The only constant is change itself

Three mindset shifts that make small teams more effective When resources are tight, the instinct is to work harder, cut scope, or wait for more headcount. But the biggest efficiency gains come from changing how work happens, not how much effort goes in.   The starting point is understanding what your team actually does versus what it should be doing. Most teams can’t answer this clearly. They…

One of the most valuable roles a project management consultant can play is also one of the least discussed. Not just delivery lead, planner, risk manager, governance adviser or independent critical friend. Coach and mentor. Most organisations bring in external project support because they need pace, experience, control or capacity. Complex programmes are difficult, and experienced support can…

After nearly 30 years delivering transformation programmes, including complex regulatory-driven change projects across Channel Islands financial services, I’ve noticed a consistent pattern in which organisations come out ahead when the regulatory landscape shifts. It’s not the ones with the biggest compliance teams. It’s not the ones that spend the most. It’s the ones that have built adaptive…

After nearly 30 years of delivering and advising on complex programmes, I’ve noticed something that rarely makes it into the post-project review: most programmes that fail do so before a single workstream is opened.   Not because of poor execution. Not because of budget overruns or scope creep. But because the foundations were never properly laid.   Here’s what I see time and again.   The brief…

Project estimating can appear to be a bit of a black art on the surface. Despite the various academic literature on the subject estimating is basically a guess. However there are some well tried approaches that can improve our estimating guesses. Getting good accurate estimates of project activities impacts the 3 fundemental constraints within project management of time, cost and quality. Poor…

Design thinking is a creative solutions based approach to solving complex or ill-defined problems. Design thinking was derived from the methods and processes used by designers and then gradually evolving through other disciplines such as engineering and architecture.

Design thinking is fundamentally user-centric focussing on human factors such as their needs and developing solutions to meet…

The Next-Gen Project Professional

I had the pleasure of giving a talk on Friday (24 January 2020) at Guernsey’s Digital Greenhouse on the topic of Next-Gen Project Professionals and why as professionals we need to develop more holistically if we are to meet the challenges of an ever changing business environment.

The concept of a Next-Gen Project Professional is one adapt in managing continuous change using methodologies such as…

What is a Business Analyst

Business Analysis is a disciplined approach for introducing and managing change to an organisation by identifying and articulating the need for change, and facilitating its implementation.

‘Business Analyst’ has become a catch-all job title for many project and business change roles. Business Analysts are quite simply agents of change.

Different views have emerged of the business analyst…