Off to London to see the BPUG

Posted on | February 16, 2009 | Author: | lindsayascott | No Comments

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Last week I was asked along to the BPUG Congress in my official capacity of a blogger! The Congress was held at Lancaster Gate (that’s top side of Hyde Park if you’re not familar with the streets of London) and promised two days of project management conference, seminars and exhibitions (not to mention the networking, catching up with familar faces and of course the conference buffets!)

But before we look at the Congress and study why it should be in your interests to attend future events from BPUG I think we need to clear a few things up. Just who or what is the BPUG? The Best Practice User Group have been around for years and in a nutshell the group is dedicated to the OGC programme and project management products i.e., PRINCE2, MSP, MoR etc. Their mission statement; “to help users adopt, use, share and shape the application of OGC PPM Products”. It’s a membership based oganisation which realises its mission through conferences, workshops and of course the Congress. It’s also worth noting that the BPUG is not OGC – it is independent but with that in mind you can guess that the Congress is of course heavy on the OGC PPM products side.

The Congress kicked off on Tuesday morning, each people being equipped at the door with a smart bag in which to hold the countless bits of paper, brochures, pens and of course other freebies from the exhibition stands. As one delegate quipped “…been here two minutes and already I have no hands spare to hold a coffee”.

I love people watching at the beginning of conferences like this, people wandering around, fixed smiles whilst they “discretely” catch a look at your name tag and wonder whether you’re worth talking to but maybe that’s just me! There were 200 delegates at the Congress from 9 different countries and a quick poll was surprising – not everyone was from the public sector. So far so good, an eclectic mix of people in numbers that wasn’t overwhelming.

So first up, a Business Boot Camp from Colonel Bob Stewart and a good way to kick start the day. Bob took the delegates through management and leadership the British Army way - focusing on his time in Bosnia. Now I’ll be the first to admit I’m not a girly girl so I found Bob’s account of life in Bosnia fascinating but that aside it got me thinking about what can we learn from the army’s way of doing things in today’s world of project management?

Bob talked about the tools he used when faced with a new mission and interestingly all these tools could fit on the side of A4. He talked about the mission analysis (the mission header, tasks, resources available), factors (the so what), options available, the estimate (or the project plan) and the risk assessment (capabilities x intentions). Using a combination of these tools plus basic imagery, a commander in control of his army can quickly draw up a plan of action knowing that he’s taken into account everything that he needs to.

How many project managers start their projects with something like this? A quick scribble to gain the big picture before starting to get lost in the details? Do we over complicate things sometimes with all these weird and wonderful planning tools? Could you give your project the A4 makeover?

One other thing struck me whilst listening to Bob (apart from the appearance of Kate Adie on a slide which made me smile!) was his thoughts on leadership. Bob said it was an honour to lead but you need a plan. I wonder how many project managers see the leadership elements of their position as a honour? a strong word you may agree but it made me think a little differently about the role of project manager for a while but I think I’ll be waiting a while to hear “I’d be honoured to run and manage this project” from the lips of a modern day PM.

Next up…. public sector change and gates with teeth (I like it!)