Project Method

What is the Redshoes Project Method.

The Redshoes Project Method © (RPM) was formally created by Ian Parker-Joseph in 2003, developed on experience successfully managing projects since 1982, to ensure success for projects that could not be driven by using Prince2 alone or where it is inappropriate, and to rescue projects that under Prince2 had failed.

It has many common features to the Prince2 methodology, delivering much of the same control documents, such as a PID, Budget, Risk/Issues log, Project Plan, QA, Test Plan and Sign-Off , but it differs greatly in its application, using the Method as a tool not the driver.

To explain. Prince2 has been hailed as the driving force behind modern project management, and yes, quite rightly it does have its place in a lot of tightly regulated and controlled environments.

To take its name literally, as Prince2 practitioners are taught, ‘Projects in a Controlled Environment’, means that the process itself is the project driver, not always the aims and objectives, and in many cases once underway, even the business need of the project gives way to the process. Its like a train that once started on its journey is very difficult to stop, and it only has 1 route, on lines that have been pre-laid and are fixed.

For those projects and environments that need controlled, gated processes, by and large it works well.

In reality we know that a large majority of ICT, CRM and Network Infrastructure projects are dynamic and fast track, with impossible timescales, and like all projects they are about controlled chaos, making sense of a vast array of tasks that get you from beginning to end, the basic project structure.

But they also have the need to have the flexibility of being able to manage events on a daily basis, those unforeseen events, like the technology not working when delivered, the engineer turning up with no cables, the power going off for 2 days, being able to Manage down on the ground, not just the fluffy cloud.

RPM is the Appliance of Logic Project Management rather than Process Management.

The Redshoes Project Method prioritises the management of the physical project, and says that delivery, installation and testing has a higher priority for the Project Manager than the production of bar charts and wbs stats.

In planning any project, the primary objectives are to deliver the project in its entirety, to meet the deadlines and stay within budgetary control.

Using RPM to achieve this, planning begins from the target end date, planning backwards, looking at where and with whom overlaps in activity can be achieved right back to the current date.

Delays in deliveries, power cuts, staff sickness and other problems are all inevitable in the lifetime of a project, but it depends on how flexible the methodology, the project plan and the project manager can be as to how it will affect the outcome of the project overall.

In a typical 6 – 9 month project, using the guidelines laid down by Prince 2, a 1 day delay during the project initiation or delivery periods will result in a 2 week extension to the project end date, because the project effectively stops until the problem is resolved.

The RPM project will not move its end date other than in exceptional circumstances. It will firstly look to see where slack in the project occurs, see whether resources can be re-assigned, continue the project whilst the problem is addressed and re-route the plan to work around the blockage.

It will then use other methods in order to pull the time back. Examples are to walk round purchase orders or authorisation requests for same day signature rather than using normal process, to reschedule deliveries, installations, roll-outs, or re-assign resource work schedules.

It also means that Change Control becomes far more flexible, yet still remaining firm, eliminating scope creep.

In essence, the Redshoes Project Method is a dynamic PM tool, one which allows the Project Manager to drive home results, especially in time critical projects, and is a key fundamental method for Project Recovery assignments.

We know that processes within organisations are essential, but we use those processes as tools, take the positive, to give our Project Managers the authority to manage the project, not just the process.

We don't let it happen, We make it happen.

Parker-Joseph Consulting

Project Method