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Edito
Dear colleagues,
This is a very special issue. Not only
because it presents the lessons
learned on the NSC and Waiting
Queues projects, but also because it
is the last published under my cus-
tody. This newsletter is just part of
a great adventure that started three
years ago and that has thrown up
new challenges for me and allowed
me and my team to accomplish some
remarkable things. I’m also taking
this opportunity to thank all of them.
The adventure does not end here, of
course. This newsletter will continue
to report project management topics
to the PM community next year, so
keep sending in your ideas and ar-
ticles.
Baudouin de Hepcée
Content
• Edito . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
• NSC: was it a success
and why? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 - 2
• Waiting Queues & PMF . . . . . . . . 3
• PMF: the plan phase . . . . . . . . . . 4
• Post Academy is there for you! . . 4
• Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
You know someone who would like to subscribe to this newsletter? Contact: [email protected]
Was the NSC Project actually a suc-
cess? And if it was, what were the
reasons of such a success and the real
things that did make the difference?
The purpose of the NSC project is to
transform the way Mail’s logistics
backbone operates. There are risks at-
tached, but this large-scale, complex
project has been a success thus far,
although we’ re still rolling out round
sorting.
I’ve decided to focus here on a few
things that made the difference in the
NSC project.
Design phase and decision process
We invested thousands of hours de-
signing the NSC project so as to avoid
any serious problems in the execution
phase. Project design is all about tur-
ning a PM’s vision into a detailed de-
scription of every facet of the project,
anticipating every question, issue and
risk. The goal is to define exactly what
you will and won’t do, and particularly
why. That is the only way to ensure
the decision process is solid and all
stakeholders are squarely behind the
project at every stage.
Many projects fail because of a poorly
managed decision process – when de-
cisions are based on gut feelings or lack
the full backing of all decision-makers.
You have to ensure that the whole or-
ganisation is behind a decision and un-
derstands why it is necessary.
Leadership
Managing a complex project like NSC
is not a popularity contest. It involves
creating and communicating a vision,
defining roles and responsibilities,
managing priorities, focusing every-
body on execution, coordinating ef-
forts, communicating to all parties and
more.
1
Please submit your articles to:
NSC: was it a success and why?
Project Management NewsletterN° 2 I October 2007
2
Our CEO and former chairman both
sponsored NSC fully, showing their
confidence in the project team. The
fact that we were a relatively small,
solid group with full final responsibil-
ity helped us a lot. A project team can
never achieve anything in isolation of
course; it must interact with hundreds
of other people, each with their own
role to play, each of which need to be
mobilised. But when push comes to
shove, the project team has to drive.
Managing so many different parti-
cipants consumes a lot of time and
resources. We anticipated this by
achieving critical mass in terms of
staffing, to ensure we were always in
a position to work efficiently, drive the
project and earn the trust of the en-
tire organisation while generating the
least resistance.
Project team and structure
We reviewed the roles and responsi-
bilities of project team members every
3 months to ensure the right task was
always assigned to the right person
and to maximise use of all internal and
external project resources. The success
of a project like NSC depends not only
on staff; structure
and management
are also crucial. We
structured the NSC
project in 26 sub-
projects rather than
departments or
workflows, which
can cause pitfalls
and communica-
tion/alignment is-
sues. Each subproject had its own
manager, timetable, scope, milestones
and deliverables. All 26 subprojects
were incorporated in EPM to optimise
management of interdependencies.
We also added a second dimension
to programme organisation – content
experts (systems, sorting equipment,
processes, HR, customer impact etc) to
fulfil a cross-project role based on their
specific expertise.
We certainly haven’t underestimated
the team management dimension. We
made sure we put together a strong
team – it’s the team
that achieves success,
not individuals – with
special attention for
emotional cycles, in-
cluding celebrating
victories, managing
difficult times and
their consequences
for motivation. We
have all become
friends who trust and help each other.
Each and every one of us is committed
to investing our head, heart and soul
to make it happen. It has been tough
but fun!
Change management
Every project entails a change, by its
very nature. And, by its very nature,
every change generates resistance.
We anticipated this early on in the NSC
project in the ‘managing the change’
subproject.
Conclusion
Leading a complex project like NSC
to success is very much a question of
values, attitude and mindset. We have
kept our focus on details, always re-
mained diligent in our analysis and
decisions, and showed the will to suc-
ceed. This is where we have made the
difference.
Olivier van der Brempt
Project Management Newsletter
“Leading NSC to success is very
much a question of values, attitudes
and mindset”
“A project team can never achieve anything in isolation. It must interact with thousands of other people”
3
Can small projects do without a
framework? PM newsletter asked
Brigitte Vanopdenbosch, Waiting
Queues Pro-ject Manager between
June 05 and May 07.
PM: Would you remind us of the goals
of Waiting Queues?
BV: The goal of the project was – and
still is as it is ongoing – to initiate a
sustainable reduction in customer
waiting times at post offices and
improve customer perceptions of such
waiting times.
PM: How come it’s defined as a small
project?
BV: Because of the limited budget and
resources that were allocated. But just
because it’s not a major project doesn’t
mean it’s not important. The purpose
of the project is to improve the quality
of our customer service.
PM: Did Waiting Queues look like a
complicated project from your posi-
tion?
BV: It was my first project, so it cer-
tainly appeared complicated to me at
the beginning. That’s why I needed a
methodology such as the PMF to guide
me and structure my management of
the project.
PM: What were the most useful
Project Management Framework
tools you used?
BV: The PMF covers all the important
aspects of the project. The Work Break-
down Structure (WBS) certainly helped
in building my approach to the project.
The detailed project charter was also
important in the initiation phase. It was
crucial for me to efficiently summa-
rise the sponsors’ expectations, give
a clear definition of the project scope
to all actors and enable validation by
all stakeholders in a single document.
Communication tools were important
too. Project progress reports are the
best way to communicate important
messages up the hierarchy. The issue
logbook, meeting minutes and action
lists also helped the team to work
efficiently on the project.
PM: Does that mean the PMF is the
solution to all project-related pro-
blems?
BV: Not at all, sometimes you have to
resolve issues with your own skills. That
was the case with the SPOC identifica-
tion for proper empowerment at the
various Business and Services Units.
It gave us the opportunity to discover
the internal working processes within
each BU/SU. The transfer to the busi-
ness was also a concern. Nevertheless,
I do feel the PMF is a great help, as it
guides you through the management
of the entire project. It also helps pro-
vide a clear definition of the project
goals. The templates provide the
documentation that enables the team
to keep working on the project even
when the project manager is absent.
Last but not least, it applies the project
management principles that ensure
senior management takes the project
seriously.
Interviewer: Alain Dupont
What is the PMF?The Project Management Framework is a living tool based on needs and feedback from Project and Program Managers, but also from the business. It gathers all components that are essential for successful management of a project throughout all its phases and all areas of project management.
More info: http://wss.netpost/corporate
Project Management Newsletter
PMF helped Waiting Queues
Brigitte Vanopdenbosch: “Small projects such as Waiting Queues are also important and need therefore some methodology.”
Post Academy is there for you!
Corporate Program Management is working closely with Post Academy to expand and improve Post
Academy’s project management catalogue. The entire training catalogue is available on the intranet.
Be sure to check back regularly for updates. Here is our selection for the next weeks:
Many thanks to: Guy De Smet, Jean-Paul Letor, Olivier Van der Brempt, Brigitte Vanopdenbosch and Translation Services for their participation to this edition. Lay out and printing: Postal Printing House. Responsible editor: Baudouin de Hepcée.
The electronic version of this is newsletter’s edition is also available on: http://wss.netpost/corporate
Let’s continue our PMF trip by going through the fundamentals of the project plan phase.
If a key phrase of the initiate phase is ‘high level’, in the plan phase it’s ‘details’. In the plan phase it is PM’s job to define and refine project goals in a written scope statement, which is the starting point for all future project decisions.
The following processes are part of this phase:
- Obtaining agreement on in & out of scope, which is a very important factor for ma-naging stakeholder expectations.
- Defining project activities and delivera-bles based on detailed WBS and adapted scope
- Identifying & validating interdependen-cies with other projects or BUs
- Assessing the needs of internal SUs or ex-ternal vendors
- Developing a detailed resource plan
- Developing a detailed schedule - Developing a detailed business case
based on documented assumptions
Some of these processes have clear de-pendencies that require them to be per-formed sequentially. Project activities must be defined before they can be scheduled or costed.
The PM has to ensure project buy-in by im- pacted organisations, with the support of the project sponsors and the project leader. Failure to generate buy-in typically creates confusion and demands substantial extra efforts later down the line.
After they are recorded in the detailed project charter, the project scope and plan have to be presented to PAC for activation if the total cash expenditure is > € 200,000 or > 350 ICT MD.
See PMF & PMBOK for more details.
Jean-Paul Letor
Tips
Identify inter- dependencies with other projects
Watch out for other projects
that are working on pro-
ducing a deliverable that
could affect your project’s
activities. For example if
your project is defining a
new sales channel stra-
tegy and another project is
developing new products,
this might impact your
project. If this is the case,
invite someone of the other
project to participate in
your project as a core team
member or ad hoc expert.
Create clear and easily measurable responsibilities
When developing a resource
plan describe the tasks on
a general level and start
with an active verb. In this
way, you will have already
developed major input for
the performance manage-
ment form. Some examples
of active verbs are: advise,
approve, change, compose,
control, define, determine,
ensure, formulate, lead, pre-
pare, realize, set up… When
a team member is staffed
on the project, share with
him the roles & responsibili-
ties so he knows completely
what is expected from him.
Phase 1: INITIATE Phase 2: PLAN Phase 3: EXECUTE Phase 3: CLOSE
4
Project Management NewsletterProject Management Framework: the plan phase
Domain Training FR dates NL dates
Project Management Methodology AdvancedProjectPlanningWorkshop 07/12/07 23/11/07 20/12/07Project Management Tools DynamicProjectManagementFramework(3days) 17/12/07 24/10/07 ManageyourprojectswithMSProject2003 30/11/07 04/12/07 BusinessCaseCalculation-IFBD 12/11/07Communication Assertiveness(2days) 05/11/07 Meetingtechniques(basic) 06/12/07 Meetingtechniques(advanced) 13/12/07 Persuade 15/10/07 Effectivepresentationsin 25/10/07 25/10/07 English(2days) Presentationtechniques(2days) 13/12/07 12/10/07 04/12/07