2. Letter from Mr Keith Johns, Director,
Hush Consulting Limited
THE ROLL-OUT
OF THE
JOBCENTRE PLUS
OFFICE NETWORK—COMMITTEE
MEETING 30 APRIL
2008
As a Project Management consultant actively
involved in delivering the Jobcentre Plus rollout programme for
the past five years, I listened with interest to the above committee
meeting and the generally positive and encouraging reporting therein.
Following on from this I thought you and your committee colleagues
might be interested in a "front line" perspective as
to other benefits and successes emanating from the roll out.
The committee highlighted the need for other
Government Departments to take on board the lessons learnt from
this roll out programme. I would suggest that there are real benefits
to be gained and that this is an opportunity that should not be
missed. Failure to seize this opportunity will, I believe, result
in the industry slipping into "old ways" in respect
poor quality, delays and over spending on public sector contracts.
The success of the project in terms of cost
saving and programme achievement are well documented as are the
Health & Safety achievements. However I would contend that
the successes extend beyond the "public finance" benefits
discussed at the committee and those successes simply measured
by statistics.
For those lucky enough to have been involved,
it has contributed to a cultural change for the better in terms
of collaborative working, openness, ongoing commitment and, not
least, in Health & Safety management in the construction industry.
It has been a real pleasure to work on this project.
There were a number of key differences between
JCP and other public and private sector contracts which were central
to this success. A couple of these are summarised below:
CONTINUITY AND
EXPERIENCE OF
THE DELIVERY
TEAMS
The committee noted that the JCP senior management
team was involved throughout the life of the project and that
this team had over 100 years experience between them—this
was identified as a major contributory factor to it's success.
This continuity / right experience was replicated throughout the
whole delivery chain.
At the outset the professional consultant teams
and regional contractors were selected on the basis of their attitude,
personal attributes and approach to collaborative working and
not just the right qualifications and experience. In addition,
and most crucially, individuals were selected and not just consultant
firms, those individuals were encouraged to commit for the "long
haul".
For example, I was responsible for managing
the roll out of over 70 offices over four years in the South West.
Our success in the region was underpinned by the fact that I was
fortunate to work with virtually the same DWP Client, Consultant,
Contractor and Service Partner teams throughout the whole programme.
In my experience this level of continuity, commitment
and "specialist" expertise is almost unheard of. Indeed
personally I have never worked on one project for this period
of time or indeed on a project that has been completed without
major changes in personnel.
The culture of the individuals involved and
the level of contribution and engagement by all project stakeholders
was a significant contributory factor to the success of the project.
Indeed the project exemplified the "Integrated Team"
concept championed by Sir John Egan and the Constructing Excellence
initiative.
GOVERNANCE AND
COMMUNICATIONS
At the committees Mr Davies reported in respect
of the control and governance measures implemented on the project
and in particular the "gateway process" that was adopted.
These management systems enabled programme managers like myself
to deliver a clear set of objectives in a controlled and managed
fashion but without the "one hand tied behind the back"
scenario that exists in some management control systems.
From the outset the project delivery teams at
district level had a very clear sense of direction and objective
in terms of programme, budget and design vision passed down from
senior management and the Estates Core Team. As reported, during
the pathfinder phase and year one roll out, we were able to be
slightly more subjective in terms of specification of works. Notwithstanding
this, the clear direction and national model afforded Programme
Mangers like myself the opportunity to manage the aspirations
of the business in the knowledge that all decisions reached were
under pinned and consistent with national parameters and objectives.
This level of clarity of direction and management
control without restrictive interference and constraint is unusual
in my experience—we were able to do our jobs.
Communications on the project were excellent
with regular and coordinated face to face meetings at site, district,
regional and national levels. These were supplemented by regular
national forums where individuals like myself met with colleagues
from other regions, Core Team and senior management to review
the roll out programme and to share knowledge. These were invaluable
in the early days and not least, very enjoyable!
In order to deliver the programme successfully
the construction professionals needed to understand the nature
and needs of the business at both an office and strategic level.
As programme manager I was encouraged and was party to discussions
around business operations and strategy and as such was able to
fully consider this as a crucial part of an holistic approach
to the roll out programme.
From the outset at local level it was always
felt that the senior management had "a handle" and an
interest on what was happening in terms of project delivery. More
importantly as programme managers we had ample opportunity to
raise points with senior management at forums and via meeting
and telekits etc. Indeed during the roll out Mr Davies visited
a number of my sites in the South West.
IN SUMMARY..
Sir Michael Lathem stated that "the Jobcentre
Plus project should be congratulated for their success in their
drive to introduce a new approach based on the creation of a partnering
culture across the entire supply chain". I believe that on
this project this should be extended to include the DWP Client,
it's service partners and business end users. It has been without
doubt the most inclusive project I have ever been involved in
and this is due solely to the individuals involved from Senior
Management, Core Team, Regional and District Change Teams, office
managers and not least the professional estates delivery teams.
From a personal perspective and to mis-quote
Victor Kiam! "I liked this product so much I bought the company"—well
not exactly, but along with a number of ex JCP colleagues I am
involved in setting up a new Project and Cost Management consultancy
company with the aim of developing and implementing the JCP ideals
and systems for the benefit of our commercial clients and hopefully,
in the future, on other public sector projects.
I trust you will find my comments of interest.
1 May 2008
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