Project, Programme and Portfolio management news – May 2009
Welcome to Outperform’s news on project, programme and portfolio management. In this edition of our newsletter…
· PRINCE2® 2009 launch – 16th June 2009
· P3M3™ benchmarking of the “core cities”
· P3M3 self assessment
· Portfolio management conference – news from sunny Malta
· Best Practice Showcase preview – 23rd June 2009
· Best practice lead authors join forces
· Outperform on Twitter
· Outperform consultants at a conference near you’
PRINCE2 2009 Launch – 16th June 2009
PRINCE2 2009 is the latest update to the world’s most widely deployed project management method. Previous updates to PRINCE2 were incremental - they addressed errors in the manual or issues identified through the associated exams. The new version is based on a fresh look at the role that a structured method plays in modern projects.
Although PRINCE2 2009 is still undeniably PRINCE2, the revised method has some significant changes:
· a new set of principles guiding the project board and the project manager in how to apply the method
· much less prescriptive requiring Project Boards and Project Managers to exercise more judgment
· more scalable
· improved integration with other OGC best practice frameworks (notably MSP™, M_o_R®, P3O®, OGC Gateway™)
· greater linkage to other bodies of knowledge, methods and techniques
· greater emphasis on the ‘soft skills’ of project management
· greater emphasis on learning from experience
The 2-year project to refresh PRINCE2 is nearly over and a launch date has been set for 16th June. OGC are hosting a launch event and have invited contributors to the public consultation, authors, reviewers and participants from pilot organisations to attend. To support the launch, the publisher (TSO) will be streaming various videos from the new best management practice TV website. There are already several vodcasts available to view on the website including presentations from PRINCE2 lead author and Outperform director Andy Murray.
To help organisations transition to PRINCE2 2009, Outperform will be providing a PRINCE2 2009 corporate briefing at the prestigious Cabinet War Rooms and Churchill Museum on 9th July, led by the PRINNCE2 2009 Lead Author. Participants at this event will:
· Receive signed copies of the set of PRINCE2 publications (worth over £150)
· Understand the changes to PRINCE2 and the reasons for them directly from the lead author
· Learn from the experience of the pilot organisations on their approach to deploying PRINCE2 2009
· Network with other PPM heads
· Enjoy a 3-course lunch, guided tour of the prestigious Cabinet War Rooms and receive a group photo (worth over £100)
· Receive a copy of PRINCE2 2009 mind-maps, checklists and templates (worth over £100)
The PRINCE2 2009 corporate briefing is designed for those senior managers who are responsible for project/programme within their organisation (Head of projects / project management / PPM, PPM profession, PMO Manager or Centre of Excellence Manager).
If you are a project manager, looking to update your knowledge of PRINCE2 as part of your re-registration the corporate briefing is not for you. However, from July we will be running our PRINCE2 business game, PRINCEOPOLY, based on the 2009 version of the method. If you are a PM looking to learn more about PRINCE2 2009 and are fed up with traditional classroom based training then PRINCEOPOLY is definitely for you – learn the new method and hone your soft-skills all in one day!
Portfolio Management conference in Malta
On 24th April Outperform director, Mike Ward, attended the ChangeDirector’s first “Customer and Partner Conference” which was held in Malta - the home of their development partner Computime.
There were talks about four client implementations namely Accenture (e-borders project), Medical Research Council, Friends Provident and an airline based in the Middle East. The airline company talk was partly given by Mike Ward since Outperform provided the embedding services. The client presentations were interspersed with interesting technical material about the ChangeDirector software developments and roadmap.
After lunch, Mike gave a talk on Project Culling where each participant was asked by their Finance Director (the person sitting to their left) to prune spend in 2009! Mike presented some new ways of thinking behind the approach to culling projects and got everyone involved. Outperform recently launched an Investment Decision Support Service (the formal name for project culling), and are using ChangeDirector software as part of their toolkit to capture and present client data.
Awards were handed out at the end of the conference – Mike received the 2009 partner award.
P3M3 benchmarking of the ‘core cities’
Between January and March 2009, Outperform completed the first wave of maturity assessments of the ‘core cities’. The Core Cities group is a network of England's major regional city councils representing the largest metropolitan borough councils outside of London. They are bonded by their desire to share best practices in order to drive economic growth in their regions.
The purpose of Outperform’s maturity assessment was to benchmark the city councils against OGC’s Project, Programme and Portfolio Management Maturity Model (known as P3M3) to help identify their individual capabilities and how they compared to the group as a whole.
The first wave comprised assessments at Bradford, Birmingham, Manchester and Sheffield and highlighted some excellent practices by some councils that would be of benefit to the others. The assessment has enabled the councils to celebrate their achievements as recognised by an independent assessment and also to identify further areas for improvement and to prioritise them. The councils also found the P3M3 benchmark helped identify the aspects of project, programme and portfolio management that will help with their upcoming Comprehensive Area Assessments (CAA).
More councils are participating in the benchmarking exercise (including county, borough and district councils) which will further add to the benchmarking database for comparative analysis.
More P3M3 Self Assessment
Outperform’s P3M3 and P2MM training workshop provides an alternative for those organisations interested in benchmarking themselves against OGC’s project, programme and portfolio management maturity model (P3M3) or PRINCE2 Maturity Model (P2MM) but cannot afford the cost of an assessment undertaken by external consultants.
By popular demand we have added more P2MM and P3M3 events to our public workshop schedule
Best Practice Showcase preview – 23rd June 2009
The superb Best Practice Showcase on 23rd June at the QEII conference centre in London is now in its 6th year. The last three years have included ‘Birds of a Feather’ workshops where groups of 10-12 people discuss aspects of project, programme, portfolio or risk management that is of key interest to them. These BOFs have proved so popular that this year’s event is based mainly on such workshops rather than seminars and presentations.
Outperform will be running three different BOFs at the showcase:
· PRINCE2 2009 – what does it mean for my organisation?
· P3M3 – identifying capabilities and prioritising improvements
· Project culling – apply portfolio management techniques to achieve more with less
Several Outperform consultants will be at the event, including PRINCE2 lead author Andy Murray who will be happy to sign PRINCE2 2009 publications purchased from Outperform.
Outperform will once again be hosting an evening networking event after the conference for those people interested in continuing the discussions regarding PPPM best practices. This time we will be co-hosting evening event with Aspire Europe, Project Angels and Cansoti. Visit our stand to find out details if you’d like to join us.
Best Practice lead authors join forces
The lead authors of the OGC best practice products have teamed together to provide a single source of guidance on the OGC PPPM guidance. The authors include Andy Murray (PRINCE2), Rod Sowden (MSP, P3M3), Sue Vowler (P3O) and Craig Kilford (Portfolio Management). The source of guidance is mainly in the form of podcasts of discussions between the lead authors.
The lead authors will be launching their ‘hear best practice’ website at the Best Practice Showcase on 23rd June and invite you to join them for the evening networking event afer the showcase to find out more details.
You can now keep up to date on PRINCE2 2009 and on Outperform’s news via twitter. Twitter is a form of micro-blogging that provides frequent sound bite news. The search facilities and interactive nature of twitter also make it a very effective research tool.
Outperform consultants at a conference near you
Outperform’s consultants are keeping themselves busy at various conferences over the coming months. Why not register for one of these events and say hello:
· Jennifer Stapleton is presenting at the APM/BCS seminar on stakeholder management in Chester on 21st May
· Mike Ward is presenting at the APM Knowledgeshare event in London on 28/29 May
· Andy Murray is participating in a debate on “PRINCE2 or not PRINCE2” at Aston University’s business school on 3rd June
· Outperform are sponsoring the APM Corporate Members event in Morecambe on 10th June
· Andy Murray is presenting at the PRINCE2 launch on 16th June
· Andy Murray is presenting at the Dutch PRINCE2 User Group in Utrecht on 18th June
· Mike Ward, Andy Murray and Jennifer Stapleton are hosting BOFs at the Best Practice Showcase on 23rd June
· Andy Murray is presenting at the French PRINCE2 User Group in Paris on 24th June
· Andy Murray is hosting the PRINCE2 2009 corporate briefing on 9th July at the Cabinet War Rooms in London
· Mike Ward is presenting at the PPM Middle East Community of Practice conference in Abu Dhabi on 23rd July
· Andy Murray is hosting a PRINCE2 2009 corporate briefing in Abu Dhabi in September (date to be confirmed)
· Andy Murray is presenting at a PPM conference in Brisbane on 7th September
· Andy Murray is presenting at a PPM conference in Wellington on 15th September