This month we hit the significant milestone of our 100th edition of the Quay bulletin and we are proud that it remains as relevant as ever to our project community.
Seven years ago, we conceived the idea for Quay’s Bulletin and set out to share our knowledge and insights to help clients deliver better projects. As our readership continues to grow, we are confident that we are hitting the mark on what’s relevant to our audience, as well as where our readers are seeking insights and guidance. In this, our 100th edition, we’d like to say a big thank you to our subscribers for their continued support.
Reflecting back on the articles we’ve developed since 2013, change remains a constant feature in the project delivery landscape. Whilst we will continue to look ahead to share insights and food for thought about what’s happening in the market now, it is worth taking the time to reflect upon what we’ve covered over the 100 editions and take stock of the articles that continue to land as they’ve weathered the test of time.
It has been a very interesting experience from an editorial perspective to understand what has landed with our audience and what brought new readers into the Quay orbit. As our readership has grown, we gained broader insight into the challenges that they face and how those challenges play out in a time when change is all too constant.
Transformation, project fundamentals, and ensuring fit-for-purpose delivery
Over the past seven years, a skim though the articles by year yields some interesting insights about what has resonated and continues to resonate.
The key themes that emerge are:
- Transformation
- Organisational change
- Project methodology and governance
- Culture as a driving force
- Leadership as a critical element in success
A key callout is transformation. Transformation is multifaceted including—to name a few—EPMOs, governance, transformation offices and managing transformational change. Year on year the articles attracting the most reader engagement suggests that the project landscape has been and continues to be in a perpetually transformational state and likely challenged as a result.
Considering the context that projects have been and continue to be delivered within, it’s hardly surprising: The remnants of a global financial crisis, digital disruption, market disruption, mergers and acquisitions, new ways of working, new ways of delivering change and shifts in business operating models have all accelerated the both the rate and scale of change. In 2020, transformation and change had a serious caffeine injection with the unexpected but necessarily rapid response to COVID-19.
Our approach to managing transformation is firmly embedded into the philosophy of doing the basics extremely well and not becoming over excited by the latest shiny toy. Our philosophy to delivering change through projects is akin to the old saying about providing roots and wings, which on the surface appears to be a paradigm of opposites: Anchor points and consistent structure to keep a firm grasp on the ground whilst also giving opportunity to develop wings to allow for flight.
If we apply this philosophy to transformation, in a nutshell, for it to be successful the organisation must provide its people with a stable framework and culture to operate within including:
- a safe and collaborative environment which allows people to innovate, share ideas, challenge the status quo
- clear roles and responsibilities including standards of behaviour and reasonable consequences
- clear and shared goals to be achieved
We can view this as providing the roots for transformation. The wings are a logical extension where through providing solid roots, we empower our people to take risks, tackle challenges never faced, be creative and even take the organisation in a new direction to remain market relevant.
Ultimately, giving people self-confidence they need to step beyond what they know and venture into unchartered territory is only made possible when the roots are strong enough that we can give them responsibility, permission to explore, choices to make, and the ability to fail but learn. And if we do it right, our students can become our teachers.
Another really fascinating insight from the Bulletin’s data is the continued need to reflect on the project delivery fundamentals. We have seen strong interest in the different ways of delivering projects, such as methodologies, the role the PMO has to play in creating a successful delivery environment, and the desire to embed sustainable change. No matter which way we deliver, the 101s remain relevant and necessary.
Ensure it’s fit-for-purpose
This ultimately distils into a key guiding principle: How we approach delivery must be fit for purpose.
When we shine the fit-for-purpose lens on governance, delivery approach, and project success (outcomes), we take the time to think about what it is exactly we are trying to achieve and whether or not we have the right elements in place to be successful. Taking the time to do this assessment at initiation and through the project’s life cycle keeps a pragmatic focus on delivering the project outcomes and abstracts us from paint-by-numbers project management and delivery.
Identifying where gaps exist allows us to be proactive and address those gaps before they manifest as project issues. It is perhaps not surprising that these articles continue to attract more and more readers year on year.
Thank you for your ongoing support of the Quay Bulletin
One of our core beliefs as a business is that we share the knowledge, insights, tools, and experience that enable our clients and boarder audience to deliver better projects. It gives us immense satisfaction to see Bulletin continue to resonate seven years in and as our audience changes, so have we.
We recently launched the Quay Conversations podcast which provides a different slant on some of these areas, viewed through the prism of a PM’s perspective and our ebooks feature curated collections of our articles for easy download and sharing.
So as we round out what has been a challenging year for most of us, we’d like to say a hearty thank you for the continued support of the Bulletin and to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a better year ahead for 2021.
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To speak to our team about how we can help your business deliver better projects, please contact us.