This case study demonstrates the transformation in project results that increasing project management professionalism can bring to a business. The business in the case study was an R&D consultancy, but the same transformation is possible for any business where projects significantly define business performance.

1. 1 of 24
3 Steps to Professional Project Management:
Case Study
1. Efficient Process
2. Competent People
3. Shared Understanding

2. 2 of 24
3 Steps to Professional Project Management
Strategy
Efficient process, competent people, shared understanding.
1. Create and embed a light-weight, end-to-end project delivery framework
2. Create and embed a PM competence and learning & development framework
3. Manage and develop project delivery stakeholders
Implementation
Measure, benchmark & improve.
Results
5 year case study

3. 3 of 24
Objectives: Holistic, Long-term
Team
• Match team to portfolio
• Mix of new, middle & senior PMs
• Develop common SMART objectives
• Benchmark and align pay & benefits
• Learning & Development
• Develop PM Competency Framework
aligned to APM & business
• Drive PM Qualification & Certification
• Run regular PM Forum to share best practice
• Embed mentoring & coaching
• Develop PM team feedback
• Succession Planning
• PM career development
• Identify new PMs: internal & external
Results
• Develop scalable project governance & review
• Analyse and reduce project loss: frequency & scale
• Improve project cash-flow
• On-time payment milestone delivery
• Payment milestone invoicing & payment
• Deliver better than budget project portfolio result
Customers
• Listen to and act on feedback: internal & external
• Measure and increase repeat business
• Improve customer change control
• Measure and increase customer satisfaction
• Increase on-time project completion
• Seek and act on customer feedback
Processes
• Create a unified, efficient process framework
• Co-ordinate best practitioner process development
• Actively increase understanding and use
• Rationalise engineering tools & align to process
• Benchmark and embed improvements
• CMMI-Dev: Achieve CMMI Maturity Level 3
• EFQM: Achieve >650 score
• Close the loop on lessons learned: don’t record & forget
Ensure PM competence matches
project value, risk and complexity:
availability should not be the only
PM selection criteria
Competence: the combination of knowledge and relevant experience

4. 4 of 24
Project Delivery Framework
Opportunity
Assessment
CONCEPT PHASE
Study Planning
IMPLEMENTATION PHASE
Design Iteration A Design Iteration B
DesignDesign
Manu-
facture
Site/Final Acceptance Test
Field Trial
Interoperability Test
New Product Introduction (NPI)
Process Design Process Trials Process Proving Ramp-up
Sales & Marketing Definition
Service Definition Service Roll-out
Launch
Volume Production,
Sales & Service
End of
Life
G3
Implementation
Approval
G4
A
Samples
G5
B
Samples
NPI
Launch
G7
Sales
Release
G8
Product
Sign-off
G9
Termination
Decision
Design/Build/
Test
...Increment 1
...
System
Test
Design/Build/
Test
Increment n...
...
System
Test
Test Test
Manu-
facture
Software &
Firmware:
Hardware:
G2
Full
Business
Case
G0
Idea
Synchronisation
Gates
ConcurrentLifecycleProcesses
G1
Initial
Business
Case
PDR
Preliminary Design Review
FDR
Final Design Review
G6
CDR
Critical Design Review
PRR
Production Readiness Review
TRR
Test Readiness Review
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Typical Timeline
Let the best practitioners own the process
Get advice from process experts to ensure consistent process development
Process describes how we do what we do
Gate reviews – timed before significant spends – check work is synchronised and the business case still valid
A chance to stop or change the approach if necessary

5. 5 of 24
Clear separation of Policy, Process and Guidance
Topic Policy
Process Work Instruction
Tools Map Template Guide Owner
Form
Lifecycle P01
PR01 WI01-00 to WI01-99
TM01 T01-00 to T01-99 G01 Process Owner
F01-00 to F01-99
Bidding P02
PR02 WI02-00 to WI02-99
TM02 T02-00 to T02-99 G02 Bid Process Owner
F02-00 to F02-99
Project Management P03
PR03 WI03-00 to WI03-99
TM03 T03-00 to T03-99 G03 PM Process Owner
F03-00 to F03-99
20 topics cover whole lifecycle
A little mandatory process
A lot of guidance material
including templates and examples
from real projects
Project acquisition & delivery focus
Similar structure for operations
1. Lifecycle
2. Bidding
3. Project Management
4. Quality Assurance
5. Procurement
6. Requirements Management
7. Systems Engineering
8. EMC
9. Antenna Development
10. Digital Design
11. Mechanical Engineering
12. Electronics and PCB Design
13. FPGA & Digital ASIC Design
14. RF ASIC Design
15. RF Engineering
16. Software Engineering
17. DSP Engineering
18. Test
19. Manufacturing and Production Engineering
20. Service & Support
Audited Process < > Guidance & Training Material
Practitioner Peer Groups for each area assist buy-in and development
Cut the clutter! Keep the best, delete the rest Pinch with pride!

6. 6 of 24
Example
Process
Concept Planning Phase ProcessCategory F ProjectsCategory A to E Projects
A single concept is detailed sufficiently to quote for a fixed price implementation
Requirements
System Design
Electronics Subsystem Design
Mechanics Subsystem Design
Antenna Subsystem Design
FPGA Subsystem Design
Software Subsystem Design
System Design Review
Concept Study
Phase
Define System
Requirements
Requirements [18]
Analyse & Refine
System Design
Subsystem Design
Define Subsystem
Requirements
Requirements
System Requirements
[18]
[18.1]
Requirements
System Requirements
Subsystem Requirements
[18]
[18.1]
[18.2]
Integration Planning
SW Drop Plan
FPGA Drop Plan
Integration Plan
System Design
Block Diagrams
PCB Shapes & Component Placement
BoM & NRE Summary
FPGA Interface Specification
FPGA Pin Allocation Table
System Design [19]
Define Test Concept
System Modelling
Block Diagrams
Level Plans / Link Budget
[19.2]
[19.6]
[19]
[19.2]
[19.4]
[19.5]
[19.7]
[19.8]
System Design
Subsystem Design
Electronics Subsystem Design
Mechanics Subsystem Design
3D Models
Mechanics Rapid Prototypes
Antenna Subsystem Design
FPGA Subsystem Design
FPGA Behavioural Simulation Scripts
FPGA Complexity Analysis
Software Subsystem Design
Iterative
Cost Reduction
Feature Revision
Design Selection
Make/Buy Decisions
(possible sub-contracts)
Test Planning
Test Concept [21]
Test Concept
Test Plan
Product Integrity Tests
System Tests
Subsystem Tests
Integration Tests
[18]
[19]
[25]
[26]
[27]
[28]
[29]
[21]
[22]
[22.1]
[22.2]
[22.3]
[22.5]
System FMEA
Manufacturing
Kick-off Workshop
Write Production
Test Plan
Manufacturing
Consensus
System FMEA
Refine PCB
Component
Placement
PCB Shapes &
Component Placement
(inc. screening plan)
[19.4]
[20]
[31]
[30]
[32]
Product Integrity Plan [6]
[19]
[19.1]
[25]
[26]
[26.1]
[39.2]
[27]
[28]
[28.1]
[28.2]
[29]
Spreads understanding & cooperation
Informs work breakdown and scheduling: acts as a memory jogger

7. 7 of 24
Manage Risk and Control Change
Pre-Bid Bid Concept Implementation
Acquisition Delivery
10 – 25% 75 – 90%Price:
Opportunities
Threats
Volume
Time
Active Risk Management – throughout the lifecycle – to deal with uncertainty
Uncertainty Knowledge
Contractual Risk Reduction
 Reduce risk to <20% of contract value
before going into implementation
 Get under contract in phases
to match the level of risk at each phase
 Gate Reviews: focus on risk, check for change
 Run all projects as if they are fixed price
Bid and Concept Phase
 Lots of unknowns = lots of risk
 Scoped time & materials – if you can
 Joint activity with customer
 Get fundamental approach right
Need to do work to acquire knowledge
 Better able to estimate the job
 Early work defines final result

8. 8 of 24
Risk Register: Risk Summary – with Risk History
The saved baselines in the Risk History show the Risk development over time
Managing upside risk as important as managing downside risk – and can offset threat impact
Qualitative risk management, using an Excel Risk Register tool

9. 9 of 24
Risk Register: Risk Event List

10. 10 of 24
Risk Register: Example Risk Event

11. 11 of 24
Risk Register: Probability Impact Diagram

12. 12 of 24
Consistent Planning
Strategy
(Need)
Contingency
Opportunities
Enhancement
Tasks
Secondary
Risks
Product
Breakdown
Structure
Work
Breakdown
Structure
Work Packages
& Tasks
Estimates
Zero Risk
(Deterministic)
Cost
INFORM
Inform / Offset
Threats
Mitigation
Tasks
Programme
& Project
Set-up
INFORM
Project
Delivery
Process,
PDP
Risk Register Tool, RRT
Risk Management Strategy, RMS
Risk Management Plan, RMP
Held at Board level: Project, Programme or Business
Held at Project & Programme level
If cost effective
Contingency
Project
Risk Pot
Estimation
Uncertainty

13. 13 of 24
Funding Estimation Uncertainty
The business Risk Appetite can inform what probability to use, e.g.:
10% Team Target (likely risks do not occur)
50% Best Estimate (as many risks occur as not)
90% ‘Safe’ Estimate (several unlikely major risks occur)
One strategy:
Estimation uncertainty ‘project risk pot’ = deterministic cost – 90% cost
Reward using less of this risk pot, but recognise that a proportion is likely to be required
This encourages behaviour that enhances results whilst recognising uncertainty and setting
realistic expectations
PMs use project risk pot to ensure delivery to the deterministic end date
Drives the right behaviour in the team – to deliver on their Most Likely estimates
Selective 4 point estimating maintains competitive pricing

14. 14 of 24
Ensuring Team Delivery
Same team to bid, estimate and deliver
Agile Sprints and Burn Down charts
Scrum: daily meetings, limited sprints to develop end-to-end testable features, etc.
Use of Burn Down charts to display progress for all to see
Team really buy-in and like to see themselves “below the line”
Suitable length expected to be around 4-6 weeks
Burn Down chart example on next slide:
Interesting dynamics and effects clearly visible
VHDL Team, 10 week sprint which was too long, too much to verify at the end
Co-locate teams whenever possible and mix the team disciplines and grades
Flexi-time, reward/recognise contribution beyond the norm, exceptional results bonus

15. 15 of 24
Burn Down Chart Example
Team take
corrective
action!
Burn Downs
get the team
to engage
with the plan

16. 16 of 24
PM Excellence Programme
A Learning & Development programme for project managers
Incorporating a competence framework based on the APM competence framework
Each project manager owns a Portfolio, Programme & Project Career Review tool, or CRT
– The CRT encapsulates their career to date:
• Education & Continuing Professional Development
• Bid and project experience
• Competence self assessment
• Summary of achievement compared to their next career level up
• Next step planning
– Objectively compares their performance with their peers
– Helps set learning & development objectives
– Clearly shows the next steps to advance their career
– Built on Portfolio, Programme & Project best practice
CRT used for promotion and certification reviews and annual performance assessments

17. 17 of 24
Best Practice Peer Review
A quarterly PM Forum
– 1 day best practice workshop
– build a supportive PM community
– close the loop on lessons learned
The PM Excellence Programme submitted for APM Corporate Accreditation
APM professional body membership encouraged
APM qualifications required for jobs matched to IPMA levels A to D
All category A to D projects peer reviewed
PM Certification by internal review panel with external PM chair

18. 18 of 24
3 Steps to Professional Project Management
Strategy
Efficient process, competent people, shared understanding.
1. Create and embed a light-weight, end-to-end project delivery framework
2. Create and embed a PM competence and learning & development framework
3. Manage and develop project delivery stakeholders
Implementation
Measure, benchmark & improve.
Results
5 year case study

19. 19 of 24
Case Study: Project Portfolio
The methods described were used in a contract R&D business with this project portfolio
Many complex projects, according to the APM definition
Projects were categorised to enable PM competence matching.
Category A is the highest value, risk and complexity, F the lowest.
41 (40 External & 1 Internal) category A to D projects
70% of overall project portfolio by value
PM was now always a career PM
Average contract value: £1.3m
Largest project: £15m fixed price
Average duration: 18 months
334 (234 External & 100 Internal) category E & F projects
PM remained typically an engineer
Average contract value: £90k
Average duration: 9 months
Red
8
3%
Amber
14
5%
Green
353
92%Project
Status
External
275
73%
Internal
100
27%
375
Projects

20. 20 of 24
Case Study: Over-Budget Project Root Causes
Year 1
An analysis of project over-spend root
causes showed poor and inconsistent
project management skills as root causes
None of the PM team held any PM
qualifications or professional PM body
membership
1
1
1
2
2
3
3
4
5
5
9
16
0 10 20
Relocation
Order Reduction
Staff Competence
Grade Mix Change
Customer Dependency
Production Data Pack
Staff Availability
System Design
Integration & Test
Supplied Code Issue
Other
Incorrectly Bid
Project Management
Test Failure
Underestimation
Over Budget - Root Cause Frequency
Year 1

21. 21 of 24
Case Study: Portfolio Objectives Progress after 5 years
Team
• Match team to portfolio
• Mix of new, middle & senior PMs
• Develop common SMART objectives
• Benchmark and align pay & benefits
• Learning & Development
• Develop PM Competency Framework
aligned to APM & business
• Drive PM Qualification & Certification
• Run regular PM Forum to share best practice
• Embed mentoring & coaching
• Develop PM team feedback
• Succession Planning
• PM career development
• Identify new PMs: internal & external
Results
• Develop scalable project governance & review
• Analyse and reduce project loss: frequency & scale
• Improve project cash-flow
• On-time payment milestone delivery
• Payment milestone invoicing & payment
• Deliver better than budget project portfolio result
Customers
• Measure and increase repeat business
• Improve customer change control
• Measure and increase customer satisfaction
• Increase on-time project completion
• Seek and act on customer feedback
Processes
• Create a unified, efficient process framework
• Co-ordinate best practitioner process development
• Actively increase understanding and use
• Rationalise engineering tools & align to process
• Benchmark and embed improvements
e.g.
• CMMI-Dev: Achieve CMMI Maturity Level 3
• EFQM: Achieve >650 score
Continuous Improvement Significant Change Ongoing Significant Change Required

22. 22 of 24
Case Study: Results after 5 Years
13%
17%
15%
8%
-52%
Year 5
Year 4
Year 3
Year 2
Year 1
Overall Project Results
Result vs. Budget
• Transformed portfolio results
• Happy customers
• Happy Project Managers
• Estimation still #1 issue but reduced in frequency
• ‘Project Management’ no longer an issue
1
1
1
1
1
2
2
5
5
5
6
8
11
0 10 20
Project Management
Relocation
Supplied Code Issue
Order Reduction
Incorrectly Bid
System Design
Staff Competence
Production Data Pack
Other
Customer Dependency
Test Failure
Integration & Test
Staff Availability
Grade Mix Change
Underestimation
Over Budget - Root Cause Frequency
Year 5

23. 23 of 24
PM professionalism is the key to transforming project results.
There is no short-cut to consistently good project results.
Project management is hard: projects are more complex, stakeholders more demanding and
the competences required cover a hugely diverse range of subjects.
Executives often behave as if a PM were only as good as their last result.
Competence is one required element, but the environment must also be conducive to
efficient project delivery. Project delivery process and tools and the culture of the business
must be aligned.
The strategy described here isn’t fast, cheap or easy. It is however transformational, long
lasting and ultimately pays for itself many times over.
Summary

24. 24 of 24
Author Profile
In my board role I led a team of 22 Project Managers and 5 Quality Engineers, and ensured Roke’s £79m
project portfolio delivered better than budget profit. I set-up and ran a virtual PMO and created REP,
the Roke Engineering Process, also managing the engineering tools to support it.
After 4 years as an electronics engineer for Siemens, achieving Chartered Engineer,
I moved into project management for 14 years, at Siemens and Roke Manor Research.
Successfully delivering Roke’s most challenging whole lifecycle product developments
on time and under budget led to a role as Director and board member for 6 years.
In 2013 I returned to hands-on project management as Programme Director at
Cambridge Consultants, founder member of the Cambridge Science Park.
Creator of the APM corporate accredited PM Excellence Programme,
I chaired a quarterly PM forum to share best practice and built a
supportive PM community. I coached seven PMs to RPP, five to PQ,
and all passed APMP.
These investments in PM professionalism led to a turn-around and
annual improvement in project results across a 400 project portfolio
and delivered an above budget performance in five consecutive years
with profits totalling £7.9m above budget.
Passionate advocate of PM professionalism, Fellow of the APM and
the IET and author of articles published in Project and PM Today.
Professional Development
Winning Project Work
Planning
Estimating
Risk Management
Earned Value Management
Change Control
Stakeholder Management
3 Steps to Professional Project Management: Case Study
ProjectManagementTopics