3. Understand the situational context of projects

Question 1

Question part (a) Explain two key differences between projects and business as usual.
Marks 20 marks (10 marks each)

Question part (b) Provide one explanation for how project professionals can assess a project’s context against each of the following:
■ PESTLE
■ SWOT
■ VUCA
Marks 30 marks (10 marks each)

Answer 1

Question part (a)

1) Projects are transient vehicles to deliver change when an organisation requires it and due to this, projects are temporary in nature meaning that they are only around for as long as it takes to deliver the outputs and then once there is no longer a need, the project is closed down/terminated. Whereas the difference between this and business as usual is that business as usual activities are also known as steady state activities and they are ongoing which continually helps the organisation remain aligned with their strategic objectives (for example a business-as-usual function could be the HR department)

2) Projects are set up to deliver unique outputs relevant to the change needed. For example: this could be building a new house if that is the requirement of the user whereas business as usual produces repeatable products and services to maintaining the day to day activities of the organisation (such as the finance team providing accounting services for the organisation to remain aware of their overall financial status).

Question part (b)

1) PESTLE stands for political, economic, sociological, technology, legal & environmental and allows the project professionals to generate options for the business case of a project.

In a project context, the project manager could use PESTLE to assess the project environment. For example, if the project wanted to produce products such as new wired headphones, then the project manager would need to consider the changing needs of society such as not wanting to create new wired headphones if the market driver was wireless headphones as it would show that wired headphones are no longer desirable within the wider market environment.

2) SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Project professionals may want to use this method to perform comparative analysis on the options that they have previously generated.

For example, in a project context, a project manager could identify that there is a threat due to competition in one of the project options and this may push them to re-evaluate the options to ensure the option with the most strength and opportunities and least weaknesses and threats is chosen for the project.

3) VUCA stands for Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity. Project professionals may use this method to understand and analyse the higher-level environmental aspects of the project options. This would be useful in a project context due to being able to see how a project is affected by the level of knowledge and confidence within the wider project team.

For example, if a project team had low knowledge on the area but had high confidence then this could indicate that the project is complex and may demonstrate the need for specialist resources (e.g. the project manager may want to include a nuclear subject matter expert to help understand a nuclear based project) and the lack of these resources may mean that the project could be delayed or cancelled.

Question 2

Question part (b) Provide one explanation for how project professionals can assess a project’s context against each of the following:
■ PESTLE
■ SWOT
■ VUCA
Marks 30 marks (10 marks each)

Answer 2

PESTLE – Looking at the current Political climate and base planning and decisions on the current and/or possible future views. For instance, large Wind turbines may be politically undesirable onshore. However, installed 120 miles offshore they may have less visual impact and even be desirable for the green & renewable credentials.

SWOT – Understanding Weaknesses a project could design a robust risk management system including budget to reduce or avoid any risks during the execution. Taking the Wind Turbine example above a weakness of installing the turbines offshore could be the remote location, limited ability and tools, weather and other environmental factors. Understanding these weaknesses allows planning to build risk regarding these factors into the Plan.

VUCA – Identifying the Complexity of the conditions, be they product and its delivery, be design and or cost along with Quality. If identified products could be redesigned, or implementations altered to reduce impact or possibly offer an advantage. For Example, Wind Turbines are increasing in generating potential the supplying cables could be increased to cope with the extra capacity exported to the grid.

Question 3

Question part (a) Explain two key differences between projects and business as usual.
Marks 20 marks (10 marks each)

Answer 3

Projects tend to be temporary in nature, being set a target output/product to deliver to the Business. Business as Usual is a constant or ongoing process that is normally repeatable in nature. For example, a Project may design and install a new printing press for the business to utilise, the Business as Usual would then utilise that printing press once delivered realising the benefits in its day to day operations.

Business as Usual Identify needs for change while Projects implement this change. Continuing the example above a Business decides it needs to print A3 Art books and this requires a new printing press. A Project would they evaluation the best possible type of press and work to implement this change on behalf of the Business as Usual.

Question 4

Outline the relationship between programmes, projects and strategic change.

Describe situations where the use of programme management may be appropriate.

Answer 4

Programme management is the co ordinated management of projects in order to achieve the organisation’s desired beneficial change. The projects are inter-related and all contribute to the organisations strategic change objectives. Each project is individually project managed but all project managers report to the same programme manager who ensures the organisation strategic objectives are linked to all projects.

Situations when the organisation needs to use programme management:

1. The need to define and realise organisation strategic objectives
2. The need to manage interdependencies between projects
3. The need to manage resources and resource conflicts
4. The need to manage programme level risks, issues and changes