The Office of Government Commerce (OGC) has published a new edition of its Lessons Learned series to help management teams and stakeholders manage risk and improve delivery confidence on programmes and projects.
The latest guidelines tackle key themes and issues identified from the government's Gateway Review assessments.
Introduced in 2001 as a mandatory tool for central government, the OGC claims Gateway Reviews have made a real contribution to the successful delivery of public services.
Over 2,000 reviews have been completed to date, and the Lessons Learned publications capture and communicate common issues and solutions identified by the assessments.
Lessons Learned – Effective Project Assurance provides those involved in programme and project management clear pointers, guidance and best practice advice on how to achieve successful delivery to time, quality and cost, realising benefits.
These are based around the following six lessons:
Lesson 1: All projects should have their own assurance plan
Lesson 2: The right assurance tool should be used at the right time, provided by appropriately skilled and experienced assurors
Lesson 3: The right assurance at the right time always adds value: start the assurance early, and consider using Starting Gate
Lesson 4: Organisations should develop and declare a policy setting out when and to whom assurance should be circulated
Lesson 5: Reap the benefits of assurance by sharing and learning from others
Lesson 6: Act on the recommendations and use circulation and escalation procedures where appropriate
Speaking about the publication, OGC chief executive Nigel Smith said: "Gateway Reviews have already proven to be a valuable addition to the government's checks on whether a programme or project is on the right path to deliver a successful outcome.
"It is important best practice learnt from them is shared across Whitehall. The Lessons Learned publications provide a useful additional measure to support programme and project managers with guidance on how to do the right things, in the right way, with the right resource, and minimise the risk of failure."
