Blogs - Straight Talk on Project Management

“Traditional project governance is structurally incapable of horizon-scanning” Most organisations are excellent at delivering projects. Ensuring those projects are still relevant five years later is often a different matter. Budget season is looming, and leadership teams are asking the same

When you think of Christmas classics, few stories are as iconic and beloved as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (and his very shiny nose). The tale of an unlikely hero, whose glowing red nose guides Santa’s sleigh through the gloomiest fog,

(WARNING: TONGUE-IN-CHEEK BLOG AHEAD) There’s a dangerous new trend creeping into IT project and change portfolios: organisations quietly swapping contractors and permanent headcount for Project Management as a Service (PMaaS). Terrible idea. PMaaS is suspiciously good at saving money, reducing

I was in a project review meeting last Thursday (actually it was more like a project intervention) and witnessed something I’ve seen too many times before. The Project Manager was desperately trying to explain to a roomful of increasingly frustrated

The title of this blog might sound dramatic. It is, isn’t it?! But if you’re currently staring at your screen at 9pm on a Tuesday, wondering why your left eye has developed an involuntary twitch every time someone mentions “just

Or: Why Your IT Project Deserves Better Than a Drive-By Installation You’ve got an IT project. Maybe it’s a telephony upgrade, a data centre migration, or one of those digital transformation initiatives that’s been “starting next quarter” for the past

“I’m not a carrier pigeon!!!” These are words that you don’t expect to hear from a Project Manager. We laugh about it now, but when exasperated PM Marcus blurted this out after leaving a meeting, it was a cry for

Good news! Despite what we’ll politely call “economic turbulence” (feel free to use your own expletive laden label), new analysis from Computing reveals … drum roll … UK IT budgets are, in the main, holding steady—and some are even rising!

“Of all our administrative staff, you’re the best paid by far.” Ant from London is an experienced Project Leader, at his recent annual appraisal he was told this by the Director of People. It was meant kindly, motivational even, but

It’s often said that projects fail because of bad technology choices, flawed strategies, creeping scope or shifting business priorities. Often though, the real culprit is much simpler — and scarier. It’s a lack of people. Or, more specifically, a lack

BREAKING NEWS | We’ve just been told we’re not allowed to use the C-word in the office!!!! Yes! Mentioning Christmas has been banned!! (Until the end of the month at least!!) Apparently, it’s bad luck! Maybe there is something in

Talk about a Ronnie Pickering moment!! ** A CIO friend has just switched firms and, when he suggested Project Management as a Service (PMaaS) as an alternative to hiring and contractors, the response from the CFO, COO and CEO was:

We all know the RAG system — Red, Amber, Green — three colours on a dashboard that appear to sum up a project’s fate. Seasoned project managers know the truth though: the real story isn’t in the colour; it’s in

“As an IT Project Manager, I’ve delivered critical, high-stakes projects across countless industries, but nothing prepared me for the intense complexity of helping my teenage son revise for his GCSEs,” IT Project Manager Gareth told me. “I wasn’t just managing

I was clearing out my desk drawer the other day and found an old floppy disk. Remember those? It got me thinking about how far we’ve come since the internet first started appearing on our chunky CRT monitors in the

IT projects are the backbone of business growth. Delivering them successfully, however, is anything but straightforward: demand for specialist project managers has never been higher; skills shortages continue to bite; and automation powered by artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming how

The UK public sector stands at a critical juncture. With £26 billion spent annually on digital technology across the public sector, yet 47% of central government and 45% of NHS services still lacking a digital pathway, the need for strategic

The Procurement Act 2023 came into law on 24 February 2025, promising: “a simpler and more flexible, commercial system that better meets our country’s needs” To “open up public procurement to new entrants such as small businesses and social enterprises

“Can I ask a silly, basic question?” a prospective client asked one of my colleagues Dale, as he was about to begin his pitch about Project Management as a Service. “There’s no such thing as a silly question – fire