Project governance for delivering successful maritime projects

From time to time the APM holds events with other professional organisations. We were pleased to host an event with the Institute of Mechanical Engineers on Monday 15th October 2012 featuring a prominent speaker - Ian Williams of BAE Systems, Maritime Services.
 

What do we mean when we talk about project management governance? This event, run by APM Farnborough Chapter and sponsored by BAE Systems Project Management Council, provided a useful opportunity to consider what project management governance is and its implications for the individual project manager.

When it comes to managing a project, a project manager will naturally have a primary focus of meeting the project requirements and satisfying the customer. In the longer term though, what can often be more important is that everything the project manager is responsible for is discharged in a responsible and transparent way and meets the overarching governance requirements.

So, what do we mean when we talk about project management governance?

This briefing helped project managers understand what is expected of them from a governance perspective as they go about the task of delivering increasingly complex projects.

Ian is an accomplished project manager and engineer with more than 30 years’ experience designing, developing and delivering complex electronic systems in engineering and project management roles across defence, automation and process control markets. He has delivery experience in high value projects and project portfolio management. He is a specialist in bespoke system design, systems integration and product development.

Currently Head of Project Management of BAE Systems Maritime Services business, Ian is responsible for the development of the project management capability within the business and the deployment of project management disciplines, in particular, planning, monitoring and control, risk management and project management governance, across several hundred projects.

Ian is chairman of the BAE Systems Risk Management Steering Group and a member of the BAE Systems Project Management Council. He joined GEC Marconi Radar Systems in 1991 and became part of BAE Systems following the merger of the defence arm of GEC Marconi with British Aerospace in 2000.