Past PPSO Events - 2004 (March and September 2004)
See the March 2004 Conference below
September 2004 - The Convention
The
Venue
Conference facilities, restaurant, bar and bedrooms
The Agenda
The Convention took place over two days and kicked off with
Starting The Programme Or Project Off On The Right Foot
A presentation lead by John Zacher on some of the things that can be done to ensure you minimise the chances of problems later - at the start of the programme or project.
What Problems Do We Face
Delegates were divided into two group - each group identified what problems and risk may happen in the proposed project, develop risk response plans using one or more of a range of risk identification and assessment methods
Keeping a watching brief to make sure the project keeps on the right path
A presentation by David Marsh on how to keep an eye on the programme and project by the deployment of effective programme or project assurance. He will look at What is Programme and Project Assurance? How can your PPSO support this activity?
How Could The PPSO Help To Resolve This Particular Crisis
A highly focused workshop using brainstorming tools to come up with solutions to the crisis and define the role of the PPSO in helping to resolve the crisis that has occured.
Presenters Bio's
> David Marsh
> Mark Hygate
> John Zacher
> Chris Walters
September 29th-30th 2004 PPSO SIG Convention, "When good projects turn bad"
"When Good Projects Go Bad... and what the PPSO can do to prevent it... or recover from the consequences"
This two day event was packed with lectures, workshops, networking opportunities and a major crisis! And that was just during the day.
Kicking off at 2pm with "Starting The Programme Or Project Off On The Right Foot" from guest speaker John Zacher, it's not long before a stressed out Project Manager with a problem project breaks onto the scene. Can the PPSO-ers save the day? Through workshops and further presentations from David Marsh, we learnt more over the two day period about the role of PPSO in problem programmes and projects.
Day 1
Introduction
When asked by the PPSO SIG Executive to develop some material for the September
convention of how to handle a run away project I proposed that a conventional
"Talk and Chalk" presentation format would not really be much fun
- So I constructed this approach - it is risky you might not join in I thought
- but then my rational side said - of course they will so here it is
The aim of this conference is to enable you - no matter what level you are currently at to see how to deal with project or programming crisis in particular what to do if they do occur!
I would like to thank the PPSO SIG for giving me their confidence in supporting
this unconventional approach to your conference.
David E Marsh
Welcome
The opening session is a presentation on avoiding such situations - John Zachar is to give us the benefits of his experience in ensuring that projects and programmes start off on the right foot!
Starting The Programme Or Project Off On The Right Foot - Presentation by John Zacher
> presentation <The second session will start with a briefing from the SRO of the programme that will be used throughout the conference. He will outline the overall scenario.- The WAN/LAN project for the United Library Service.
Introduction to the Project in Crisis -
< Document > (Large File!)In particular he will then explain the help he needs in developing a Risk Register/Log for the PID in preparation for the newly appointed Project Manager.
We then move into an interactive mode where we will break you into two groups - each group will actually hold a risk workshop.
The workshop leader will summarise your comments and then you can then complete the Risk Action Plan - in which you recommend to the project manger actions they can take.
Completed Risk Assessment Exercise
- > Document <After this there is a formal session - Programme and Project Assurance - what is it, how is it done, and how might a PPSO help the organisation carry out such a review.
Programme and Project Assurance
- > Presentation <The PPSO-ers let their hair down for dinner but soon the competitive streaks materialised as the PPSO Quiz commenced
Day Two
Like all projects problems can occur - and in this case one has emerged -
you will be briefed on what has happened and the help they need from the PPSO
in dealing with the situation.
The Daily Maul > Newspaper <
Breaking into groups - each group will look at the relevant documents and analyse what they could do to deal with the situation.
Following a review of the suggestions and the group came to a conclusion on what the project could have done.
The final session looks at the suggestions the groups have made for dealing with their LAN/WAN project and together we built a useful aid to dealing with such problems in the future.
Conference Output - > Document<
Healthcheck - > Document<
Completed Approach Mapping - > Document<
Sample Approach Mapping - > Document<
March 2004 - Lessons Learnt
An excellent start to the new year of the Programme and Project Support Office SIG. This Spring conference looked at the McCartney Report - the document put together to highlight the key recommendations on how the public sector can modernise and improve programme and project delivery. There's enough information contained within it that applies well to the private sector too, so everyone at the conference was able to identify with it.
Key recommendations areas in the report included;
* Business Change
* Leadership
* Project Management
* Risk Management
* Benefit Realisation
* Procurement
* People and Skills
* Peer Reviews
* The lessons learnt process
Hefty subjects to be thought about and discussed during workshops, over coffee and the scrummy lunch. PPSO SIG delegates come from a variety of different organisations and each with their own approaches to PPSO functions.
Often the gasps can be heard, " what do you mean you don't do Risk Management!" or "I've not thought about that, that sounds like something we could do".
Yet again this was a great day out, the sun was shining and the delegates went home happy with the knowledge that yes, there are other people out there who do the same role as you and yes, they struggle sometimes too and that why this conference is so good - you learn and you network!