i3Works News & Articles – Page 5 – i3Works Company Updates

Assurance – new package, improved service, and a pledge

by Nora Harris, i3Works head of Assurance

i3Works has been providing assurance and audit services for some years now. While we already count defence, nuclear and local government among clients who have benefited from our service over recent years, the requests for our skills in this area continues to grow. In fact, it has grown so much recently that we have decided to establish assurance as a dedicated service line.

I am proud to be the first head of this new service, and would like to take this opportunity to tell you about what i3Works can do for you. To do this, we first need to consider what assurance means.

Top-quality collaboration guaranteed with i3Works

We are delighted to announce that our collaborative working culture has now been recognised with official International Standards Organisation (ISO) 44001 accreditation.

IS044001 is an internationally recognised accreditation that helps organisations build and develop effective, competitive business relationships based upon a collaborative approach.

From Practice to Practitioner

16 months in, and still not missing those pipettes

Natalie Talbot, PhD Graduate Consultant

It’s been 16 months since I joined the i3 family or, in other terms, six projects, one viva, 11 exams, one pandemic, three lockdowns and one house-move.

A lot has changed since my last blog post; I have moved into the second year of the PhD Graduate Scheme and started my first billable role.

In July, I started as programme benefits management lead within the Defence sector, and have been specialising in all things outcomes, benefits and measurements ever since. I have put into action the experience and knowledge from my first year to proactively establish, manage and track benefits within 10 projects, and at the programme level.

Is it time to bin new year resolutions?

asks Freddie Stephenson, PhD graduate consultant

It’s the first week of February 2021. The second month of another year that, like its predecessor, will endlessly be described as unprecedented and challenging. Nonetheless, it is still worth reflecting and asking ourselves the question: are we keeping up with our new year resolutions? Or more importantly, should we be setting them at all?

2020 in hindsight

Director’s dialogue

by Ben Ames

As I reflect on the last year, I am overwhelmed by the achievements of our staff, as individuals and as a company. Even in the strangest year any of us are likely to experience, we have expanded the skillsets and qualifications across our services, grown our i3Institute, established ourselves in new sectors, and strengthened our position in others.

Early days in i3Works

By Ben Lewis, Project Controls Academy trainee

I joined i3Works in October 2020, and am starting to settle into my new role as a trainee. In the run up to Christmas, it seems like a good time to check in let people know how I’m getting on.

Agile working – a mindset, not a method

by Alec Bosomworth, senior consultant and Agile PM subject matter expert

Agile is seen as a new and exciting term; one which is being increasingly used as more and more organisations choose to “go agile”, with promises of better customer satisfaction and rapid delivery. All too often, however, these aspirations fall short. In my experience, this is often due to the misconception that agile is a method.

Yep, you read that correctly – agile is not a method.

Functional coherence: So, what is it?

by James Marwood, head of Public Sector Transformation

I don’t like buzzwords or management catchphrases. They may sound good sometimes, but they rarely add anything. You can keep your “helicopter views”, “synergies”, and your “going forwards”. However, there is one term being used more often nowadays that could easily be mistaken for one of these bits of jargon, but one which shouldn’t be mistaken for ‘trying to impress’.

Functional coherence is increasingly important, especially as large organisations seek to realise the value in their investments in digital technologies. As a result, it’s coming up in meetings more and more, but given the puzzled reactions of some of the people involved in those meetings, it’s clearly not always fully understood. So, with that in mind, allow me to explain.

All for one, and one for all

How collaboration is making MODCloud a reality

By Chris Cooke, Head of Defence

When an organisation takes on a project, it is inevitably looking to implement change. This change means doing something differently to how it’s been done before, with the expectation that specific, defined benefits can be achieved.

We’re in control

Last week (Monday 19 October) we completed our i3Institute 2020 intake by welcoming five project controls students. This week, their training ramps up as lessons in planning, risk and cost management officially begin.