The Teal Book: Part B
The purpose of tailoring is to adapt the guidance and practices in The Teal Book to suit the situation in which it is intended to be used in an organisation or for a particular portfolio, programme or project. Tailoring is a means to ensuring that approaches to project delivery are proportionate and appropriate to the context. Often, tailoring is only needed on certain aspects of the portfolio, programme or project.
The Government Functional Standard for Project Delivery principles set out that:
Tailoring does not change the purpose of a practice, nor what should be done but allows those responsible for establishing and maintaining the governance and management framework to determine how the practice should be undertaken (see Chapter 11: The governance and management of portfolios and Chapter 13: The governance and management of programmes). This means that managers are not restricted in the methods they use and opens the way for innovation.
The following aspects of The Teal Book may be tailored:
Roles may be combined or split, provided that accountability is maintained, there are no conflicts of interest, there is sufficient capacity and the competencies in the Project delivery capability framework are met.
Management information and documentation may be combined or split into any number of documents or data sources and held in document or digital forms.
Tailoring does not mean that any of the practices in The Teal Book can be excluded. The Teal Book is built on the expectations set in the Government Functional Standard for Project Delivery on practices that need to be fulfilled. If a practice is omitted, the management of the work will be weakened and so threaten a successful outcome.
Tailoring can be done at the organisational level (see Chapter 9: Embedding The Teal Book in an organisation) or at portfolio, programme or project level.
Tailoring is not simple and requires skill, experience and judgment to get right and there is no single solution that can be applied to every portfolio, programme or project in government throughout the life cycle.
It is not feasible to develop a one-size-fits-all approach to project delivery that is suitable for every government organisation, portfolio, programme, or project. This is because there are approximately 600 government bodies, each with its unique context and requirements, and thousands of projects. This is where the significance of tailoring comes into play. By customising the practices, tools, techniques, and approaches used in The Teal Book or an organisational project delivery framework, it is possible to ensure that they are appropriate and proportionate for the specific work’s context, while avoiding wasteful overheads.
Using The Teal Book as a core reference to tailor from helps ensure that approaches are appropriate for the work while also providing a consistent basis across government for:
Tailoring appropriately, within the required elements of the Government Functional Standard for Project Delivery, also enables novel working approaches to be used and therefore promotes innovation.
At the organisational level, the senior officer accountable for project delivery (such as the chief project delivery officer in a government department) is responsible for determining the level of tailoring that can be applied in that organisation. This is generally in the form of an organisational project delivery framework or approach incorporating tailoring guidance.
At the portfolio, programme and project levels, the respective portfolio, programme or project manager is responsible for developing their respective governance and management frameworks. This should be done with the support of their work component managers (such as work package managers for a project manager) and in consultation with the portfolio director or senior responsible owner.
For tailoring to be effective, it needs to be deliberate, controlled and to take into account the wider context. This includes considering:
This is shown in Figure 8.1.
The governance and management framework for a portfolio, programme or project should be aligned with that of the sponsoring organisation or, where different, the delivery organisation. If the organisation has its own project delivery framework, that framework is part of the organisation’s governance and management framework.
In practice, project delivery practices, processes, and techniques should be based on the organisation’s internal policies, methods and practices, but can be tailored at each level of the hierarchy (see Figure 8.2):
This does not mean that each level of the hierarchy needs to have a separate and distinct governance and management framework document or set of documents. Tailoring should always be proportionate, if needed at all, and it is frequently the case that a single and integrated framework exists. For example, a governance and management framework for a programme can integrate the arrangements for the projects, other related work and work packages that are a part of it.
For good governance, it is important that the chain of accountability from top to bottom should not be broken and that everyone understands what has been tailored, why, and what impact it has on how they do their work. Usually, a manager should consult at the next higher level and secure approval before tailoring their practices. Tailoring should normally only apply to those aspects which are unique to the portfolio, programme or project being managed. Tailoring for the sake of it or to satisfy a personal viewpoint is not a good use of resources.
Formalising tailoring can at first glance appear unnecessary but is important to ensure traceability and, if done well, it can reduce considerably the management overhead for the work (see 8.6.6 on documenting the tailored framework).
Constraints which limit discretion to tailor The Teal Book can include:
These are referenced throughout The Teal Book.
Within the external constraints above, and subject to the overall control and direction of ministers, government departments can organise, direct and manage the resources at their disposal, with control and accountability through the accounting officer.
Arm’s length bodies have similar freedoms, within the terms of their framework.
Organisations can therefore adopt their own policies, processes and methods for project delivery. These are often linked to digital platforms and applications, such as enterprise resource planning and accounting software and document repositories.
The Teal Book should be tailored according to the nature of the work and its context including risk profile, size, complexity, location and type of work. The level of detailed guidance required also depends on the complexity of the governance and management arrangements and the capability of the team. Methods and tools need to be appropriate for both the work and the people using them (see 8.6.6 on documenting the tailored framework).
Contracts with suppliers also influence how work is delivered. The obligations and terms in contracts should be aligned to the required governance and management arrangements, as far as possible. They should consider supplier preferred and specialist ways of working.
The portfolio, programme or project manager is responsible for integrating all of these factors to ensure the successful delivery of outcomes and realise benefits.
Documenting a governance and management framework is important. It has to be accessible when needed and kept up to date. Documentation that is bulky or partly out of date, is unlikely to be used, causing team members to fall back on previous experience. This can make it difficult to maintain control over the work. See Chapter 24 for more information on information and data management.
An effective tailoring approach is to prepare a concise, version-controlled set of information which refers directly to the primary source being tailored, rather than copying large amounts of existing material. In most cases this means documenting only what is unique to the work, such as:
A similar approach can be done for the practices in Part F: Solution delivery. As these practices relate to methods for developing outputs or realising a particular outcome, it is unlikely there are standard approaches for every circumstance. Those involved in managing and undertaking the work should be aware of, and able to define, their working approach, especially how quality and progress is to be measured.
It can be tempting to document guidance and processes in extensive detail, but this should be avoided. Other approaches to sharing knowledge and experience are more effective such as team inductions, briefings, coaching and mentoring (see Chapter 38: Learning from experience and Chapter 39: Project delivery induction and training).
Addition of Departmental Major Projects Portfolio as an external constraint.
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