PARADIGM SHIFT THE AIPM DIGITAL MAGAZINE
CHANGE AND TRANSFORMATION
AUTUMN 2021
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CONTENTS MESSAGE FROM THE CEO . . . . . . . . . 4 IN THE NEWS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 INNOVATIONS AND INSIGHTS ASSET MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORKS – IT TAKES COURAGE TO BRING THEM TO LIFE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 STORYTELLING AND CHANGE MANAGEMENT: THE PERFECT PAIR. . . 10 HOW CAN PROJECT MANAGERS INFLUENCE CHANGE IN LARGE, COMPLEX ORGANISATIONS?. . . . . . . 14 THE PMO AS AN ENABLER OF TRUST AND CONFIDENCE IN A DISRUPTIVE PROJECT WORLD. . . . . 18 PROJECT MANAGERS OR AGENTS OF CHANGE?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Cover image: Powerhouse Parramatta will be the first State cultural institution located in Western Sydney, complementing the already existing Powerhouse Museum in Ultimo. (Source: Moreau Kusunoki/Genton)
Paradigm Shift is published quarterly. Calls for articles for the next publication will be made approximately 45 days before publications. Please see the back page for more details on how you can feature in our next edition.
PROJECTS IN THE SPOTLIGHT AUSTRALIAN CENTRE TO COUNTER CHILD EXPLOITATION (ACCCE) PROJECT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 TRANSFORMING PARRAMATTA – THE DEVELOPMENT OF POWERHOUSE PARRAMATTA. . . . . 30 RESEARCH THE AGILE PROJECT MANAGER COMPETENCIES DEMANDED BY INDUSTRIES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 FELLOWS FORUM 5 HARSH TRUTHS ABOUT BEING A LEADER IN DIGITAL TRANSFORMATIONS. . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 WHO WAS HENRY GANTT? . . . . . . . 42 CONNECT WHAT EVENTS ARE COMING UP?. . 46 3
MESSAGE FROM THE CEO ELIZABETH FOLEY
Here at the Australian Institute of Project Management (AIPM) we have had a busy start to the year, with plenty of things happening across the country. Firstly, I would like to welcome our newly appointed Chair, Elena Zagorenko FAIPM CPPE GAICD who brings a wealth of knowledge to the role. Elena has worked as a senior manager and leader in a range of industries including Banking, IT, Civil Construction, Electricity Transmission and Mining. I would also like to thank our former Chair, Michael King OAM FAIPM CPPD for his contribution to the AIPM and dedication to the project management profession. Our new Chapter Councils have also been announced for 2021. We welcome each Chapter Councillor who has volunteered across the 8 states and territories to support the AIPM and keep us updated about what is happening locally. At the AIPM we have also been working behind the scenes to update our competency standard for those applying for Certified Practising Project Manager (CPPM), which began its roll out from 15 March 2021. 4
While the CPPM assessment will remain the same, our update will see a shift away from knowledge-based units towards a demonstration of competency through a ‘project lifecycle and artefact’ arrangement. Recently, I was also pleased to be a part of our International Women’s Day 2021 panel event. It was a great discussion around how we can improve gender equity in the workplace and what needs be done to make real change. This event, coincided with the launch of the AIPM Gender Equity Report 2021, which was an update on last year’s report, and looked at what has changed over the year, the effects of COVID-19 on flexible working conditions and where improvements are needed. I hope you enjoy this edition of Paradigm Shift, which delves into the topic of Change and Transformation. We hear from project professionals from a range of organisations, including BHP, Arup, RPS and Aurecon who take us through strategies, insights, research and case studies for implementing change and transformation successfully. Enjoy reading,
Elizabeth Foley MAIPM MCom BBus FAICD CEO AIPM
IN THE NEWS AIPM WELCOMES ELENA ZAGORENKO AS NEW CHAIR We would like to announce the appointment of our new Chair of the AIPM Board, Elena Zagorenko FAIPM CPPE GAICD. Elena is a senior manager and leader with a fantastic track record of successfully delivering portfolios, programs, and projects in complex environments. She believes in driving capability improvements through embracing diversity and inclusion on all levels of the business. We look forward to working closely with Elena to support the strategic direction of the AIPM, as well as our short and long term goals. The AIPM also announces that its Chief Executive Officer, Elizabeth Foley MAIPM MCom BBus FAICD, will be leaving the company following her resignation at the December 2020 Board meeting. The Board expresses their sincere thanks to Foley and will now commence recruitment for a new Chief Executive Officer.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT PROFESSIONAL SURVEY With an amazing 1,382 responses from project management professionals across Australia, we will be able to analyse this data and use it to influence our strategies
to support project managers going forward. Thank you to everyone who contributed. Congratulations to Dawn Chamberlain, the winner of the $500 Visa Gift card for her answer.
AIPM 2021 CONFERENCE We are excited to be working on the AIPM 2021 Conference! In its 42nd year, this is our opportunity for project professionals to come together across the country to gain knowledge and share experiences on topics that are driving the leadership of projects today and in the future. More details will be released soon. Subscribe for AIPM Conference updates here.
AIPM GENDER EQUITY REPORT 2021 To align with International Women’s Day, the AIPM launched our Gender Equity Report 2021, where we looked at the changes that are taking place in regards to gender equality and provided a spotlight on some of the organisations leading this change. The AIPM also hosted a complimentary webinar, where our panellists from Telstra, Aurecon and NS Group discussed the current challenges for gender equity in the workplace and what can be done to support change. 5
INNOVATIONS AND INSIGHTS
ASSET MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORKS – IT TAKES COURAGE TO BRING THEM TO LIFE “IF YOU ALWAYS DO WHAT YOU’VE ALWAYS DONE, YOU’LL GET WHAT YOU’VE ALWAYS GOT,” ANONYMOUS.
(Source: Canva)
Helping my clients navigate the journey of shaping and implementing an Asset Management Framework, reminds me of when I first moved into management consulting, where I spent a lot of time advising CEOs of professional service firms. 6
They were leaders that were courageous and hungry to make a change from what was the norm, to something completely different. They wanted to move from traditional services to providing their clients with real business value. To this day, I see leaders wanting to embed a culture of value, not just tradition. Specifically, in asset management, great leaders want clear lines of behaviours that align to their business outcomes,
not just an engineering solution. Their deepest fear is seeing all of the work put into developing effective strategies, efficient plans and accurate condition assessments ending up on shelves collecting dust.
• It starts by envisaging where you want to be and collaboratively developing robust strategies and actions that align with business plans.
WHAT DO WE DO THAT IS DIFFERENT?
• Then working as a team with colleagues and advisers to codesign a framework bespoke for the wider business needs as one size doesn’t fit all.
Firstly let me tell you what it is these enlightened asset management leaders do:
Does this resonate with your journey to better asset management practices? It is 7
similar to the asset management work my colleagues and I have been facilitating with our clients wanting to embed real business change. The successful journeys were not just about the outcome but being equally focused on how to get there. My early CEO clients made a commitment to the cause and typically those who got the best results, sourced and funded a dedicated and appropriately skilled internal resource to drive the change. This resource known as the ‘Agent of Change’ was the voice of the CEO, focussed and enthusiastic, pushing through the barriers and building capacity and
resilience in the organisation. They were given authority to embed the framework into the business as usual operations.
“It costs money to produce quality, especially when we expand into fields where we have no contractual obligations and can expect no pay for our efforts. We may even antagonise people by poaching on their domain or by upsetting and criticising traditional procedures.” Ove Arup, 1974.
Attributes for successful leadership in challenging the status quo and transforming asset management. (Source: Arup)
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WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR YOU? I am still working with leaders who are courageous and hungry for improved asset management approaches. I see them recognise that they have a choice around normal discomfort in the pain of change, versus leading their people into challenging the status quo. They identify the need for a better way and see the value in the performance of their assets directly aligned to the business needs. They say to me, it’s not just about getting certification against the asset management standard, it’s about the business benefits we will realise through collaboration, co-design, commitment and capacity building. I have mentioned the word ‘courageous’. Here are some of my thoughts on what I believe sets a courageous asset management leader apart from one who is not.
3. Be prepared to invest in the journey as positive and aligned change won’t happen by accident. It needs a vision, a plan and the resources to enact them. 4. Understand that the change won’t happen overnight. To ensure it ‘sticks’, you need to get the organisation behind you. 5. Find a champion who will be your voice about better asset management practices. 6. Remember capacity building from within and driving the culture you want, will ensure resilience and commitment from all those involved.
Author: Peter Scuderi is an Arup thought leader in Assets and Operations.
1. Focus on the outcomes or business benefits you want to achieve for your business and commit to making the changes to your asset management practices needed to achieve those. 2. Learn from others in similar or diverse sectors and don’t be afraid to share your learnings with others.
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INNOVATIONS AND INSIGHTS
STORYTELLING AND CHANGE MANAGEMENT: THE PERFECT PAIR
COMMUNICATION IS AN IMMENSELY IMPORTANT PART OF DRIVING CHANGE AND BRINGING TRANSPARENCY INTO BUSINESS PROCESSES.
(Source: Canva)
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The world we live in has been overtaken by recent events, and we have spent the past 12 months ‘reacting’ to unprecedented challenges, all of which have transformed how we interact and exist on a day to day basis. We have all heard the term ‘change fatigue’ used to describe a condition characterised by lingering mental and physical tiredness associated with organisational change. The challenge we face is the appetite for stability and some sense of normalcy is what people are looking for. Change and Transformation are almost trigger words, people are tired and this is why we need to work harder to set up our organisations and our people to cope with change, for the continuous evolution of our lives. I have a 3 almost 4-year-old daughter, who loves stories. We have built into our daily routines story time, and this is something that regardless of how tired she is, or how tired we are, a story is necessary to close out the day. This reality is something that I now recognise as her way of coping with the changes around her, to have this one element of her day that has not changed.
The story itself may change, the location and method of delivery may change, but the experience associated with seeing and hearing a story evolve is one that she finds comfort in. I began to think about this more as I watched and listened to what was going on around me. We have some great tools at our disposal for managing change. Such as: • Lewin’s change management model; • The McKinsey 7-S model; • Kotter’s theory; • Nudge theory; and • ADKAR and many more. All of these are useful parts of our change and transformation toolbox, however we need more now, we need something that helps us connect differently, or perhaps in a way we have lost as we have become older and wiser. Stories are an effective way to transmit information and values. Storytelling, is the approach we need, an approach that captures and holds attention, something that ignites our curiosity and imagination. Storytelling gives us the ability to picture what life would be like if we were that character, to imagine and as we imagine we are able to accept the change as we enter the character’s world. 11
(Source: Canva)
Storytelling has a lot of power – the power to inspire, delight, provoke and even change people. Stories are fundamental to the way we process and experience life events and the feelings that surround them. The ability to create, share and respond to stories is one of the defining characteristics of being human. The human brain is programmed to perceive patterns, and to latch onto the plot sequences of stories in order to store them into long term memory. The brain is an excellent processor of stories, both real and imaginary. Let us explore this further. Picture books are a convergence of visual art and literature that captivates 12
imaginations and successfully expresses a concept or meaning. They are an important teaching tool because they give the reader/ listener the ability to deal with the strong feelings that we all have, to model effective coping mechanisms and to address complicated topics or conflicting emotions in a comfortable and familiar manner. The picture book complements words with what research tells us leaves the most enduring impression: visual images. When we share stories in a way to capture a moment, an event or emotion, something powerful and profound happens.
We activate part of our brain that is not triggered when we are just listening to a straightforward presentation. Research suggests that stories in fact can change our brain chemistry – which in turn can change our behaviours. For example, I worked on a critical program that had some safety and quality issues. We had, as a project team, lost the connection to our ‘’why’’. We had a culture that was resistant to change, that did not see the value in doing things differently. So, I used the power of storytelling to help change this. I had some of our end users come and spend time with our project team. It was important for them to tell their stories and for us to hear about how this product was helping to keep them safe while they did their job. They told stories about how this gear saved their lives and this connection to customer was established through a story. The team were able to imagine what this character was experiencing and how what they were doing fit into that story. The change that resulted was an almost immediate uplift in quality, in pride in what they were doing and ultimately a connection that meant things would be done right and done better if it could be. The culture shifted from one of exhaustion, isolation and fear of change to one of pursuing excellence, collective effort, trust and customer focus.
Change management can be difficult to implement, with sudden and unexpected change often compounding the feelings of alienation of staff leading to a build-up of resistance. With the fixation on outcomes of the change alone, the business benefits often overlook the needs of the staff and the customer, all of this fuels uncertainty in the workplace, and uncertainty creates the roots for fear, distrust and leads to an unhealthy work environment. Decisions inform people why change is necessary as well as what they can do and expect during the period of change and once it has occurred. With their proven strength and lasting impact, stories might just be the best way of communicating in our workplaces today. I urge you to give it a go, to become a storyteller. Author: Caroline Paterson is Director of Strategy and Transformation at blueVisions & Institute of Management. Caroline is a seasoned Project Management professional who established strong delivery foundations in the highly disciplined Aerospace and Defence sectors, skills she later applied to the Transport and Finance industries; successfully establishing high performing PMOs, improving project management capabilities and practices, managing projects and leading several major change programs; focused on digital transformation, technology and business performance and operating model design in Australia and overseas. 13
INNOVATIONS AND INSIGHTS
HOW CAN PROJECT MANAGERS INFLUENCE CHANGE IN LARGE, COMPLEX ORGANISATIONS?
(Souce: Canva)
WITH AROUND 16% OF PROJECTS FALLING INTO THE DOMAIN OF ‘BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION AND IMPROVEMENT’, HOW ARE WE AS PROJECT MANAGERS ABLE TO INFLUENCE CHANGE, PARTICULARLY IN COMPLEX ENVIRONMENTS?
I do not claim to be an expert in change or transformation, nor does this article hope to have all the answers to the question posed but I will attempt to share some of the observations (good and bad) that I have made along the way.
For much of my career, I have worked on and around initiatives intended to bring about large-scale change and while the projects, programs and industries have varied, many of the challenges and success factors have shared some common threads.
In 2017 I was asked to develop a digital education strategy for TAFE SA, the largest VET provider in South Australia. The strategy was intended to be a transformational document, outlining a series of projects relating to the learning management system and the processes, protocols and standards relating to digital delivery and assessment. The organisation is a complex one – around 290 delivery sites, 70,000+
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LESSON 1: TIMING IS EVERYTHING
student enrolments annually, more than 2,000 staff and at the time, around 500 qualifications being delivered. The strategy was well received and with executive sponsorship, projects were being scoped and prepared for kick-off. All looked good for the strategy but within three months of its launch, the priorities for the organisation shifted markedly. An unfavourable audit report from the VET regulator led to a change in leadership and a change in focus almost solely towards fixing compliance issues. While the digital education strategy and its roadmap of initiatives complimented quality compliance, most were put on hold. The momentum had been lost and it took a further 2 years before
the bulk of the digital strategy initiatives were looked at again.
LESSON 2: DANCE WITH THOSE WHO SUPPORT CHANGE! Earlier in my career, I came across the idea of the ‘tipping point’, beautifully written down in his 2000 book by Malcolm Gladwell. It describes the magical number of a population needed for the global adoption of an idea or innovation. In his book, Gladwell observed that the adoption of social innovations, ideas and products spreads much in the same way viruses do. He postulated that in order for an innovation (or in this case, a transformation) to gain sufficient hold to be transformative, approximately 20% of a 15
population needed to adopt the change, and that three “rules of epidemics” must be in place. 1. The Law of the Few Gladwell suggested that for most change situations, relatively few people will do most of the work (see the 80/20 rule or ‘Pareto Principle’) in fostering adoption – particularly if they possess one of three specific personality traits. • Connectors: these people are ideas ‘super-spreaders’. They tend to have large and complex social circles, perhaps cover different cultural, socioeconomic, or professional groups. They make connections easily and are expert at creating introductions. • Mavens: mavens tend to be teachers and students, accumulating and sharing knowledge and information with colleagues and peers. They thrive on opportunities to solve problems and trade knowledge. • Salesmen: these people need little explanation. They are the born negotiator, the one who can convince those that otherwise can’t be persuaded. 2. The Stickiness Factor What is that one thing that keeps you coming back for more? The stickiness factor is what causes you to return to your favourite websites or choose the same brand of shoes or toothpaste. 16
For transformation to be really, truly accepted, it must be sticky. 3. The Power of Context The adoption of transformational ideas is often influenced by the smallest of changes and people are far more sensitive to their environment than might be thought. Gladwell uses the example of the City of New York. In a bid to cut rising crime figures, the city focussed on the smaller things, adopting a zero-tolerance policy for fare dodgers on the subway and removing graffiti. This led to a reduction in more serious crime as the population became more aware of the potential penalties for transgressions. Considering who your connectors, mavens and salespeople will be in the early stages of a transformational project and bringing them to the dance may reap significant benefits later on.
LESSON 3: YOU CAN’T WIN THEM ALL As well as your ‘few’, it’s important to understand that people inherently lean toward change or away from it. The ‘Diffusion of Innovations’ theory is well known but useful to remember when considering transformation. It may be easy to get the innovators and early adopters on board but our tipping point cannot be reached until the early majority start to be engaged.
Innovators
2.5%
Early Adopters
Early Majority
Late Majority
13.5%
34%
34%
Laggards 16%
The diffusion of innovations according to Everett Rogers, a professor of communication studies. (Source: en.wikedia.org)
LESSON 4: CULTURE IS CONTAGIOUS Building on lesson three, I would say that it’s also essential to ensure leadership from the front. If the project is to transition to a new software platform or process, are business leaders and senior staff not only using it, but seen to be using it? If senior business leaders are all laggards in relation to your transformation project, it may be impossible to fully embed the change that you wish to implement.
LESSON 5: LEARN FROM OTHERS (OR STEAL SHAMELESSLY AND SHARE GENEROUSLY) If you are reading this then you have an interest in project management as a discipline, and you read the stories of others who may have had similar experiences to your own. Naturally, project managers take the lessons learned from previous projects into their planning and implementation of subsequent ones, but the lessons
from other project managers in other businesses or even industries and their projects (successful and not) are critically helpful in foreseeing the pitfalls and planning ways to navigate them. If your story is a positive one, then make sure you share your wins. Write the recipe for how you successfully pieced together all that complexity and baked the perfect project. The AIPM community discussion forum is the perfect place to ask the questions of peers. “I’m trying to accomplish [insert challenge here]. What worked for you?” I look forward to reading your recipes! Author: Bryan Foley is an experienced project and program manager with a background in consulting, healthcare quality improvement, and educational redesign projects. He is currently the Project Manager for the Australian Research Experimental Submarine, and CareerSpark projects for School of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Adelaide. 17
INNOVATIONS AND INSIGHTS
THE PMO AS AN ENABLER OF TRUST AND CONFIDENCE IN A DISRUPTIVE PROJECT WORLD TODAY’S TURBULENT AND INCREASINGLY DYNAMIC AND COMPLEX BUSINESS ENVIRONMENTS DEMAND HIGHER RESPONSIVENESS TO CHANGE AND DISRUPTION. THIS IS ESPECIALLY TRUE FOR PROJECT ENVIRONMENTS, REQUIRING THEREFORE A SHIFT OF THE TRADITIONAL PMO. (Source: Canva)
Rather than a supportive and administrative role the PMO is a driving force for technological advancements and a transition to a more datainformed and technologysupported project management practice. With traditional project management practices becoming more and more ineffective, hence impacting 18
project outcomes and business competitiveness, the PMO needs to ensure the correct alignment with business demand and expectations, and lead a transformation that lifts the project management practice to an approach that emphasises on agility, value delivery, and continuous improvement and learning. Almost every industry is impacted by disruptive digital technology, resulting in changing business environments that are becoming increasingly complex. At last, COVID-19 also has shown us how fast conditions can change and
how important it has become to respond quickly to change and rapidly changing messages. The trend goes clearly to increasingly dynamic business environments that are primarily impacted by disruptive technologies; and organisations are fighting hard to keep up with the pace of technology and its impact, for not being left behind in their markets. Accordingly, many business areas are being disrupted, and are undergoing adjustment and
transformation. The project management area is no exception and is also vastly impacted but has been really slow in responding to this trend of increasing complexity. A logical consequence is an alarming trend with more and more projects failing and not delivering on their promises, as numerous surveys from leading project management associations such as Project Management Institute (PMI), Association for Project Management (APM), and the Australian Institute for Project Management (AIPM) are indicating. The new reality where information and knowledge are changing much more frequently than ever before is overwhelming for project professionals which is the reason why many projects are operating merely in a survival mode, with project professionals being forced more and more into a reactive role, rather than being a driver for change. Some organisations realised already the need for a transition to a new project management approach that leverages modern technologies such as Data Analytics, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for more reliable and confident project planning and execution, and to turn around the declining project success rates and re-establish trust and confidence in projects and their outcomes. The success of such transformation depends however on a coordinated approach to collaboratively shift 19
to a data-informed project delivery practice. An isolated attempt to make a transition is unlikely to succeed if not all projects in an organisation follow the same direction, as this would be like playing football with an incomplete or reduced team – you are missing players and therefore likely would lose your game. And this is where the PMO comes in, to play an important and leading role, to bring all the players together, form them to a winning team by guiding them on how to play by new rules. But in many organisations, the function of a PMO is not going beyond a supportive, controlling, or administrative role which tracks schedule, scope, and costs of a program, project, or portfolio. Or, using that metaphor again, the PMO often would compare only to the role of a fitness coach while such needed transition actually requires the PMO to operate as a head coach, leading the team of projects into a new and promising era of project delivery, ensuring their alignment between each other and their consistent adherence to new processes. Play together and play by the rules, otherwise you lose. It requires a new and fundamentally different project delivery model that is rolled out across the entire organisation, a fact that is still being ignored or denied by many organisations. The PMOs role 20
therefore needs to be extended to a more strategic and leading function which ensures that the project management domain evolves along with the overall digital direction and vision of an organisation. In the end, any organisational transformation or change relies on the successful delivery of projects to implement change. The PMO can accomplish this by acting as a central body and force, leading the project management practice out of the survival mode to a discipline that is characterised by a data-informed and collaborative culture that makes use of data and technology to deliver true business value. However, the key to improved project outcomes which support an organisation to thrive and advance is to enable the project management discipline to evolve and develop as it is being executed. It means that PMOs need to help in establishing a culture where projects share information and insights, and collaborate extensively, for project management practices can continuously improve for best possible project outcomes that help organisations to meet their operational or transformational goals. The PMO function that has a holistic view across all projects, programs and portfolios in an organisation needs to assume the role of a transformer who establishes a sense of urgency based on collected
Stages to re-establish project delivery confidence. (Source: Marcus Glowasz)
project performance metrics. Many senior leaders in organisations are in denial for a need for change in project management and have to be made aware of the impact from increasingly non-performing projects on the company’s goals and objectives. But a solution that leverages data and technology and disrupts processes which often are solely based on experience or intuition, requires a shift of mindset and behaviours, as well as the adoption of a data-informed culture in project management. With the entire project management practice in an organisation
affected, the PMO is at the forefront to not only define new standards and processes but also to build trust in new ways of working, in data, in technology, and to enable a culture that is embedded into organisational values and beliefs. Author: Marcus Glowasz is an internationally recognised expert in project management with over 25 years of experience in delivering complex transformation projects and has worked with numerous organisations from large international corporates to small business practices. He is an advocate of disruptive technologies and innovation in project management and helps project professionals and organisations to prepare for the future model of project delivery. 21
INNOVATIONS AND INSIGHTS
PROJECT MANAGERS OR AGENTS OF CHANGE? 2020 AND COVID-19 PROVIDED A STARK REMINDER THAT WE LIVE IN AN AGE BESET BY THE CHALLENGES OF TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENT, DIGITAL DISRUPTION, AND INCREASINGLY TURBULENT ENVIRONMENTS.
(Source: Canva)
To sustainably compete in such environments, organisations require an innate capability to constantly readjust to this disequilibrium, uncertainty, and ambiguity – effectively having the ability to 22
maintain a ‘fit’ between the organisation and the external environment. The core proposition is that matching the organisation with the external environment will lead to superior performance
When it comes to achieving an alignment between the organisation and the external environment, one key factor management has direct control over is strategy. The argument is that the organisation and the environment can interact in a dynamic co-alignment, and if the ‘right’ choices are made, the resulting ‘fit’ has positive implications for performance. Contemporary academic research refers to this ability to change and maintain ‘fit’ as ‘dynamic capability’, which “… is the capacity of an organisation to purposefully create, extend, or modify its resource base”. This dynamic change is not synonymous with change but rather one type of change aimed at the intentional reconfiguration of an organisation’s resource base – the resource base being the source of an organisation’s day-to-day operational capability to earn its ‘living’ by producing and selling products or services.
(or conversely poor performance provides an indirect indicator of a lack of organisational competence and / or external environment misfit).
By extension, if operational capabilities are the systems of infrastructure employed by an organisation to earn a ‘living’, and dynamic capabilities are a ‘force’ applied to the resource base to enact a change, we could deduce that the successful delivery of projects would be one form of dynamic capability. Or, projects are vehicles for change and project managers could be better 23
defined as agents of change – Australia’s strategic commitment to the Snowy 2.0 project, which seeks to change the existing infrastructure to secure a stable low-carbon emissions power source, may be such an example. There are several factors which moderate whether or not dynamic capabilities are successful but a key contingent element is specifically the role of management (or project manager). Project managers are a critical determinant in the development and sustainability of dynamic
capabilities where, to some extent, dynamic capabilities reside in the organisation’s strategic project management capabilities. This exists in a project manager’s attitudes and skills, how they coordinate and integrate activities, how they develop new ways to work, and carry out reconfiguration in response to environmental changes. As illustrated below there are several factors that moderate a project manager’s expertise in the deployment of dynamic capabilities.
Model of dynamic (project management) capability development based on the experiences of top management and career knowledge (adapted from: Lee, 2018).
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1. First, project managers can be limited by their reality where their ‘know-how’ is narrowly constrained by what has been experienced in the past; where they operate according to mindsets formed through years of experience and as a consequence they are unable to work in new ways congruent with the rapidly changing environment. 2. Second, it is also important to consider how project managers learn and acquire new skills and capabilities – in this capacity, ‘knowing-why’ and the ability to engender trust, to take risk and create an organisational learning culture, plays a critical role in how organisations evolve their dynamic project management capabilities. 3. Finally, a project manager with more varied ‘know-whom’ expertise and knowledge is more likely to identify required changes quickly and / or changes within the organisation that require new approaches. A lack of appropriate project management experiences may result in limited cognitive frameworks or templates to address unfamiliar situations or new settings. This may result in slow responses, implying project managers are unable to interpret the meaning of information regarding unfamiliar business situations, and as a result compromise the dynamic response.
From this, we can argue that project managers are key enablers or inhibitors who moderate the successful deployment of dynamic capabilities and are the pivotal gate keepers in implementing strategic change. Dynamic project managers should therefore consider how they positions themselves as ‘agents of change’. Fundamentally the skills required are an ability to sense and shape opportunities and threats, which is a managerial characteristic to be able to recognise any environmental disequilibrium and exercise measures to take advantage of it (or even create disequilibrium), as well as seize opportunities which is the ability to initiate projects to take advantage of opportunities or mitigate threats and make investment decisions. Author: George Scott, a Certified Practicing Project Director, has delivered a wide range of infrastructure and minerelated projects globally, as well as across Australia. This has covered all investment phases including business planning, scope development, detailed design, project planning, plan delivery as well as construction. George is a Manager with BHP managing major capital studies and other business improvement initiatives.
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PROJECT IN THE SPOTLIGHT
AUSTRALIAN CENTRE TO COUNTER CHILD EXPLOITATION (ACCCE) PROJECT TAKING OUT THE PROJECT OF THE YEAR AWARD IN THE PROJECT MANAGEMENT ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS, THE ACCCE PROJECT DELIVERED A TECHNICALLY CAPABLE AND INNOVATIVE POLICING FACILITY.
Above view of the ACCCE. (Source: RPS)
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The ACCCE Project was delivered for the Australian Federal Police (AFP) in response to a priority Government initiative. The project included the design and construction of a new state-of-the-art office, to deliver a technically capable and innovative policing facility, focussed on improved staff mental health and wellbeing. A first of its kind for the AFP, this facility is a national coordination hub supporting Federal and State law enforcement agencies and nonGovernmental partner agencies in a national and global effort to pursue
CHALLENGES The program
The ACCCE kitchen and tiered seating. (Source: RPS)
the recovery of victims from harm and prosecute those perpetrating acts of child exploitation. The project team had fourteen months to design and deliver the project and relocate all the agencies into their new shared facility.
OBJECTIVES One of the project’s key objectives was to drive cultural change through the design of this facility. The vital role the ACCCE team play in protecting some of our society’s most vulnerable groups, exposes them to abhorrent materials that can impact mental well-being. A critical success factor was therefore providing staff with a positive and engaging office facility which allowed them to remove themselves from the nature of their daily tasks when necessary. It was also critical that the facility was functional and capable, meeting all base technical requirements to ensure the staff were able to undertake their role as easily as possible, in a safe and secure building. Future proofing also had to be incorporated to enable growth and expansion.
The project was highly complex due to integration of various law enforcement agencies and NonGovernmental Organisations (NGOs). AFP national standards required adaptation in the scope definition phase to respond appropriately to this challenge, particularly in relation to Security and ICT. This meant that scope definition was evolving throughout the design phase and into construction, adding further pressure to the available fourteen-month program. To maximise program efficiencies, an Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) methodology was employed. This allowed integration of early building investigations, construction consultancy services/design peer review and early construction works. These works were undertaken prior to design completion, establishing consistency and buy-in within the project team. The team were also able to leverage off existing collaborative relationships, ultimately contributing significantly to project success. With the critical path activities established, the program was split into three key construction phases with three separate building approvals, to enable completion of all scope in the required timeframe. Overcoming these issues required a proactive and determined approach, bought into the end goal of delivering 27
a facility which plays a critical role in keeping our communities safe. Communication The Client for this project had four key stakeholder groups, each of whom had different, often conflicting, project priorities. To achieve the required outcomes within the condensed program, RPS recognised that deconfliction of interested parties and stakeholder buy-in and commitment across the board was essential. The team implemented several strategies to establish and maintain this throughout the project. • L eadership: The team demonstrated leadership through personal commitment by ensuring consistent engagement with the client and wider project team members, enabling flow of information between stakeholder groups. A culture of trust was established by listening, thoroughly understanding project requirements, and guiding the project through the value management process, whilst guarding critical user requirements to ensure the project stayed true to its character and purpose. • P ositive teamwork: RPS approached the project with a can-do attitude, willingness to be flexible, explore options and address challenges as they presented. This enabled positive and team-focussed working relationships to develop. 28
The ACCCE roof terrace. (Source: RPS)
OUTCOMES The project team had two weeks to reduce project costs by $1 million when costs received from the Head Contractor were 20% over the pre-tender estimate. Critical thinking and problem-solving was paramount in this exercise, to ensure the client’s key objective of providing a positive space focussed on staff wellbeing was not unnecessarily diluted. In a project wide collaborative effort, the team ensured less obvious and more innovative options were presented to enable the client to make priority-based decisions. The result was a schedule of options which had been agreed to by all project stakeholders, resulting in a total cost saving of over $1 million. This outcome was achieved and incorporated into the design documentation within two weeks, enabling the project construction works to proceed on program. The facility commenced full operation on time in February 2020 within the approved budget.
“In the 12 months we have been here and despite the implications of COVID, the teams from across all of the ACCCE portfolios are achieving, and in many cases, exceeding the results we expected for children both here in Australia and globally. The building is irrefutably one of, if not the best purpose designed facilities for investigators working in this very challenging crime type anywhere in the world that I have seen.” Detective Inspector Jonathan Rouse APM, ACCCE The staff working in this facility undertake a crucial but psychologically demanding and burdensome role in our society. By challenging the status quo in policing facilities, the team worked closely with stakeholders to incorporate scope and design features aimed at improving mental health and wellbeing including natural light, green planting, collaboration zones, alternative working locations and unique spaces.
BENEFITS REALISATION These design outcomes have been pivotal to the new work practices and balance of the ACCCE. The project has delivered a technically capable facility in which users take
pride and feel comfortable to do their best work, with an ability to remove themselves from the nature of their daily tasks regularly. Most importantly, this facility offers a place where staff want to work. Author: Kirsty Barrie is a Senior Project Manager with experience working in the construction industry in various countries for a range of public and private sector clients. This has included residential, commercial, law enforcement and defence projects. With a structural engineering background, Kirsty combines her technical and communication skills to ensure successful project delivery. Kirsty was the lead Project Manager on the ACCCE project, responsible for project management, design management and contract administration.
The ACCCE exterior view. (Source: RPS)
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PROJECT IN THE SPOTLIGHT
TRANSFORMING PARRAMATTA – THE DEVELOPMENT OF POWERHOUSE PARRAMATTA POWERHOUSE PARRAMATTA WILL BE THE FIRST STATE CULTURAL INSTITUTION LOCATED IN WESTERN SYDNEY, COMPLEMENTING THE ALREADY EXISTING POWERHOUSE MUSEUM IN ULTIMO.
Powerhouse Parramatta will reflect the communities and cultures of one of Australia’s fastest growing regions. (Source: Moreau Kusunoki/Genton)
The development will mean unprecedent access to the Powerhouse Collection for locals and visitors, telling great stories of historical, technological, generational and cultural relevance. The new Museum will include: • Over 18,000 square metres of museum exhibition and public spaces which will vary in size, scale and offering. • Education spaces for use by students, researchers, the community, education and commercial hirers. 30
• 1 .5 hectares of public domain with a 30% tree canopy cover to provide shade and cool. Parramatta has a young and vibrant population and is known for being a diverse multicultural society. Given the project’s high public interest, and the potential to deliver significant social, cultural and economic benefits to the communities of Parramatta, Greater Sydney and NSW, Infrastructure NSW and the Powerhouse wanted to engage with the local community in order to include their aspirations
for a museum, as part of the project’s Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). Throughout 2020, during COVID-19 restrictions, Aurecon led the community engagement and consultation for the Powerhouse Parramatta project on behalf of Infrastructure NSW.
INNOVATIVE ENGAGEMENT Aurecon’s Design to Innovate framework focused on the end user of a project, facilitating innovative thinking about the design and engagement process. Using this unique approach, Aurecon used personas to identify the museum’s community and stakeholders, understanding their priorities and how to reach them. This approach defined how to talk to the community
Aurecon led the community and stakeholder engagement on behalf of the NSW Government for the Powerhouse Parramatta project. (Source: Moreau Kusunoki/Genton)
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and stakeholders, and how to engage them across all communication channels. Meaningful input from community members and stakeholders that have direct influence over the project, live or work close to the site, and will engage with the museum upon completion, was captured over a four-week period. More than 75% of identified community members and stakeholders were consulted with more than 3,700 comments received.
AN EVOLVING COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY When planning the communications strategy, Aurecon had to rapidly switch from face-to-face engagement to webinar and digital consultations due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Engagement continued throughout this unprecedented time with online webinars, virtual stakeholder and group briefings, social media, Aurecon’s bespoke feedback tool swipEngage®, digital and print advertising, phone calls and emails. This was one of the first major engagement programs in Australia to be delivered entirely online during COVID-19. Briefings were coordinated in collaboration with stakeholders to accommodate individual circumstances and availability. Awareness of the project was raised, and benefits were communicated. The insights and feedback received were as detailed and well-informed as traditional in-person engagement methods. Relationships were
The Powerhouse will be an active working precinct that provides world-class education, research, and community facilities. (Source: Moreau Kusunoki/Genton)
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Powerhouse Parramatta will be the first State cultural institution located in Western Sydney. (Source: Moreau Kusunoki/Genton)
established with stakeholders via digital channels, and personable engagements were made through the combination of video and audio communication. At the end of the consultation period, it was demonstrated that Aurecon’s expert use of digital engagement overcame the challenge around community engagement during an unprecedented pandemic.
SHAPING THE FUTURE Feedback received from the community and stakeholders has helped shape the design and delivery of Powerhouse Parramatta. The 25,000 square metre precinct plans to welcome more than two million visitors in its first year.
AWARD WINNING The project has won the Public Relations Institute of Australia (PRIA) Golden Target Awards 2020 – Silver Award – Experiential or Activation Campaign. Author: Melissa Creber is the Communication and Stakeholder Engagement Leader for NSW at Aurecon. She has been delivering exceptional projects for clients including Infrastructure NSW, Transport for NSW and Ausgrid for the past 10 years. With in-depth Australian and international experience, Melissa brings innovative and bespoke solutions, balancing local knowledge and international best practice.
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RESEARCH
THE AGILE PROJECT MANAGER COMPETENCIES DEMANDED BY INDUSTRIES
THE INCREASINGLY DYNAMIC AND COMPLEX WORLD OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT HAS SEEN THE RISE OF AGILE PROJECT MANAGEMENT (APM) AS AN INCREASINGLY ATTRACTIVE APPROACH FOR MOST INDUSTRIES.
APM is a mindset and cultural shift, defined and guided by shared values and self-managing team principles. APM is a collaborative approach of people, tools, and processes. It can include methodologies such as Scrum and extreme programming (XP). Compared to a traditional ‘waterfall’ approach, APM has a 28% higher success rate, allows a 37% faster timeto-market and a 16% higher productivity rate. 34
(Source: Canva)
Organisations in Australia and globally are increasingly recruiting project managers to implement APM methods, manage and lead Agile teams, and complete projects successfully. Therefore, Agile Project Managers (AgPM) must understand and expand their diverse set of competencies to successfully manage this approach. In the Agile Project Guide of PMI (2017), the role and competency requirements for
major Australian and NZ cities such as Sydney (33%), Melbourne (17%), and Auckland (11%). Additionally, they represented industries such as ICT (26%), banking, finance and insurance (19%), and government (12%) sectors.
the AgPM is unclear. Thus, this prompted our investigation into the competency requirements of AgPM.
THE AGILE PROJECT MANAGER JOB MARKET IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND Our study identified and collected 254 AgPM job advertisements from Seek.com Australia and New Zealand (NZ) from JuneOctober 2020 (75% Australia and 25% NZ). The majority of these advertisements (75%) were from
Many of these jobs (25%) expect potential applicants to have some ICT project experience. Some specify a minimum of 3-8 years of experience as an AgPM or Scrum master. About a third of the AgPM jobs are contractual and temporary (3-12 months). Nearly 20% of the jobs specify a salary range for a full-time position (AU$90-150K). For temporary contract positions, the salary range is AU$800-$1000 per day (without superannuation). About 20% of the jobs require a specific STEM-related tertiary degree as part of a qualification to apply for the job. Also, nearly 20% of jobs sought specific certifications such as Certified Scrum Master (CSM).
MARKET DEMAND FOR AgPM COMPETENCIES Using an integrated APM and traditional project management competency framework, we identified 36 competencies categorised under personal, workplace, and agile professional competencies. We rank order criticality of market demand of competencies and describe the top 10 of these competencies with examples. 35
TOP 10 HIGHLY DEMANDED COMPETENCIES Competency 1: Teamwork The majority of AgPM jobs (84%) require teamwork-related competencies. For example, AgPM should: • ‘support and manage a team in a tough environment’ • ‘be a team player’ • ‘facilitate, mentor, or coach a team around the goals of agile’ • ‘assist the team in building planning’ • ‘motivate teams to set directions and continuously increase its performance’ • ‘inspire to develop a congenial team culture’ • ‘remove obstacles and ensure an environment where a team member can contribute across the project work’ Competency 2: Facilitate end-toend Scrum execution Nearly 63% of jobs require competence in leading end-to-end execution of Scrum ceremonies and practices. Specifically, AgPM require competencies to ‘monitor Sprint progress daily’, ‘taking proactive measures when required to achieve Sprint deadlines and objectives’, ‘ensure the work should be ready to hand to a customer’, ‘conduct sprint review and retrospectives’, and ‘select another list of the product backlog and begin working again’. 36
Competency 3: Agile framework competency Around 58% of the jobs require competencies in frameworks such as Scrum, Kanban, Lean, Jira, Confluence, and/or XP. Competencies need AgPM to ‘understand’, ‘experience’, ‘be familiar’, ‘have excellent knowledge and proven experience’ of the Scrum framework, including all artifacts, techniques, cadence, and tools like Jira and Confluence. Competency 4: Stakeholder management and alignment About 50% job advertisements demanded skills to manage stakeholders in Agile projects (Scrum team, the product owner, end-user, the client, and organisational units). Stakeholder competencies include: • ‘managing stakeholders and their competing priorities’ • ‘aligning stakeholders into one team’ • ‘engaging stakeholders throughout the agile process’ • ‘conducting training sessions on the benefits of Lean and Agile’ • ‘negotiate with stakeholders to protect the team from external influences impacting their ability to meet agreed goals’ Competency 5: Effective communication Nearly 48% of jobs demanded effective communication skills for AgPM. For AgPM, having high verbal, written, and presentation
communication, workshop facilitation, and interpersonal skills are indispensable. Importantly, AgPM should implement agile ways of communication such as ‘to ensure the right information is recorded, reported, and distributed in the correct format and through appropriate communication channels, to the right people, and in a timely manner’.
Competency 6: Continuous improvement (CI) In total, 39% of jobs demand CI-related knowledge, skills, and ability to drive, support, and implement a CI culture and initiatives both within teams and across the organisation. AgPM should’ be passionate about CI and champion ongoing process improvement initiatives
Overview of Agile Project Manager job market. (Source Kamrul Ahsan and Marcus Ho)
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to implement best practices for Agile project management’, ‘take responsibility to lead the team for CI initiatives’, ‘use CI techniques to remove bottlenecks and drive performance’, ‘challenge the standard in the organisations processes and procedures to drive CI.
in ‘developing and maintaining strong work relationships across cross-functional units to identify cross-functional dependencies and risks’. AgPMs remove dependencies on specialists/ individuals team members, and thereby reduces threats to timely product delivery.
Competency 7: Understanding of Agile principals All together, 32% of AgPM jobs demand an understanding of Agile methodologies and principals. AgPMs require a demonstrable level of understanding of Agile methods and principles to guide, facilitate, and support the team to work on Agile. Methodological knowledge of Agile approaches, ‘including but not limited to Scrum, Kanban, TOC, and project management techniques’ is imperative. AgPMs entail ‘expertlevel knowledge of Scrum’, should have a ‘track record of introducing Agile methodologies’, and ‘demonstrable experience to introduce and drive Agile methodologies and processes’.
Competency 9: Work with the product owner to maintain a backlog AgPM jobs (28%) require competencies to facilitate product owner (or ‘customer representative’) in ‘refining, grooming, and maintaining’ product backlog (ordered list of all project work). AgPM competencies also include the ability to ‘drive the sequencing of the squad(s) to ensure that there is sufficient work flowing from the backlog into discovery’, assist the product owner ‘to plan delivery based on the selected approach and available team capacity’.
Competency 8: Cross-functional focus About 29% of jobs require ‘cross-functional focus’ competencies. Competency attributes under this category include ‘successful ability to work closely with all management levels of an organisation’ and experience 38
Competency 10: Leadership Around 26% of job advertisements required Agile-focused leadership skills to ‘foster a continuous improvement culture’ and ‘resolve impediments’, ‘coach and mentor’ and ‘mobilise and motivate’ the agile team to ‘set direction’ and ‘to achieve the project goal’. AgPMs should have the ability to work as ‘servant leader’ or to work as a facilitator with ‘excellent adaptive team leadership capabilities’.
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF AgPM COMPETENCIES FOR APM The results of our study demonstrate the evolving role of project managers in APM. AgPMs are increasingly playing multiple roles, including the leader, motivator, problem solver, and facilitator, signifying the need to diversify and expand their competencies. These competencies will become increasingly in demand as more organisations adopt APM. Additionally, these competencies
can help AgPMs and organisations refine and develop competencies for personal and organisational improvements. For example, in recruitment, selection, performance management, and training and development. Authors: Kamrul Ahsan, Associate Professor, Department of Supply Chain and Logistics Management, College of Business and Law, RMIT University, Australia and Marcus Ho, Senior Lecturer of Human Resource Management, Faculty of Business and Law, Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand.
Rank order of competencies as per market demand. (Source Kamrul Ahsan and Marcus Ho)
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FELLOWS FORUM
5 HARSH TRUTHS ABOUT BEING A LEADER IN DIGITAL TRANSFORMATIONS
FELLOWS HAVE GIVEN EXCEPTIONAL CONTRIBUTION TO THE PROJECT MANAGEMENT PROFESSION. HEAR FROM A SELECT FEW HERE EACH QUARTER.
2020, it’s out of the way and we can now talk about what really makes the difference in getting things done during digital transformation. Three things to be on the same page first: • Digital transformation is using technology smartly to help you do stuff better, and be able to adapt that stuff faster as your needs change (without a whopping legacy headache). • The technology is not enough, no matter how well designed and implemented. People are 40
vital. No use, no value, so stop writing business cases that presume adoption. • It will take longer than you think. Think of your effort to adopt behaviours for effective use, and how long it will really take. Now double it. You’re almost certainly wrong unless you are standing on a burning platform – and even then… There is however one thing that is mostly ignored in digital transformation programs and risks being managed. Leadership (note I mean competency, not THE leadership (positional)). Leadership competency is a critical predictor of success in any transformation (if not THE primary predictor). Debate my issue by all means! I want to focus on what it really takes to do it well. Buckle up, this won’t be unkind, but it is going to be tough (for some).
1. WORDS MATTER BUT NOT AS MUCH AS BEHAVIOURS Ralph Waldo Emerson was spot on when he wrote “What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say”. Get your behaviours consistent, and aligned with what you are saying, or trust will go quickly.
2. STOP BEING THE HERO OF THE STORY, IT ISN’T ABOUT YOU You need a way to get people to tell you the truth and feel that it won’t backfire on them. The only way you are going to do that is to not be a
(Source: Canva)
Muppet when bad news is presented. Look for the opportunity to listen and not speak when it happens.
3. TAKE A STEP BACK You’re also not going to have the answer to everything so step back and let your people talk it through. If you’ve done a good enough job already, they will come up with better answers than you. Speak only when you need to clarify the why, and ensure others are included and encouraged that they can do this together.
4. LEAD THE TEAM NOT INDIVIDUALS Humans are tribal, it’s in our nature, so take advantage of that. The situation (context) we are in powerfully shapes the behaviours you see, and that’s the biggest performance driver. You need to look at what is shaping the team’s
behaviour (hint it’s probably you, but not as much as you think).
5. YOU’RE GOING TO NEED INTELLIGENT DISOBEDIENCE That means people actively think and challenge whether what is happening is right, effective, and valuable and if not, they will need to find a better way. It does not mean that they can break the Law or act unethically. Hint: it requires points 1-4 above to be working well. If you can seriously work on these, you’ll be a long way ahead of your peers. Author: Ian Sharpe is a former AIPM Chairperson and is an international program director who has worked with Fortune 500 organisations, Agencies and major organisations including NASA and Western Sydney University, and has served in multiple senior capacities in governance, transformation and capability since 2006. 41
FELLOWS FORUM
WHO WAS HENRY GANTT? FELLOWS HAVE GIVEN EXCEPTIONAL CONTRIBUTION TO THE PROJECT MANAGEMENT PROFESSION. HEAR FROM A SELECT FEW HERE EACH QUARTER.
(Source: Canva)
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It may seem like a rhetorical question, given that most of us are familiar with the eponymous chart that is widely used in project scheduling. But who was Gantt, the person? And how did that chart come into being? Henry Laurence Gantt was born in 1861, the offspring of plantation owners in Calvert County, MD, in north-eastern USA. The family later moved to Baltimore, having lost their land after the civil war ended. Gantt graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 1880, took up teaching for three years, and then received a Master of Mechanical Engineering degree from the Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey. Gantt began work as a draughtsman in Baltimore in 1884. He teamed up with Frederick Taylor in 1887 and worked with him on scientific management principles in steel foundries until 1893. Taylor and Gantt both realised that, for greater workplace efficiencies, mechanical tasks needed to be broken down into smaller components for optimal performance levels. Taylor developed his Four Principles of Scientific Management, known as “Taylorism” and based on
his time and motion studies that standardised and simplified tasks to increase production. Henry Gantt was more interested in motivating workers to achieve greater production efficiencies and urging businesses to accept greater social responsibilities. He outlined his principles and methods in three culturallysignificant management books: Work, Wages, and Profits (1910), Industrial Leadership (1916), and Organising for Work (1919).
H. L. Gantt. (Source: en.wikedia.org)
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An early Gantt Chart. (Source: Clark, Wallace 1922, The Gantt Chart, p. 86)
In his books, he expressed concern about the expense associated with idle labour and idle capital, both of which were pertinent at any time but even more so in the middle of World War 1. Bar charts had by then been in use for over a hundred years, and he used them together with tables and line graphs as tools to measure efficiencies of men and machines in production systems, especially in steel foundries and machine shops. His books also contained many forthright statements on human resource management, some of which have echoed down the years. For instance, in Organising for Work he stated: “Our most serious trouble is incompetency in high places. As long as that remains uncorrected, 44
no efficiency in the workmen will avail very much”. The many charts that Gantt developed fell roughly into three classes: Man and Machine Record Charts, Layout and Load Charts, and Progress Charts. Of these, his Progress Charts are of most, albeit minor, relevance to the single chart in his name that we use today. Gantt never sought to patent or copyright any of the charts or tables that he developed, and he freely distributed them to anyone who needed them. Each of his charts was named according to its purpose, and none of them bore his name. That was left to a fellow engineer, Wallace Clark, whose book The Gantt Chart: A Working Tool of Management was first published in 1922.
Although the title of Clark’s book seemingly referred to a single chart it was actually a collective noun for the whole gamut of Gantt’s charts. Clark’s succinct summary of the Progress Chart in 1922 was: “The Gantt Progress Chart, as developed from this early form, was found to help in the making of definite plans and to be highly effective in getting those plans executed. The rate at which the work goes forward is continuously compared with the advance of time, which induces action to accelerate or retard that rate.”
Henry Laurence Gantt, A.B., M.E. died on 23 November 1919. The American Society of Mechanical Engineers posthumously awarded him the initial Henry Laurence Gantt Medal in 1929, an award in his honour that continues annually. The award is bestowed for continuous achievement in management and service to the community, reflecting Gantt’s seminal work in production industries based on improvements in efficiencies and social responsibilities. His best-known legacy, the chart that bears his name but which is radically different in both form and function from his originals, is still in daily use for project scheduling worldwide. Gantt’s books, and the book by Clark, have now been digitised and are in the public domain. They make for interesting reading today. Somewhat appropriately, the digitising of Clark’s book The Gantt Chart was financed by Microsoft. Author: Don Coutts FAIPM, CPPD, M.Ed, Dip.PM has worked for 40 years in a number of agencies in the Australian Public Service which included managing projects in Australia, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, Russia, and the Antarctic. He now works as a trainer and assessor, as well as a mentor, for the next generation of project managers.
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CONTRIBUTE TO THE NEXT ISSUE OF PARADIGM SHIFT
Please visit www.aipm.com.au for project resources, industry updates, upcoming events and membership inquiries.
Have a project that you would like our project community to know about? Do you have a project insight you believe needs to be shared? Our next theme is INDUSTRY 4.0 and we would love to hear your article ideas. Email communications@aipm.com.au with the subject line ‘Paradigm Shift article contribution’ and tell us what you have in mind before Thursday, 8 April 2021. Our next issue will be out in June 2021.
