Organisation Design

Projects, programmes and portfolios do not sit in isolation. They are delivered as part of a wider parent organisation.

The question then is - have we optimised our organisation to provide the maximum chances of success? Do we know what our operating model should look like?

Target Operating Model Design

A target operating model (TOM) tells us how the organisation should function.

Designing a target operating model is complex, because the starting point - how the organisation currently functions - is rarely understood. There may be a substantial variance between what is written down in the Quality Management System, and how the organisation actually functions. Bridging these gaps entails a learning phase that must be reflected in the TOM plan.

The March of AI

Generative AI (artificial intelligence) is the latest step in the evolution of complex, high performing algorithms that can generate content. While generative techniques have been around for a long time (AI is not a new thing), with the advent of large and powerful artificial neural nets (ANNs) they have exploded into the public imagination with chat bots such as ChatGPT, closely followed by open source models such as Facebook’s Llama.

What is Reference Class Forecasting?

Reference Class Forecasting (RCF) is a conceptually simple, yet powerful technique for predicting project durations and costs. It was developed by leading economists including Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman, and its development led to a Nobel Prize in Economics.

This technique responds to some simple observations. We tend to predict outcomes based on:

• what we know (which is often limited, despite our experiences), and
• what we hope (thereby exhibiting aspiration or optimism bias).

RCF shares similar aims to other estimating techniques, but it is the focus on ensembles and probabilities that makes it so powerful, and worth having in our estimating and prediction toolbox.

Projects, programmes and portfolios can be tough environments to apply new techniques and ways of thinking. We can help, by acting as a critical friend that coaches for performance. Often the issues are around presentation, perspectives and mindsets: we can help you navigate these circumstances in your projects.

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To find out more about how we can help with coaching, please get in touch.

Businesses take risk; volatility is everywhere. But how do you know whether the risks you are taking on are sensible and commensurate with experience? The answer lies in digital benchmarking.

Digital benchmarking is a process where we can help you assess the performance of your digital and complex technology projects. We have access to a wide range of data on historical performance in software-intense projects, and can take you through a comparison process to assess how your organisation is performing, and to review the statistics so that you can gauge risks (and opportunities) using a data-driven approach.

Process mining (also known as Automated Business Process Discovery) is an exciting technique and will play an increasingly important role in our data-driven future. Why is this?

To deliver complex change we must first understand our organisations and behaviours. Without this insight we cannot know our starting point. Where better to start than by understanding the ‘as is’ state of our organisations?

We can help you understand the value of business process mining tools to measure the “ground truth” behaviours in your business. Armed with this data and insights, we can work with you to determine the improvements you can make to lift your project and business performance.

In Project Science we use a wide range of tools to deliver compelling insights into data. We often get asked what tools we use, so here’s a list:

Programming

We use a wide range of programming languages. After you’ve been programming for over 20 years, you see more commonalities than differences (and develop a keen sense for what’s practical). Here are some of the languages we use:

• C is a venerable language, having been developed in the early 1970s. C is a low level language, and can be seen as a portable assembler. It can behave like portable assembler too, with its pointer-based programming model. However, we use it with $ gcc - Wall -Wextra to turn on warning flags, and find the modern compilers generate plenty of useful messages that ensure we maximise type-safety and constrain the language to improve robustness.

Data is at the heart of our work. Working with a wide range of structured and unstructured data sources, we transform data into insight that generates business value.

Effective data provides insights into portfolio performance. At a programme and project level, it helps us forecast outcomes, vital to the effective mobilisation of capital. With the right data, risks can be managed and opportunities seized. Surprises are avoided, and long-range predictions become possible.

The burgeoning world of data analytics promises the earth. But how do you go about translating the promises into the hard reality, and thence into benefits? The answer lies in a disciplined approach, through an effective data strategy. We have practical experience designing measurement campaigns, plans and standards that underpin effective data analytics. We help you execute those strategies and roll them out across your organisation.

Data quality and data standards are core parts of a measurement framework. We can help you put this in place, and then work with you to then translate those design specifications into practical systems, taking advantage of automation wherever possible, to collect and aggregate that information to distil high-value insights for your organisation.

It is a fact of life that projects, programmes and portfolios can go off-track, causing reputational damage and impacting the well-being of the project team, as well as our business.

Using our disciplined execution techniques, we evaluate the circumstances that gave rise to failed or underperforming projects. We can advise on how to restore control and can help you recover the project.

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Please get in touch to find out more about our track record recovering and restoring projects to health.