Article - What Pathway Training and Consultancy is Built On

What are the core principles of Pathway IT Consultants' training and consultancy? Our training and consultancy are built on a solid foundation of lessons learnt from delivering and rescuing business-critical projects for over 25 years.

Pathway has an enviable track record of delivery, and the insights that ensured success are included in the book Pathway Project Management Toolkit.

Every project is different. Understanding how to view each one holistically and add the required actions is critical. You need proven principles and actions that work with any methodology. You will find them in our Toolkit and on our training.

The projects that the courses are based on include the successful delivery of:

• Methodology selection, training, mentoring and project management on a DSDM Agile project for the largest hospitality group in the UK.
• Digital transformation for a major charity. This included project management and mentoring on dress rehearsals. They are the most effective risk management activity a project can undertake.
• The Year 2000 programme for a prestige automotive manufacturer was delivered on time and £10,000 under budget. Professional project initiation was a key factor in the success of this programme.
• An application for managing critical aspects of the production process for a major chemical manufacturer based in Northwich.
• Project management and mentoring on Agile, hybrid methodology and dress rehearsals for a major media company. The approach was recognised as best practice for IT programmes.
• Cutover management for a London bank. The approach, cutover runbook, risk management, cutover templates, stakeholder meetings and gateway approval processes became the standard for the bank.
• Rescue of a payroll project for an education charity. There were substantial issues with system integration, data and testing. The project had a fixed deadline that posed severe reputational risk. Dress rehearsals were used to identify issues and provide the assurance required to allow cutover to the new system by the deadline.
• Infrastructure build to allow testing on a major programme for a bank. This project had failed twice and was on the programme’s critical path. Effective dependency management and enhanced collaboration between the teams were the key to delivering this successfully.

These examples highlight four key insights included in the Pathway Project Management Toolkit and project management courses:

1. Dress rehearsals
2. Hybrid methodology
3. Professional project initiation
4. Cutover management

These activities work with, and enhance, any methodology. These four points are used as examples, but the pragmatic courses include far more insights, including how to:

• Determine the best Agile framework for your projects.
• Determine the level of contingency you should include in your plans based on several factors, including the confidence in the estimates and the use of new technology.
• Agree on critical success factors with stakeholders.
• Manage risk proactively.
• Predict the cutover risk during the project lifecycle.
• Manage your budgets effectively over the course of the project.
• Manage security planning and testing. (This relates to planning these activities. For example, planning third-party testing, which can have a long lead time. There may be a requirement to retest; this all needs to go in the plan with contingency. Please note that security strategy and implementation is a separate topic.)
• Identify and manage proof-of-concept activities.
• Align the strategy for managing master data with the project.
• Prepare for and manage Go/No Go meetings.
• Have excellent post-go-live support.

The insights to the successful delivery of these projects and others are included in the Toolkit and the courses. They are built on real-world experience from delivering challenging, critical programmes and projects for blue-chip companies and leading charities.

The expertise gained from this work provides unique awareness of the approach and activities that make the difference between success and failure.

Our unique high-quality PM courses are based on the original material in the Pathway Project Management Toolkit. The objectives are the same whether you are attending an instructor-led course or completing one of our flexible online courses. Also, our Tea Break courses are a great option for busy IT professionals.

Pathway is also renowned for excellent client support; please contact us for more information.

Good luck on your projects!