I’m leaving my project manager post at the end of this month and I’m sad. I think I was a reasonably good project manager, I got the job done within budget and deadlines and I believe I added extra value. I made sure I understood the end to end process and realised the benefits. I acted as intermediary to ensure good relationships between the software supplier and the authority, and I mediated between the customer and the ICT unit. Sometimes I was the bad cop, and I upset officers because they wanted to scope creep or they were not prepared to change their processes. But I was focused, this project must not be distracted or it will run the risk of drifting - new issues, new project.

I’m pragmatic, better to do something than nothing, but many officers are resistent to change and just not ready to take on the new challenges.

The way I see it is – any progress is better than no progress, just don’t lose sight of your end goal, keep moving towards that goal. The problem with organisations is that they are afraid to make mistakes – we live in a fear culture. But how can we push forward without experimentation? If we try out a new system and it’s not perfect straightaway – we tweak it, we evolve, until its so much better we want even more. Has anyone ever built anything from a blank sheet of paper and it’s been perfect? If they have I’d love to know about it. It’s an unlikely scenario, yet seems to be an expectation by so many people. 

Also, organisations like to amalgamate work – make a project big to solve all the problems. Isn’t that unrealistic? The bigger the project the harder it is to make it happen within budget and deadline. Why not break the project into bitesize bits – workstreams within a programme, with some quick wins so that customers can see little benefits quickly. Aren’t we far more likely to buy in to something if we can see some successes along the way, albeit minor ones? By breaking things into more manageable chunks wouldn’t it be easier to rectify mistakes (which would be smaller) quickly?

Sometimes I see life as a programme with multiple projects within it, maybe that sounds soul-less, but it doesn’t mean there is no emotion within it. It means that there are good times and bad times and you deal with life in bite size bits, you learn and you evolve.

If you want people to believe in a project they need to feel it. Show them why a project needs to happen.  The Heart of Change by John P Kotter talks about seeing, feeling and changing. It’s true, you can engage people if they can see why change needs to happen, because if they can see it, they will feel it and their emotion is a will to make change happen.

I am passionate about the work I do, I want to make things better for the customer, for staff and the organisation. I have been in local authority for 20years and I am still passionate about wanting to make things better, and the best way I think I can do that, is by being out there, making a difference, streamlining systems, providing more efficient processes so we are more responsive and proactive for our customers.

But secondments have to end and there is no money to keep me in the post. There is money to get contractors in to do the work at a higher cost, because that money comes from a different budget. Contractors who will not have the same understanding of the business, the customers or the organisation, but maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe they will bring a different focus and other qualities to the projects. 

Maybe it will be good for me to take a break from this kind of work and to do something different, interact with different colleagues and see the business from a different perspective.

I just hope I don’t lose my business and customer focus.