striving to achieve their full potential, but within a structured environment, would seem to be the best approach; one in which there are clear boundaries, goals, expectations and schedules. So could it be that the structure of formal project management methodologies is in itself part of what motivates a project manager and hence the project team?

As project management becomes regarded more and more as a profession and project managers have the ability to achieve professional recognition such as APM RPP for their experience, qualifications and project management training – these factors can only help in motivating a project manager. And a motivated project manager is the key to a successful project.

Wednesday 6 July, 6pm for 6.30pm
at Halcrow, Burderop Park, Swindon, SN4 0QD

The speaker: Mr Paul Naybour
Business Development Director, Parallel Project Training

In the current market no engineer can ignore the critical role they play in finding and growing business opportunities. Project managers and engineers are often the primary point of contact with the customer and have a critical role in finding and growing business opportunities. However many consider “sales” to not be part of the job description. In this short seminar we look at the different approach a project management and engineering consultancy can use to identify and grow business opportunities.

The speaker is Paul Naybour, Business Development Director for Parallel Project Training. Launched in October 2009, Parallel Project Training is one of the fastest growing project management training providers and has a wide range of clients including Balfour Beatty, Carillion, Prince’s Foundation, MoD. Prior to the launch of Parallel Project Training, Paul was the Rail Director at PMProfessional, where Paul’s business grew this business from 150K to 1,000K turnover in five years with clients including Network Rail, TfL and many others in the sector.

Learning Objectives
At the end of the course delegates will be able to:
1) Explain the role of project managers and engineers in business development
2) Explain how to use a wide range of approaches to business development
a) Hunting specific targets to identify qualified opportunities which have significant potential
b) Farming, which includes looking after existing accounts to cross sell a wider range of services
c) Fishing using PR, social media, search engine optimisation, viral marketing, blogging and events to
attract customers
d) Bidding for competitive tenders advertised in the market place
3) Identify activities that you can undertake to grow your business

Duration
This course is 2 hours in duration.

Target Audience
This course is aimed at anyone who is new to or planning to move into the engineering consulting project management.

Biography
Paul Naybour is passionate about the use of project management in engineering projects to engineering projects. He has a wealth of experience helping engineering consultancies to improve project management and has worked on both sides of the fence. His first love is Nuclear Power Stations and he may end up taking a real job soon. For now he is Business Development Director at Parallel Project Training, co-author of “Your Journey to Professional Project Management, How to Pass the APMP a study guide” and host of the free APM Project Management Podcast channel on iTunes which has over 57,000 downloads since its launch in January 2010. He is currenlty working on developing a PMP Certification course.

Find out if you are hunter, farmer, fisher or an order taker.  Download the slides and self evaluation questionnaire  for this seminar below.

Selling and Doing Good Business Slides

Selling and Doing Good Business Self Evaluation questionnaire

In today’s economic climate many individuals are looking for free project management training. They are looking for this to

1. Increase their chances of getting a project management job. Recent research by Arras People has shown that 57% of respondents say their employers now expect employees to have project and programme management qualifications and accreditations with 63% confirming that it helps them to secure new roles.
   
2. You may have embarked on your first project and just need some guidance on the most appropriate project management approach to adopt.
3. You may have been managing project for a while but you are looking for external recognition of your project management capabilities.

You can find plenty of project management training on-line, just search YouTube and you will find many home made videos showing you how to tackle project management. However you have to ask yourself if these free project management resources are credible, reliable and how will they support you professional goals. However the only alternative may seem to be an accredited course for hundreds of pounds.

The alternative to free poor quality project management training is the Parallel Project APMP Study Guide for only £38.

Accredited by the Association for Project Management (APM) the Parallel Study Guide is the only course in a book. Complemented by free podcasts on iTunes this provides the most flexible and cost effective way of completing a almost free project management leading to a formal APMP qualification from the association for project management. Don’t believe it can be so good just look at the reviews on Amazon. However don buy it from Amazon, it’s cheaper to get it directly from Parallel Project Training

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nice book, 24 Sep 2010

By 

NCP “NCP” - See all my reviews

This review is from: How to Pass the APMP a study guide (Your Journey to Professional Project Management.) (Paperback)

This is a nice book. Helped me to pass APMP exam in less than a week preparation time. Nicely explained 
with relevant examples. Definitely recommend.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GREAT BOOK FOR YOU APMP EXAM, 17 Mar 2011

By 

MR. JORDI (London) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How to Pass the APMP a study guide (Your Journey to Professional Project Management.) (Paperback)

Great book to read alongside the BOK. I will strongly recommend it. 

It contains all the information you will need to pass the APMP exam. It also gives you some useful information and good tips. 

The good thing about the book is that is very easy to read and follow, and gives real examples that helped me understand better the topics. 

There are lots of diagrams, tables and graphs that are very useful and at the end of the topics you have some exercises and there are a few questions that you might find in the real exam. 

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5.0 out of 5 stars Pass the exam with this book, 23 Jun 2011

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prharding - See all my reviews

This review is from: How to Pass the APMP a study guide (Your Journey to Professional Project Management.) (Paperback)

After searching the internet, including the APM’s website, I found this book. The book contains all the information that you need to pass the exam. I would not even bother with the APMs Book of Knowledge (BoK) as it does not explain what is required for the exam. 

This book is simple to use and provides clear examples to aid understanding of each of the topics covered in a logical order. 

I used this with Parallel Projects free podcasts and other free materials on their web site and can highly recommend it.

PMP certification is the professional project management from the PMI in the USA and PRINCE2 Practitioner is a standard project methodology from the UK OGC. On first view these two standards seem to portray dramatically different approaches to project management. This presents a real problem for people who are trying to decide which project management course is the best one for there career. But we think the two approaches are highly complementary and can offer project managers a more rounded appreciation of project management.

What is PRINCE2?

PRINCE2 is a publicly available method for the management of projects which is promoted by the UK government. It is applied in the UK, and increasingly around the world, to a wide range of projects from construction to IT projects. It has a highly developed process model which describes in detail to steps a project should go through to in order to be executed in a controlled environment. In addition to clear processes PRINCE2 also has a clearly defined set of responsibilities. These include the roles and responsibilities of the project manager, senior user, senior supplier and project executive or sponsor. To complement these PRINCE2 full includes detailed templates for the core project management documents such as a progress report and change request form.

PMP Certification

PMP Certification is a qualification which evaluates to competence of project managers to deliver project based on their knowledge of project management and experience. The certification uses PMI guide to project management body of knowledge or PMBoK guide as the basis of much of the learning. The requirements for PMP include up to 5 years of project management (reduced to 3 years for those with a degree) and a 35 hours of contact time for training. The PMP is one of the most widely recognised project management qualifications in the world. It is now strong outside the USA especially in Asia and Europe. However it is not a project management method, it demonstrates the competence of the project manager. As such is very different from PRINCE2.

PMP and PRINCE2 compared and contrasted

To illustrate the different we will use cost planning. Prince2 recognised that project budgets are a vitally important part of many project processes and documents, from the project brief to the checkpoint (progress) report; however it does not describe the techniques and approaches that a project manager can use to use to produce and accurate estimate. This is left to the PMBok Guide which describes in detail the different estimating techniques than can be used such a parametric or three point estimating to ensure that the project budget is accurately estimates. In this way we can see that the two approaches are in fact complementary.

So can PMP and Prince2 work hand-in-hand

PMP certification can deliver the competence required to deliver successful projects, while PRINCE2 provides the detailed processes, roles and responsibilities and template. We think that combining the two approaches would give project managers a powerful tool set to deliver project successfully.

Disadvantages of mixing PMP and PRINCE2

For any project team combining the two approaches may have significant disadvantages.

1. The team will have to reconcile some of the conflicting language. For example the project charter is called a project brief in PRINCE2.
2. This might cause a bit of confusion in the team as to which approach should be followed
3. The disadvantage of this combined approach it that the project team have to reconcile the different terminology behind the two approaches.
4. Some of the detailed techniques such as the classifications of risk are different.

In practices these differences should not outweigh the benefits of a more balanced approach to project management.

PRINCE2 and PMP Certification from Parallel Project Training

Parallel Project Training is one of the few organisations to offer project management courses in both PMP Certification and PRINCE2.

The Association for Project Management (APM) has just launched a new standard the APM Registered Project Professional (RPP).

It is a pan-sector standard for those able to demonstrate the capabilities of a responsible leader, who have the ability to manage a complex project and use appropriate tools, processes and techniques. See http://www.apm.org.uk/content/apm-registered-project-professional-rpp for more details.

However the use of the word complex is causing much debate amongst project management practitioners. Is my project complex? Have you ever managed a project that was not complex? Every project manager I know considers that they manage a complex project. As the opposite of complex is simple, would you need a project manager for a simple project? The APM refer to complex and non complex projects, but what does a non-complex project look like and what do the APM mean by a complex project?

There are two answers to this question; the first rooted in academic research into the factors which drive project complexity and the second is the guidance used by the APM to decide if a project is of sufficient complexity to meet the level required for the APM Registered Project Professional (RPP) standard. If you want to just understand the latter then you can jump straight to the APM spreadsheet for assessing project complexity at APM Project Complexity Assessment Tool.

The Academic Stuff

Most of the academic work on project complexity is rooted in the now famous and much quoted work by J. R. Turner and R. A. Cochrane back in 1993. In a paper called “Goals-and-methods matrix: coping with projects with ill defined goals and/or methods of achieving them” they identified two primary factors which characterise the different types of projects. These two factors are

1. The degree of clarity with which the project goals can be defined.
2. The knowledge of the methods (technical, managerial, commercial and legal) which need to be followed to deliver the project.

So put simply lack of clarity over what is to be delivered and (or) the means by which it will be delivered leads to increasing complexity. More recently it has been recognised (Cooke-Davies, Terry Cicmil, Svetlana; Crawford, Lynn; Richardson, Kurtt, 2007) that complexity is also influenced by the culture of the organisation(s) involved in the project, interactions between the organisations involved in the project and the quality of communications. These organisational issues also introduce ambiguity and misunderstanding which in turn increase complexity. (This is quite a simplification of what is a difficult paper to follow; a simpler summary is available on the blog Eight to Late. More recently, in 2007, Harvey Maylor in his paper Step Back From Chaos, identified five areas that determine project complexity including the clarity of the mission, complexity of the organisation, delivery consistency, stakeholder and team factors. Significantly he identified that some of these factors are static and other that are dynamic. Static factors might include the form of contract under which the project is delivered whereas dynamic factors might relate the relationship between the customer and supplier, which as we all know can change with time. Interestingly the solution proposed by Harvey is to actively reduce the complexity of the project. Which nicely leads us to the assessment criteria used by the APM as part of their RPP application process?

APM Project Complexity Assessment Criteria

As part of a RPP application candidates have to demonstrate they have evidence the leadership and managerial qualities required to deliver a complex project. Necessarily for any professional assessment process these have to be based on clearly defined criteria. The roots of these criteria, below, are clearly based on the academic work discussed above.

1 ) Ambiguity of project objectives including difficulty describing the desired success criteria. If you can’t easily describe the project objectives then the complexity increases because of the difficulty progressing towards a poorly defined end goal. For example a project to reduce cost by the introduction of a new automated system cannot be clearly specified until the existing processes have been understood and the changes required have been identified.

2 ) Stakeholders / Interested Parties. Diversity of view amongst stakeholders or interested parties
can generate complexity in agreeing the project goals and execution method. Conflict between key stakeholders can significantly increase the challenge of resolving issues. Typically this can be conflict between the different parties within the customer and the supplier over the desired project outcome or implementation process. Such conflict can make it extremely difficult for the supplying project manager to understand and meet the customer’s requirements. This is especially true if powerful and influential stakeholders are involved in the project.

3 ) Cultural or social context can significantly increase not only in multi-nation projects but those which have to adapt to the diverse cultures within multiple organisations and / or stakeholder groups. This introduces not only logistical difficulties associated with time zones but also misunderstanding about the intentions and working practices of the different parties.

4 ) The degree of innovation is clearly a driver of complexity. This represents what Turner calls the method. If the technical solution required is unknown at the outset then resolving these technical issues as the project progresses will significantly increase the complexity. The same is true for any non-technical innovations such as novel financial, legal or organisational structures; these too tend to increase complexity.

5 ) Project structure and co-ordination based on the number of parties and different approaches to project management in the delivery organisation. The difficulty co-ordinating these parties can result in increased complexity and the number of communications channels and vested interests.

6 ) Project Organisation and the number of different and diversity of delivery organisations can increase the level of project complexity. This is especially when organisations which make up the project team have divergent cultures, behaviours and objectives.

7 ) Leadership, team working and decision making with a rapidly changing team or one that is unable to take decision can ratchet up the complexity, as key decisions are deferred and our unpicked by the project team. Conflicts or frequent changes in project leaderships can also introduce complexity to the project as it adapts the changing leadership.

8 ) Resources and the constraints associated with availability and restrictions on use can increase complexity. These resource constraints can be both physical (access to the work location), geographical or human. This can also include any novel financing arrangements for the project, which can increase the complexity of the approach,

9 ) Project Risk and especially the inability to predict or foresee risk, leads to a more complex project because the plans and contingencies required to manage the risks cannot be established in advance.

10 ) Project Methods and Tools required to control the project can in themselves introduce further complexity into the way the project is run especially if very little support is available from the host organisations.

It is interesting to reflect on the contrast between the list produced by the APM and the simpler approaches to the definition of project complexity derived out of academic research. The two approaches result in similar models and both provide an indication of the areas that project managers need to address to reduce the overall project complexity.

Test your project against the APM Complexity Criteria and please feel free to contact Parallel Project Training for advice and guidance on how APM Registered Project Professional can develop your capability to deliver complex projects.