Marion Thomas and Sarah Walton

Extraordinary Project Management
Mastery in Mobilisation
APM PMO SIG
Marion Thomas and Sarah Walton
https://www.extraordinarypm.com

Our hypothesis
2© Gold Heron Ltd 2020
Programmes don’t go wrong…
.... they start wrong

Where being Extraordinary has taken us
3
Printing
Publishing
Airlines
Telecomm
s
Financial sector
Manufacturing
AgChem / Pharma
Public Sector
We can (and have) brought our
expertise to:
 Any industry sector
 Any type of project/programme
 Any business imperative for a project
 Any function within business
This is just a selection of our
clients – there are many more
© Gold Heron Ltd 2020

Introducing our leaky bucket concept
 Un-packing the strategy into a
programme or group of programmes
can lose things in translation
 It can feel like trying to carry water in
a leaky bucket
 First you need to fix the leaks

From idea to action
 The strategy is usually formed by a
small group of people behind
closed doors
 Once the idea is public
the leader wants to get
going

From secret to socialised
 The problem is that, the
vision has to be executed
by a team.......
......... and if you just start
running it will soon become
clear that you don’t all have
the same vision of where
you are going and why you
are going there

Typical leaks we encounter translating strategy or
ideas into a programme?
Misalignment of strategy, programme and projects
Excessive pressure to move into action
The devil is in the detail
Hidden “dead moose” that needs to be surfaced and put on
the table?
Unclear scope of the projects needed to deliver the
programme’s strategic intent

Misalignment with the strategy
How does the programme contribute to the strategy?
 What is the business context for this?
 What is the “Big Why” for this programme?
 What are the specific outcomes that must be
delivered?
 What’s non-negotiable?
 Where are the ”No Go” areas?

Excessive pressure to move to action
Who knows this place?
We’ve got an idea so why haven’t we moved into action?
NEED IDEA ACTION
S
T
O
P

Write it down
 Strategy iterates what and why but the thinkers
are often divorced from the operational detail
 Operation needs to iterate what and how, but
 People don’t share what they
know
 Information is power
 Captain chaos
 Hero culture
Our job is to unpack all the assumptions because If they are not
written down it is easy to assume the thinking has not been done

Conflicting priorities
There needs to be time to iterate around what, why and how
to engage the wider team adding layers of detail, unpacking
assumptions and exploring:
 Interdependencies with other programmes
 Resource constraints
Funding (capital, revenue & cash)
Skills and people resource
Equipment
 Diversionary activities
Competing projects
Personal agendas

 Mechanism to hear challenge without distracting
 Allow people to go on journey
 Strategy & rationale not communicated in a way people can
check / buy into it
Dead moose under the table
What is the nugget that keeps burning a hole in the bucket?
 Chinese whispers of communication
 Not invented here syndrome
 Personal perception on top
 Change aversion can cause selective hearing

Unclear scope of projects
Completing the scope jigsaw
 Omissions
Missing projects
Missing dependencies
 Incorrect assumptions
Assumptions not explicit
Assumptions not tested
 Lack of focus
Pet projects thrown in
Not stopping non-strategic projects

The magic we bring as PMs
Fixing the “strategy into programme” leaks
 Skills and experience to challenge the strategists
 Outcome thinking
 Delivery focus
 An eye for dependencies and critical path
 The ability to create certainty through
assumptions
 Detail and 40,000 ft vision

The ‘Big Why’
 “In business it doesn’t matter what you
do it, matters why you do it.”
Simon Sinek
 At Extraordinary Project Management
we use the term Target to define the
‘Big Why’ for our programmes

Useful resources
Concepts for you to adapt and apply to Target
YouTube – fight Mediocrity is a great channel for business books in 15
minutes
 Start with Why - Simon Sinek book or watch his TED talk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4ZoJKF_VuA
 The One Thing - Keller and Papasan read the book and / or watch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnFd34zXbY8
 Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0a8cFtMo8mk
 Our website - https://www.extraordinarypm.com

Keep communicating your Target
Once you have your Target keep re-iterating it to:
Your Target is the sign-post that you use to align everyone involved in
your programme
 Your team
 Your stakeholders
 Your sponsor
 The wider business

Describing your Target
 Choose a programme you are familiar with and
note down
 Share your answers and come up with a strapline
for the Target of your programme
 What outcome do you need
to achieve?
 How will you know when
you have achieved it?
 What will be different when
you are done?

Q & As
 Let’s share your thoughts and insights?

Marion Thomas and Sarah Walton

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