Defining and communicating dependencies among project components is one of many important steps to ensuring the successful delivery of your project. Photo: Portra.
You’ve won the battle – your project or business case is approved and funded. Now comes the real challenge: ensuring it delivers. So what’s your next move?
As a senior manager on RSM Canberra’s government and public sector consulting team, Jess Campbell says it’s no small feat to get your proposal over the line – but warns not to rush in.
“You’ve spent so much time getting a business case across the line, you’re excited it’s approved and everyone is chomping at the bit to go off and ‘do the doing’. But don’t make the mistake of skipping the groundwork,” she says.
“Taking the time to make sure your project has the right controls and governance structures is time well spent to head off future uncertainties. That’s how you’ll be able to identify early if something’s in danger of missing the mark.”
Jess says effective governance and project controls – such as schedule, budget and risk management – help ensure the transparency, compliance and effective oversight critical to project success, particularly in complex and changing environments such as government.
“Identify risks early, assign ownership and accountabilities and implement mitigation strategies to safeguard public value and service delivery,” she says.
“Government projects often have unique political and reputational risks that need consideration.
“External consultants with public sector experience such as RSM can provide independent assurance, help set up governance frameworks, facilitate risk assessments, introduce best-practice mitigation strategies and ensure adherence to best practices and regulatory requirements.”
But just as important as the “what” is the “who”.
RSM’s Jessica Campbell advises taking the time to put in place effective governance and project controls from the beginning. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
Jess recommends defining clear decision-making processes, accountabilities and reporting lines to align with departmental policies and broader government objectives from the get-go.
“You need to have the right individuals actively engaged with the right focus to achieve effective and timely decision making across the project lifespan,” she says.
“Spend that time to ensure you know who to go to when things get off-kilter because the nature of projects is that things will change. The right controls will give you clarity on the acceptability of the change and what else might need to be addressed.”
While the right controls are vital, equally critical are the means to confirm whether or not they’re working.
Setting clear project objectives and defined deliverables that align with policy priorities, but also how you will measure their success will help you avoid “scope creep”.
“What does ‘done’ look like and under whose authority will your deliverables be accepted?” Jess says. “If you don’t have this in place, you can find yourself in a loop, and that potentially means blowing out budgets, timelines and scope creep.”
She says defining and communicating dependencies among components of the project will ultimately help with the big picture.
Knowing how one activity impacts the next will also be critical in helping to assess and manage change control and timescales.
“When we are immersed in delivering a project we can get hyper-focussed on what specific task we’re doing now and forget that it will impact the person three desks down,” Jess says. “Then you risk double handling, backtracking and ultimately, a waste of precious time and resources.”
RSM Canberra’s government and public sector consulting team possesses a wealth of experience in project management. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
One effective way to tighten communication is gaining an early understanding of what data points and baseline information you need to collect to set up a solid and informative reporting framework.
Jess says while many see reporting as a nuisance task that eats into “doing” time, the value of good reporting can’t be overstated.
“Reporting keeps senior executives, policy teams and external stakeholders informed and aligned, which given the complexity of many multi-agency projects, is critical,” she says.
“Some people are hesitant to report when things are not going as planned; there’s a concern it’ll be seen as a failure when really, it’s an invaluable tool not only for executives, but the teams delivering the project.
“In our experience, when used properly, reporting is an effective mechanism to provide executives confidence that the delivery is tracking well and, when it’s not, to escalate issues and gain approval to implement mitigation actions so you can get in front of any slippage quickly.”
For more information, contact RSM’s government and public sector consulting team.
Original Article published by Dione David on Riotact.
