Capstone: applying the people element to a project

This capstone brings the course together in one invented case. You will follow a project from mandate to closure and apply each part of the people element and the project context: mapping the organizations and layers, forming and onboarding the board, setting up supplier relationships, assessing change impact, leading the team, planning communication, setting performance targets including sustainability, handling an exception with people causes, and recording tailoring and lessons. The case, the organizations and all numbers are invented for learning purposes.

The case: Lakeside Community Health Hub

A county health department plans to consolidate three small community clinics into one new Lakeside Community Health Hub. The project includes renovating a leased building, moving 85 staff, introducing a shared appointment booking system and changing how patients book visits. A construction contractor will renovate the building under a fixed-price contract, and a software supplier will configure the booking system under a time-and-materials contract with a cap. The project sits within the department's community care modernization program. The budget is 4.2 million dollars over 14 months. The department has committed to reducing emissions from its facilities and to accessible services under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Step 1: mapping the context

The first task is to map the organizational and project ecosystems and the management layers. This tells the project manager who holds authority, who will be affected and where relationships need building.

Step 2: forming and onboarding the board

The board must represent business, user and supplier interests with people who have authority, credibility, ability to delegate and availability.

Step 3: supplier relationships

The two suppliers have different contracts and therefore different incentives. The contractor, on a fixed price, will resist unpaid changes. The software supplier, on time and materials with a cap, is flexible but may approach the cap. The project manager agrees joint ways of working at a kickoff with both suppliers, including a shared risk register for joint risks, a fortnightly integration meeting and an escalation ladder: team managers within 3 days, delivery managers within 5 more, then the board.

Step 4: change impact and readiness

The change affects clinic staff most, then patients. The project uses a change impact assessment scored 0 to 3 on processes, tools, roles, skills and location.

Reception staff face the greatest change: new booking processes, new tools, new team structures and a new location. Clinic managers lose their separate clinics and become team leads in a single hub, which is a significant role change. The plan therefore prepares clinic managers first, so they can lead their teams, and gives reception staff the most training and practice time. For patients, accessible communication in several formats and a phone line for booking help are planned as products.

Step 5: leading the team

Three teams from three organizations must coordinate closely during the final months. The project manager agrees work packages with each team manager, using three-point estimates for the booking configuration and the contractor's own schedule for the renovation. Ways of working are agreed at a joint session: a weekly integration stand-up, a shared calendar of site access, a rule that safety concerns can be raised by anyone and stop work immediately, and a commitment to raise forecast slips within one working day. A short psychological safety pulse each month helps the project manager spot problems in the joint team.

Step 6: communication and engagement

Stakeholder analysis places the program director and director of community clinics in manage closely, the union local and accessibility advisory group in keep satisfied and involved, reception and nursing staff in keep informed and involve, patients in keep informed, and neighbors in monitor with advance notice of disruption. The communication management approach uses the program's communications team for patient and public messages, so that project and program messages are consistent, while the senior user and clinic managers deliver staff messages.

Step 7: performance targets

Step 8: an exception with people causes

Step 9: tailoring record and closure

The project initiation documentation records the main people-related tailoring decisions: a four-person board with two senior suppliers; a user group reporting to the senior user; use of program communications channels for patients and the public; readiness as a go-live quality criterion; joint ways of working and an escalation ladder with both suppliers; and monthly readiness and psychological safety pulses. At closure, the end project report shows performance against all seven targets, and follow-on actions hand responsibility for benefits measurement and continued staff support to the clinic director and program.