Project Management and Organizational Management Change - AstraZeneca Fighting a Global Pandemic Case

Question 1

What is AstraZeneca? Where are they headquartered? What was their revenues in 2020?

Answer 1

A global bio pharmaceutical company headquartered in Cambridge England with revenues of 26.6 billion.

Question 2

What did AstraZeneca do the second that the COVID-19 pandemic took off, who did they partner with?

Answer 2

They recognized the need to create a vaccine to defeat the virus and thus in April 2020 joined with Oxford university to save lives, bringing together the world class expertise and the ability to deliver on a large scale.

Question 3

What did Oxford University individuals bring to this project? What did AstraZeneca bring to this project?

Answer 3

Oxford brought data about the immune response to the virus with this vaccine and they had good early clinical results creating confidence that it could be developed rapidly. AstraZeneca brought forth the manufacturing capabilities and the global supply chain. Combining these two would allow for the rapid dissemination of the vaccine throughout the globe.

Question 4

What promise did AstraZeneca make to the people when developing the vaccine>

Answer 4

It would be done on a not for profit basis ensuring it is equitable and accessible to all .

Question 5

What risks did AstraZeneca face?

Answer 5

1. Uncertainties and reputation risks if the vaccine as ineffective or cause harm to people. Since they were developing it rapidly they had to invest lots in phase 3 clinical programs for emergency use by organizations like the FDA. This is a risk as it should take about years after phase 2 not just weeks after phase 2.
2. They needed to allocate resources and top talent to this project and the reputation backlash they would get for sending it out so rapidly, requiring frequent contact between the project and senior leadership teams.

Question 6

What complexity did the company face?

Answer 6

The accelerated timeline they had to manage critical trials while also ramping up manufacturing capabilities. With each new customer it also got more complex. The customers were governments trying to vaccinate their populations, and each had their own requirements, compliance frameworks, and contracting compliance challenges.

Question 7

What was the visibility factor?

Answer 7

Since we were in the middle of the pandemic with no way to fight back AstraZeneca was in the spotlight for the majority of the time while people waited for their vaccines to arrive. There was universal pressures.

Question 8

What are the three gaps that the Global Project and Portfolio Management recognized?

Answer 8

1. The internal project managers had minimal experience in vaccine development
2. The project management processes that were fit for moving the vaccine project at the required speed was insufficient.
3. There was a lack of internal government contracting that could support the organization.

Question 9

What was the first step AstraZeneca did to deal with the three gaps in the project and portfolio management? What framework did they follow?

Answer 9

They created a project management office. Project Management Body of Knowledge. PMBOK

Question 10

What are the four key roles of the PMO in the AstraZeneca case?

Answer 10

1. Integration of schedule and budget.
2. Contract management
3. Team process guidance.
4. Risk Management

Question 11

What did the integration of the schedule and budget do?

Answer 11

Adapt the enterprise system too support billing for a US government contract and setting up cost codes.

Question 12

What did the contract management do?

Answer 12

Centralized resource for team members and functional owners who needed to understand the relevant terms and conditions of contracts with different governments and entities.

Question 13

What was the team process guidance?

Answer 13

Guidance and training for team members on ways of working with different government contracts, like time entry to client confidentiality.

Question 14

What was the risk management?

Answer 14

Understand and manage key risks to the project and the business.

Question 15

How did the PMBOK assist in relieving stress?

Answer 15

They did not have to design a PMO from scratch. It was a source of credibility. The Pro overall put the structure and resources in place to allow the technical teams to deliver in the complexity and challenges.

Question 16

Describe the staffing the project issue

Answer 16

The issue was now having to staff the PMO, yet they did not want to look externally as that would take too much time, instead they chosen 80 people from within. They chose people who had experience with working on government contracts / projects or people who worked in the vaccine projects. The biggest issue however was the lack of experience in both vaccine development and government contracting, thus they hired externally.

Question 17

Who did they decide to hire externally? How did the role of typical project managers differ from this project manager?

Answer 17

Tine Guina who previously worked as a Biomedical advanced research and development authority (BARDA). Typically the project manager is a relationships manager with the external partners or customers, negotiating the contract with the support of the project staff. However this project was so large that the PMO split the jobs and responsibilities so that Tina could focus on the project team.

Question 18

How did AstraZeneca solve the issue with scaling to meet the government requirements?

Answer 18

Establish the government contract management within the function of the PMO. It was important too have a separate office that could focus on government contract deliverables, rather than running the project and also managing the team.

Question 19

What did AstraZeneca have to do with all these different government clients?

Answer 19

Satisfying regulation requirements across many jurisdictions. While the project tried to speed up where it could, one cornerstone that could not be cut was quality in clinical or manufacturing.

Question 20

What is the overall lesson learned in this case?

Answer 20

Adaptability was the core project management. At every step the project faced changing circumstances as governments around the globe lined up to become customers.

Question 21

How did the USA originally plan to launch the contract?

Answer 21

BARDA, but due to the size of the project, they moved the contract to the Government of Defence, which had experience with projects this large.

Question 22

Why did the company require contract manufacturing organizations?

Answer 22

Ensure that it would have the necessary manufacturing capability. In addition, there was no time for hesitation as other vaccine projects would also be seeking the manufacturing capacity.

Question 23

What is the overall message when it comes to adaptability as described by Tina Guina?

Answer 23

There is a fine line between how much adaptability there should be, how much adaptability is feasible, and deciding when to let go. It is the job of the project manager to know when to push and when to pull.