Are organisations making the most of project management?
Both public and private sector organisations which successfully manage change – whether this is when trying to grow, managing costs better, meeting new customer or citizen needs, or responding to external events – have long since recognised project management (and, more recently, programme management) as a core enabling discipline.
Given the ever increasing pace and complexity of change, the ability of private sector organisations to manage it well is now a key source of competitive advantage. Equally, in the public sector it is becoming more and more essential in order to continue delivering outcomes in an environment of less funding.
Read more as Steve Wade discusses why many organisations feel they are not fully delivering on their business plans or managing change effectively.
Keep your software healthy during Agile development
Users download to consume applications faster than ever before; and disposable mobile usage patterns only serve to exacerbate this trend. By direct consequence, programmers themselves have increasingly adopted agile development principles to match the speed of the market.
Under an agile doctrine, software development is focused on the need to release early and often – continuously even.
The agile programming team positively welcomes changes to user requirements that will divert or alter the direction of the code in motion. Even late changes are welcome as these lead to higher competitive advantage for the customer who is ultimately served with a better application.
Surely then, it remains tougher to control software quality in this vortex of dynamism?
Read more by Adrian Bridgwater
Don’t Blame the People, Blame the Process
Having good reliable project processes is the cornerstone of a successful business. Processes ensure activities can be repeated in a consistent and robust manner. However, not all processes are useful and in the worst cases may actually hold your business back.
So don’t blame your people because you have large unwieldy processes. Ask whether your project processes are fit for purpose. Review and simplify where necessary.
Read more from Duncan Haughey on ProjectSmart
Isles of Scilly Seabird Recovery Project Underway
A pioneering project that is the largest community-based island restoration project to date became fully underway this week.
The Isles of Scilly Seabird Recovery Project aims to protect seabirds in Scilly by keeping the islands of St Agnes and Gugh ‘rat-free’ for at least 25 years. The UK is internationally important for seabirds, but many species are declining in numbers. Among many challenges they face, the greatest threat on land is predation of eggs and chicks by brown rats. Of the rich array of seabirds nesting in Scilly, two are likely to benefit from the project the most: Manx shearwater and storm petrel.
Arriving from New Zealand this autumn, island restoration specialists Wildlife Management International Limited (WMIL) have been contracted to carry out the key rat-baiting phase of the project which is due to last until March. They have worldwide experience of reversing the decline of vulnerable seabird species by removing brown rats which have been accidently introduced to islands. The rats colonised Scilly from shipwrecks in the 18th century.
