Strategy Survival Guide

References
For more detailed information of all aspects of programme and project management, see the Office of
Government Commerce website, which provides information on the principles and concepts of programme
and project management and provides a helpful summary of the key stages and management activities
required for delivering successful outcomes. The site also covers programme and project management
techniques in detail, including:
• OGC's successful delivery toolkit, which describes proven good practice for procurement,
programmes, projects, risk and service management.
• An introduction to the PRINCE2 Project Management Methodology.
• OGC’s 22 Questions - From "what is our vision?" through to "what's the plan?" 22 Questions to help
you consider your project.
• Programme and Project Documentation - description of the contents of some of the commonly used
documentation for planning, managing, monitoring and controlling progress on programmes and
projects.
Developing the plan
In Practice: Joint SU & HO Police Reform Project
The project management plan was developed jointly by the Strategy Unit and Home Office teams over
the first few weeks of the project. The plan provided the means by which the work was integrated and
co-ordinated.
Several early pieces of work have informed the project plan:
• a project proposal note and agreed terms of reference for the project;
• development of issue trees to help identify key issues and logical structures for the
workstreams;
• initial data gathering to draw together the dominant evidence on different crime areas and the
effectiveness of the police response.
Based on the above and the Strategy Unit’s project plan template, the SU team undertook a first cut for
discussion with the Home Office. Several iterations were then discussed at team meetings, covering in
particular the ground rules on project governance as well as the analytical approach. The basic
structure developed for the plan covers:
Contents
Purpose, project aims and scope
Issues overview and proposed methodology
Issues, workstreams and related work
Governance arrangements
Stakeholder analysis, risk analysis and success
Implementation
Annexes
Issues trees
Detailed analysis of workstreams
Team member biographies
The Strategy Unit maintained responsibility for pulling drafts together, but sought specific input from the
Home Office in several areas given their policy expertise and the need to draw on the ongoing
programme of work in the Home Office on options for police reform. (So, for example, the Home Office
led on the detail of key stakeholders, and how and when to engage with them.)
Separate brainstorms (including senior management from both sides) were held to flesh out the work
programme and activity approach – linking this to the issue trees, work phasing, overall timelines, and
agreeing the detail of workstream splits, activity and outputs. A high-level work programme was then
drafted for inclusion in the project plan.
The draft project plan was then put to the project steering group and relevant Ministers for comment.
Strategy Survival Guide – Strategy Skills
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