PMD Pro: an action plan
“Our first PMD Pro training session took place in Johannesburg, in 2010,” says Nano Ngwane. Over the next four years over 300 people – staff from World Vision and various community based organisations – from five Southern African countries, learned how to manage projects in more structured and systematic ways.
After the training, the participants developed a plan of action that included the top five processes and tools to implement over the next six months. At the top of the list were: the ‘issue log’, ‘work breakdown structure’, ‘risk Register’, ‘project charter’, and the communications plan tool. Each National Office then consolidated this information and developed a set of the tools for national use.”
“We have seen considerable improvements in the way that projects are managed,” says Nano. “Stakeholders are much happier with progress updates and the ‘issue log’ has reduced the time that it takes to resolve outstanding issues. We can clearly see this in our monthly progress reports which now align budget expenditure with targets.”
“PMD Pro provides an excellent technical understanding of project management, with tools that are easy to understand and use. We have found that the tools can be adapted to suit an individual, or to the context of an organization,’ says Nano. “It is one of the best approaches for helping NGOs and individuals to be better – an even excellent – in project management.”
“Personally I have grown in the way that I manage, plan and implement my work. I have the tools that I need to ensure that projects are delivered on time and on budget,” he says. “I would advise other organizations to think carefully about who to train and how many to train. Senior management should attend a PMD Pro course if their organization plans to adopt the approach as this will help them to understand how they should provide support to project teams”.
— Nano Ngwane
World Vision, Southern Africa