HM Prison Service - establishing a PMO

 

Establishment of a programme support office to support a new programme manager and a new approach to project management, together with tailored education and support for project managers new to the job.

 

Opportunity

The Prison Service had an ambitious ‘root and branch’ change initiative to undertake, and putting together the first programme in The Prison Service was a challenge.  The Executive Council commissioned CITI as project and programme management specialists to support the establishment of the ‘Performance Standards Programme’ (PSP).  It was decided to test a new approach – using programme management - to co-ordinate all aspects of the change. A key decision was the appointment of Ingrid Posen – an experienced Prison Service manager. She was faced with a complex stakeholder engagement problem. The project management teams were a mix of field and HQ staff, a first for the Prison Service, and had little or no experience of project management.

With sponsors who had rather disparate agendas, Ingrid was fully occupied, and she was very reliant on the information on progress and issues to be gained from an effective programme office.

Approach

The programme management office (PMO) had to set up quickly. It had to be able to monitor and control projects in an environment in which there was limited experience in sharing project information. It also needed to satisfy the stakeholder needs of HQ, the field operatives, the Directorates, and Government agencies. As the very first Prison Service PMO, it needed to put in place processes, templates, tools, and reports.

The physical processes were implemented with a CITI project delivery manager acting as a role model to the prospective PMO manager. Meanwhile, and equally important, an education programme, including one-to-one support, was provided to the project managers to enable them to exploit the processes and use the PMO effectively. The tailored learning solution and bespoke PMO supported the requirements of the programme and the culture, moving at a pace which could be handled both by the team and the environment at large - but with a view to the end-game and time scales.

Outcome

Within a few days of becoming operational (some 4 weeks after initiation), the PMO ran status meetings, alerted the programme manager to urgent issues and areas of contentions, and provided one-to-one coaching to some of the project managers. As the programme manager and PMO manager became increasingly confident in the processes and information being supplied, direct support from CITI was tapered off leading to a smooth hand-over.

The Prison Service knew that the planning and monitoring needed for this complex change programme was too much for individuals unused to projects to cope with without good personal support. They knew that the level of stakeholder engagement commitment of the programme manager would leave the programme exposed at times – and therefore the PMO must be able to act as eyes and ears for the programme manager.

The success of their first programme has led them to commit to a much more ambitious programme – Safer Custody Programme. The lessons learned from the PSP have been taken forward – and an effective PMO was put in place.