Adrian Pyne

The project profession has been my home for more than 30 years. I describe myself as a project professional, a designation that did not exist in the 1980s. I have been fortunate to witness the fantastic evolution of the profession, and of playing my part.

My interest in methods, their evolution and practical adaptation commenced in telecoms with BT (British Telecom back then) as a trainer/internal consultant in business analysis, software design, development and project management. We even developed an integrated project management and software development method called Telstar. It grew out of PROMPT, a precursor to PRINCE2, and SSADM (Structured Systems Analysis and Design Method). Our ambition went as far as designing a toolset to automate much of Telstar. BT, probably sensibly, decided against the significant investment in development.

This stimulated me to become more interested in the profession and I joined the Association for Project Management in the early 1990s, becoming active in the emerging programme management special interest group, ProgM, led then by the incredible, creative and much-missed Geoff Reiss, for me the Guru of programme management. Programme management had evolved from the inability of project management methods to handle the increasing scale and complexity of change.

During my time with ProgM we carried the flame for other evolutions in the profession inside APM, notably portfolio management, project management offices, benefits management and increasingly the human aspects of the profession such as stakeholder management and communication.

I can proudly say that other SIGs emerged to greatly advance the early work of the ProgM team in the areas of PMOs, portfolio management and so on. ProgM continues to evolve and promote programme management actively and effectively…. without me to get in the way.

Six of us, again led by Geoff Reiss, published the first Gower Handbook of Programme Management in 2006. I slightly shudder to recall that Geoff Reiss, Malcolm Anthony, John Chapman, Geof Leigh, Paul Rayner and I put more than 100 years’ project experience into that book. I am sorry that there is only 30-odd years in this one.

From 1996 until about ten years ago I led or rescued transformation programmes well beyond telecoms in various industries and both commercial and public sectors, including: aviation, finance (retail, investment and lease), energy technologies, mining, video technologies, nano-technology, recruitment, software products, central and local government, the charity sector… and coffee!

I took on roles from project manager through to Head of Customer Projects, trouble-shooter, consultancy roles, e.g. the design/build/operation of P3 methods, and even wrote a report for the National Audit Office.

In parallel I have co-authored publications for APM and been a contributor and reviewer for government programme, portfolio management and PMO standards. I have lectured extensively in the UK, Europe and now online. This included the agile project management roadshow I did with Brian Wernham (Author: Agile Project Management for Government) for a couple of years. I remain a visiting lecturer at several business schools, notably for ten years at Nottingham University Business School.

And I am still learning