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In the latest version of P3M3 the concept of Threads was introduced.
These are “cross cutting” concepts that help with the systemic analysis of an organisations strengths and weaknesses. It reflects the recognition that if an organisation is weak on a topic, e.g. planning, then this will have deeper consequences than just affecting project schedules.
In this video, the P3M3 lead author explains the concept and why it has been a critical development in the evolution of P3M3.
We were fortunate enough to attend a conference where there was a tremendous presentation from one of the grandees of major infrastructure programmes and projects in the UK. He outlined how politics was and has been at the root cause of the degeneration of the UK infrastructure over many generations.
I had always thought of the Victorian era as our golden age, but I was disappointed to find out that most of the investment was by entrepreneurs rather than our government, and most of them ended up broke as a result of the altruism, so the only people making money out of infrastructure appears to be the builders.
The golden age of UK infrastructure investment was the 50’s and 60’s – an era pre the dawn of Thatcherism, that was when big decisions and actions were taken on motorways, power stations, schools and infrastructure. Unfortunately it is the period we remember for the demise of railways and not much else, so history has been very unkind to that generation.
It was also an era of nationalised industries and high levels of government controlled investment. Apparently the countries that have the highest levels of infrastructure investment tend to be a little light on the democracy side of things, hence the conclusion that democracy is killing our infrastructure.
By chance I have come across this excellent youtube video which looks at mega project failure and provides an interesting insight by Michael Hobbs into a major tunnel project in Seattle
I hope you enjoy it
People who work in projects and programmes often talk about the life cycle. To the uninitiated this can be quite a confusing concept as it comes with a range of terminology.
This PM Drop In video provides a quick and informal overview of the things you should be thinking about in relation to project and other lifecycles.
If you would like more information why not try out our short Fundamentals of Lifecycles to get into a little more detail
A bit of fun from our archives.
Treading where angels dare back in 2019, we thought it would be interesting to shine our P3M light onto the Brexit programme from a stakeholder engagement perspective. We thought it was worth just reminding people how badly these things can go – we have seem much of this with Covid as well
If there was ever a case study on how to alienate stakeholders and ignite indignation and mobilise resistance, this has got to be it! We have been watching this daily in the UK over at least the last 12 months.
For those of us that have been in the P3M profession for a while and done any sort of training, we know that the programme should have:
It has been quite an achievement to upset all the remainers, leavers, inbetweeners and to mobilise the indifferent.
All proven best practice seems to have been happily ignored as they all know better (we’ve heard that one before) and we are currently witnessing the consequences.
What are the lessons learned from this?
We are sure you probably have a few of your own too, so to help you in the more mundane world of P3M, here are some of ours:
Blog written by Rod Sowden
Lead Author for MSP® and P3M3® – Managing Director of Aspire Europe Ltd
In the world of project management, there is normally a need to buy things to support the implementation of the change, this can range from major engineering works to a simple training couse.
This brings the project professionals and commercial professionals together. This can prove to be very productive but often it is a source of tension.
This little PM Drop In video gives a very quick oversight of what commercial management involves, if you would like more information why not try out our short Fundamentals of Commercial Management course.
We have been developing on our You Tube channel over the past year to bring you a host of video content from programme life cycles, benefits/risk/assurance (etc.) management to revision tips on how to successfully pass your exam.
We aim to keep the videos to a maximum of 10 minutes to cover key topics for busy people on the go – admittedly, with such a passionate team with a wealth of knowledge to share, this wasn’t an easy task…
Here is a behind the scenes shot of Aspire Europe’s managing director, Rod Sowden recording a video on programme organisation.
Rod Sowden is the lead author for a number of publications including MSP®, P3M3® and more recently released MSP Survival Guides for senior responsible owners, programme managers and business change managers which he regularly refers to throughout the videos.
Click here for more information on the publications we have available.
Click here to visit our channel and keep an eye out for more videos coming soon.
Got an idea for a video you would like to see? We would love to hear from you:
Email: theacademyteam@aspireeurope.com
Programme Management – MSP v PMI – which is right for you
In many markets there is debate about which of the two programme management frameworks should be adopted, in this article we take an objective view of each of frameworks and compare their relative strengths and weaknesses of the MSP and PMI approach to programme management and intended as a guide when considering the relative strengths of each one.
The overwhelming conclusion of this article is that organisations delivering programmes need to exploit the strengths of both approaches and once understood; they are surprisingly compatible and build on the strengths and weaknesses of each other rather than proposing opposing approaches.
The article has been written by Rod Sowden, lead author for MSP 2007 and 2011.
We thought it would be a good idea to revisit some of the guiding principles that underpin the world of portfolio, programme and project management. In a world of information overload it is very easy to lose sight of what matters.
Dependency Management really is one of the Dark Arts. It about the interfaces between initiatives. At a programme level it is what planning is all about, tracking how the inputs and the outputs of projects fits together. At the portfolio level it is even more complex as it is matching together inputs and outputs from programmes and projects.
In MSP® 2011 we introduced the concepts of Intra, Inter and External dependencies so here is the paper that defined the original concept and explains how they operate in a programme management environment.
Fresh Look: Is a series of articles take a look at common topics and try to come up with some new ideas and insight into problems that seem to repeat themselves across many organisations
If you want more, why not contact us about our Business Case training options
Welcome to our article on the touchy subject of business cases, touchy because so many project and programmes fail to deliver to their aspirations, with Gartner estimating 75% of projects fail to achieve expectations. In the UK public sector alone, it is estimated that £1.35bn is spent just on writing business cases alone.
Thank you to Stefan Sanchez, Eileen Roden and Geof Leigh for their contributions We all hope you find the article interesting.
If we can help you in any way we hope you will get in touch, and we offer the APMG Better Business Cases qualification if you are looking for training
Continuing our series of blogs: Seven Deadly Sins that lead to regular and highly predictable failure on a range of topics.
Today we are focusing on Business Case Management, an organisational ritual that doesn’t seem to stem the tide of failure, despite the enormous amounts of time spent preparing them.
