Discussion Summary
APEX Executive ConnEXions Series
Managing Complex Projects
April 7, 2016
The Association of Professional Executives of the Public Service of Canada (APEX) was
pleased to introduce a new discussion series titled Executive ConnEXions.
It is of high priority to APEX to provide regular opportunities for our members to come
together as a community, in person, or virtually, to share information and experiences,
to learn from each other and to expand our networks. As such, APEX offers a series of
90-minute interactive discussions called APEX Executive ConnEXions. Each informal
session begins with a brief introduction by Senior Government Officials followed by an
open discussion with 20-25 participants. Our aim is for APEX members to have an
opportunity to engage in a thoughtful and dynamic conversation on a subject that
matters to participants and hope that you may come away with some new ideas and
perhaps some new contacts to help keep the discussion going.
Background
More and more senior leaders are required to deliver horizontal projects that cut across
their functional area of responsibility. From large construction or procurement projects,
IT initiatives, to service delivery models, executives today are faced with challenges and
opportunities that come with managing highly complex projects. This skill is further
highlighted in the key leadership competency where leaders are looked upon to
mobilize and manage resources to deliver on the priorities of the Government, improve
outcomes and add value. APEX offered this interactive discussion on challenges and
opportunities in managing complex projects and allowed APEX members to learn what
others have to say about their approaches, their successes and their lessons learned.
To help lead this discussion APEX invited:



Jane Pearse, Vice-President, Strategic Policy and Investment, Parks Canada
Peter Bruce, Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, Shared Services Canada
Pat Finn, Assistant Deputy Minister, Materiel, Department of National Defence
Key discussion points

First and foremost, project objectives must be identified early and clearly stated.

Ensure that timing is right to launch your project, launching too early or before
having defined project timelines time, scope and cost suitably defined may hamper the
project in the long term.

Identifying scope, budget, lifecycle management and planned outcomes early is
key to creating conditions for success from the outset of project planning.

Communicating your program clearly is key. Simplicity and clarity will help avoid
issues down the road.

A project charter document is an excellent tool for establishing and
communicating project goals. In addition, performance indicators should be
identified early on to manage project milestones along the way and allow for
adjustments where required.

Co-locating team members helps to facilitate better communication and
productivity among colleagues during project delivery.

Identifying milestones and performance indicators for each partner assists in
ensuring that things stay on track and allow for re-adjustment where needed.

Bring in stakeholders and Central Agencies as early as possible. Demonstrate
through site visits and briefings what it is you are trying to accomplish so that all
are on-board and have a good understanding of what is to be accomplished.

Managing risk and knowing your risk tolerance for each project component.
Ongoing tracking of the risk areas (green, yellow, red) allows the project
manager to adopt strategies on how to address them early on (robust risk
management discipline).

Identifying the right governance structure assists in meeting deadlines and
approvals. Ensuring that all members of the governance structure and project
team have a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities is also
fundamental.

As a best practice, to look at ways of measuring client benefits in the project
mandate so that these can be linked to the project outputs at project close.

Manage project outputs and not activities.

Plan for engaging people on an ongoing basis. Establishing complex projects
often means a culture change within an organization. Communication with your
employees and stakeholders is key and should happen on an on-going basis. Not
managing this aspect is the highest risk for not getting the project right.

From the outset, we must be clear about the competencies required for each
part of the project and provide tools and frameworks to help team members
fulfil their duties.