Taming Wild Projects: WWF's Ajay Barai Interviewed

  PM Network  

Ajay Barai takes the “world” in World Wildlife Fund seriously. With conservation projects in 100 countries, the notfor- profit environmental organization demands universal standards for project and program management.

“When we work on a project, no matter where it is in the world, we know that we will approach it fundamentally in the same way,” he says.

Those standards are taught in a project management training course implemented by Mr. Barai, the WWF-UK’s head of strategic planning and performance, along with others in the global WWF Network. The training has been a major force in maturing the organization’s project and portfolio management practices, and ensuring that each project team and individual is aligned with the WWF’s overall strategic objectives.

What is the WWF’s approach to project management?

We have a globally agreed-upon process that includes a detailed framework for project design, implementation and evaluation. Expectations for every phase in the project are spelled out in a 35-page document, which talks about things like how to design a project plan, how to set delivery goals, requirements for monitoring budgets and schedules, how to conduct lessons-learned processes and how we share those lessons so we learn from what we’ve done in the past.

How has training helped your …

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