Project management provides £156 billion of the annual gross value added (GVA) in the UK. Despite this impressive performance, the discipline of project management is facing numerous challenges, such as political uncertainty. This is likely to continue its influence for at least three years. The Association for Project Management noted that over half of business are affected by policies instituted by the government and the Brexit aftermath. Let us look at a few more challenges.
Shortage of Skills
Challenges in Public Sector Project Management
Project management provides £156 billion of the annual gross value added (GVA) in the UK. Despite this impressive performance, the discipline of project management is facing numerous challenges, such as political uncertainty. This is likely to continue its influence for at least three years. The Association for Project Management noted that over half of business are affected by policies instituted by the government and the Brexit aftermath. Let us look at a few more challenges.
Shortage of Skills
A severe shortage of skills in an industry can drag it down to the ground. The competencies that are required by businesses who hire project managers are:
- Being able to manage risks
- Making the most of opportunities
- Being digitally savvy
- Strategic management, planning, supervision and monitoring
- Financial management
- Ability to manage a budget
- Management competencies
- Leadership skills
This is a tall order for someone who has completed a project management qualification but has no work skills in the field. Similarly, a good all-round manager who worked their way up from entry-level, but never got a qualification in project management would be out of their element if appointed to head a project. Yet these are the skills that four-fifths of business owners and CEOs are asking for.
Companies will have to compete for scarce and critical resources. Salaries and perks for suitable employees will be above market average. Other firms will have to make do with project managers who have some, but not all, of the desired skills. An estimated three million jobs in the UK will remain open.
A potential solution is to get help from a business consultancy that works on growing a business. Such a company will need to be well-versed in public sector project management. This is a non-profit that provides free templates for many business needs.
Project Governance
Processes for project governance in the public sector are not fully established and embedded. There are two areas where project proposals originate. Firstly, these form part of the governmental strategic planning. Secondly, projects are initiated by the ministers in their roles. A shortlist of the latter is sent to the Minister of Finance, who allocates budgets. At this moment, six proposals with an IT emphasis have been approved, while another seven are hampered by a lack of resources, technology, and project managers’ high turnover.
To get around the gaps, the Change and Transformation Unit was formed to manage new and existing projects. However, this institution was not sustained and was later replaced by the Project Management Unit. There is also a Project Management Board (PMU).
Project Portfolio Management
The PMU is unfortunately more tactical than strategic. Each project is handled in isolation. What is sorely needed is unifying leadership. The Project Management Board is working on standard templates for project management and writing up reports on projects. The full set of processes needed is not yet in place.
Project Portfolio Management takes a strategic approach to project management. The PMU should allocate scarce resources to projects by looking at the value add and necessity of each individual project. The portfolio needs to be assessed as a whole. This allows for trade-offs being discovered and applied for the overall wellbeing of the institution.
The challenges in project management affect organizations across the board, including public and private institutions.
- Being able to manage risks
- Making the most of opportunities
- Being digitally savvy
- Strategic management, planning, supervision and monitoring
- Financial management
- Ability to manage a budget
- Management competencies
- Leadership skills
This is a tall order for someone who has completed a project management qualification but has no work skills in the field. Similarly, a good all-round manager who worked their way up from entry-level, but never got a qualification in project management would be out of their element if appointed to head a project. Yet these are the skills that four-fifths of business owners and CEOs are asking for.
Companies will have to compete for scarce and critical resources. Salaries and perks for suitable employees will be above market average. Other firms will have to make do with project managers who have some, but not all, of the desired skills. An estimated three million jobs in the UK will remain open.
A potential solution is to get help from a business consultancy that works on growing a business. Such a company will need to be well-versed in public sector project management. This is a non-profit that provides free templates for many business needs.
Project Governance
Processes for project governance in the public sector are not fully established and embedded. There are two areas where project proposals originate. Firstly, these form part of the government’s strategic planning. Secondly, projects are initiated by the ministers in their roles. A shortlist of the latter is sent to the Minister of Finance, who allocates budgets. At this moment, six proposals with an IT emphasis have been approved, while another seven are hampered by a lack of resources, technology, and project managers’ high turnover.
To get around the gaps, the Change and Transformation Unit was formed to manage new and existing projects. However, this institution was not sustained and was later replaced by the Project Management Unit. There is also a Project Management Board (PMU).
Project Portfolio Management
The PMU is unfortunately more tactical than strategic. Each project is handled in isolation. What is sorely needed is unifying leadership. The Project Management Board is working on standard templates for project management and writing up reports on projects. The full set of processes needed is not yet in place.
Project Portfolio Management takes a strategic approach to project management. The PMU should allocate scarce resources to projects by looking at the value add and necessity of each individual project. The portfolio needs to be assessed as a whole. This allows for trade-offs to be discovered and applied for the overall well-being of the institution.
The challenges in project management affect organizations across the board, including public and private institutions.