Critical Friends: An Effective Guide - wiki Critical Friends: An Effective Practice Guide / Dealing with specific project issues
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Dealing with specific project issues

Confidentiality 

  • Projects can sometimes be guarded in what they say to critical friends and to project sponsors - and think that critical friends are a stooge of the project sponsor. This can be overcome in the following ways:
    • Create an opportunity to explain the role of the critical friend to key stakeholders (e.g. at the start-up meeting, first CAMEL meeting, steering group) and develop a briefing document.
    • Critical friends should make it clear to projects that dialogue will be treated as confidential and critical friends will only report in general (anonymous) terms to the project sponsor.
    • Critical friends should encourage projects to have an open, trusting and pro-active relationship with the project sponsor - highlighting that the sponsor wants them to succeed, noting that contexts and circumstances can change and impact on project outcomes (project creep) and that much can be learnt from apparent ‘failures’.

 

Transparency of critical friend reports and feedback

  • Critical friends should be open but objective.
  • It would be good practice to circulate critical friend reports initially to the project teams before sending them to the project sponsor - this would ensure transparency.
  • Critical friends should try to add value by, for example, offering ideas for improvement, finding solutions to problems, offering further assistance. 

 

Building trust

  • Building trust with projects takes time!
  • Critical friends need to spend more time up-front with individual projects, directors/managers,  teams, other stakeholders as appropriate as well as the project cluster in order to build trust early on.
  • Where relevant, project sponsors should involve critical friends in the opening programme meeting BUT to be careful not to present them as part of the programme management group.

 

Perceptions of complexity of programme support

  • Some projects may complain about the complexity of the project sponsor support and the degree of reporting required, particularly in the early stages where project plans and baseline reports are required.
  • Project sponsors should provide an over-arching diagram to show how the various functions and agencies are inter-related.
  • Critical friends can use Cluster (CAMEL cohort) meetings to promote the range of support on offer and when/where best to utilise it.
  • Critical friends can use Cluster meetings to identify if there are common areas where support is needed and then organise support as part of future cluster activities.
  • Critical friends should help projects to understand the value of and benefits from effective planning and base-lining.
  • Critical friends should help projects consider the timing of CAMEL cluster meetings to coincide with identified phases/issues of the project life cycle and in advance of programme meetings to help plan for these.
  • Critical friends should focus their evaluative comments on what projects expect the landscape to look like at the end of their project - what difference will it have made. What would success look like?

 

Helping projects to be realistic in defining project scope

  • Some projects come to the realisation that their project scope is too broad.
  • Critical friends should support projects in realistic project planning and to make clear what activities are “in scope” and which ones are “out of scope” - and helping to manage expectations.
  • Critical friends should draw on projects from other programmes (where known) to identify effective practice, need for focus, achievability.
  • Critical friends should encourage external evaluation as an ongoing process through the life of the project and work with the external evaluator and project manager to assist in focussing and re-scoping projects as necessary. Keep the project sponsor and programme manager in the loop with any revised changes to project outcomes and deliverables (using e.g. interim reporting mechanisms).

 

Supporting projects in understanding the benefits of effective evaluation and impact measurement

  • Projects need to see the benefits of effective evaluation and measurement of impact.
  • Critical friends should support projects in understanding the rationale for evaluation and measuring of impact.
  • Critical friends should help project teams in identifying what evidence will satisfy various stakeholders that the project has made a difference.
  • Critical friends should encourage external evaluation as an ongoing process through the life of the project and work with the External Evaluator and project manager to assist in focussing and re-scoping projects as necessary. Use external evaluation reports to inform on-to-one discussions and agendas for cluster meetings.

 

Supporting projects in understanding the need to build in sustainability and embedding into project plans

  • Many projects have not fully embraced the concept of sustainability and embedding.
  • Critical friends should work with project teams to use the JISC Guide to Sustaining and Embedding project innovations.
  • Critical friends should adopt sustainability and future planning as constant themes which underpin their comments.
  • Critical friends can arrange an "evidence of impact swap shop" amongst projects in a cluster (or beyond).
  • Critical friends should use cluster meetings as a mechanism  to discuss sustainability and embedding. Encourage teams to consider core processes and practices that outcomes/deliverables would need to be embedded into. Encourage project teams to think about committees that they should report to in order to effect changes that result in outcomes being embedded.
  • Critical friends should encourage project managers to build tasks into project activity plans to ensure outcomes and deliverables are embedded.

 

Supporting projects in understanding the concepts around cost/benefits analysis

  • Projects frequently require support to better understand the concepts around costs/benefits.
  • Critical friends should emphasise the importance of clear cost/benefit analysis to projects and cluster.
  • Critical friends should provide examples of mechanisms for conducting cost/benefit analysis.
  • Project sponsors should consider techniques for engaging project teams up-front with these concepts.

 

Supporting projects in assessing their outcomes in relation to sector benchmarks

  • Projects may not realise that the project is under-achieving or outcomes may be exemplary in the institution but not leading edge in the sector.
  • Critical friends should use one-to-one meetings and cluster meetings to share progress to date. Encourage peer review from each project in the cluster. Encourage project managers to consider peer feedback and work with the project manager as necessary to make any required adjustments to project plan.

 

Supporting projects in dealing with unexpected issues

  • Projects can sometimes need support in dealing with unexpected issues due to changing environments and circumstances e.g. change in project or key institutional staff, economic climate.
  • Critical friends should be seen as first point of contact for projects to discuss unforeseen circumstances.
  • Critical friends should introduce issues of ‘mission (project) creep’ and alert projects and clusters to guidance on this.
  • Critical friends should help projects to identify and celebrate the ‘unanticipated’ (which can often be positive) and to share it.
  • Critical friends should use one-to-one meetings to identify any emerging issues and potential “project showstoppers”.

 

Supporting projects in dealing with difficult issues

  • Project teams manage to deal with most problems that occur. If problems are more serious, critical friends can: 
    • Suggest routes and processes that can enable solutions.
    • Help a project team decide whether its own management and governance arrangements may be able to help.
    • Suggest external personnel that may be able to help. 
  • Importantly, critical friends help project teams evaluate which problem solving processes and whose involvement are advantageous and where caution must be taken not to damage the long term credibility of the project or host institution.