BI Norwegian School of Management Norwegian Centre of Project Management Seminar

1. Rethinking PM BI Norwegian School of Management Norwegian Centre of Project Management Seminar Oslo, 6th December 2006 Rethinking Project Management Main Findings of a UK Government-Funded Research Network Centre for Research in the Management of Projects University of Manchester & University College London Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

2. University of Southampton

3. Rethinking PM BI Norwegian School of Management Project Management Seminar Oslo, 6th December 2006 Rethinking Project Management Main Findings of a UK Government-Funded Research Network Presentation • Why the need to rethink project management ? • Network focus and purpose • Network research programme (process) • Main output of the programme • Directions for future research • What’s the BIG message for practitioners ? • Questions and discussion

4. Why the need to rethink project management ? Significant growth in project work across all sectors, growing complexity of projects and programmes, growing importance to organisations etc. Still many 'failed' projects and poor performance. Practice World (experience) Theory World (knowledge) Growing criticisms of the bodies of knowledge & PPM methodologies. Based on ‘old’ management ideas. A subject that remains "stuck in a 1960s time warp“. "The underlying theory is obsolete”.

5. Rethinking PM Rethinking Project Management (EPSRC Network) Network Focus and Purpose Emphasis on extending and enriching the current body of knowledge Mainstream Knowledge BOKs & methods etc Future research ? Theory World (knowledge) Practice World (experience) Directions, not the answers How should this develop ? Published vs personal knowledge

6. Rethinking Project Management (EPSRC Network) Research Programme 2004-2006 1. Academics AND practitioners 2. Learning from stories about lived experience 3. Discerning emerging directions and key messages Academics 14 UK universities: UMIST/Manchester, UCL, Bath, Strathclyde, Southampton, Newcastle, Cranfield, UWE, Brighton, Bournemouth, Plymouth, Leicester, Middlesex, London School of Economics. Canada, France, Norway, Sweden, Australia & the US Practitioners Rolls-Royce, Human Systems, Big Food Group, Warburtons, Daresbury Laboratories, NGI, FAME Project (ODPM), OGC, GlaxoSmthKline, UK MOD, SE England Dev.Agency, Airbus, High-Point Rendell, Halcrow, Royal Liver Assurance, and the UK National School of Govt. Theory World (knowledge) Practice World (experience) Representatives APM, PMI, MPA and IPMA www.rethinkingpm.org.uk

7. Rethinking Project Management (EPSRC Network) Main Output of the Programme Directionsfor future research Special Issue of IJPM (Nov 2006) APM Yearbook 2006-07 (copy available) an agenda, not the agenda Mainstream Knowledge BOKs & methods etc Future research ? Theory World (knowledge) Practice World (experience) Messages for practitioners Industry seminars Example: UK Major Projects Association, October 2006

8. BI Norwegian School of Management Project Management Seminar, Oslo, 6th December 2006 Directions for Research Knowledge Categories Theory World (knowledge) Practice World (experience) TheoryOF Theory IN TheoryFOR Direction 1 Direction 5 Directions 2-4 Directions in which new research is needed to support practitioners working on 21st century projects & programmes New concepts and frameworks to support practitioners

9. Rethinking PM Rethinking Project Management Direction 1 Practice World (experience) Theory World (knowledge) Knowledge Categories Theory IN TheoryOF TheoryFOR

10. Control Handover Plan Organise Initiate Project Brief Reality of Projects: Case Example Company X: supplier of specialist plastics products to the car industry Two manufacturing sites in the UK (Lancashire & Essex) To develop a system for improving communication between the two sites • Essex site not aware of the project • Communication not seen as an issue • Lancashire MD not aware of the fee • Communication not seen as an issue • Very little buy-in !

11. The lifecycle: a useful ‘roadmap’ but not the actual territory Control Handover Plan Organise Initiate In REALITY, an ever-changing flux of events, situations and complex issues Back End Front End Source: Winter & Szczepanek 2007 Situation Situation Situation Situation Situation Situation Situation Flux of events

12. Rethinking Project Management Direction 1 Beyond the lifecycle theory OF projects towards: frameworks and models that illuminate COMPLEXITY

13. Rethinking PM Rethinking Project Management Direction 2 Practice World (experience) Theory World (knowledge) Knowledge Categories Theory IN TheoryOF TheoryFOR

14. Network Example: A University Research Project Stated Objective of the Project WHAT: to develop a procurement methodology for 3 engineering companies HOW: through a case study approach involving interviews etc WHY: to reduce operating costs and help generate material for research papers. Real Objective ? WHAT: to generate research material for research papers HOW: by developing a procurement methodology for 3 engineering companies WHY: to produce research papers for the next RAE.

15. Megaprojects and Risk: An Anatomy of Ambitionprovides the first detailed examination of the phenomenon of megaprojects. It is a fascinating account of how the promoters of multibillion-dollar megaprojects systematically and self-servingly misinform parliaments, the public and the media in order to get projects approved and built. It shows, in unusual depth, that the Machiavellian formula for approval is: underestimated costs + overestimated revenues + undervalued environmental impacts + overvalued economic development effects = project approval Source: www.cambridge.ac.uk

16. Rethinking Project Management Direction 2 Beyond mechanistic process models towards: frameworks for understanding social and political processes

17. Rethinking PM Rethinking Project Management Direction 3 Practice World (experience) Theory World (knowledge) Knowledge Categories Theory IN TheoryOF TheoryFOR

18. London Olympic Games 2012 Source: Winter & Szczepanek 2007 A Fundamental Shift From Product Creation to Value Creation as the Prime Focus of 21st Century Projects

19. Programme Benefits Programme Management Programme Programme Programme Level Programme Deliverables Resources Specification Project Project Project Management Project Project Project Project Level Project Project Time Cost Value Creation at Multiple Levels: Portfolios, Programmes and Projects Value Creation (eg. shareholder value) Business Strategy Portfolio Management Portfolio Level Resources Portfolio Fundamental Shift From Project Management to the Management of Projects

20. Rethinking Project Management Direction 3 From product creation as the prime focus of projects: towards value creation as the prime focus

21. Rethinking PM Rethinking Project Management Direction 4 Practice World (experience) Theory World (knowledge) Knowledge Categories Theory IN TheoryOF TheoryFOR

22. [Warburtons’ implementation of SAP] – “managed as a business project involving IT rather than an IT project.” Meeting 3, October 2004 “We don’t have IT projects, we have business transformation projects.” Best Practice Showcase, June 2005 Thinking in terms of 'IT projects' is itself a primary source of problems. Delivering IT is only ever part of the implementation of new, more effective, ways of working. Broader Conceptualisation Review of Major Government IT projects (2000) Examples across other sectors Total care programmes (eg. Rolls-Royce) Urban regeneration programmes Community development projects Social enterprise projects International development projects

23. Reframing Business (Normann 2001) 2nd-level relationship 1st-level relationship ‘We’ Customer’s Customers Customer Old focus New focus 1st-level relationship System User ED Project Product Creation IT Project Development of a new internet-based system Service Transformation Project 2nd-level relationship ED Project ED Service Operation Disabled People Value Creation Improved access to and greater choice in equipment services Source: Winter & Szczepanek 2007

24. Rethinking Project Management Direction 4 From narrow conceptualisation of projects towards: broader conceptualisation of projects

25. Rethinking PM Rethinking Project Management Direction 5 Practice World (experience) Theory World (knowledge) Knowledge Categories Theory IN TheoryOF TheoryFOR

26. What do competent practitioners actually do ? Programme Manager, AirbusProject Management in PracticeA Personal Perspective • “The principles have been around for 50 years • We’ve all been on the training course • We’ve read the book.” • “Project leader must be able to create clarity out of ambiguity. • But must tolerate ambiguity. • Project leader does not always have hierarchical control of people. • So must be able to lead by influence.” • “There is no single correct way to lead a project. • The paths to success will be governed by the relationships and interactions between the people involved. “Project leaders have to do it their way applying methods and approaches that suit their personality, and the personalities of their team.”

27. “There is a battle being fought for the hearts and minds of our project management community … “and its going to affect both the future project performance and our financial success in the world markets!” APM Project Magazine October 2005 “On-going CIPD research shows that a major shift is taking place from training to learning. Training is traditionally an instructor-led, content-based intervention, leading to desired changes in behaviour. In contrast, learning is a self-directed, work-based process, leading to increased adaptive capacity.”

28. Rethinking Project Management Direction 5 From trained technicians towards: reflective practitioners

29. Preparing people for projects What’s the BIG message of the Network for practitioners ? Preparing people for the realities of 21C projects 21C 20C Value Creation Product Creation Practice World (experience) Social Complexity Theory World (knowledge) Lifecycle Process Mainstream Knowledge Network Findings Practitioner Capabilities PM Methods and Tools ? Thank You Published vs personal knowledge 2OC Practitioner Development 21C Practitioner Development 21C from method training to capability development

30. Rethinking PM BI Norwegian School of Management Project Management Seminar Oslo, 6th December 2006 Rethinking Project Management Main Findings of a UK Government-Funded Research Network Questions and Discussion

31. Rethinking Project Management Directions for Future Research APM BOK 5 Direction 1 (theory OF) From the lifecycle theory of projects to theories that illuminate COMPLEXITY Topic 2.2 Stakeholder management Topic 3.8 Issue Management Topic 6.10 Governance of PM Direction 2 (theory FOR) From projects as simple production processes to projects as social and political processes Direction 3 From product creation to value creation as the prime focus of 21st century projects Topic 1.3 Portfolio management Topic 1.5 Project sponsorship Topic 2.1 Benefits management Direction 4 From narrow to broad conceptualisation of projects & programmes, eg. IT-related projects Topic 7.8 Learning and development Topic 7.9 Professionalism and ethics Direction 5 From trained technicians to reflective practitioners, eg. from training to learning

32. “I don’t think [PM] will ever be a profession in the same sense as medicine or the law … There isn’t a huge amount that you have to learn in project management.” Martin Barnes 2006 Example from the medical profession …. Source: Fish and Coles 1998