Lessons on project governance from the CBA scandal

The CBA financial scandal is a classic example of the effect of setting the wrong performance targets. Pat Weaver on the challenge for project controls professionals and PMOs to create performance measures that focus on things that matter.

Reflective practice for change

How do successful teams structure knowledge and reflective practices to drive innovative accomplishments? Gerard Datoc discusses the learning process that we all go through to create awareness of how we attain our learning curves.

Tacit Knowledge in the Workplace—Brenton Conway

Tacit Knowledge in the Workplace
Tacit knowledge is not easily transferred to another person as it is not formalised or standardised and thus must be experienced by the learning party in order to be interpreted and transformed into actions. It is through the everyday experiences that employees build up their knowledge and skills which, in turn, allow them to solve complex problems based on previous experiences.

Tacit knowledge in the workplace entails the transfer and communication of skills and competences that are hard to quantify as these capabilities are not entirely known to whom possesses them. The project under discussion in this article is an upgrade in 2007 to the telecommunications system used in the chain of Bunnings hardware warehouse style department stores across the eastern seaboard using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology.

My role was that of an onsite Project Manager, and I was employed on a contract basis for this upgrade. Until this project was completed and I had studied tacit learning at university I had not realised how important this type of knowledge was to ultimately complete said job.

Reflective practice is a tool I was able to use to understand what lessons were learnt. In the beginning, while being a contractor, I considered that my contributions to the project were not presented in a way that added value in a corporate environment. Looking back on it, without realising it, I was emulating the behaviour of the senior engineers, observing and learning the protocols of big companies which eventually led to my full time employment.

Author: Brenton Conway
Review status: Postgraduate assignment (University of Technology Sydney)

Projects with happy endings

Don’t look back, the motivational poster read, that’s not the way you’re going. ‘Bull!’ thought editor Adeline Teoh. ‘Look back to see how far you’ve come.’ How do you celebrate the end of a project?

In case of chaos, employ project manager

If you want instant lessons learnt from a series of chaotic projects, look no further than the weeklong global event, GISHWHES (the Greatest International Scavenger Hunt The World Has Ever Seen). Editor Adeline Teoh goes in search of a program manager.

Can feedback improve your project management?

I want to know how often your project team feels comfortable enough to speak up about something they feel is going wrong, or something they feel you are doing wrong, writes editor Adeline Teoh. Because you could definitely benefit from the feedback.

Do projects look better in hindsight?

I don’t like travel, but I love having travelled, admits editor Adeline Teoh. Do you like managing projects, or do you like having managed a project?

Linking successful suffering and capability

While no sane project manager would chose to suffer sufficiently to produce their version of Proust’s In Search of Lost Time, only the most naive would expect their project to run without a problem. Lynda Bourne on the best way to capture lessons learnt.