When a project cannot tell its whole story
How public project leaders can maintain trust while protecting confidential information, respecting live proceedings and keeping accountability open.
By Jim Parke |
Insights
Practical thinking on strategic projects.
An editorial home for original practitioner perspectives on how strategic projects are led, governed and delivered.
Topics
- 01
Project leadership
Sponsorship, decision rights and the behaviours that keep strategic projects aligned to intent.
How do you lead a decision you cannot make alone?Who decides when a major programme changes? - 02
Governance & assurance
Proportionate oversight, board reporting and independent assurance that supports better decisions.
When a project cannot tell its whole storyWhen should a major project stop?What contract managers still decide in an automated worldWhat should a major project contract decide before things go wrong?Why contracts and trust belong together in major programmesWho speaks for the future in a major project? - 03
Delivery
Planning, organisational readiness and the practical conditions for delivering complex change.
- 04
Risk & uncertainty
Recognising optimism bias, managing uncertainty and building realistic contingency.
When a major project’s costs rise, who asks whether it still makes sense?Five questions before approving a major project - 05
Benefits
Defining, owning and realising the outcomes that justify investment.
Why a social programme needs more than a list of projects
Published
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How do you lead a decision you cannot make alone?
How chairs can design a fair, proportionate decision process when authority is shared, evidence is disputed and relationships are at stake.
By Jim Parke |
When should a major project stop?
How sponsors can distinguish a recoverable major project from one whose rationale has expired, and make a defensible decision to continue, redesign, suspend or stop.
By Jim Parke |
What contract managers still decide in an automated world
Contract automation and human judgement: which decisions stay with people on risk, negotiation, AI tools and the long operating relationship.
By Jim Parke |
What should a major project contract decide before things go wrong?
Contract design before dispute: due diligence, acceptance, early warning, change control, disruption and the operating relationship.
By Jim Parke |
Why contracts and trust belong together in major programmes
How sponsors combine contractual governance with relational trust so that interfaces, incentives and system-wide tests work together.
By Jim Parke |
Who speaks for the future in a major project?
How major-project governance can represent future generations and natural systems through defined challenge, measurement and review.
By Jim Parke |
Who decides when a major programme changes?
Decision rights in major programmes: what the centre holds, what delivery teams decide, and how adaptation stays disciplined.
By Jim Parke |
When a major project’s costs rise, who asks whether it still makes sense?
A major project is approved on a promise: the expected benefits justify the estimated cost, risk and disruption.
By Jim Parke |
Why a social programme needs more than a list of projects
Systems thinking for programme leaders: outcomes, feedback, leverage points, trade-offs and handover.
By Jim Parke |
Five questions before approving a major project
Five practical questions for sponsors, boards and executives testing a major project before approval.
By Jim Parke |