When Program/Project Management Goes Well

When Program/Project Management Goes Well
By Philip Young

Today has been a good day. I presented my end of program report to my steering committee.

This has been a 12 month program of work comprising of multiple project teams delivering technology and business application changes across Rank Groups Casino retail trading estate.

The great thing about this is that as a team of people who were program managed by me, delivered on-time, below budget and the agreed scope of work was implemented. Yes it was hard work and sometimes did not go as planned but how often do things ever go as planned?

I have thought about why this program went so well and think that the following bullets sort of sum things up:

  • Where the projects were technical biased we had technical Project Managers, and where application biases we had the right business knowledge on the teams.
  • We were not afraid to go off-plan sometimes, especially when carrying out issue resolution. This did not mean that we forgot about the plan, it meant that we went back to the plan and creatively revised tasks it to accommodate the time spent on issues resolution. This ensured we still maintained the timeline required.

  • We thought ‘outside of the box’ at times (see above), thinking about many varied ways to reach our goal’s.

  • We were not afraid to take the tough decisions, as long as we understood the risks

  • I trusted & empowered my team to ‘get on with things’ and they did with their people.

  • But most of all we worked as a team, and we could still laugh with each other when things got tough or were not going exactly to plan.

As always I have learned a lot about people and myself while working on this program, and the high I have today has made all of those stressful times fall away to the back of my mind, leaving a warm glow and admiration for people I have worked with.

Thank you for reading my personal thoughts.

Philip Young, an award-winning CIO and inspirational keynote speaker on change management, is Founder of P-A-Y Consulting, published author and judge for the Global Business Excellence Awards.

As one of the UK’s leading Board advisors on technology strategy, change management and process improvement, Philip has a wealth of experience and insights to offer organizations of all types and sizes. To discuss a potential consultancy, a speaking opportunity, or a non-executive role with Philip, please call +44 (0)7747 460 139. You ca read more from Philip on his blog.

PMHut Team

PMHut Team

PMHut.com is a website dedicated to providing PM articles, detailed project management software reviews, and the latest news for the most popular web-based collaboration tools.

Leave a Reply