Here are the moments you missed in the last financial year

It’s the end of the financial year. Phew. Public and private sector employees alike have all been very busy rushing to get everything done. There will, at least for some of you, be a brief sense of a slowed pace for July. And then the rush will begin again. Before you dive in, here [...]

By |2019-11-25T05:56:42+11:00June 28th, 2018|APS|0 Comments

It is time for public sector governance to change

I’ll cut straight to the point here: the way Federal government departments and agencies implement policy and reform isn’t good enough. Well-intentioned public servants operating in entrenched bureaucratic structures and traditional ways of working is failing the taxpayer. It is high time we had a serious crack at doing things differently. Does the APS [...]

APS Review implementation – how to deliver lasting change

On 19th March the APS review shared its interim findings in the report Priorities for Change*. Aside from the findings, which have drawn out the usual bunch of Canberra has-beens and naysayers, the report says“…regardless of the richness of ideas about what needs to happen to prepare the APS for the future, making it [...]

This year’s budget process will be totally transformed

On Tuesday 8th May 2018 the Federal Budget will be delivered. It will be totally transformed, a budget like no other you have seen before. The delivery will change, the structure will change, the content will change and the impact on departments and agencies from 1 July 2018 will represent a seismic shift in [...]

By |2019-11-25T05:57:30+11:00March 14th, 2018|APS, Digital Transformation|0 Comments

As an SES officer do you lack confidence in benefits delivery?

Last month I wrote a blog alluding to the treatment of benefits as a side order. I spoke about how some individuals and companies seem to want to make benefits management a black art, and advocated the need to go back to benefits basics. To me the most important of these basics is to: [...]

By |2019-11-25T05:57:45+11:00November 23rd, 2017|APS, Leadership, PRINCE2, Project Management|0 Comments

Would you like some Benefits with that?

“Hello, welcome to the ICT area, may I take your order please?” “Hi there, I’d like a large digital transformation, with big data, plenty of agile, and I want it now” “Would you like some Benefits with that?” “Errr, sure, why not – get someone to cook them up and put them in a [...]

How to stop government projects failing

This blog won’t be for everyone. If you’re not on a government project, it won’t be for you. And if you’re working on, or responsible for, a government project that is a raging success, it probably isn’t for you either. Everyone else can read on. What I’m going to do is describe a hypothetical [...]

By |2019-11-25T05:58:50+11:00August 15th, 2017|APS, Project Management|0 Comments

Deaf, Dumb and Digital

Digital transformation is great. The world is being disrupted. All the best companies are cool, they were only founded in the last few years, and don’t sell actual products. Social media equals success. The pace of change will only get faster. These are the messages coming from the Prime Minister down, and we’re lapping [...]

Why aren’t we getting better at programme and project management?

“If we have been using MSP® and PRINCE2® in the public service for a while now, why aren’t we getting better at programme and project management?” That was the question out to me by an agency head recently. It’s a great question, and one I thought worth exploring. Are we getting better? My gut-feeling, [...]

By |2019-11-25T06:00:35+11:00March 20th, 2017|APS, MSP, PRINCE2, Program Management, Project Management|0 Comments

Less management gives you more success

“We don’t have time for project management.” “We can’t afford the overhead of PRINCE2, so we use a ‘lite’ version.” “Our SES doesn’t want full MSP.” “We use Agile so we don’t need project management, that’s waterfall.” Over the years I have heard dozens of remarks like this, and while I usually politely smile [...]

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