All governments should try to do as much as possible with every dollar that taxpayers have invested. This is why it is high time that Quebec adopted a real project management policy in order to optimize the use of public money and thus accelerate the return to budget balance.
On March 12, Minister Eric Girard tabled his budget in a difficult economic and financial context. The Legault government was faced with the heartbreaking choice of making cuts to programs or running deficits. However, even if this government often talks to us about efficiency, culture change, dashboards, accountability and performance indicators, a blind spot remains: that of good project management.
Therefore, it is time to provide the Treasury Board secretariat, as has been done in the federal government several years ago, with a project management policy.
Are you wondering what it is? Project management is the art of structuring all the activities, resources and teams necessary for the smooth running of a project with the aim of achieving a precise result, on time and with high added value. It orchestrates execution and manages resistance to change. It also serves to determine and mitigate risks and to create synergies between the different government portfolios and thus allows the breaking down of silos and better optimization of resources thanks to a vision of a coherent and effective whole.
Essential
In this era of inflation and cost overruns (think of transport, infrastructure, construction or digital transformation projects) where there are many twists and turns in all kinds of large-scale projects, project management is more relevant and more essential than ever.
Adopting best practices in project management would represent billions of dollars in savings regardless of the delivery method, agile, hybrid or classic! In fact, according to studies carried out by PMI-Montreal, projects are 21% more likely to succeed when good practices are used and savings of up to 10% of the total project cost can be made.
Quebec is an internationally recognized center of excellence in project management. We have 14 research chairs and observatories in this area. PMI-Montreal is the main branch in Quebec of the world’s largest group of experts, trainers and researchers in project management. We are the fourth chapter in the world, just after those of Japan and Saudi Arabia, and the first in the French-speaking world. It is not a coincidence !
We invite the government to take advantage of this expertise and to provide citizens with the best practices in project implementation and innovation. We therefore suggest that the Directive on the management of major public infrastructure projects, which is already in force, be added to a real culture of project management within all ministries.
Doing the most with every dollar must become a discipline for our leaders to preserve the quality of services and face the crises that are shaking our economy and our society. The Legault government often talks to us about efficiency: it is now time to move up a gear and present a project management policy to us this year.