National smart ticketing programme (UK rail industry)
The Situation
The UK government’s Department for Transport initiated and funded a national programme to introduce smart cards for rail retail and travel across England and Wales (and integrated with Scotland’s smart card scheme).
The Task
As Programme Manager I was tasked with planning and executing the technical and operational implementation and a sustainable post go-live operating model.
The Action / Approach
The planning and execution of this complex programme involved many stakeholders and multiple client/interim team and supplier skillsets
- What did you do to help… Having the right capabilities and capacity to deliver
- What did you do to help… Reduced time to get skills / capability
- What did you do to help… Increased quality of oversight, governance, control and delivery performance.
- What did you do to help… Increased confidence from the business
- What did you do to help… Increased transparency of costs / effort
- What did you do to help… Decrease in Project delays
The Result
I delivered a complex programme of national importance
Typical areas where value is realised:
- What did you do to help… Increased credibility with and confidence across multiple stakeholders and delivered sustainable benefits
- What did you do to help… Improved project estimation and delivery capability (right first time)
- What did you do to help… Greater financial control and predictability in delivery
Pains typically relieved include:
- What did you do to help… Lack of subject matter expertise and experience
- What did you do to help… Lack of clarity or understanding on operational readiness requirements
- What did you do to help… Weak project prioritisation, approval, compliance and sponsorship
- What did you do to help… Poor project/portfolio pipeline planning and estimation process
Focus In On: Responsible for Project and Programme Delivery
New Areas of Value:
Increased credibility with and confidence from across the business
Greater financial control and predictability in delivery
Improved customer and colleague service and satisfaction
Improved project estimation and delivery capability (right first time)
Higher delivery efficiency and effectiveness from clarity around process performance
Higher proportion of projects fit for purpose, on time and on budget
Ability to clearly demonstrate value to the business
Greater acceptance of change – quicker to implement new changes
Increased influence with suppliers
Improvements around:
Lack of subject matter expertise and experience
Lack of clarity or understanding on operational readiness requirements
Disruption from business restructure or reprioritisations
Unclear or immature business strategy
Insufficient good data and reporting tools
Weak project prioritisation, approval, compliance and sponsorship
Poor project/portfolio pipeline planning and estimation process
