IQANZ Blog Preparing business for a project

Preparing the business for a project

by Nicki Carruth | Jan 18, 2024 | Project Assurance

Perhaps you’re a business relatively new to the world of projects. Or maybe the business has gone through significant changes that create somewhat of a ‘clean slate’, meaning all processes and practices are up for improvement. You could also be an organisation that is delivering projects regularly but have a sense that they are harder to get through than they should be.

Whatever your situation, this article offers some insights into creating an environment for projects to be delivered well. The factors we share below are some of the critical building blocks that, done right, can make life much easier. And a successful project is one that not only delivers the outcome, but does so to budget and on-time.

A strong project governance structure

Projects can often float away from budgets and timelines when there’s a lack of ownership and reporting right up to senior leadership. The delivery team and project manager, while critical, are only parts of the puzzle. Projects require an engaged and effective sponsor, supportive steering group, clearly defined reporting tools, risk management, and senior leadership oversight. Any and all projects should be part of a portfolio of initiatives that a senior leadership team can at any time understand the progress, cost and risks involved.

Governance done well will also remove issues with escalation and decision-making. If there’s a clear process for who is involved in decision-making, resolutions to problems are much easier to achieve. Organisation will often develop specific frameworks to guide decision-making, which is invaluable for expensive, high-stakes activities.

Ultimately, the governance structure in a business for projects will help connect strategic objectives to the day-to-day delivery of the business. It’s worth spending the time to get right.

Managing your resources for projects

Project delivery typically lives alongside business-as-usual (BAU) work. While there are many benefits to getting your full-time staff involved in projects, there should be a process in place for managing time between projects and regular work. You’ll want to have a clear view of how projects impact individuals’ KPIs, job descriptions and performance reviews.

As salaries are typically lower per hour than contractors, it’s perfectly reasonable to utilise the experience and expertise of your permanent team members. Remember however, the transition cost involved in changing from one set of tasks to another – you’ll want to be deliberate about whether team members are assigned full time to projects, half the time, or involved infrequently.

Engaging contractors and suppliers

Most large projects in New Zealand involve contractors and external suppliers to deliver. Outside assistance to complete projects is common given the specialist expertise these parties can offer and the lack of time many BAU staff have to contribute to projects. It’s often more financially prudent to engage this help for a shorter duration to complete a milestone on time and on budget.

A project’s budget can be greatly impacted by how well or poorly these engagements are managed. Without careful hiring and procurement processes, your project’s momentum can slow down and budgets blow out. No matter how capable a contractor or supplier, internally your business must manage these resources effectively.

Business cases to approve projects

While business cases are familiar to most larger organisations, they’re useful for any business before embarking on a sizable investment. A business case should involve research into the issue and potential solutions, include consultation with key people across the business and conduct review into the costs involved. Assembling the detailed information needed for a business case can take some time, but that creates an opportunity for the business to challenge and debate aspects of the project requirements.

Plenty of would-be projects don’t move past the business case stage if there’s no compelling rationale behind the investment. Sometimes the business case process surfaces a better way of executing the project, saving money and stress in the process. Business cases typically have one owner (in the public sector this is often known as Senior Responsible Owner), but will have many others feed into it, either directly contributing to sections or being a point of consultation (e.g. a financial controller providing information around affordability).

Developing a project scope and plan

Scope creep and delays – two very common project challenges that cost time, money and grey hairs! So many disputes and roadblocks in a project come from a lack of clarity in the scope or plan. The plan should include very clear deliverables and milestones, applying timeframes to these to be completed. The scope should leave as little doubt as possible as to what’s required from the project team, and what isn’t. Left ambiguous, you’ve got a recipe for problems.

A project scope may live as a document, along with the plan. But putting the plan into action will need it to exist in project management tools like software. Good project management software allows easy input of tasks, dates and milestones, as well as offering a quick way to report to stakeholders and leadership on progress. It’s a great way to keep the delivery team connected to progress, too.

Embedding strong project delivery methodologies

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to project delivery. Some projects or even businesses suit certain methodologies. A popular approach in technology projects where the solution is often iterative and full of test and learn-moments is that of Agile. For projects that demand milestones are completed in a certain order, Waterfall is a tried and true approach embraced for decades by businesses around the world. Prince2 is also reasonably structured, with each ‘phase’ divided up with its own plan.

Before embarking on a big project, make sure there’s a view on the different project delivery models available and which are right for the outcomes needed. This can be captured in the business case and project plan, but the organisation should have a process around determining the best option.

Communication strategies across the business

How does your organisation find its internal communication at present? Are there regular challenges around visibility of business changes and projects? Is there a recurring issue with stakeholder disagreements? If you’ve identified some issues with communication in the business, it’s worth resolving these before embarking on a big programme or project. Otherwise the business initiative could only serve to amplify these issues, with the added combustible ingredients of deadline pressure and budget burn rate. We’ve seen first hand great on paper projects be derailed through problems stemming from communication breakdowns.

Here are some helpful communication practices to adopt into the business pre-project:

Honest, transparent comms around the project, who it impacts, what its purpose is.
Clear, central information about who is responsible for each aspect of the project.
A strong project scope document that sets out the parameters.
Universally agreed communication channels for different reasons – transactional or documentation approval via email, conflict resolution in person, group discussion for brainstorming and so on.
Encourage and demonstrate empathy and listening in communications and empower your team to call out when these principles are not being followed.
Including all necessary parties in decision-making moments. A surefire way to lose interest or support from a stakeholder is leaving them out of decisions they should be involved in.

The more a business’ own culture has great communication practices embedded, the less strain you put on a project manager who ultimately is at their best overseeing good delivery rather than mediating. This isn’t an easy one to solve quickly, but is absolutely worth the effort to get right (or as good as it can be).

A project portfolio strategy

Have more than one non-BAU activity happening at the same time? You’ve got a portfolio to manage, beyond each project or programme itself. Portfolio management is something that the leadership team should ultimately own as they can make decisions around the prioritisation of each project, and view their budget and resources universally. Managing the portfolio of projects carefully will help coordinate efforts across the business efficiently. Less wasted budget, quicker delivery and more effective change management are all benefits of close portfolio management.

Building ownership into stakeholders’ roles

Your stakeholders will unlock progress and provide invaluable knowledge. Often, they’ll be required to sign off certain parts of a project whether that’s a large infrastructure initiative or new software. But the business needs to take the lead when aligning project requirements with stakeholders’ own KPIs and job descriptions. If you’re expecting people to take ownership, there needs to be this connection made. It’ll quickly stunt progress if there’s a disconnect. Ownership starts with clear communication of what’s expected, and articulating what the scope and purpose of the project is.

Creating a culture of change

Projects are essentially vehicles to bring about a positive change for the business, its people, customers, the environment or the New Zealand public. How well is your business equipped to cope with change? This might mean new systems being adopted, a new process, different rules or even new structure in the business. Whatever the change, businesses with cultures that embrace and adapt will find projects flow better – and the outcomes will be more successful.

Change management is a huge topic to cover here, but consider for now how well you’re equipped to manage it through:

Celebrating and encouraging improvement and change in day-to-day operations
Being very clear on the business’ vision and mission – regularly
Create pathways for the team to feedback, contribute and challenge in the business so that they’re connected to changes rather than just being affected by them.
Invest the time and energy into training moments with staff when change does come – so there’s trust that the business has its people’s back during turbulent times.

Is your infrastructure and technology ready?

How well is your business equipped to enable a project to run successfully? Are there the tools in place for your project team to do its best work? Is the wider business ready to adapt around the project’s outcomes? Examples of this include hardware and network infrastructure for a new platform to work well, but projects across conservation, construction, science and any other industry also rely on certain elements to be in place before a project can work.

Get your business project-ready with IQANZ

Does your organisation need the building blocks in place before embarking on big projects? Our team at IQANZ have extensive knowledge and experience around successful project delivery. We’ll help you identify areas to improve, install processes and have the right tools in place to successfully deliver your project. Our team is only made up of senior experience, meaning your projects and business is in safe hands. Reach out to us today if you’re keen to chat more about how we can help.