Our assurance gives executive sponsors of high-stakes programmes what they need most; control.

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To the programme executive sponsor: Are you in control?

“Are you in control?” is a question I’ve seen posed by boards to executive sponsors of over-running, over-spending, slippage-laden transformation programmes dozens of times over the past three decades: Four simple, yet hugely challenging words. This article examines the good, the bad and the ugly answers.

3 Minutes

insight

To the programme executive sponsor: Are you in control?

“Are you in control?” is a question I’ve seen posed by boards to executive sponsors of over-running, over-spending, slippage-laden transformation programmes dozens of times over the past three decades: Four simple, yet hugely challenging words. This article examines the good the bad and the ugly answers.

3 MIN

Who is programme assurance really for?

The challenge

How is the executive sponsor supposed to control the complex, fast-moving and sometimes opaque world of programme delivery and still do their day-job?

The solution

Programme assurance does the heavy lifting for the executive sponsor. Oxford8 provide the line of sight, the insight, the foresight, and crucially, the options that enable them to exercise effective oversight.

The challenge

How are you supposed to control the complex, fast-moving and sometimes opaque world of programme delivery and still do your day-job?

The solution

Programme assurance does the heavy lifting for you. We provide the line of sight, the insight, the foresight, and crucially, the options that enable you to exercise effective oversight.

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Who is programme assurance really for?

The executive sponsor is often the meat-in-the-sandwich between the high-stakes programme and the board, or in extreme circumstances wider, regulatory scrutiny. Is the expectation placed on executive sponsors reasonable, and how does it relate the role played by programme assurance?

3 Minutes

What is programme assurance?

Programme assurance - not to be confused with accounting assurance - is the delivery of expert support to a programme, with the full authority of the executive sponsor; a combination of advisory, training, coaching and challenging, specifically designed to alter the odds of a successful programme outcome. And the beauty of it is that it's entirely self-funding, with a very short ROI.

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Why programme assurance is for the executive sponsor, not the programme

If a programme goes wrong, it is typically treated like a sudden change in the weather - unexpected, unforeseeable and not really anyone’s fault. The only exception to that treatment is the executive sponsor...

5 Minutes

When should programme assurance be engaged?

First contact between a client and Oxford8 typically happens at one of three moments in a programme’s lifecycle. We term these moments the outset, the onset and the reset.

From the outset

A clean delivery needs a clean start.

Programmes don’t go wrong, they start wrong. The effort involved in starting a programme the right way isn’t really any greater than the effort required to start it the wrong way.

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The outset

The outset – the beginning of a new programme - may look superficially like a greenfield experience, but it rarely is. It typically follows rapidly on the heels of the previous programme, which often means that the organisation is freshly scarred by whatever transpired before - the overspend, the organisational burnout, and above all, the belief that “we’re just not very good at change.”

4 Minutes

From the onset

Interception, without the drama.

The emergence of initial difficulties isn’t bad news, it’s a great opportunity to intercept visible problems before they become costly mistakes.

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The onset

The onset is the point in a programme where initial symptoms of potential failure start to emerge. Anyone who has ever experienced this situation will tell you that it is almost impossible to identify the specific moment at which the situation crystalised.

3 Minutes

From the reset

A clean reset in 20 days.

If you’ve reached the point of needing to reset, you need to do it quickly, do it once and do it right.

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The reset

The reset typically occurs when a programme that has been struggling to meet its milestones and control its spending finally exceeds the elastic limit of optimism and cannot proceed any further without major revisions to timeframe and budget. For the executive sponsor, it’s the biggest single test of programme leadership.

4 Minutes

How we deliver

3-stage approach:

stage 1

discovery

Duration: 5 days

stage 2

action plan

Duration: 20 days

stage 3

Assurance delivery

Duration: fractional, and to the finish line

Objective:

  • A diagnosis, based on objective analysis and fresh insights, and an executable action plan in 5 days

Method:

  • Analysis of existing materials and 1-1 discussions with key programme personnel

Outcomes::

  • A diagnostic providing fresh insights, analysis and interpretation
  • A detailed, executable action plan to resolve current challenges within 20 days

Objective:

  • An action plan-driven overhaul, delivered in 20 days

Method:

  • Facilitated workshops, team training, individual coaching, co-creation sessions, offline/online reviews

Outcomes:

  • A refreshed programme with:
  • An optimised business case;
  • A clarified scope;
  • An executable plan;
  • A governance framework with an explicit decision pathway;
  • A methodical approach to issues and risks that translates reactive to proactive;
  • A stakeholder engagement strategy to engage and mobilise the wider organisation

Objective:

  • Close support to the programme, providing line-of-sight (situational awareness), insight (analysis and interpretation) and foresight (anticipation) to enable effective oversight by the executive sponsor

Method:

  • Delivered via the proprietary workflow embedded in the assurance workbench – ensures nothing is lost or overlooked

Outcomes:

  • Avoidance, prevention and/or mitigation of issues which would otherwise be likely to cause slippage and therefore cost
  • Execution of the programme plan in a controlled and predictable manner

stage 1

discovery

Duration: 5 days

Objective:

  • A diagnosis, based on objective analysis and fresh insights, and an executable action plan in 5 days

Method:

  • Analysis of existing materials and 1-1 discussions with key programme personnel

Outcomes:

  • A diagnostic providing fresh insights, analysis and interpretation
  • A detailed, executable action plan to resolve current challenges within 20 days

stage 2

action plan

Duration: 20 days

Objective:

  • An action plan-driven overhaul, delivered in 20 days

Method:

  • Facilitated workshops, team training, individual coaching, co-creation sessions, offline/online reviews

Outcomes:

  • A refreshed programme with:
  • An optimised business case;
  • A clarified scope;
  • An executable plan;
  • A governance framework with an explicit decision pathway;
  • A methodical approach to issues and risks that translates reactive to proactive;
  • A stakeholder engagement strategy to engage and mobilise the wider organisation

stage 3

Assurance delivery

Duration: fractional, and to the finish line

Objective:

  • Close support to the programme, providing line-of-sight (situational awareness), insight (analysis and interpretation) and foresight (anticipation) to enable effective oversight by the executive sponsor

Method:

  • Delivered via the proprietary workflow embedded in the assurance workbench – ensures nothing is lost or overlooked

Outcomes:

  • Avoidance, prevention and/or mitigation of issues which would otherwise be likely to cause slippage and therefore cost
  • Execution of the programme plan in a controlled and predictable manner

Who are Oxford8?

We’re exclusively former hot-seat practitioners; people who have delivered some of the most challenging programmes in the field of change. We originated from the first-ever Master’s degree in Major Programme Management at the University of Oxford back in 2009, so we’re research-informed, but make no mistake: We learned our craft in the field.

Why Oxford8?

The flip answer? Because we're the only provider in the market who does purely programme assurance for a living.   There are about 200 companies in the UK who purport to provide programme assurance. They do so for a variety of reasons - everything from optimising their resource utilisation, through to account presence for cross-selling opportunities and even the displacement of competitors – none of which is for the benefit of the client. We provide assurance, free from conflicts of interest, for one reason and one reason only; because we know that it is the effective route to controlled programme delivery.

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What do carbon monoxide poisoning and programme slippage have in common?

There’s an old adage that programme slippage is a bit like carbon monoxide poisoning: It’s cumulative, often invisible and there are few warning signs prior to the unconscious drift into the fatal moment.

4 Minutes

Our approach

If you’re looking for passive fence-sitters with a risk and controls background, that’s not us. Effective assurance has to be multi-dimensional and actively involved: Oxford8’s version of assurance blends advisory, training, case-studies, worked examples, pressure-testing and a variety of other approaches and techniques to support the programme. Below are some examples of exactly how we get our hands dirty:

Planning

Discovery highlighted deficiencies in planning, resulting in daily instances of improvisation within the programme. A two-day training reset provided the programme team with a new approach to planning, supported by specific techniques and worked examples. This was used as the springboard for a replanning exercise, which was closed out via three, 5-day iterations. The outcome was a robust, definitive plan, underpinning a stable, predictable and controlled delivery. Governance of the plan was also modified to track, report and intercept slippage in real time.

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Beyond the statement of intent

A ‘PoaP’ (Plan on a Page) is the default executive view of a programme’s work. But what lies beneath it, and why does that matter?

3 Minutes

Risk management

Discovery identified weaknesses in risk management, resulting in the programme team being more reactive rather than proactive. A new approach to risk was introduced, supported by clear definitions and worked examples. A rigorous, 2-day review of the programme risks reduced the volume, sharpened the clarity and identified clear paths to reduce overall risk exposure by converting risks into activities in the plan. Governance was modified to move away from the conventional ‘top 5 risks’ approach to focus instead on overall risk exposure and risk trajectory, and deal with the root causes of risks by enabling line-of-sight to thematic risks.

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Programme risk - time to skip the omelette

Risk within programmes is often seen as an occupational hazard, but passive acceptance of risk is ultimately what causes programme failure. What are the approaches and techniques that enable risk to play a pivotal role in programme success?

3 Minutes

Issue management

Discovery demonstrated a tendancy for issues to stagnate, resulting in ongoing slippage. A new approach to issue management was introduced, providing clearer definition and a more structured method of issue resolution. The result was a smaller volume of issues, faster, more focused resolution and therefore less management time consumed by issue management. Governance was also revised from the conventional ‘top 5 issues’ approach to focus instead on ‘cycle time’ (the duration from issue identification to issue resolution) and root cause analysis to reduce exposure to recurrent issues.

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Risks don't kill programmes - issues do

Issues are a bit like blood in medical science. We can tell a lot about the human body simply by examining the blood. The same is true of issues and programmes. What can effective issue management tell us about the programme?

5 Minutes

Business case

Examination of the business case revealed an over-reliance on minimal cost savings in the back office whilst overlooking substantial revenue opportuninites that could be unlocked in the front of house operations. An action plan was developed to test and prove the revised business case, which also enabled front of house operations to advance up the learning curve, further accelerating return on investment. The first 12 months of operation following go-live delivered a 19% increase in EBITDA – considerably above the break-even target of 6%.

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Building a better business case: lessons from Bilbao

It’s not always the quantum of benefit that is misunderstood by the business case. Sometimes the nature of the benefit is misperceived. Understanding the business case differently can have a transformative effect on the investment decision.

3 Minutes

Testing

Execution of user acceptance testing was running 70% behind projections. Examination of the problem revealed significant coordination challenges across a test community of 50 resources. By mapping testers to system-specific roles, the testing team was reduced to a headcount of 8. This accelerated testing to achieve not only a run-rate of 130% of projected, it also freed up operations staff to concentrate on other aspects of the programme such as training and operational readiness.

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Testing: the Ringelmann Effect

The adage “too many cooks spoil the broth” actually has some science behind it. The Ringelmann Effect illustrates how the over-allocation of resources can not only be costly but ultimately counter-productive. This article explores how reversing Ringelmann can work to a programme’s advantage.

3 Minutes

Stakeholder engagement

Discovery revealed significant assymetry of information – and therefore understanding – within the stakeholder community. A brief training exercise to equip the wider programme team with stakeholder engagement skills and techniques was followed by a reset of the stakeholder engagement plan. The resulting uptick in programme support and participation was cited as a major factor in the successful delivery of the programme, and its subsequent adoption by the business.

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Navigating stakeholder engagement

Stakeholder mapping is a well-used technique in programme management, but how often does a programme ‘walk the map’? Is stakeholder mapping purely about the organisational ‘who’ and ‘why’, or does it also inform the ‘when’ and ‘in what order’?

2 Minutes

Supplier engagement

Interaction with the implementation partner during the discovery phase surfaced a number of issues that were impeding both the supplier and the client. Rapid resolution of the issues reduced friction in the reationship, resulting in greater productivity and flexibility. This was cited as a major factor in the successful delivery of the programme, and led to ongoing engagement of the implementation partner which resulted directly in the client introducing market-leading functionality within its platform.

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Line of sight: why observable behaviours distort supplier relationships

Commercial relationships can lead to fundamental misunderstandings about intent and motivation. In this instance, a frank exchange of perspectives over bacon and eggs led to a seven-figure goodwill gesture and a rapid reset of the client-supplier relationship.

3 Minutes

Target operating model

The opportunity costs associated with high-stakes programmes probably mean that if the outcome isn’t touching the operating model, it’s unlikely that the programme is worth doing. However, the concept of Target Operating Model – ‘TOM’ isn’t as widely or consistently understood as is necessary to ensure the full width of organisational. Ox8 assisted by leading the organisation through a case-study based exploration of target operating models to understand not only what they really are, but also the approaches and techniques needed to ensure successful implementation.

Case study

Probably the best target operating model in the world

If the definition of target operating model success is breadth of adoption and longevity, the TOM for the restaurant warrants a closer look. This case study explores how one of the most successful TOMs ever was designed and implemented.

3 Minutes

What should I expect from programme assurance?

Stable, predictable, drama-free programme delivery enabled by expert inputs designed specifically for ease of consumption.

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What control feels like

Controversial statement: Programmes should be fun. If you’re on a programme, you get to play a front-line role in removing all of the frustrations of your working life; the clunky applications with their long wait times and counter-intuitive interfaces, the arcane processes layered with workaround band-aids, the non-sensical org structures that mean everything takes three times as long.

5 Minutes