Improving the PPM Capability at Transport for London Project SPEARMINT

The challenge

Transport for London (TfL) is the integrated body responsible for the capital’s transport system. Its role is to implement the Mayor’s Transport Strategy for London and manage the transport services across the capital for which the Mayor has responsibility.

TfL is organised internally into three ‘modal’ groupings – London Underground, London Rail and Surface Transport. This latter group, the subject of this case study, is responsible for managing London’s buses, trams and river services, a 580km network of main roads, all of London’s 4,600 traffic lights and the regulation of taxis and the private hire trade. Considerable work is also undertaken by them to improve conditions for pedestrians, those with mobility impairments, cyclists, drivers
and freight and to implement proposals for reducing congestion on London’s streets.

Despite significant success stories (e.g. implementation of Congestion Charging to plan), the organisation recognised it needed to develop its ability to deliver
projects consistently - using a common method and language. In short, the business leaders became convinced that project and programme management (PPM) capability was fundamental to the successful translation of their strategy into meaningful benefits for London’s transport users.

Our approach

The directors of Surface Transport commissioned Moorhouse Consulting to lead a one-year, PPM capability improvement initiative – Project SPEARMINT.

As per our ethos, we advised the client to establish a project team consisting of a small team of consultants from Moorhouse Consulting working in close  collaboration with TfL staff members. The emphasis on close, collaborative working with client colleagues was pivotal to our approach; it ensured the business was proactive in terms of refining the solution and driving business change and greatly facilitated knowledge and skill transfer. This latter aspect is key to the consulting team ultimately becoming redundant – a concept integral to our approach.

Another key aspect of our approach was the fact that we strongly advocated, and executed, a very tight project discipline around this engagement.

Project SPEARMINT was clear in its scope and timeline. From the offset, the team communicated the fact that it would be a discrete, one-year initiative and this
was central to developing the necessary momentum and delivery focus.

Commensurate with the fact that PPM is a complex area, we met the challenge with a multi-dimensional response.

We scoped the initiative as a broad affair with multiple components – development and communication of a PPM method, staff communication and training, establishment of an organisational ‘infrastructure’ to govern projects and the establishment of multiple support forums to facilitate future change embedment. All of these focused on the ‘softer’ side of PPM capability development, recognising that this needs to be in place before an organisation is mature enough to really derive benefit from any enterprise-wide IT tool.

Key elements that were delivered as a result of the consulting engagement included:

• A common PPM framework used across the business – backed up by an intranet resource consisting of c. 200 web pages and c. 150 management products (e.g. reference guidelines, document templates, completed examples etc.);
• Clarification of programme and project governance structures including the establishment of directorate-level approval boards across the business;
• Design and initial delivery of supporting training; at project close c. 200 Project Managers and c. 50 Senior Directors/ Managers had been trained in tailored
  sessions and TfL staff developed to tutor the remaining courses;
• Establishment of multiple support forums to ensure that the business maintained post project momentum and managed the benefits realisation process; including – a central PMO (Programme Management Office) team, directorate-level PMOs, a PMO members’ forum, a SPEARMINT ‘Champions’ forum and a wider ‘Community of Practice’ for all programme and project managers within the business.  

How did this deliver value to the client?

Project SPEARMINT, under our leadership, was delivered to time, cost and stated outcome. The closing project survey acknowledged many early, and  unexpected, benefits (e.g. use of a common framework to resolve issues that span functional areas etc.). The project’s outputs have been viewed as the essential ‘enabling platform’ on which the organisation delivers its immensely ambitious capital investment programme.

As the business change continues to embed, further benefits in terms of ‘delivering more of the right projects well’ will be realised. As a very conservative estimate, the organisation evaluated these benefits as c.£8m/ annum through faster project delivery, focus on benefits management and a reduced dependency on external PPM skills (cost reduction). The SPEARMINT Team were the ‘Team Award’ winners at the Office of Government Commerce’s (OGC’s) 2004 Successful Delivery Conference and the project won the 2005 London Excellence Awards.

Watch our SPEARMINT INTERACTIVE PRESENTATION by clicking here. 

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If you would like to talk to us call on the number below. Alternatively, click on the consultants email address, provide us with your details and we will call you back. We look forward to speaking to you. Contact: Email: Tel: Dom Moorhouse dommoorhouse@moorhouseconsulting.com +44 (0) 1225 446 313