Steve's Scribblings - In praise of project managers…

A couple of weeks on the Project Management frontline has forced me to reflect on Project Managers I’ve worked closely with in the past… and I’ve become even more appreciative of their skills and achievements. I’m going to mention a few names and projects – stretching back a couple of decades (!) as I look at some of the ‘skill-set’ I think is needed to be successful in this role. Our MD recently shared the Skills Framework for the Information Age with the team (reproduced below) in relation to Project Management and I think the Framework is really instructive.

Our team at Novatia are flexible enough to be able to work across the SFIA levels – whether it’s a small Primary school redevelopment, a new-build secondary school or the MAT-wide projects such as the implementation of a new MIS in 40+ schools. 

On first visit to a site recently I was reminded about how many ‘moving parts’ there are in a school building project. We were ten days from PC (Practical Completion for the uninitiated) and onsite were… 

The ‘dependencies’ are legion… where you can’t do your work until someone else does theirs… and these get interesting when it appears that you are both relying on each other to do their work first! Working first-hand on a project, I’ve been reminded of the internal workings of a clock… though I’m still waiting for any project – large or small – to go ‘like clockwork’. In fact, the moment you believe it is, that’s probably the time to start worrying ‘big-time’. 

Projects really are ‘for want of a nail’ scenarios. Recently on a project a ‘cherry-picker’ getting stuck in the mud delayed the tarmac…which delayed the delivery of ICT and furniture, which meant the network configuration couldn’t be tested ‘live’ on installed devices across the site… and I’ll leave you to fill the blanks about what happened next! 

In another project (not a Novatia one) I worked on the school/client side and the architects’ choice of desk-top finishing meant that the optical mice didn’t work well. Because the mice selected were basic models, they broke when frustrated students banged them on the desk in attempts to get them to work… rendering them unusable meaning students couldn’t use 500 of the 800 devices across the school. 

ICT device deployment is the ‘gold cap on the pyramid’ – ideally one of the final acts in a school rebuilding project. However, a successful ICT deployment is dependent upon being involved at the beginning of a project. The school’s Digital Strategy informs design – for example,  the extent to which there is a commitment to the use of portable devices by students, or the embrace of cloud technologies and Software-as-a-Service (Saas).

In a school building ‘design’ project that goes through the RIBA stages, there are opportunities to gather IT-related information at each stage of the project. Initially that  information is shared across the Design Team via the School Specific Brief and appendices (no.5 is the IT one) and then gone into in details via  regular Client Engagement Meetings (CEMs) at the different RIBA stages. ‘Listening’ is a key component of the role at this point and being involved in the client engagement through the project is key for our team of Project Managers.

In the role that my excellent Novatia colleagues (Alex Wood, Andrew Martin, Jon Jones and Jan Harrison) perform during the ‘delivery’ phase of a project, part of the challenge is to keep your eye on the ‘big picture’ of what you’re trying to achieve, whilst having the eye for detail (and either a great memory or a terrific checklist) to make sure everything is done to meet the requirements laid down by the client – whether the DfE, a Local Authority, MAT or an individual school. This is where the SFIA final bullet-point is particularly relevant and ‘putting the gold cap on the pyramid’ often gets squeezed to the point where we are working right up to Practical Completion of the project and its final handover to the school. 

• managing interdependencies in support of specific business strategies and objectives 
• maintaining a strategic view over the set of projects 
• providing the framework for implementing business initiatives, or large-scale change 
• implementing programme management practices to support iterative/agile working 
• conceiving, maintaining and communicating a vision of the programme’s outcomes and associated benefits 
• agreeing business requirements, and translation of requirements into operational plans 
• determining, monitoring and reviewing programme scope, costs, schedule and expected benefits 
• scheduling programme resources, inter-dependencies and programme risk.

Apart from my terrific colleagues, my Project Manager shout-outs go to: 

Miles Delap: three schools (governors/staffs/leaderships) into one, largest new school in the UK (2,200 students), one of the first Academies, a £50m project… complexity layered upon complexity

Tim Jewell: a revolutionary IT solution for an early Academy, on-time and on-budget and one that justifiably won several awards including for the client partnership established. 

Alex Constant: two schools simultaneously, one a new build, one a redevelopment, multiple decants, and all providing the infrastructure for the most extensive one-to-one pupil device programme in the UK at that time.

Project Management is a ‘learn-something-new-every-day’ type of role that demands high levels of team engagement – the ability to focus on getting details exactly right, be ‘in-the-moment’ to deal with presenting issues but ‘horizon-gazing’ to know what could come down the track…all demandingly enjoyable!