The Opsimath

Join us for breakfast

Pearce Mayfield are holding a series of Breakfast Briefings to introduce the 2009 edition of the widely acclaimed project management method PRINCE2.

A selection of our clients have agreed to host these events at venues in London, Oxford, Leicester and Cardiff.

As one of the authoring team for this new new version, I will be presenting an overview of the key changes, the reasons behind them and how they will help us all to deliver more successful projects.

I'd love to see you at one of the events - they will take place as follows:

• University of Leicester, Tuesday, 14th July
• British Council, London, Thursday, 16th July
• University of Cardiff, Tuesday, 21st July 
• Imperial College, London, Tuesday, 28th July
• Oxford University Press, Oxford, 18th August

Call 01235 227252 if you would like to join us.

Inspirational!

Why not take 3 minutes of your day and watch what a human being can do when they combine talent with what must be thousands of hours of practice...

Best Practice - thanks for being there

It was good to see so many people attending our round table sessions at the Best Practice Showcase in London last week.

There was some great discussion around how both PRINCE2 and MSP are now firmly principles-based, and how this can really join up our thinking and our management of programmes and projects.

As promised, both Patrick and I will be writing more about this soon.

Talk about a Revolution

'It's evolution not revolution'

That is the message that has been issued about the 2009 edition of PRINCE2. No need to fear everyone, this is simply a logical development of what was. Nothing revolutionary. It's still PRINCE2.

And, in a way, that is not untrue.

Yet I believe that it is, in fact, revolutionary.

This new edition is radical, in that it goes back to the roots, the origins of the method and asks, "What is it all about?"

Whereas previous refreshes have tended to add more and more content to the method (resulting in a manual that stretched to nearly 460 pages), this edition has taken the pruning shears to PRINCE2. Using the question, "What is the core of the method?" as an approach has given us a manual of just over 320 pages (and that is with a relatively large font size).

It is both evolution and revolution. It is both, and it is more.

It has captured the essence of PRINCE2, and nowhere is this more so than in the introduction of the 7 Principles of a PRINCE2 project. I say 'introduction', but in fact the principles were there all along - just hidden amongst the weight of the manual content. Now they are clearly articulated, and with a confidence that is expressed in terms like "...unless all of [the principles] are applied, it is not a PRINCE2 project."

If it is revolution, does that mean that all previous investment in the older versions is now wasted? The answer is a definite NO!

It is still PRINCE2, recognisably so. If you are using PRINCE2 now you will have no problems in using this version. You'll see processes that you know and love. You'll see Components (that are now called Themes) that you have fondly used for years. You'll see how the old PRINCE2 techniques have been embraced by the relevant Themes. And you will be pleased to see that the manual now brings together all that good practice around tailoring the method to help you get even more out of your projects.

You will see all of this (evolution) and you will see it in a new fresh light (revolution).

I hope you like it.

Read more at http://www.pearcemayfield.com/faqs/

Why not attend one of our PRINCE2 Breakfast Briefings. We will be at:

University of Leicester, Tuesday, 14th July

British Council, London, Thursday, 16th July

University of Cardiff, Tuesday, 21st July 

Imperial College, London, Tuesday, 28th July

Oxford University Press, Oxford, 18th August

Principles not Policy

I saw this ad in the weekend papers:

 

They are using the line, "it's not just a policy, it's a principle." What a great line, and put me immediately in mind of Managing Successful Programmes  (MSP) and the corresponding method for projects - PRINCE2.

Both these globally recognised methods have now moved to a principle-centric approach. This is what is described in PRINCE2 as "...the guiding obligations and good practice..." The manual goes on to say that unless all of the seven principles are applied to a project, then it is not a PRINCE2 project! Strong stuff.

Principles are not whims or fanciful ideas that change each year. They are universal and enduring, and they have been proven in practice over many years.

MSP and PRINCE2 are incredibly serious about this - I hope Hiscox are as well.

Congratulations Alt

Congratulations to Alt Design - the agency that we at pearcemayfield use for all our creative and marketing work. They have just reached the milestone of having completed their 5,000th job - and it was one of ours.

When we heard that it was going to be done for free - to celebrate the event - I did attempt to explain that we did, in fact, wish to make some minor amendments to the job (to now include a full national press and cinema campaign, sponsorship of Manchester United, full re-branding and PR campaign).

However, their change control system seems quite rigorous and the change was rejected!

Nevertheless, if you need a good agency take a look at http://alt-design.net/

What is a project?

Working with some clients from the packaging equipment recently there was some debate about what a project was. We were talking about the PRINCE2 view of the Customer/Supplier environment and how there are normally a number of projects in a 'chain' of customers and suppliers.

They were challenged about how to best describe the project as they saw it, who should form the project team (particularly the Project Board) and the role of the Project Manager.

It seems that defining a project is not a simple task. In fact I read recently that ISO committees are attempting to tackle exactly this issue in readiness for the new ISO 21500 Standard for Project Management.

What makes a project a project?

Is it its temporary nature, its creation of something new, its dedicated team, its discrete management structure? Surely it's all of those - oh, and let's not forget that a project expects there to be a valid business reason for the undertaking.

I wonder what the final ISO definition will look like? They might be tempted to take a look at the new version of PRINCE2, coming out very soon.

Now that will contain a definition of a project...

We have nothing to fear...

... but fear itself.

I was recently reminded of this famous quote by Franklin D Roosevelt when reading an article by the writer Mark Greene. He writes:

"Fear poses a real threat to our society. Fear, after all is a cold companion but is rarely a passive or silent one.

Fear changes things. Fear makes the open hand clench and the confident look over their shoulder.

Fear tightens the heartstrings as well as the purse strings. Fear furrows the brow and scowls at play and playfulness.

Importantly, fear stifles the creativity and the appropriate taking of risk that are so vital to all forms of truly good life. After all, all expressions of the good life, economic and otherwise, involve risk.

Seed sown can be pecked up by birds, a job application rejected, a kind word twisted, an invitation spurned. Nevertheless, if no seed is sown, no talent invested, no love offered ... there can be no harvest."

We have nothing to fear but fear itself...

Understanding geometry

So this was the answer the teacher was looking for...!

Those who teach...

Do high-performing practitioners make the best teachers?

After all, they are at the 'top of their game', fully able to perform at a high level - who better to learn from, to model successful behaviour?

But the best performers do not, in fact, make the best teachers - often far from it. One the one hand they have forgotten the learning stages and they are actually unaware of how they carry out their tasks, how they perform their area of expertise..

Also, they can be struggling with the 'curse of knowledge' - actually unable to imagine the world as perceived by their 'trainees'.

A great teacher or trainer is able to perceive and relate to the experience of the trainee.

There is a derogatory phrase sometimes used to describe teaching - 'Those that can, do; those that can't, teach.' At its heart, this demonstrates a lack of understanding of the role of teaching. It is not an escape from the real world, it is its own 'real world'.

In our team of training consultants, the crucial skill is that of inspirational teaching. Yes, there is subject matter expertise, and yes there is practical experience, but great teaching is first and foremost delivered by great teachers.

Let those who teach, teach.