The month of May is a time of anniversaries in Project Delivery. It is one year since the Project Delivery Capability Framework (PDCF) was launched, 6 months since the Government Online skills Tool (GOST) went live, and on a more personal note, my 100th presentation of a framework that has had a considerable impact on the project delivery profession.
Such an impact that, one person in London said the PDCF had “helped change [her] life”, because for the first time she could see how to achieve her career aspirations in Project Delivery.
It is incredible to think that until a year ago there were no standard roles for project delivery jobs, no defined competencies and no career pathways. This made it very difficult for people to grow their careers.
What and where are the PDCF and GOST?
PDCF - an interactive framework where you can read about the roles, competencies and career paths in the project delivery profession. You will find it openly available on GOV.UK
GOST - a tool that you can use to assess yourself against the PDCF competencies and to create a personalised learning plan. Accessible by license when rolled out to your department - your Departmental Head of Profession will let you know when it is available.
For the first time we have the PDCF that provides standard role profiles, defines specialist competencies, and signposts the learning available. This helps project delivery professionals manage their careers in both their current and aspired roles. Career pathways that can now travel across departments and across government.
Feedback has been impressive, with over 22,000 people visiting the GOV.UK page where the PCDF is openly hosted. It has attracted great interest from internally from departments and Arms Length Bodies, and externally from private sector organisations and Professional Bodies such as Association for Project Management and Project Management Institute.
This success is down to the fact that the PDCF was written “by the people, for the people” as every single word was written by project delivery professionals from government departments. A great example of collaboration.
“[The PDCF] provided me with a clear structure for the requirements of my role helping me better understand and focus on developing key skills.”
(Resource Manager, Home Office)
Sitting alongside the PDCF is the Government Online Skills Tool (GOST). This tool allows people to assess their skills against a set of competencies, build a learning plan and identify learning.
GOST is now being used across 9 departments, several Arms Length Bodies and all the Project Delivery Fast Streamers. To date, over a third of the profession has access to this tool. That is a staggering 4,000 people, and this will increase as more departments join.
We are extremely pleased that both PCDF and GOST have been championed by the Heads of Profession. In recent blogs both Steve Vine from Ministry of Justice and James Kemp at Department for Work and Pensions, have highlighted how the tools help to drive capability in a practical way in their departments.
“Finding an opportunity to chart my professional development against realistic competencies has really helped me to understand areas of strength and development and plan for the coming year.”
(Project Manager, DHSC)
Our champions include John Manzoni, CEO of the Civil Service (I had only 7 minutes to present this to John - no pressure then!), and Tony Meggs, CEO of the IPA. Their support has been invaluable. And now a number of other Government professions including Commercial, Science and Engineering, Security, Estates and Operational Delivery are keen to learn about our framework and tool. Watch this space as more government professions get on board.
All in all it has been a great year and engagement with the PDCF and GOST has been tremendous. Over the coming 12 months we will look to build on this fantastic start and I encourage all project professionals to use the PDCF and GOST to help develop your capability and manage your careers. Maybe it could change your life too!
6 comments
Comment by Craig posted on
Congrats to Mark, Tony and Megan.....an impressive achievement delivered across a diverse number of departments and stakeholders.
Comment by Mark Sutherland posted on
Thank you Craig for your very kind comments.
Comment by Nick Borwell posted on
An outstanding achievement by a great extended team: IPA and Departments working seamlessly to deliver this ground-breaking innovation. Well done all.
Comment by Mark Sutherland posted on
Thank you Nick. As you state this a great example of collaboration with Government Project Delivery professionals across Departments and ALBs across all grades.
Comment by Wes Robinson posted on
Excellent, well done - thank you both for your time yesterday and the opportunity to share what we are doing with our Project Academy at Sellafield.
Comment by Mark Sutherland posted on
Thank you Wes. I am pleased you found the session useful and really good to hear about all the capability activities you are doing at Sellafield.