Presentation by Tim Banfield from the National Audit Office at the APM Conference 2013

1. Designing projects for success
Tim Banfield
Director
National Audit Office
June 2013

2. I will cover:
• Initiating Successful Projects;
• Common features of projects:
• Strategic importance and politics;
• Stakeholders (influencers and the delivery
chain);
• Success.
• Optimism and risk.

3. There are plenty of examples of good
project planning and execution………
Few could have envisaged how
successful the London 2012
Games would turn out to be. The
construction programme was
completed on time and within
budget, 11 million tickets were sold
and our athletes excelled.
Crucially, the Games passed off
without major transport disruption
or security incident.
Taken as a whole, the Games were
a success by any reasonable
measure and it looks as if not all of
the Funding Package will be used.

4. ……. and not just capital projects
• Severe timescale and
political pressures
• Variety of options
tested
• Due diligence
• Uncertainties managed

5. Five factors influencing successful
delivery

7. Ten traits

8. The delivery cycle
Concept
Planning
Evaluation &
sharing
lessons learnt
Execution
Implementation Cycle
Citizen
Lobby
Groups
Parliament
Media
International
Bodies
Third
Sector
Local
Government
Civil
Service
Commercial
POLICY ASPIRATION
SUSTAINABLE BENEFICIAL OUTCOMES
Process
Change
Cultural
Change
INFLUENCERS
DELIVERERS
Information – financial and management
Governance – Portfolio & Risk Management
Capacity

9. Political context
Public Accounts
Committee on Mobile
Policing
"How did it ever get to be in
such a spaghetti-like
mess?“
“I cannot quite get why you
could not build the
experience of the trials into
the management of the
project”
Census 2011
Learned lessons from the
2001 Census and applied
them to good effect:
• Risk management;
• Testing and piloting;
• Stakeholder engagement.

10. The Norwegian Approach

11. The Norwegian Concept Programme
Analysis - initiation freq
Alternative concepts have not been scrutinised 16 64%
Lack of realistic objectives and justification 14
Project not relevant in relation to needs/market 14
Tactical underestimation of costs 10
Perverse incentives – benefits without liability 8
Tactical splitting up and sequencing of project 7
Tactical overestimation of needs and benefits 6
Underestimation of future operational costs 6
Decisions - delivery
Major predictable surprises 15
Sound advice overlooked by political preferences 11
Lacking transparency affecting public debate 7
Long lasting front end phase with shifting priorities 6
Political horse-trading between competing parties 5
Repeated play-off in political decision process 3
Source: Knut Samset

12. Stakeholders: common themes
Influencers:
• Actively managing expectations had positive consequences;
• Failure to engage with all parties who can influence the delivery of your
project causes problems.
The delivery chain:
• A failure to work well with the deliverers was a common problem
experienced in less successful projects.
• Not having the commercial skills to engage effectively with contractors.
• The nature of the relationship with the contractor has a significant
bearing on the successful delivery of the project.

14. Impact on performance (ranking)
Indicator Time Cost Defects
Mutual objectives 8 7 4
Gain and pain sharing 2 9 8
Trust 10 6 2
No-blame culture 4 3 6
Joint working 1 10 3
Communication 9 1 5
Problem-solving 6 5 1
Risk allocation 3 2 7
Performance measurement 7 4 9
Continuous improvement 4 8 10
Source: International Journal of Project Management, Issue 30, Volume 2,
2012

15. Strong working relationships deliver better results
Quadrant 3
40
30
20
10
0
-10
-20
-20 -10 10 20 30 40 6050 100908070
1
2
4
6
Quadrant 4 Quadrant 1
Quadrant 2
7
Percentage cost overrun since
approval
Delay (months) since approval3
8
5

16. Success
2. Outcomes
How will a project
be used to deliver
these benefits?
Impact
Relevance
Take -up
3. Outputs
What?
Performance
Time
Cost
Quality
1. Benefits
Why?
Identify the value
added to society
(realisation of policy)
Sustainability
Satisfies needs
Economic effects

17. CAUSES
PROJECT UNDERTAKEN ON UNREALISTIC BASIS
WEAKNESS IN PLANNING
• Inadequate planning time allowed
• Incomplete understanding (complexity and uncertainty)
• Lack of consultation
• Under-developed scope
• Poor risk management process
• Lack of contingency
• Weaknesses in use of data and modelling
BEHAVIOURAL
- Inherent optimism:
planning fallacy, over-
confidence, ignoring past
experience
-Strategic
misrepresentation: e.g. to
gain project approval, self-
promotion
- Internal culture: hiding bad
news, ignoring advice
EXTERNAL
CONSTRAINTS
- Political and budgetary
cycle: scope
change, financial pressures
- Political pressure: policy
and announcements made
prior to planning
SYMPTOMS
OUTCOME
CAPABILITY
- Lack of skills/experience
- Resource pressure e.g.
high turnover
RISK TO VALUE FOR MONEY
ACCOUNTABILITY:ASSURANCEANDSCRUTINY

18. Tim Banfield
Tel: +44 20 7798 7662
Fax: +44 20 7798 7588
E-mail: tim.banfield@nao.gsi.gov.uk
Website: www.nao.org.uk