Slides from a workshop at the OR59 Conference 2017

1. Pro Bono O.R.
Tips and tricks for PBOR projects
Jane Parkin & Ian Seath

2. Workshop
overview
how projects are defined and offered to Pro
Bono OR volunteersFind out
how to prepare for an initial meeting with a
charity clientConsider
some of the challenges facing charities when
they work with OR peopleUnderstand
develop tactics for managing a Pro Bono
project that will help you and the charityDevelop
hear some tips and lessons learnt from
consultants who have completed several
PBOR projects
Hear

3. How it works
Hope Meadows
Email: hope.meadows@theorsociety.com

4. Pro Bono OR
▪ What are the aims?
▪ To help Third Sector organisations improve
efficiency
▪ To promote O.R. in the Third Sector
▪ To promote effective use of O.R
▪ To give O.R. analysts an opportunity to practise in a
wider arena and widen their skills

5. Pro Bono Process
Volunteers
• Sign up via the website or email
hope.meadows@theorsociety.com
• Send in an application for a
project you have seen
advertised
• Get selected by the
Organisation
• Undertake the project
• Completed a case study slide
and project survey
TSO
• Complete a registration form and
send to Hope Meadows
• Confirm project details with a PB
committee member
• Select a volunteer from the
applications received
• Undertake the project
• Complete a project survey

6. Types of Projects
▪ Strategic
planning/review
▪ Process
improvement
▪ Impact
measurement
▪ Data analysis
▪ Business planning
▪ Efficiency
improvement
▪ Options appraisal
▪ Decision making
▪ Scheduling
▪ Risk analysis

7. Client Kick-off
Jane Parkin and Ian Seath

8. The Project Process
1
Pre-project
• Definition
2
Kick-off
• Client
engagement
3
Project
• Actions as
agreed
4
Post-project
• Close-out &
evaluation

9. The Project Process
1
Pre-project
• Definition
2
Kick-off
• Client
engagement
3
Project
• Actions as
agreed
4
Post-project
• Close-out &
evaluation
First
impressions
matter

10. Scenario 1
▪ You are about to meet with the Director and Chair of
Trustees of a small (10 person) charity that operates
internationally and punches above its weight in terms
of its influence. The PBOR project brief asked for help
in designing and facilitating a Strategy Awayday (or
half-day) for the 10 trustees, plus 3 senior staff. This
will be a precursor to the Director writing a Strategic
Plan for the next 4 years. The event has already been
booked in diaries for 4 weeks from today. You will be
working alone on this project.
What would you expect to achieve at the kick-off meeting?
What would your agenda be (content and timing)?

11. Scenario 2
▪ You are about to meet with the Impact Manager of a UK-wide
charity that wishes to automate their approach to impact
measurement and reporting. The charity has used various tools
including SurveyMonkey, Google Forms and Excel to collect and
analyse beneficiary data for the past couple of years. This is now
becoming unwieldy and they feel the time is right to redesign the
process and consolidate the analysis and reporting into a single
tool (they think Excel is the answer). The new process and tool will
have to be approved by the Board at its next meeting 3 months
from today. You will be working alone on this project but have the
support of an experienced mentor.
What would you expect to achieve at the kick-off meeting?
What would your agenda be (content and timing)?

12. Scenario 3
▪ You are about to meet the Marketing and Campaigns Manager and her
assistant of a major (multi-million £), well-known, UK charity. They want
your help to assess the size and demographics of their market so they
can better target their next year of campaigns and political lobbying. They
have many documents from previous research as well as some peer-
reviewed papers produced out by academics. They also have several
social research reports which they commissioned from agencies and
these describe typical motivations and behaviours among their target
beneficiaries. The project estimate is for this work to take 4-6 months and
you will be working with a team of 3 colleagues (a statistician, a modelling
expert and a social researcher) on this project.
What would you expect to achieve at the kick-off meeting?
What would your agenda be (content and timing)?

13. Kick-off tips
▪ Be early!
▪ Agree who will chair
the meeting
▪ Have an agenda
▪ Stick to time
▪ Have ALL the right
people there
▪ Record actions and
dates (Whiteboard?)
▪ Think about the
need for internal
comms about the
project
▪ Agree catch-ups
▪ “Seek first to
understand, then to
be understood”

14. Challenges for the client?
▪ Understanding OR
terminology
(jargon?)
▪ Working with a
consultant (1st time
for many small
charities)
▪ Sticking to time with
their actions (vs.
their day-job)
▪ Fitting in with your
(part-time)
availability

15. The Project Process
1
Pre-project
• Definition
2
Kick-off
• Client
engagement
3
Project
• Actions as
agreed
4
Post-project
• Close-out &
evaluation

16. The Project Process
1
Pre-project
• Definition
2
Kick-off
• Client
engagement
3
Project
• Actions as
agreed
4
Post-project
• Close-out &
evaluation
What could
possibly go
wrong?

17. What would you do if…
▪ Your client contact (the project sponsor) keeps cancelling appointments (for progress meetings and catch-up
phone calls).
▪ Your client fails to do the work they agreed and this is preventing you from carrying out the analysis required for
your project report. The deadline is looming.
▪ Your client (a very busy middle manager) seems very vague about what they want to achieve; they seem to be
reliant on you to shape the direction of the project and you are worried that the scope is drifting away from what
the Director initially asked for.
▪ You have completed the analysis of the data provided by the client’s marketing and communications team. It
shows some unexpected results which the client is unlikely to want to hear (e.g. their interventions aren’t
making the impact they thought they were).
▪ The original plan for the project’s report was that the client Director would present it to the Board of Trustees.
Now, she wants you to present it because there are some sensitive issues related to the way the trustees
interact with operational staff.
▪ You have completed the desk research phase of the project. It is now evident that the available data isn’t good
enough to be able to build the (stocks and flows) model which you committed to in the project brief.

18. Lessons learned
Light touch
project
management
01
Keep referring
to the project
definition and
objectives
02
Define “done”
with the client –
meet their
needs
03
Ask for help -
we have
mentors who
can support you
04