The development of the Tasmanian Government Project Management Framework and subsequent publishing of all resources on a publicly accessible website has led to a greater focus on the practice of project management techniques within the Tasmanian State Government. This is evidenced, not only from the final review of the Project, but also from continuing feedback from Agency personnel, information from website usage, attendance at forums and the number of requests for information, support and advice. A requirement for project management knowledge and skills, specifically knowledge of the TGPMF, has also been included on a much more regular basis for project positions advertised within Agencies.

Not only has the profile of the project management profession been raised within the Tasmanian Government, but also emails received from around the world indicate increased professional interest and the use of project management tools and techniques. This area has received formal requests from organisations wishing to adopt the methodology and tools available on our website. The free online registration system for the download of the Project Management Templates provides an ongoing record of where these templates are being used, and therefore where there is the application of project management techniques.

Another result of the development of the TGPMF has been less tangible, but manifests itself in a sense of shared ownership across government, leading to wider adoption. This sense of shared ownership and wide adoption of the TGPMF could be said to be a good indicator of a healthy project management culture across the organisation, but is it really? And if it is, how do we continue to ‘grow’ the culture and how do we link it to supporting organisational change?

We are quite happy to admit that Tasmania is a small State and we are either all related to each other or know each other, or know friends of friends. This can be a disadvantage, but throughout my rather long career in the Public Service whenever we are working on a major change initiative it has proved to be a huge advantage. Certainly in gaining commitment to developing the TGPMF, it was of great advantage in helping develop and use our networks.

Key messages identified as part of our communication planning included stressing that the sharing of understandings and experiences of project participants was a vital element of any project management support activities. Another key message was that the project outputs had been produced as a joint effort between all Government Agencies and were therefore relevant across government. Both of these key messages still form part of our communication and marketing initiatives. We continue to ‘sell’ the message that the Guidelines and materials are not DPAC’s, but belong to all agencies, as they were involved in the development of them. While most of the material is written within the Unit, the resources do capture the experiences of project participants together with research into better practice. Resource development involves a great deal of consultation with our practitioners and focuses very much on capturing their learnings.

While the PMIRP employed all of the formal project management approach including stakeholder management and communication strategies, a great deal of informal networking was also taking place. This has continued with team members currently spending many hours on the phone providing advice to project participants, meeting for informal chats over coffee and inviting agency project participants to drop in. We also put project managers in touch with other project managers. We organise formal forums and informal get togethers. No resources are published without going through our Project Management Advisory Committee (PMAC) who also circulates them to agency project participants for feedback. We are always conscious that Premier and Cabinet can be seen as an ivory tower and that we could lose touch with the realities of the everyday issues that project managers and teams face.

In recent times we have focussed on more organised ‘community of practice’ activities and on supporting other areas of government business to take a ‘community of practice’ approach under the Better Practice program. We now have other frameworks developed, such as Web Publishing and Information Security, which are supported by active communities of practice.

It is said that culture manifests itself in both formal ways, such as through the use of symbols, and informal ways. The TGPMF and related activities can be said to be the more formal manifestations of our Project Management Culture and are to a certain extent measurable. The community of practice and associated network activities are the less formalised manifestations of a healthy culture, but vital to its development and sustainability.