Enhancing project maturity will aid the Energy Sector in its current green transition

Respondents assess that the project maturity of the Energy Sector is lagging behind other industries, as concluded in the report ‘Project Management in a Changing World’ conducted in 2023 by Mannaz and RUC (led by Professor Jan Pries-Heje).

Offshore wind farms, solar energy parks, replacement of the Tyra platform in the North Sea, energy islands (in the North Sea and near Bornholm), Power to X projects, a green hydrogen connection to Germany, and projects involving CO2 storage are just some of the major projects managed by the Energy Sector. Denmark’s green transition and security of supply are directly dependent on the Energy Sector’s major projects, making it particularly problematic that the project maturity of this sector is lagging.

At the same time, the Energy Sector depends on timely approvals from authorities and other administrative processes. It is therefore problematic that both public administration and management also rank low in the table below. This certainly does not help the sector in realising its goal of creating green energy in the coming years.

Higher project maturity is a valuable contribution to higher project success. Delays and cost overruns with the largest projects can be significant and lead to a loss of trust from investors and other stakeholders… and in the worst case, may delay Denmark’s green transition.

It also involves managing (significant) complexity. Associate Professor Magnus Rotvig Perlt Hansen and Professor Jan Pries-Heje described in ‘Project Management in a Changing World’ several approaches that can be used. A higher level of project maturity brings management’s attention to employing these complex approaches.

At Mannaz, we work according to a 5-step model (see illustration) to increase project maturity.

If one is ‘too low’ in project maturity relative to the quantity and scope of the organisation’s projects, you may experience:

• Large budget overruns
• Significant delays
• Difficulties in both maintaining operations AND the project portfolio, as the same resources must cover both areas
• Inadequate management effort in the projects may result in conflicts with the customer

Analysing the stage of the organisation’s project maturity from the perspectives of leadership, project managers, and project participants (also from the board’s perspective) can provide a valuable and neutral picture of the current situation.

Then one can initiate one or more efforts to increase project maturity:

• Training of the project’s steering group. This work is often quite different from ‘ordinary management’, as the purpose is to increase project success and not to control the project manager. Steering group expertise is a completely special discipline where the steering group should support the project manager and the project.
• Categorise the projects – for example, by risk or complexity into A, B, C, and D projects. This ensures that the best people and management use their energy on the most critical project, while the less complex projects can be used as ‘training ground’ for less experienced people and with far less management attention and effort.
• Choose a project model, as the ‘Project Manager’s Report’ shows that it increases the use of many valuable tools, such as risk analysis. You simply get a roadmap for implementing projects, ensuring that too many ‘easy’ solutions are not chosen along the way.
• Training of project managers, in interaction with management, is also essential. This ensures better knowledge sharing between projects, as both speak the same language and have more effective project management.
• Training of project participants. They must deliver the work in the projects and are therefore indispensable, but they often have other tasks in the operational organisation competing for their time and energy, and which may not necessarily have the same criticality, time frame, etc. as the project.
• Consider system support for projects and the project portfolio. IT can really give a big boost, ease reporting, and the latest tools also have some extremely useful AI facilities for, among other things, risk assessment.

The most important advice for strengthening project maturity is that leadership must lead the way and not expect the problem to be solved with a quick fix. It takes a lot of practice and perseverance to succeed with large and complex projects. In the end, it is worth the effort, if Denmark is to succeed in the green transition.