ADAPTING YOUR PROGRAM IN THE FACE OF UNCERTAINTY

INNOVATIONS AND INSIGHTS ADAPTING YOUR PROGRAM IN THE FACE OF UNCERTAINTY ALL PROJECT MANAGERS ARE USED TO DEALING WITH UNCERTAINTY TO VARYING DEGREES.

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As we all know 2020 has been a major year of unpredictability, and we remain in the woods. So how can project managers and their organisations face the upcoming months of uncertainty, and keep their projects on track?

We spoke to Ian Sharpe, former AIPM Chairperson, and Associate Director, Business Transformation at Western Sydney University about his current digital transformation program, how it has changed as a result of COVID-19 and what his advice is to others facing uncertainty with their projects.

You have been in the project management profession for 22 years – what have been some of your career highlights?

Over the years, I have been involved in several projects and programs, from consulting to delivery, with a range of organisations around the world including Banking, Defence and Aerospace.

I’ve had the great fortune in my career to work with a number of organisations like Sydney Trains and NASA and am now working at Western Sydney University.

What does an average day look for you?

Right now it looks like a lot of Zoom meetings! I’m programmanaging a large change initiative called Enterprise Service Management, leveraging ServiceNow where we are making it easier to make and fulfil requests for services for our staff and students.

SUCCESS IS GOING TO COME FROM YOUR TEAM

How have you had to adapt the program due to COVID-19?

If you had said to me in September 2019 Australia is going to encounter the following things, ‘fire, floods and a global pandemic in the next few months’ I would have said you’re talking doomsday, and yet all of us are in that circumstance.

You can’t possibly think of all scenarios in advance, but you can help the team to be resilient and adaptive to them. Getting the right people, in the right roles is really important as success is going to come from your team. If you don’t have the right team in place and delivery partners, working well together, no matter how technically ready you are, you will not succeed. It’s important on this kind of program to be able to adapt quickly and I’m proud of the work the team has done.

Being able to shift to remote working was easier for my team in the University, as we had already designed the program to work that way. We’ve also had the right leadership for which initiatives make sense to do now, and which we should pause in the current climate. Within the projects themselves the actual build of work is done via Agile. While Agile does the technical work, it doesn’t do the stakeholder engagement and broader risk management which is part of the project and program management journey. Having both has allowed us to adapt and manage expectations throughout our program.

ALL PROJECTS ARE AT THE VERY LEAST COMPLICATED

What advice would you give to other project managers who are currently dealing with uncertainty?

Firstly, I would like to acknowledge and pay respect to those who have lost their jobs – who have not had the opportunity to remain in their position – hang in there, we’re a core discipline that the world really needs to help stand back up, and you’re already experienced at delivering real change.

All project managers are used to dealing with uncertainty to a degree. The difference is the context we are sitting in. If I think about the complexity vs complicated, all projects are at least ‘complicated’. COVID-19 has created a complex environment, There are so many influencing factors, such as what is happening overseas that nobody can say day to day, what is going to happen, so you’ve got to consistently watch the horizon and adapt accordingly. David Snowden’s Cynefin framework is the best guide here.

Now you might say that’s not a mindset difference for a project manager. A good professional project manager will always have a plan B and C in their pocket, based on the possibilities they are seeing around them.

The challenge is that it’s easy when there is high uncertainty for stakeholders to try to stick to one plan because it’s comforting (even if wrong). It’s our jobs as project leaders to help calm and focus the team and our key stakeholders on what really needs to happen, through high uncertainty. That starts with ourselves. If I don’t look after my own team and make sure that we’ve got our oxygen masks on first, we cannot possibly look after others.

Project controls are essential too. I’ve seen many a project attempted to be delivered by a charismatic person who didn’t have their ‘stuff’ together and it falls over. The organisations that will come through this are those with the project managers that instil both disciplines in the team.

PEOPLE MAY ACCESS ROLES THEY NEVER THOUGHT THEY WOULD

How do you think workplaces will change as we exit the COVID-19 period?

Technology has always been an accelerator of change, and our ability to work and collaborate has fundamentally changed. Organisations that already had capabilities underway via online collaboration, teaching and/or support services are much more able to adapt, and be resilient under the post COVID-19 period.

A lot of organisations that weren’t sure about working from home, are a lot more comfortable with the idea. It’s been a forced experience, and the circumstances are terrible, but if some good is to come out of it is there is more trust that remote working can work very well. And you can work in this way with people all over the world – not just here. This will help some businesses adapt and widen their workforces – while providing new international roles from home. I worked in one such role for the last three years.

In the future we will see people access roles and work that they never thought they would possibly be doing, or able to do – with transferable skills. That’s now a real possibility.

Author: An international program director, Ian Sharpe has worked with Fortune 500 organisations and Government Agencies including NASA and has served in multiple senior capacities in governance, transformation and capability since 2006.