APM news, Good Covid-19 news, Defender continues, Political news, BREXIT, Stonehenge mystery solved and some successful Wildlife projects
REPORT
By Miles Shepherd
Executive Advisor & International Correspondent
Salisbury, England, UK
INTRODUCTION
One of the issues we all face during lockdown is the influence of ennui – not boredom as such but a lethargy, an inability to start work that needs to be done and difficulty completing tasks. Fortunately, events in the project world have been diverse, exciting and worthy of attention. So as lockdown continues, I will try to share with you some of the matters that have come to my attention in July.
The UK economy has figured large in the national press throughout July and the news has been mixed so a look at what passes for policy at the government level will be of interest as it will impact many different sectors, all of which depend upon project managers. This means that professional project people will be visible so the news of developments at the Association for Project management are also important. So, this month we will be looking at the good news, government policy issues, green projects overseas and some good news on the wildlife projects scene.
APM
The news from APM is tinged with sadness as one of the stalwarts of the Association has died. Geoff Reiss, best known as the man who developed Pertmaster, passed on aged 75. A man of many parts, he had many claims to fame as may be seen at the tribute posted at https://www.apm.org.uk/news/in-memoriam-project-management-pioneer-geoff-reiss/ . I knew him for his work on programme management, one of the first people in UK to take up this vital aspect of our profession, and as an Honorary Fellow. He will be much missed.
APM have also appointed two new Honorary Fellows, Amanda Meller and Professor Andrew Davies. As Chief Guide, Amanda Meller, pictured, is Girlguiding’s most senior volunteer. She has been involved in guiding her whole life and has been a Girlguiding qualified trainer since 2003. Over the years she has progressed from being chair of the British Youth Council delegation to being elected as a member of Council and the Executive committee.
In addition, Amanda is a senior consultant at Adapta Consulting, an organisation that specialises in working with charities, membership organisations and other not-for-profit organisations. Prior to her current role, she was a senior project manager for Citizens Advice where she managed a £10m project to provide extended hours of advice across over 500 locations in England and Wales reaching an additional 335,000 clients every year. She also has experience in the financial sector, managing ICT and business change programmes.
Professor Andrew Davies is the RM Phillips Freeman Chair and professor of innovation management in the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU), University of Sussex Business School. He is a researcher, educator, consultant and advisor who is fascinated by understanding and making innovation happen in complex projects, with a focus on large-scale infrastructure in the built environment.
He began his career at SPRU, Sussex University before moving to Amsterdam University, Imperial College and University College London (UCL). He returned to SPRU in 2019 and continues as honorary professor at the Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment at UCL and visiting professor in the Department of Business and Management at Luiss University in Rome.
Over the past 15 years, he has collaborated with leaders of some of the UK’s largest infrastructure projects including Heathrow (terminal 5, terminal 2 and the third runway), the London Olympics, Crossrail, the Thames Tideway Tunnel, High-Speed 1 and 2, and the Westminster Palace Restoration and Renewal Project.
He is a regular collaborator with APM, having authored our 2019 report Project Management for Large, Complex Projects. He also contributed to Future of Project Management, a collaboration between APM, Arup and The Bartlett School of Construction and Project Management at UCL
GOOD NEWS
The real good news is that lockdown in UK has been eased. Of perhaps more import is the more nuanced stance adopted by the governments of all the nations in the Union. This means that where conditions allow, less restrictive conditions apply. Conversely, where so-called “spikes” appear, more stringent conditions can be imposed. While this is more an operational than project matter, it is still good news as more project people will be able to function more effectively as restrictions ease. So now we need to keep taking the medicine – and wear our masks!
More…
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How to cite this report: Shepherd, M. (2020). UK Project Management Roundup, PM World Journal, Vol. IX, Issue VIII, August. Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/pmwj96-Aug2020-Shepherd-UK-Regional-Report.pdf
About the Author
Miles Shepherd
Salisbury, UK
Miles Shepherd is an executive editorial advisor and international correspondent for PM World Journal in the United Kingdom. He is also managing director for MS Projects Ltd, a consulting company supporting various UK and overseas Government agencies, nuclear industry organisations and other businesses. Miles has over 30 years’ experience on a variety of projects in UK, Eastern Europe and Russia. His PM experience includes defence, major IT projects, decommissioning of nuclear reactors, nuclear security, rail and business projects for the UK Government and EU. Past Chair, Vice President and Fellow of the Association for Project Management (APM), Miles is also past president and chair and a Fellow of the International Project Management Association (IPMA). He was a Director for PMI’s Global Accreditation Centre and is immediate past Chair of the ISO committee developing new international standards for Project Management and for Program/Portfolio Management. Miles is Chair of the British Standards Institute’s Committee on Project, Programme and Portfolio Management and has been involved in the development of Uk’s BSI 6079 for more than 25 years. He was involved in setting up APM’s team developing guidelines for project management oversight and governance. Miles is based in Salisbury, England and can be contacted at miles.shepherd@msp-ltd.co.uk.
To view other works by Miles Shepherd, visit his author showcase in the PM World Library at http://pmworldlibrary.net/authors/miles-shepherd/.
