Addressing Weaknesses
Following the incorporation of Metronet into London Underground in 2007, the combined organization faced a myriad of project processes with significant amounts of local practice and, consequently, unsatisfactory project delivery performance. Therefore, a new methodology, referred to as the Project Management Framework (PMF) was developed.
This new PMF methodology replaced the existing confusions and was done with full engagement from the users in the business. As an aside, this PMF was received so well that the PMF team was awarded London Underground's highest accolade - the Platinum Award for Cross-Functional Working! Instead of the historically dense procedure documents containing complex flow diagrams, the PMF opted to create a "product based" delivery scheme that specified the "what" rather than the "how". This addressed the lament from a typical project manager who said, "I don't care what you want me to do, just tell me on a sheet of A4 what you want me to deliver."
By creating a common vocabulary and lifecycle across the organization, rationalizing the stakeholder requirements, creating clear role definitions, improving interface arrangements and setting up a system of stage gates, the PMF made delivery easier through improving the environment in which project teams worked. There was also the recognition that project delivery is about far more than just project managers - the changes crossed organizational boundaries from setting requirements at the Sponsorship stage through to effective handover to the maintainers and operators.
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Analysis
- Understanding What Was Happening and Measuring Improvement
