What is the true value of real world project management?

Real world project management is about finding the correct balance

During the final stages of the easyJet Gatwick Hangar project, I was complimented about my style of project management. I was told that it was a refreshing change and they described it as “real world project management”.

But, what did they mean by this? Apparently, this feedback was related to a number of attributes including:

• Adaptability and flexibility.

• Practical approach – tailored to the needs of the project and people involved.

• Thinking ahead, as well as being immersed in the day-to-day management of the project.

• Tenacity with balance.

• Taking the pain away for completing onerous project tasks.

• Being clear about my role, leading by example but not being afraid to roll my sleeves up to get things done.

I am sure that there are many more things to add. Real world project and programme management, is about finding true balance between the rigour that is required, in terms of project or programme controls, yet enabling the change to be delivered in a timely manner.

It is critical that these controls exist and that they are used effectively, but this should not constrain progress, or adversely impact stakeholder engagement.

For example, when I had just started the Gatwick Hangar project, a key priority for me, as the project manager, was to ensure that I had a robust PID (Project Initiation Document), project plan and RAID (risks, assumptions, issues & dependencies) log.

This was not necessarily something that the key stakeholders wanted or needed at that stage but without these controls, we would not have a clear and defined direction, a view of what we needed to do further down the line and a robust method of preventing potential issues, that could impact the project.

I immediately started to develop these documents, however, had no opportunity of running a project definition workshop at that time, due to the key stakeholders having a very busy schedule, which was already burdened with lots of work on things such as the tenders for the hangar supplier and MRO (maintenance, repair & overhaul operator).

At that stage, the project felt like it was going at 100mph, yet I had to remain focused on the robust project definition and planning, as well as spinning many plates with the fast-paced nature of the project

Instead of running such workshops at the start of the project, I had to rely on many one-to-ones with the project team and whilst I am not generally much of a coffee drinker, I definitely increased my intake of caffeine considerably during this period!

The one word I’ll keep going back to when describing real world project and programme management is balance. The art of managing projects and programmes well, is knowing what level of rigour to apply, and ensuring that this compliments the transformation rather than impeding it.

A client that I am currently working with, mentioned to me a few weeks ago, that he’d been to a conference where Sir Matthew Pinsent, the English rower who competed in four Olympic Games and won four gold medals) had delivered a speech.

He said that the key focus of the team, which had become the team mantra, was “does it make the boat go faster”. They would challenge every new suggestion with the question: “does it make the boat go faster?” and if it did, they would embrace it. If not, the idea was discarded.

Real world project and programme management is similar to this, but a project / programme manager is focussed on multiple controls, some of which don't improve the speed of delivery, however, some of them do.

The robust application of good project and programme controls is fundamental, as is sensible decision making and adopting a flexible approach.

An effective project / programme manager must not just aim to make the boat go faster but also to stop it from sinking, as well as ensuring that it is delivered to the right specification, quality and cost.

The real world project and programme manager is able to conduct calls, meetings and workshops in such a way that they interpret and articulate what the key stakeholders are saying, converting this into meaningful outputs which are well structured and purposeful.

Instead of even telling the team that they are capturing key information, that will form the basis of each of the project documents, they can informally gather what’s required from simply having normal conversations.

My own style of project and programme management is relatively lean. I believe in creating documentation that works for me, as well as others.

I have sometimes come across situations in the past, where there is almost a “cottage industry” of documentation requested. For example, I have been involved with situations where teams of people are tasked with pulling over 50 slides together (sometimes double that) for a one-hour steering group meeting.

I generally prefer to develop circa 10 – 15 slides for such a meeting. Of course, there are exceptional circumstances where much pre-reading is required, especially for a particularly technical project or programme, but I generally prefer to spend less time on developing such materials and more time managing the transformation.

I prefer to set up the core project and programme documents, so that information that is required for steering updates can be simply lifted from them, thus ensuring that I am truly focussed on the transformation at hand.

As for engaging stakeholders, a real-world project and programme approach, enables people to have confidence that there is the required level of control in place, but without all stakeholders having to trawl through every level of detail in every document. That burden is lessened and for some, removed altogether.

Real world project management embraces PRINCE2 principles and is tailored to suit the transformation and the people involved.

When asked about my style, I often describe a scale, which at the left-hand side, has a project manager who is this by name only. This is usually an operator who has been given the job title of project manager but limited training and awareness of governance and often still with many day to day operational responsibilities.

At the right-hand side of the scale is a PRINCE2 practitioner, who strongly adheres to every element of governance in the manual and often does not have operational experience.

I would describe my style of being somewhere between the two extremes, more in the direction of PRINCE2 but not to the extreme right.

In summary, real world project and programme management is a tailored and balanced approach to managing projects. It is a common sense approach, where the right level of rigour is adopted to enable the transformation to be delivered robustly, whilst maintaining high levels of engagement within the team.

I hope that this has been an interesting read. Please feel free to contact me to discuss how I can help you approach change.