covec said:
"Moral Courage to tell "The Board" what they do not want to hear is one desirable pre-requisite - in my opinion - of a Project Manager (PM) - or whoever ultimately represents the collective viewpoint of all the PMs invlolved to the Board."
As a (seasoned) Quality Manager I have had to state the unwanted news many times and endured the ignorance of my advice by several company Boards.
In the end, for the more important items, I have the luxury or resorting to feeding External auditors and Regulators (note the capital "R") to "repeat" my findings and support my internal reports. (How I manage my managers)
I feel, and obviously without first-hand knowledge, that RAF "Project Managers" seem to have very little experience of what to do if a Project slips and are likely to sit back (Numb-struck?) and misguidedly wait to see what happens as they expect the civilian Contractor to "sort it". (perhaps often without adequate direction from their "customer" bosses?)
What I call "the Numbnut effect" (it happens outside too) is likely to happen more and more often now that the Customer has less and less effective managers in post or even in training. This lack of project expertise is further compounded by the regular movement of these semi-experienced staff between projects/posts.
I feel they (in which I mean all MOD) are on a spiralling course of terminal decline due to their current financial starvation, dozens of years of perpetual mis-management and so-called "business ethics" training (to prepare officers fo the outside world?) which cannot mix well with military ethics, training and purpose.
I would say this amplifies the need for permanent civilian or permanent staff Project Officers as the way forward on all projects.
...and No. It's not always BAe's fault!