BPUG Congress Blog

Thank you and congratulations!

2008-02-11T07:22:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to all the winners who received their Best Management Practice awards at the event - we celebrate your achievements.

Thank you to everyone who attended and made the event such a success.

We look forward to welcoming you to another BPUG event very soon.

Presentations from the Congress can be downloaded from a link on the home page.

Free Seminars: don't miss out!

2008-01-28T03:05:00.000-08:00

The Congress is now only a week away, and anticipation for the event is building up. The free seminar programme is generating a lot of interest amongst those registering for the event.

Featuring insights into OGC’s forthcoming P30 activities plus an insight into how PRINCE2: 2009 will look, the free seminar programme is packed with both practical advice and new ideas.

Sessions on Agile Delivery Management, Benefits management, capability performance assessments and how to become a leader will entertain and educate our delegates.

The free seminars close on the second day of the conference with a keynote from Eddie Obeng whose reputation as an excellent speaker is renowned throughout the world.

For details of the free seminar programme click http://www.bpugcongress.com/files/seminar_programme_16_jan.pdf

Boardroom Workshop Programme: a chance to get involved

2008-01-23T05:03:00.000-08:00

As well as the main Conference Programme at the BPUG Congress, the event features some alternative sessions which are free to attend.

The Boardroom Workshop Programme is a series of short interactive sessions where delegates can share their ideas. Lasting only twenty minutes, the sessions run throughout both days of the conference.

There is a wide range of topics to choose from where delegates will disccuss everything from managing global projects to making PRINCE2 deliver. All the sessions are led by senior executives from training organisations or associations.

Melanie Franklin, for example, the CEO of Maven Training, is chairing a mastercalss on the P3M3 Maturity Model. The masterclass willl provide delegates with an overview of the contents of the P3M3 model; a step by step guide and a discussion of the pros and cons of using a maturity model to assess capability.

For the full list of Workshops follow this link:

http://www.bpugcongress.com/files/boardroom_workshop_programme_16_jan.pdf

Announcing the BPUG Awards

2008-01-10T09:23:00.001-08:00

One of the highlights of the Congress will be an Awards Ceremony to celebrate organizations and individuals who have made outstanding contributions to programme and project management. The ceremony will be held during the evening of the 6th February at the event and is sponsored by the Best Management Practice Partnership of OGC, TSO and APMG.

There will be six awards with the following categories:

Outstanding contribution to embedding PRINCE2 in the public sector
Outstanding contribution in an international sphere
Outstanding contribution made to development of qualifications
Innovation in a user organisation

The recipients of these four awards have been selected by the Board of BPUG in recognition of their outstanding contributions in their particular fields of endeavor.

Nominations are sought for two further categories:

Outstanding individual contribution to development of guidance
Innovation in training

The outstanding individual contribution to development of guidance will be nominated by BPUG members who can vote online via the members section of the Best Practice User Group website at www.usergroup.org.uk.

The Innovation in training award is nominated by APMG Accredited Training Organisations who have been invited to send their nominations to Richard Pharro at The APM Group.

I hope BPUG members will take the opportunity to vote and am looking forward to congratulating the winners on the night!

Let's think about success

2007-12-17T06:09:00.000-08:00

I am looking greatly forward to the session by Clive Billenness, Programme Manager, Corporate Programme Office, The British Library on the first day of the conference. Clive’s presentation is entitled ‘The upside of risk: Even success is a risk.'

He will advise us that after people have been through a risk planning exercise, they can become worried about the outcome of the project they’re working on. The whole process can create an expectation of failure.

If the project then goes on to achieve a successful outcome, this can be a real shock to the Project Team and the stakeholders. They can find this outcome more difficult to cope with than if the project had been delayed or over budget because it wasn’t planned for.

This session will show us how to cope with successful outcomes, and to manage those just as effectively as negative outcomes.

I like the idea of this session because at the moment we’re all looking forward and anticipating what the next year will bring us.

It’s a great start to think about what we will do when our programmes and projects succeed.

I wish you a very enjoyable break and will be blogging again in the New Year.

Happy Christmas!

PRINCE2 update

2007-12-10T04:18:00.000-08:00

People mistakenly think that PRINCE2 is a static method but it isn’t. OGC is committed to ensuring that PRINCE2 is fit for purpose. BPUG is heavily involved in this improvement process; as you may know I am the Senior User on the PRINCE2 Board. Since the last version of the manual was published all the issues identified by users were logged by BPUG. In tandem with the issues log, we’ve been running a series of workshops where users have had the chance to air their views of the current manual.

PRINCE2 is changing – but not out of all recognition. The strong PRINCE2 brand is something we all want to keep hence the new manual will retain the PRINCE2 title. The process to produce the new manual is known as PRINCE2: 2009 ProjectÔ. The new version will demonstrate refinements to the existing version and will be aligned to MSP™ and M_o_R®.

Together the best practice portfolio is a reflection the user community’s needs and is a collaborative effort. And as we all know, the best projects are a team effort.

The Congress will be the ideal opportunity to find out about how PRINCE2 2009 Project is shaping up.

If I only deliver half of what I set out to achieve, is that acceptable?

2007-11-30T02:33:00.000-08:00

In the many conversations I have with programme and project managers, the scenario above is very common. Because organisations are not learning lessons of previous projects they end up repeating the same errors time and again.

A recent Gartner research project surveyed over 250 CIOs of major US Financial organisations to see if companies measured and delivered benefits. The results are stunning: only around 25% measured benefits and 75% said their programmes delivered no benefits.

This is clearly an unacceptable situation and we need to get smarter. Chief Executives must focus on outcomes and put measures in place to ensure they deliver benefits. To put it simply: If you don’t measure benefits and lessons learnt, you are setting yourself up for failure.

Programme Management is increasingly seen as something that should be on the corporate risk register. At the Congress we will have plenty of examples of organisations who are managing programmes effectively including BP, Standard Bank, Tower Hamlets PCT and the NHS Ambulance Service.

My advice is to learn from others who are willing to share; you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

BPUG: What we do

2007-11-09T08:31:00.001-08:00

This week I want to share with you some of the reasons why I am involved with BPUG. The user group is a membership organisation which is made up of PRINCE2, MSP and M_o_R users. It’s a knowledge-sharing forum which provides support for people using best practice.

Managing programmes and projects can be a lonely business – it is all too easy to feel overwhelmed by the responsibility which comes with the job. BPUG exists to help ensure that instead of feeling isolated, programme and project managers get a sense of being part of a wider network of people.

As well as this important supportive role, we are also taken very seriously by OCC. As Chair of BPUG, I am senior user of the PRINCE2 Refresh project, so not only do I feel I have a voice but I know that people are listening because my views are incorporated into the new manual. And it’s not just me; all BPUG members have opportunities to share their views about the future direction of the methods.

An essential part of what we do is to run member workshops with the members and experts running the seminars. They also decide what they’d like to learn more about. It’s an entirely non-threatening way to discuss best practice and is valued highly by those who participate. The events are held around the country and are open to all BPUG members. Everyone shares their ideas and thoughts and many delegates stay in touch with each other after meeting at the events.

The Congress in February forms part of the workshop schedule but is only one of many informative events that BPUG is organising. You can find out more at http://www.usergroup.org.uk/ or ask for further details at the Congress.

Gala Dinner Speakers

2007-11-07T02:04:00.000-08:00

I am thrilled to say that we’ve confirmed the speakers at our gala dinner. Sir Howard Bernstein, Chief Executive, Manchester City Council and Sir Bob Kerslake, Chief Executive, Sheffield City Council, will be speaking to delegates. Both gentlemen have worked extremely hard to put programme and project management on the top of their agendas. I am sure they will inspire our delegates. As the price of our conference includes both accommodation and the gala dinner I hope as many of you as possible will stay on to listen to Howard and Bob.

Sandra Lomax, Chair of BPUG: Welcome!

2007-11-05T07:58:00.000-08:00

I’m delighted that registration for our first BPUG Congress is now open. I am going to be sharing my thoughts on programme and project management with you in the run up to the event. I hope you’ll take the opportunity to post comments and start interacting with other delegates.

This is a very exciting time for BPUG as we take our conference into the international arena. Our speakers are all running world class projects and the Millennium Gloucester Hotel in London will set the stage for a truly memorable event.

As well as the impressive programme, our conference will provide delegates with an unrivalled networking opportunity at our Gala Dinner. When you’re running programmes and projects being able to share ideas and experiences with people in similar roles but different organisations to yourself can be extremely enlightening, so I do hope you will be able to make the most of this rare opportunity.

If you’d like to ask me a question or post a comment I would be delighted to hear from you and I very much look forward to welcoming you to the event in February.