New Quick Guides launched

I get so many questions about how to get started, either by those asked to manage a project for the first time, or those that have been given a change management assignment and are looking for clues about what to do first that I have created a couple of Quick Guides - http://www.maventraining.co.uk/quick-guides/

These guides are simple slide presentations that explain the basics, the most common mistakes and some solutions for avoiding the mistakes - I hope you find them useful, but as ever, I would love to hear your comments.

What can portfolio management do for you?

I have just attended the MoP launch http://www.maventraining.co.uk/news/ which included two useful presentations from people who are applying portfolio management:

David Pitchford is the Executive Director of the Major Projects Directorate (Cabinet Office) and is responsible for creating the portfolio of major projects for the UK government. He started his presentation by explaining that in common with many organisations the UK government does not have a complete understanding of all the major projects planned or already underway. Different government departments run multiple projects and change initiatives and whilst some of these are already visible because of their impact on society or their political sensitivity/media interest there are many more that are not included in the wider view of everything that is happening.

From a cost saving perspective this is interesting because research shows that merely by forming a portfolio an organisation can expect an upfront cost saving of 20% to 30% by removing duplication and stopping low value initiatives.

David made a strong case for the benefits of establishing a portfolio and how this is essential in ensuring transparency of where money and effort are being spent.

Paul Hirst is Head of Project and Programme Management at HMRC. He explained how HMRC have completed the ground work for making portfolio management work. Part of their planning included the creation of a governance structure where responsibilities, levels of authority and relationships with other groups has been agreed, overseen by the Senior Responsible Owner who is also the Chief Executive (I cannot think of a more effective way of gaining senior management commitment to the portfolio that putting the CEO in charge).

Paul talked about the reality of the austerity measures and the need to cut as a result of strategic need and not sentiment. He was very clear that authorisation of each element of the portfolio will be driven by evidence based evaluation of project ideas and the era of ‘pet projects’ has ended. Whilst this might seem a threatening message for some, in common with David’s first speech, Paul believes that the transparency offered by portfolio management is an essential element of getting a grip on expenditure and is a strong force for good in any type of organisation.

If you are interested in finding out more about portfolio management download my free whitepaper http://www.maventraining.co.uk/whitepapers/ or sign up for the Effective Portfolio Management Workshop on the 30th March http://www.maventraining.co.uk/course-detail/_/portfolio-management/20/

Michael Porter (famous management guru – Porters 5 forces) has written an article in this months Harvard Business Review setting out how he believes companies should operate using long term value and not immediate profits as their goal.

Part of his argument is to stress the importance of the social value of an organisation i.e. what it offers its customers, the environment and the world around it. To me, social value is about the bigger picture, and how we are offering something more back to our customers i.e. added value.

As a company training company, our value is our specialist knowledge and all the tips, techniques and practical advice we offer to our learners. To me, social value is about how we make as much of this available to our economy as possible because ultimately, making things better is what drives everyone at Maven. We want to ensure that our clients improve their ability to manage projects, implement changes, control risks and deliver benefits.

That’s why we put so much effort into developing pre-course materials that allow you to prepare ahead of your course, so that when you are with us you are getting as much as you possibly can from the service you have paid for. We want to interact, to discuss your issues, and help you see them in the context of the best practice that’s available.

We believe that project management touches every area of our lives, and that if we improve the ability of everyone to deliver projects successfully then we are improving our environment. Ultimately, it’s this drive to pass on our knowledge (learned by making countless mistakes) that is the core of our value to you.

That’s why we make so much of our knowledge available to you – go and look at www.mavenprojectmanagement.co.uk to see the free stuff that we regularly post for you to use. I hope it helps and keep the link close to hand as we are adding to it all the time. Or if you want to hear it first hand, come to my regular free briefing held every fortnight in London - http://www.maventraining.co.uk/courses/free-briefings.cfm

The future of project management...

Rather portentous title but I was at a lunch on Friday where part of my role was to explain where next for our industry. The imminent launch of the best practice guide for Management of Portfolios (MoP™) from OGC is leading us to question what happens next.

I think we are coming to the end of the development of best practice which dominated the last decade and a half, starting in 1996/1997 with the launch of PRINCE2, leading to the creation of guidance on risk management (MoR®) and Programme management (MSP®) and now finally MoP™.

I think that how best practice is applied and evidence of the improvements it creates has been a focus for several years and effective application of best management practice will continue to dominate the thoughts of those responsible for the operational management of our organisations. I am being specific about operational managers because I think there is still a distinction between these leaders and chief executives who operate strategic leadership, often in an unstructured way, but implicitly relying on the underlying management infrastructure, which is where best practice comes in.

I think organisational governance is growing in recognition and importance - probably becoming a senior management discipline for this decade.

Organisational governance has many definitions but I think it has two components - a structural/procedural piece and an interpersonal component which is the leadership ability of senior management to sell the benefits of applying the governance structure to everyone in the organisation, whatever their grade or length of service.

We need to explain how organisational governance is a key contributor to organisational excellence and how the best practice established at project (including technical and interpersonal skills), Programme (encompassing change and benefits management disciplines) and portfolio management (evidence based judgement and decision making) are interlinked.

I think this gives those of us involved in delivering projects and change initiatives plenty of scope for getting involved in shaping how our employers operate, and will ensure project management becomes embedded as a mainstream management discipline.

As always, let me know what you think, but if you want to want to know more, please go to http://www.maventraining.co.uk/white-papers.cfm or come and here me speak at one of my free briefings http://www.maventraining.co.uk/courses/free-briefings.cfm

Project Challenge Review

By Nicholas Tipping, Marketing Executive at Maven Training

I attended my 4th Project Challenge last Wednesday the 30th September (2nd in Olympia) as a Maven Training exhibitor and I have to say it turned out to be a great day with many interesting conversations. I managed to get to the exhibition around 8:30am and so had a chance to grab a coffee and have a little walk round and chat to some familiar faces. As the time was approaching for the grand opening at 9:30am, everyone awaited in anticipation for the delegates to come rushing in through the door. Unfortunately people can only access the exhibition by the lifts and I heard through the grapevine that queues were mounting outside! Apart from that there were no other hiccups and after half an hour or so, anyone and everyone who wanted to come were safely inside the building.

As the day ran on, I spoke to some of our long term clients and discussed how our current partnerships are progressing; this was met with some fantastic feedback and it is great to see how organisations are reaping the benefits from project and programme management implementation techniques we have worked on together. With our unique approach to building capability and capacity in organisations, we have developed many collaborations and tailored services to which we can work with different organisations with. If you would like to take a look at our range of services please visit our Business Solutionswebsite section which will give you a great insight in to what we can do.

It was interesting to hear from a lot of individuals who had come to the exhibition in search of more information on changes in the industry. There seemed to be a fair share of project managers attending to catch up with the latest news in the project world and attend the seminars to sound out new angles on the subject. At 12:15pm on the Wednesday, our CEO Melanie Franklin presented in Zone A on ‘Building Business Capacity in Project and Programmes’. This presentation was met with loud applause and many delegates I spoke to in the afternoon had great words to say about the presentation which focused on building individuals and organisations capacity to produce maximum productivity (email info@maventraining.co.uk if you would like further information on the presentation).

Other conversations were also based around delegates who had taken mainly PRINCE2 Foundation and Practitioner courses and were looking at up skilling by attending additional courses. These were usually in the form of the MSP Foundation and Practitioner and Change Management courses in which we received a high response to. It is great to know in this economical downturn that people are still looking to increase their skill set and qualifications and tie in other methodologies with the project management methodology to give them a greater overview and understanding of the subjects. Whether this is for people needing to combine the skills for their jobs or have the qualifications for their CV, it is very popular to have 2/3 of the courses under your belt nowadays and this trend was very apparent.

All in all a fantastic day and by 5:00pm everyone looked pretty tired and worn out. We hope everyone enjoyed this event and if anyone has any feedback on it, on us or any presentations it would be great to hear about it.

See you all soon

Benefits Realisation, Programme Management, Project Offices and all that jazz…

My Michelle Rowland, Associate Trainer

At the last the APM Group’s 7th annual Best Practice Showcase I attended several ‘Birds of a Feather’ sessions. Most of these covered subjects with which I was already very familiar such as ‘Benefits Realisation Management’ and ‘What’s wrong with your Project Office’. I also went to a session on ‘Tailoring MSP to transform performance’. What I found most interesting was that for me there was ‘nothing new’. I had hoped to glean a snippet of information or insight as to how to apply these methods that I had not thought of before, but in fact came away with the feeling that I knew at least as much as the other ‘experts’ in the room. A comforting thought!

I went to two interesting sessions, one on Portfolio Management – again nothing new but the speaker Craig Kilford, the author of the OGC’s guidance on the subject, was very entertaining and is definitely worth going to see if you can. You can download the guidance for free at the moment as a PDF file, if you are interested. In future, the OGC are considering producing it as a full blown book which will be available to buy.

The second interesting session was on the similarity between MSP and the new PRINCE2 2009 – ‘PRINCE2 and MSP joined up’, as presented by two of the authors of both guides. They focused their energies on looking at the Principles and how they have a similar ethos and presented the following picture, which I thought might be of interest:

Purpose
On PRINCE2: Business Justification
On MSP: Leading Change; Envisioning; Communicating

Focus
On PRINCE2: Productions
On MSP: Benefits

Flexibility
On PRINCE2: Tailored to suit
On MSP: Delivering a coherent capability

Governance
On PRINCE2: Manage by stages; Manage by exception; Roles and responsibilities
On MSP: Remaining aligned with corporate strategy; Adding value

Maven Training proud of Birmingham City Council

A long-term Maven Training client, Birmingham City Council has recently won the “Outstanding Employee Engagement Strategy HR Magazine Excellence Awards”.

Prior to CEO Stephen Hughes’ arrival in 2006, only 56% of BCC employees felt motivated and less than ¼ thought the council was well-managed.

A remarkable turnaround in fortune put the council back on track – and now they lead the way in staff engagement. Their £1.2m ‘Best’ programme – an initiative that turned disengaged employees into empowered staff trusted to identify and remedy problems themselves – has created over 1800 ‘best leaders’ who have the authority to implement service improvements. These ‘best’ leaders trained and run workshops for 23000 staff through management meetings, social relationship websites and a Dragon’s Den-style event where staff could pitch ideas for a chance to win £1,000!

The results of the investment are outstanding: now 75% of staff who have taken part on ‘best’ workshops say they feel more engaged and motivated, 83% of general staff say they feel motivated (up from 56% in 2006), 90% say they’re proud to work at BCC (up from 50% in 2009) – and that’s not all: public satisfaction of BCC residents rose from 53% to 62%!

Well done, Birmingham City Council!!

PRINCE2 Twitter Hour – Part 2

Two weeks ago our friends at Arras People ran a PRINCE2:2009 Twitter Hour with Andy Murray, the lead author of the refreshed project management method. This morning, Friday 3rd July at 11am BST they’ll be running Part 2.

Take part!

You can connect directly with Andy Murray and also the Camel. You can also join the PRINCE2 community on Twitter .

For more information, read full article here.

Best Practice showcase – the Maven Trainers’ point of view

Following the APM Group’s 7th annual The Best Practice Showcase, Maven Training’s Client Relations Director, William Franklin, has asked Maven Training Trainers, a community of experts, to take some time to reflect on the most relevant finding from the event and share them with you. Here are some comments from our dear trainers Susan Tuttle, Tiffany Childs and Paul de Havilland.

Susan Tuttle, who delivered four out of our five Birds of a Feather sessions on the next steps for Project and Programme Management, said that the two questions that were most posed by the attendees were: “Project Managers – to professionalise or not to professionalise?” and “I need a training course on how to manage my manager – managing up and how that affects the effectiveness of a Project Manager”

Tiffany Childs was surprised at the level of interest/general appetite for P3O – several government organisations were keen to discuss and debate their current situation and were particularly looking for suggestions on how to improve the structure of their Portfolio/Programme/Project Offices. Given the current economic climate, the focus of conversation was on the need to maintain the functionality and credibility of the support office(s) while working with reduced access to resource. She goes on saying that there was little discussion on the upcoming launch of the P3O Practitioner qualification, but it would still be interesting to see what the uptake of this qualification will be, nonetheless – people seemed to be searching for answers!

As I'm a member of the APM, Paul de Havilland often mentions to delegates on courses the moves towards chartered status for project managers. He said he has not yet come across a delegate who's heard of this before my mentioning it! In fact, I find it's a minority of delegates who are even aware of the APM, as opposed to the PMI which seems to have much wider recognition – especially with people from multi-nationals. He also said that he’s personally enthusiastic about chartered status because, amongst other things, it could help to change decision makers' perceptions of project management to that of it being a discipline in its own right, with its own distinctive set of skills. One upshot of this might be for organisations to be more selective about who they entrust projects to – no one would consider the appointment of a an accountant with no qualifications or experience, yet this happens all the time in project management (he’s lost count of the number of nervous delegates who say 'I've just been moved into a project management role and I have no idea what it entails'). However, given the increasing profile of PMI, will even chartered status be enough to make the APM the natural 'professional body of choice' for UK project managers?

What about you? what did you think of the event? Please leave your thoughts and comments here!

Self-awareness – Best Practice in action

By William Franklin, Client Relations Director at Maven Training.

Yesterday saw 750 people register for the APM Group’s 7th annual The Best Practice Showcase. Held at the QE11 Conference Centre next to Houses of Parliament, the juxtaposition of an industry constantly seeking to evolve and adopt Best Practice in project and programme management was stark when placed alongside the current MP expenses scandals rocking UK politics.

Alan Harpham, as Chairman of the APM Group, gave the delegates and exhibitors a multi-cultural welcome that reflected some of the many countries now adopting PRINCE2® and other Best Practice products. After that, delegates entered a whirl of their own as they tried to find the first of many 'Birds of a Feather' sessions planned throughout the day. This possibly led to the early negative feeling of personal project management capabilities (see later) as many got lost and ended up in the wrong sessions. That said, the sessions themselves were well delivered on the whole with limited 'plugging' of individual organisational capabilities.

From the marketing perspective, the opportunity to hold in-depth conversations with delegates was limited as many were hurrying between Birds of a Feather sessions. Maven Training was particularly innovative in capturing delegates’ views by asking the following question: "Does your organisation run an EFFECTIVE project methodology?" with the only answers possible being YES or NO. By getting delegates to address this question up front we were then able to take the temperature of the industry. As mentioned earlier, the initial confusion over format, combined with uncertain expectations of what the day could deliver led to 67% of respondents in the morning session answering NO. After lunch we started to see a swing towards 50/50 as delegates started to see that their existing knowledge base when benchmarked against others in the industry was in fact quite strong. However, at the end of the day, the final balance of those that had confidence in their organisational methodologies was 38% with regular comments being "...but my skills and those of my team are very strong".

So what subjects were of highest concern to delegates? Interestingly enough, there was little interest in the updated PRINCE2® (2009) with many delegates recognising this was purely an evolution rather than structural change. At the top of the list of interest was a desire for implementation services from companies that had the breadth and depth of capability to deliver methodologies, irrespective of source of the method. Maven Training was therefore delighted to be able to showcase our new Wheel of Delivery (see below) where irrespective of the client maturity or project stage, they could benefit from a range of scalable implementation services.

An additional delegate request was for the three Birds of a Feather topics we spoke on to be delivered directly to clients at their offices around the country. While an unforeseen outcome from the sessions, we agreed to a small number of additional sessions to be included in our Project Health checks that clients seek from Maven Training.

Overall, the 7th Best Practice Showcase delivered what it set out to – an opportunity for experts in the industry to share experiences and learn from each other to continue the development of Best Practice with project and programme management. We look forward to seeing you all next year.

The Wheel of Delivery™
Click on the image to enlarge it

Best Practice Showcase - TOMORROW

We’d like to reinforce our invitation to all our readers, trainers, partners and clients to come and spend the day at The Best Practice Showcase tomorrow at the QE11 Conference Centre.

The Showcase, which is in its seventh edition, is FREE TO ATTEND. Its interactive format proves a real hit with delegates, who spend the day discussing issues, talking to experts and sharing experiences with each other.

Maven Training will be hosting five Birds of a Feather sessions at the event – these sessions entail sitting round a table with ten to fifteen delegates and grappling with pertinent programme and project management issues – our idea of heaven!

Melanie Franklin, our CEO, and Susan Tuttle, Associate Trainer, will be hosting sessions on where Project and Programme Management stand and what is happening next with these disciplines. They will present a step by step guide as to how to go about establishing and implementing a project and programme environments within organisations.

Melanie is also scheduled to deliver her popular presentation on Interpersonal Skills for Projects and Programmes at 10am at the BMP stand space.

In addition to these discussion groups, the Best Practice Showcase will also feature a full seminar programme. Emma Jones, Chief Examiner for PRINCE2® Qualifications will update delegates on the impact of the 2009 Refresh.

The event is free so we’d love to see you take part. Click here for details of all the sessions on offer, and to register.

The Best Practice Showcase
Tuesday 23rd June 2009
QE II Conference Centre, London
www.bestpracticeshowcase.com

Who was at the PRINCE2:2009 launch?

By Melanie Franklin, CEO, Maven Training.

Last Tuesday (16th June) I attended the PRINCE2:2009 launch event, which was sponsored jointly by the OGC, the TSO and the APMG. There were lots of people from these three organisations, along with the authoring team for PRINCE2.

Also there were Liz Berryman (who has built up a lot of knowledge in how to write OTE-style questions), APMG assessors Emmanuel Gianquitto (Quality), David Watson (Change) and AnneMarie Byrne (P3O), Colin Bentley (former PRINCE2 Chief Examiner) and Emma Jones (the current one). From the APMG, Richard Pharro (CEO) and Nikki Kelly, along with Collis Boucher (representing translations).

Mike Allen from BPUG was there along with Mike Acaster. From the OGC were there, along with Ray Frew (who is a PRINCE2 trainer) and Scott Spence (who flew over from Australia representing Crazy Colour).

Sue Vowler (P3O writer), Kate Winter and Elizabeth Harrin were also at the event.

There was a quick presentation about the changes to the method, and it was overall an interesting event. I had a chance to see lots of the community and was delighted to exchange some ideas about the market.

Come to The Best Practice Showcase!

We’d like to reinforce our invitation to all our readers, trainers, partners and clients to come and spend the day at The Best Practice Showcase on Tuesday 23rd June at the QE11 Conference Centre.

The Showcase, which is in its seventh edition, is FREE TO ATTEND. Its interactive format proves a real hit with delegates, who spend the day discussing issues, talking to experts and sharing experiences with each other.

Maven Training will be hosting five Birds of a Feather sessions at the event – these sessions entail sitting round a table with ten to fifteen delegates and grappling with pertinent programme and project management issues – our idea of heaven!

Melanie Franklin, our CEO, will host sessions that will focus on Programme Management – where are we and where do we go next? Melanie will present a step by step guide as to how to go about establishing and implementing a programme environment in your organisation. The examples she’ll be exploring are derived from our work with public and private sector organisations. She’ll also ask delegates to share their experiences and challenges.

Melanie is also scheduled to deliver her popular presentation on Interpersonal Skills for Projects and Programmes – exact timing still to be confirmed, but watch this space for further details.

Susan Tuttle, Associate Trainer, will be hosting sessions on Project management – what next? Susan will discuss how project managers can get commitment from their sponsors, how to persuade line managers to release staff to work on projects, and how to engage support staff fully. The session will give those involved in project management a chance to share their experiences, and set this against our roadmap for increasing organisation wide project management capability. This is an opportunity to devise practical steps to address these issues. Using a combination of interactive examples and our in depth experience in resolving these issues, those attending this session will feel empowered to return to work and make a tangible difference.

In addition to these discussion groups, the Best Practice Showcase will also feature a full seminar programme. Emma Jones, Chief Examiner for PRINCE2® Qualifications will update delegates on the impact of the 2009 Refresh.

The event is free so we’d love to see you take part. Click here for details of all the sessions on offer, and to register.

The Best Practice Showcase
Tuesday 23rd June 2009
QE II Conference Centre, London
www.bestpracticeshowcase.com

PRINCE2:2009 – a series of vodcasts

The Best Management Practice, comprising the OGC, the TSO and the APMG have a number of official websites for its best practice guidance (PRINCE2®, MSP™, M_o_R®, P3O® and ITIL®).

One of them, Best Management Practice TV, offers a range of videoed seminars, workshops, debates and interviews. They also have a series of vodcasts which are all about PRINCE2:2009 – and you can watch them here!

A history of PRINCE2:2009 – Mike Acaster (OGC)


PRINCE2:2009 Publications – Andy Murray (lead author)


PRINCE2:2009 Examinations – Emma Jones (chief examiner)


Maven Training’s first PRINCE2:2009 training course will start on the 06th July – check our website for further information.

The Best Practice Showcase

We’d like to invite all of our readers, trainers, partners and clients to come and spend the day at The Best Practice Showcase on Tuesday 23rd June at the QE11 Conference Centre .

The Showcase, which is free to attend, has been going for seven years and its interactive format proves a real hit with delegates, who spend the day discussing issues, talking to experts and sharing experiences with each other.

Two of our senior personnel will be hosting Birds of a Feather sessions at the event. These sessions entail sitting round a table with around ten to fifteen other delegates and grappling with pertinent programme and project management issues – our idea of heaven!

Melanie Franklin, our CEO, will host sessions that will focus on Programme Management – where are we and where do we go next? Melanie will present a step by step guide as to how to go about establishing and implementing a programme environment in your organisation. The examples she’ll be exploring are derived from our work with public and private sector organisations. She’ll also ask delegates to share their experiences and challenges.

Susan Tuttle, Associate Trainer, will be hosting sessions on Project management – what next? Susan will discuss how project managers can get commitment from their sponsors, how to persuade line managers to release staff to work on projects, and how to engage support staff fully. The session will give those involved in project management a chance to share their experiences, and set this against our roadmap for increasing organisation wide project management capability. This is an opportunity to devise practical steps to address these issues. Using a combination of interactive examples and our in depth experience in resolving these issues, those attending this session will feel empowered to return to work and make a tangible difference.

In addition to these discussion groups, the Best Practice Showcase will also feature a full seminar programme. Emma Jones, Chief Examiner for PRINCE2® Qualifications will update delegates on the impact of the 2009 Refresh.

Emma Hilditch, the event director, says: “For the last six years 98% of delegates have left the event completely satisfied, so we are very confident of putting on an excellent day for them. They will get up-to-date news on the refreshed OGC guidance such as P3O, P3M3™ and PRINCE2. They can take active part in round table discussion sessions, with over 100 different targeted topics to choose from.”

The event is free so we’d love to see all our clients take part. Click here for details of all the sessions on offer, and to register.

The Best Practice Showcase
Tuesday 23rd June 2009
QE II Conference Centre, London
www.bestpracticeshowcase.com

BCS Debates - Making Projects Work

Last month our CEO Melanie Franklin was a panellist of the BCS Debate, “Making IT Projects Work”, along with David Hicks, CEO, RADTAC and Paul Major, CEO, Program Framework.

The debate, chaired by Brian Runciman, Managing Editor of the BCS , concentrated on discussing problems and solutions revolving around IT Projects. The high level of the participants brought interesting answers and comments on Project Management itself – amongst the questions answered was “Are project failures a perception or sheer reality?”. They discussed the real chances of acquiring more information about failed projects, the difference between projects and programmes (and the definition of both frequently seeming a bit “hazy”), projects that work, projects that don’t and why, and the benefits of a dedicated project office. However, it was the panellists’ years of project and programme management experience that drove the conversation to the human side of project management – knowing how to deal with the people who work in a particular project is as important as having a structured approach to managing it. The focus was on the migration of “techies” to project management, PM “lingo” on the way of success, how to engage people – including management of board expectations.

WATCH THE DEBATE!

Part 1



Part 2



Part 3



Part 4

P3O – the discussion continues

The P3O posts from 05th May and 06th May have generated some discussion.

Our trainer Michelle Rowland has heard from one of our delegates that they really liked the idea of having a vision for the Programme Office, as organisations hardly ever have one, and staff constantly get queries about what they do, or whether they should take on business-as-usual services on top of their programme office functions.

Another one of our trainers, Helle Falholt (based in Denmark), believes that this delegate’s statement captures the essence of why people may be sceptical about P3O – many have seen initiatives including some of the ideas behind P3O, and witnessed them fail (because of a lack of Vision, no Blueprint, no stated benefits etc). She goes on saying that it is hard to claim success if nobody recognises what the Programme Office was supposed to deliver – and how can one say they’re on the right track, if the organisation doesn’t know where it’s going? It appears that, in general, delegates agree that three things are necessary for good implementation of a P3O: Vision, Sponsor, Funding – in that order.

What do you think? Please share your comments and thoughts with us!

The importance of certificates

By Helle Falholt, PRINCE2® and MSP™ Trainer at Peak Consulting, Denmark.

For some time now we have seen independent consultants coming to our classes to become PRINCE2® qualified in order to get assignments in an increasingly competitive market.

Lately I have started to see a different variety: People who are employed (private or public sector) but pay for their education themselves. When asked why, they all say the same thing: "my employer won't pay for education, so I need a certificate which will enable me to go elsewhere"!

I do wonder if that is a wise strategy. Although it is true that there are more people applying for every job opening now than just 6-8 months ago it is still very expensive to loose a good employee. The people I have met are bright and ambitious and none of them plan to let their present employer gain from their new qualifications.

You might ask: "Wouldn't these people leave their company anyway?" Well, that depends. If organisations not only train people, but also implement PRINCE2® as part of their governance structure, an environment where people are able to use their new skills effectively and grow their abilities is embedded, and there is more return on the investment at the same time. Employees are less likely to leave if they feel appreciated and can grow with their company.

Even if some employees do leave – the organisation will have gained by implementing PRINCE2®. One can look for a person with PRINCE2® qualifications and concentrate on their experience and achievements knowing that they have an interface that fits with the organisation, making it easier for them to become productive.

Am I the only one who sees the outline of a viable Business Case here? Share your comments with us!

What has the P3O (Portfolio, Programme Project Offices) guidance got to do with Yin and Yang?

By Graham Shreeve, Training Consultant at Maven Training.

The Chinese ancients believed that Yin and Yang is the interplay of opposites and stresses the importance of balance. “All things connote the Yin and the Yang, and the Yin and the Yang keep acting upon each other and thus things keep changing and unifying themselves.” The Book of Tao, describes two kinds of energy, two modes of consciousness

• Yin
- Feminine
- Contractive
- Conservative
- Responsive
- Cooperative
- Intuitive
- Synthesising

• Yang
- Masculine
- Expansive
- Demanding
- Aggressive
- Competitive
- Rational
- Analytic

Fritjof Capra, physicist and systems theorist, sees Yin and Yang energy as related to two modes of consciousness, two different kinds of knowing. The rational and the intuitive are complementary modes of functioning of the human mind.

- Rational thinking is linear, focused and analytic. Rational knowledge tends to be fragmented.
- Intuitive knowledge is based on a direct, non-intellectual experience of reality arising in an expanded state of awareness. It tends to be synthesising, holistic, and nonlinear.

The P3O guidance gives significant attention to centres of excellence and knowledge management. Also, the guide suggests that using the “Value Matrix” (a diagram embedded in the P3O guide) can identify the core problems and determine the scope of the P3O. The matrix considers three levels of change management that an organisation may experience in handling its portfolio, programmes and projects and could prompt a debate to how a P3O model could provide support and assurances services across the levels. The catalyst of the debate is the parallel governance activities of “Enabling and Restraining”. If we recognise the word governance, as to exercise authority the dialogue between the P3O and Programme Managers and Project Managers and their teams could cover a number of paths: “Enabling” and “Restraining” P3O:

• Enabling P3O
- Providing the best practice knowledge and opportunities for Project and Programme Managers to improve programme, project, team and individual performance;
- Supporting Tools and Techniques that enable Project and Programme Managers to build and deliver and/or repair the programmes and projects with efficacy;
- Making resources available to enable definition and implementation of new projects and programmes;
- Empowering Project and Programme Managers with authority to improve performance and best practice.

• Restraining P3O
- Holding back the Project and Programme Managers from action, keeping them in check or under control;
- Depriving the Project and Programme Managers the liberty to improve performance by constraining innovation and ingenuity;
- Limiting the Project and Programme Manager’s activities, growth, or effect in their work.

Has the debated started in your organisation when establishing or re-energising your P3O? Is the debate focused on rational or intuitive thinking? How will you strike a balance between enabling and restraining? Share some experiences and best practice, let us know.

Graham Shreeve ©Target Practice Ltd 2009

Bespoke Training – brand new section of our website!

By Melanie Franklin, CEO, Maven Training.

Today sees the launch of our newest online enterprise: the ”Bespoke Services” section of our website. This new division of our website is aimed at providing you with information about our, well, Bespoke Services – that is, what we do and how our expertise can be used to create tailored training events based on specific needs. This new section is a reflexion of the many, many meetings and requests we have received from our clients over the past few years and it was put together to provide clear, straightforward information about what we can do to help other businesses grow.

I am always interested in the requests for help that we receive from our clients, because it gives me a powerful insight into the issues of the moment, so that we can tailor our services to meet these needs. For example, at the moment, a very popular request is for help in establishing how teams or departments can adapt what they have learnt on an MSP™ course into a programme management approach that is developed by one area of the organisation, but shared across it as a whole. There is a definite feeling that creating an approach for programme management leads to more control across the projects that form the programme. This need for control is very popular at the moment. This is because there is real pressure on senior managers to understand the full costs of what they are authorising, and to know that any project they commit to is going to deliver on time. Sticking to budget and deadlines does not happen by magic, so they want to know that those involved know what they are doing, that they are following best practice and that risk across the team/department/organisation has been reduced because there is a systematic, consistent set of processes underpinning the work. I have seen a real upswing in the level of senior management interest in the way projects are managed, and more willingness to become involved in the decision making process. The number of master classes that we are delivering to senior management teams on project, programme and change management is certainly evidence of that. Also, the number of senior managers who are sending themselves on programme management training so that they know how to control the work within their departments is on the increase. Interestingly, they really appreciate attending open courses and mixing with delegates from other organisations, and there are lots of contact details swapped in the coffee breaks.

All of this activity is making me wonder whether sponsoring and managing individual projects is out of fashion and that the controls offered by programme management are fit with the need understand total spending plans across the organisation? What do you think? For more information, go to our ”Bespoke Services” pages to see how we can work with you to devise and implement your approach to programme and project management.