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Using P3.express in hospital projects
Contributor: Maximilian Sirenko
Despite the critical role hospitals play in our healthcare system, successfully managing the wide variety of projects within them is a notoriously complex task. Research by Western Carolina University underscores this point, highlighting the inherent challenge of leading a diverse team of specialists—doctors, engineers, architects, and administrators—who all have distinct backgrounds and workflows (https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/four-challenges-health-care-project-managers-3630). Further complicating matters is the constant pressure to optimize costs within the healthcare industry. These projects could range from building new facilities to implementing new medical technologies or improving patient care processes.
In this interview, we’ll talk with Maximilian Sirenko about his experience implementing P3.express as a blueprint for project management in a Swiss hospital. Maximilian Sirenko is a project manager expert with an MBA from City Business School. His expertise includes healthcare, business analysis, lean transformation, project management, project portfolio management, digital strategy, and process management. Maximilian has worked on implementing the P3.express as part of a comprehensive multi-project management concept and project controlling to optimize the efficiency and effectiveness of its projects.
Maximilian, thank you for joining us. You worked on implementing P3.express in a hospital. Can you tell us a bit more about the hospital you worked for?
I prefer not to mention it by name because I worked there as an expert consultant, and I’m not sure my nondisclosure agreement covers this. But I can tell you more about the background. The hospital I worked with is specializing in the provision of psychiatric and psychotherapeutic services. It has several locations in central Switzerland and offers a wide range of treatments and therapies for people with mental illnesses. The primary services include inpatient, day-care, and outpatient care, as well as specialized therapies and consultations. The hospital employs a wide range of professionals, including psychiatrists, psychologists, therapists, and nursing staff, who work together to provide optimal care for patients.
Interesting; how would you characterize the culture of the Organization?
The core values are integrity, empathy, professionalism, and innovation. These values characterize the daily work and dealings with patients and employees. The corporate culture supports these values through an open communication policy, regular training and development, and a working environment based on mutual respect and collaboration. Employees are encouraged to contribute their ideas and suggestions in order to continuously improve services and provide patients with the best possible care.
You’ve introduced P3.express as part of a multi-project management concept and project controlling in the Organization. What factors led you to choose P3.express?
We did not introduce P3.express under the specific name but optimized its processes to the company’s particular requirements. Although other project management tools were also considered, P3.express proved to be particularly suitable. You know, in conservative specialist areas such as medicine, agile methods are not always readily accepted. Nevertheless, numerous projects benefit from these approaches. P3.express is extremely flexible and can be used effectively for agile, hybrid, or classic projects without the need for extensive adjustments to business processes.
In the end, the decision was made mainly because of the flexibility and adaptivity but also because of the possibility of rapidly implementing and using the framework.
Until now, P3.express has proven to have many advantages. As a project method, it offers a high degree of agility, simplicity, and low training requirements. The system’s process-based structure integrates perfectly into the already process-based workflows.
You mentioned the low training requirements and the ease of implementation. How did you prepare the team to use P3.express?
Yes, what you have to understand about projects in hospitals is that there is very little time for training project staff. We work with people from different specialist areas with varying knowledge bases. It’s essential that they can work with the project management system with only a few hours of training. This is why P3.express is so suitable for this environment.
We documented the standard project management process in Microsoft Excel, with each project phase and step linked to appropriate document templates. To prepare the team to use P3.express, I conducted structured training sessions and created detailed presentations explaining the entire process and its functionalities.
The team responded very positively, which was also reflected in the feedback. The user-friendliness and transparency of the process in Excel contributed significantly to its rapid acceptance and efficient use. All questions about the process and the use of P3.express were answered during the regular project meetings. This ensured continuous support and clarified open issues promptly.
You’ve mentioned before that the roadmap of P3.express is well integrated with the existing process-based workflows. How did you integrate P3.express with the existing project management processes and tools?
In today’s business world, companies are increasingly relying on process-driven approaches. P3.express provides a structured and process-oriented method that can be easily implemented.
We integrated P3.express into our existing project management processes and tools by designing the new project and multi-project management concepts according to the P3.express methodology and adapting our document templates accordingly. A key challenge was to adapt the affected management processes to ensure that they harmonized seamlessly with P3.express.
Let’s discuss the impact of using P3.express on different projects for the Organization. How would you rate the overall success of the project in which P3.express was used? Could you Quantify it?
The overall success of the project in which P3.express was used was high. Of course, quantifying the impact is difficult; you would have to run two identical projects in parallel. In my opinion, the biggest savings were in the areas of training and integration. Communication also improved, as every project member had a clear overview of the entire project process. However, quality improvements are also achieved in large part through the quality and experience of a project manager.
In my opinion, the use of P3.express will have a far-reaching positive impact on future project management practices in the Organization. The process is established and has passed the critical phase, which provides a solid basis for continuous improvement. Nevertheless, I see the potential for process improvements to increase adaptability and effectiveness further.
What were the most critical factors that contributed to the success of different projects?
I think that the most important factors contributing to the success of the new project management system in the hospital are the central hub of the process, clear guidelines for action, regular communication, regular project control, and an overview of every project phase and step.
Using the P3.express roadmap has significantly improved communication and collaboration between stakeholders. Thanks to the clearly structured process, which served as a central hub, there are clear guidelines for communication and regular instructions. This makes knowledge sharing and coordination much more manageable by ensuring that everyone involved is always informed and on the same page.
Thank you for your insights, this has been really interesting, maybe one final question. What factors would influence your decision to use P3.express again for future projects?
I would highly recommend P3.express to other companies for small to medium-sized projects. The low training requirements and process overview are particularly advantageous. For mega projects, however, adaptation is necessary as some organizational tools are missing. My decision to use P3.express in the future depends on the size of the project, the adaptability available, and the specific requirements of the project.
If I can add one more thing, an important lesson learned during the introduction of P3.express was that by briefly integrating and showing the process map of P3.express, it was a lot easier to supervise the project team members. Our meetings became more like coaching sessions. Once introduced, it saved a lot of effort later on. The process-oriented structure of P3.express also made it possible to automate many processes. This made my work so much more enjoyable.
That’s a great note to end on! Thanks a lot for your time, Maximilian!