1 / 23

Trials and Tribulations of Introducing a Corporate Approach to Project Management within Cheshire County Council

Trials and Tribulations of Introducing a Corporate Approach to Project Management within Cheshire County Council . Mark Harwood – Business Change + Best Practice Manager. Wednesday 15 th March, 2006. Projects and Programmes – An Historical View

markku
Download Presentation

Trials and Tribulations of Introducing a Corporate Approach to Project Management within Cheshire County Council

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Trials and Tribulations of Introducing a Corporate Approach to Project Management within Cheshire County Council Mark Harwood – Business Change + Best Practice Manager. Wednesday 15th March, 2006

  2. Projects and Programmes – An Historical View “There is nothing more difficult to handle, more doubtful of success, or more dangerous to carry through than initiating a project. The innovator makes enemies of those who profited under the old regime, and has only the half hearted support of those who might benefit under the new order. “ Nicoli Machiavilli. “The Prince.” 1533

  3. Presentation Objectives By the end of this presentation you will: • Know where we are with regard to implementing a corporate approach to project management in Cheshire - what has driven us here; what we have done; and what we plan to do next. • Know what PREACH is • Be able to ask any questions that you may have.

  4. Project Support to Waste, TLC, Childrens Centres, Crewe Rail Gateway • Design and implementation of Prince2 strategy for CCC • 15 years organisational development and consultancy experience in public and private sector around project management • Got married, moved house, changed jobs, renovated a house, wife had a baby daughter - all in space of two years- poor planning or good project management?!!

  5. Cheshire County Council • 670,000 people living in 294.000 households • Net Budget £650 million • Capital Budget £94 million • 21000 employees across four directorates – Policy and Performance; Adult Services; Childrens Services; Environment. • 51 Members. Conservative administration of 1 at last May 2005 election

  6. PM in Cheshire – The Drivers • Cheshire County Council’s Loss “Excellent” CPA Rating – Organisational commitment to regain this and demonstrate continuous improvement; • Executive Board agreed: “The need to adopt Programme and Project Management approaches more widely and more consistently, and to develop the necessary skills.”

  7. What has been done so far- Prior to my appointment in September 2004 • Action Learning set established – Senior Managers tasked with identifying WHERE Cheshire is with regards to PM; • Through a series of interviews with key stakeholders attempted to find the answers.

  8. Action Learning Set – Their Findings • No corporate definition of “project”; and No corporate approach to developing PM expertise; • Reluctance to share PM expertise between service areas and Directorates – The SILO effect; • Project Managers usually do it on top of their day job; • Good at strategies but have difficulty in developing these into projects.

  9. Action Learning Sets – ideas for future development of PM • Grow PM over time; • Evolutionary, not revolutionary; • Develop a Project Office • Adopt a standard methodology • Produce a toolkit of processes/procedures • Adopt collaboration and reporting tools • Enhance training opportunities

  10. Chief Executive- Jeremy Taylor “ Right people with the right skills at the right time at the right places.”

  11. Talk to the people currently involved in some of the “big” projects: Waste Management; Extra Care Housing; TLC • From these talks identify: - Awareness of the Projects; - What support and training the Project needs? - What do people delivering the project need? - Do they have it? - If there is a Gap – offer support to close it.

  12. The Cheshire reality?!

  13. First Steps in Cheshire • Series of structured Interviews with Project Managers/ Sponsors; • Use Project Analysis checklist and Skills Analysis checklist to assess current position – a Health Check for Projects.

  14. The Big Three – A Health Check Extra Care Housing • Sound methodology – using P2 • Experienced project team (Schools PFI) • Concern that Social Services staff not close enough to it. No further action required. TLC • Support required – pilot P2. Need to: • more robust project brief • undertake stakeholder analysis • Training Programme for TLC staff and project boards January 2005 • Risk Log creation • identify Best Practice orgs and undertake strategic visits

  15. The Big Three – A Health Check Waste Support required – pilot P2. Need to: • more robust project brief • undertake stakeholder analysis • Training Programme for Project team and Project Boards June 2006 • Risk Log creation • identify Best Practice orgs and undertake strategic visits

  16. The value of PRINCE2 to these projects • Senior managers now ‘walking the talk’ • Making decisions that have to be made • Project Board meetings – one hour maximum • Impact on smaller and medium sized projects • Prince -Lite

  17. Next Steps • Prince 2 Awareness Raising for CCC Senior Management • Pilot Prince 2 Foundation Courses ran for one year- 130 staff Prince 2 Foundation passes • Existing 1 day course dove-tailed into “Prince-lite” • Roll out Guidance Manual • Establish a Project Support group

  18. Terms Of Reference – PREACH Aims • Efficient and effective communication between Project Managers and team members across Cheshire County Council and our partner organisations • A collection arena in which all employees and interested parties in project management can gather to inform, engage, ‘join up’, share, reflect and propose best practice. • A positive development forum for the embedding of Project Management practice and principles in Cheshire County Council and our partner organisations.

  19. Objectives • To critically evaluate existing and proposed project management practices in CCC • To develop and exchange new processes, ideas, tips for success, and best practice • To disseminate information and developments with regards to projects and project management within the County Council • To promote the sharing of best practice from within and outside the county concerning project management principles and practices • To feedback information and intelligence from other organisations concerning their approaches and journeys through project management organisational maturity

  20. Regular PREACH Seminars • Corporate Training for Projects • Working collaboratively with other Authorities • Launch of the Virtual Project Office • http://www/PREACH/home.htm

  21. Project Management in Cheshire – The Future • Establish a Corporate Programme/Project office • Introduce Programme Management • Break down the service silos • Introduce collaborative reporting tools

  22. Conclusions • Keep it simple! • Get People to do the Basics • Focus on the Essentials • Win Friends & Influence People • Maturity takes time – Organisational Development

  23. Contact Details Mark Harwood Business Change and Best Practice Manager Performance Improvement Unit Cheshire County Council Telephone 01244-602057 mark.harwood@cheshire.gov.uk

More Related