Project Management
We provide senior project managers for delivery in complex environments, where the deadline is fixed, the systems are old and several vendors are working on the same thing.
Tell us what has to be delivered and by when. We will tell you what we think it takes and who would run it.
The Client’s Situation
The deadline was set by someone else
On the projects we are asked to run, the deadline is rarely set by the client. It is set by a regulator, by a merger agreement, or by the date the legacy system is switched off. It does not move because the project is having a difficult month.
At the same time the delivery depends on legacy systems nobody fully understands any more, on several vendors who pass responsibility between themselves, and on internal people already stretched by their day-to-day work. Risks get raised too late. Problems surface in production.
By the time it is obvious that a project is in trouble, the useful decisions have usually already been missed.
“The project is late and I don’t know exactly where we stand”
“Every week I hear a different story”
“The deadline is regulatory and we can’t miss it”
What changes when someone is actually running it
The job of a project manager is to make the state of the project knowable, and to make decisions possible while they still have an effect.
One version of where things stand
Everyone on the project sees the same picture of scope, timelines and risks, in many cases for the first time.
Risks raised while they can still be resolved
Escalation happens at the point it is useful, rather than as an explanation after the fact.
Vendors held to their dependencies
Someone is tracking who owes what to whom, and following it up when the answer is unclear.
Sponsors given something to decide with
A milestone plan, budget tracking and steering committee materials that reflect the actual position.
The knowledge stays when we leave
Documentation and a proper handover at closure, so the project does not take its history with it.
What the work covers
1
Project and programme management
Running the delivery, from a single project to a programme with several workstreams.
2
Product development management
Managing delivery where the thing being built is new rather than being replaced.
3
Recovery of stalled projects
Taking over a delivery that has lost momentum, establishing the real position, and getting it moving again.
4
PMO support and project documentation setup
Strengthening an existing project office and putting the documentation on a workable footing.
5
PMO setup and PM tooling implementation
Building a project office and the tooling to run it where none exists.
6
Time, budget and profitability tracking
Setting up the tracking that shows what a project is consuming and what it is returning.
7
Handover preparation and project closure
Closing a project so the knowledge, documentation and open items transfer cleanly.
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We fit into how you already work
We establish where the project actually is
A requirements analysis, usually a gap analysis between the current and the target state. Two to three weeks for a smaller business change. Considerably longer on a large project, because the existing landscape has to be understood before anything can be planned against it. The goal in both cases is the same: that everyone sees the same picture of scope, timelines and risks.
We choose the approach the deadline demands
Waterfall where there is a fixed external deadline and a cutover. An agile approach for smaller changes and for new product development. The method follows the constraint rather than the preference.
We keep a steady rhythm through delivery
Weekly status meetings with the business owners. Dependencies between vendors tracked. Risks escalated while they can still be resolved rather than recorded once they cannot.
We hand it over properly
Documentation and knowledge transferred to your team at closure, so what was learned on the project stays with the organisation.
We do not arrive with a methodology to install. We work with your organisational structure, your tools and your steering committee, from the first week.
Application Development
Why organisations bring us in
Tell us where the project actually stands
Whether the work has not started, has lost momentum, or is running without anyone able to say where it is, the first conversation is the same. What has to be delivered, by when, and who is currently accountable for it.
What do our clients say?
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Questions we are asked
Can you take over a project that is already in trouble?
Yes. Recovering stalled projects is part of what we do. It starts the same way as any other engagement, with establishing the real position rather than the reported one, which usually means a gap analysis between where the project is and where it was supposed to be. That is an uncomfortable few weeks, and it is the only sensible place to start.
We already have a PMO. Do we still need an external project manager?
Often, yes — a PMO and a project manager do different jobs. A PMO sets standards, governs the portfolio and reports on it. Running one difficult delivery end to end is a full-time role, and most PMOs are not staffed to absorb it on top of everything else. Where yours has the capacity, it should run the delivery itself. Where it does not, that is what we are brought in for.
Will you use your methodology or ours?
Yours. We work with your methodology, your tools and your steering committee from the first week, because a fixed deadline leaves no room for a phase spent introducing a new way of working. Where you have no methodology of your own, we can propose and implement one that fits the situation.
Who actually runs the project?
A named senior project manager, working on your project either full time or at an agreed percentage depending on scope. On a larger programme we bring in a second project manager for a specific workstream. The person you meet is the person doing the work.
How long before everyone has the same view of the project?
For a smaller business change, the initial analysis usually takes two to three weeks. On a large project it takes considerably longer, because the existing landscape has to be understood before anything can be planned against it. We would rather take the time than produce a plan built on assumptions.
Can you work as a subcontractor on a delivery we are leading?
Yes. A significant part of our work is for integrators and software vendors who need an experienced project manager on a client delivery. We are used to working inside someone else’s commercial relationship and reporting into their delivery structure.
Tell us where the project actually stands
Whether the work has not started, has lost momentum, or is running without anyone able to say where it is, the first conversation is the same. What has to be delivered, by when, and who is currently accountable for it.
London Office
51 Lime Street
c/o HCR Law LLP
London EC3M 7DQ
United Kingdom
Zagreb Office
Centar 2000
Radnicka cesta 37a
10000 Zagreb
Croatia
Tell us what has to be delivered, the deadline, and who else is working on it. A project manager will come back to you, and if we think you do not need us we will say that.
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