APM North West branch/University of Manchester Presentation on Managing complexity in large development programmes

One of the key activities of the APM Northwest Branch is to reach out to educational bodies, to provide information based on the experience of seasoned professional APM members for the benefit of students in a variety of educational establishments.

A joint event between the APM and the University of Manchester was hosted at the University on 11 October 2012 . Post-graduate students from the MSc Project Management course, the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering (MACE), joined members of the APM for a presentation on ‘Managing complexity in large development programmes’. The guest speaker was Dr Steve Rivkin, a Programme Manager at Acando UK. Steve is a Fellow of the APM, and a committee member of the North West branch of the APM. He has co-authored the requirements management section of the APM's Body of Knowledge (6th Edition) .

A requirements-driven design strategy for managing large, complex development programmes was described. This strategy was based on three key principles: 

  • 1 - determining what is required by specifying formal, traceable requirements; 
  • 2 - specifying how the design will be implement the requirements; 
  • 3 - providing verification evidence to prove that the design meets the requirements. 

Steve went on to cover: a number of practical issues relating to a number of aspects of whole lifecycle management through to system disposal; compliance to international standards; profiling regulatory requirements to specific industry sectors; and project and programme governance.

The presentation stimulated a number of questions from both students and experienced practitioners. Mrs Fiona Saunders, Teaching Fellow in Project Management in MACE, said after the presentation ‘the students really enjoy listening to examples of real experiences on large projects’.