Dada Enterprises event explores Brexit impact on project delivery
Dada Enterprises, a business consultancy based in London, recently organised a round-table for project managers. The event brought together delegates from around the UK and across numerous sectors to hear from a range of speakers to explore the impact of Brexit on project delivery.
Held at the prestigious Institute of Directors (IoD), Dada’s round-table looked at how project leaders could apply Agile PMO, risk management, project governance, procurement and change management to the range of project controls and management challenges Brexit will pose. The event’s title of “How to ‘Brexit-Proof’ your project strategy before December 14th 2018” highlighted that the December 14th is the date of the last European Council of 2018. This is widely seen as the last practical date for an Article 50 divorce deal to be signed off. With only a limited transition period, all businesses who trade with and within the UK need to have a transition strategy in place by December 14th or be at a disadvantage of not fully exploiting the transition period.
The event kicked off with an opening address from Sachin Melwani, Managing Director of Dada Enterprises, who gave an overview of the Brexit timeline, the various Brexit options available and the potential project delivery impacts. Commenting on the Brexit negotiations Sachin observed that “The UK will have to make some stark choices over its Brexit strategy and red lines.” On the transition period – a 21-month transition period has been agreed upon with Brussels starting from Brexit’s go-live date of 29 March 2019 – he commented: “With only a limited transition period, companies need to understand the organisational, project, and resource impact of these macro decisions is key to fully exploiting any transition period and reducing the impact on their bottom line.”
Rohit Tawlar, acclaimed futurologist, then put Brexit in the context of the other highly disruptive changes happening in the world in parallel – which are creating a more complex and multi-faceted business world (e.g. trade tensions, data security, war, terrorism, natural disasters). Tawlar then put Brexit in the context of the “other elephant”, Artificial Intelligence, to address the core question of how humanity can be kept at the centre of the story in the face of powerful technological shifts reshaping the world and straining the old social fabric.
Finally, the participants were treated to an energetic and interactive workshop session by Stuart Easton, CEO of Transparent Choice, whose company helps governmental bodies and non-profits identify and eliminate 10% to 40% of waste in their portfolio. Easton explained how strategically aligned projects benefit business value. “They are 57% more likely to achieve business goals, 50% more likely to finish on time, and 45% more likely to finish on budget,” he highlighted.
Easton then showed how AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) to align and prioritise projects can be used to eliminate waste and place the spotlights on the most important programmes and projects. An interactive workshop was held with different teams reflecting the Cabinet in Brexit negotiation scenarios to demonstrate the importance of a “good strategic” fit between teams, since changes may sometimes not be understood by delivery teams nor agreed to by senior management.