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FAQs
Where does Pathway IT Consultants deliver training and consultancy?
We provide expert IT project management training and consultancy in Milton Keynes and across the UK.
Do charities receive discounts?
At Pathway IT Consultants, we are dedicated to giving back to the community and supporting charitable organisations. We understand the importance of the work that non-profit organisations do and want to help them achieve their goals. That's why we offer special discounts to non-profit organisations.
If you are a non-profit organisation in need of IT support, please reach out to us at enquiries@pathwayitconsultants.co.uk or use the book support form. We will be happy to discuss your requirements and provide you with the support you need at a discounted rate. Let us help you focus on your mission while we take care of your IT training and consultancy needs.
I'm very busy. Do you have training for me?
Yes, we know how busy people are, and we also know the difference high-quality, focused training can make. Our Pathway Tea Break Training™ ensures everyone has the opportunity to learn the secrets to successful project delivery; we understand how full IT professionals’ diaries are! These courses have questions at the end of the modules, but no coursework to complete.
How does Continuing Professional Development (CPD) benefit me?
So, what does that mean for you?
● Quality you can trust: The course has been independently assessed for structure, content, and learning outcomes.
● Earn while you learn: You’ll now collect CPD credits just by completing one of our approved courses. (We have three approved courses now
with more being added.)
● Professional recognition: The training counts towards official CPD requirements across many industries and roles.
● Added value CPD accreditation gives you peace of mind that this course really delivers.
Why is specialist charity training more effective?
Managing IT projects can be difficult for all organisations, but charities have unique challenges. People working on projects may wear several hats: stakeholder management is complex, coordinating the activities of volunteers can be difficult, budgets are usually constrained, it may be difficult to demonstrate value to donors and there may be a fixed deadline. A failed project can have a severe impact on a charity. In the worst-case scenario, its existence could be put at risk.
Off-the-shelf training programmes rarely cover issues faced by charities. You need specialist training that understands the unique challenges and opportunities of your sector.
Is your training affordable?
Yes, our Pathway Tea Break™ training starts at only £59. All of our courses are affordable, and we believe they offer excellent value for money. We have deliberately priced our training to allow as many organisations as possible to take advantage of unique insights found in our courses.
Can I combine training, project health checks, mentoring, project rescue and consultancy?
Of course, our training courses are led by an instructor with over 25 years’ experience in successful project delivery. Pathway has rescued critical projects for blue-chip corporates and leading charities. We have the required expertise and understand that every business is unique. That's why we offer mentoring, consultancy and bespoke training courses tailored to your specific needs..
How can SMEs implement IT project management without breaking the budget in 2026?
SMEs have ongoing challenges delivering IT projects within budget constraints. Robust project management is required to ensure successful delivery and minimise risk to the organisation.
Organisations are under pressure to update systems, increase efficiency and profits and remain competitive in a business climate that is undergoing rapid change. However, using expensive consultancies may not be viable. The good news for SMEs is that effective IT project management doesn’t require the budget of a blue-chip corporate.
SMEs and charity organisations can achieve successful project delivery by implementing holistic planning, appropriate tools, the correct methodology, critical actions and the right external support.
What makes Pathway IT Consultants' training and consultancy unique?
Our training courses are truly unique. We have developed our programmes based on proven principles and actions that you are not likely to find in any other training.
Eight Reasons to Select Pathway IT Consultants Project Management Courses
- All training is based on proven strategies from real-world projects.
- Outstanding value for money.
- There is no risk. If you are not happy with the training, we will provide a refund.
- All courses are based on the Pathway Project Management Toolkit™, which contains proven principles for project success.
- The strategy for project delivery works with any methodology. It also works if no formal approach is adopted.
- Flexible dates and locations.
- Choice of self-study or instructor-led courses.
- Pathway offers coaching, mentoring and project rescue training.
Pathway IT Training is based on lessons learnt from delivering some of the most demanding, complex, business-critical IT projects and programmes in the UK. You will gain the practical knowledge required to deliver your projects successfully.
What are some of the important project lessons your training is based on?
Our training and consultancy are based on lessons learnt from delivering demanding, business-critical programmes. Pathway has an enviable success rate, and we hope the information is useful for your projects.
Agile and critical delivery date information
It isn’t uncommon to hear that the only information available is the sprint completion dates, not the contents of the sprints. This isn’t correct. A sprint should contain features that will be delivered, and if a critical feature isn’t going to be included, the product owner should review this with the team, analyse the impact and update the relevant stakeholders.
The value of dress rehearsals
You may have to explain dress rehearsals. Many people do not understand their objectives and activities. Dress rehearsals are not a formal part of Waterfall, PRINCE2 or Agile. (Unless they have been added since this was written.) They contribute more to risk reduction, successful cutover and increased productivity post-go-live than any other project assurance activity.
Dress rehearsals aren't a repeat of UAT or any other test phase. In dress rehearsals users complete the key business processes, replicating the first days, weeks or months after go-live. Test scripts are not used, and dress rehearsals are based on business scenarios.
There is no ‘best’ methodology
The great methodology debate: if you’ve been a project manager for any time, you will probably have been involved in discussions of this topic. People have strong views on this subject, and some of the voices can be very loud.
If you are starting out in your career as a project manager, I would like to give you some advice based on delivering many types of projects using different methodologies or combinations of methodologies.
My thoughts on the methodology debate are the following:
- There is no best methodology. If anyone says that a given methodology is the best for everything, you can assume that they haven’t worked on a wide range of projects.
- Many organisations use a hybrid Agile/Waterfall methodology, taking the best from each one to create an approach that works for their organisation, business model, and type of project.
- People say that PRINCE2 is a Waterfall development methodology. This assumption isn’t correct; PRINCE2 is a project management methodology. Furthermore, a common misconception is that PRINCE2 is a rigid methodology. This isn’t the case, and understanding the tailoring principle of PRINCE2 is important.
- Waterfall is used on thousands of projects yearly, despite claims that it's obsolete. Studies have found that over half of projects in 2022 used this methodology. If you are managing a safety-critical project, Waterfall will usually be the default methodology.
- Organisations use different methodologies based on the types of projects they are delivering.
- Scrum for Safety can be considered in a safety-critical environment, but be aware that some regulators require separation of development and testing functions. If you plan to use Scrum for Safety, verify all requirements for the organisation, regulators and third-party stakeholders. It would be very disruptive (and expensive) to find this out during your final sprint.
What really counts is delivering the highest quality product possible on time and to budget. Whether you are using Agile or Waterfall, it’s essential that you understand the requirements, write quality code that can be maintained, test thoroughly, plan and prove the cutover, train the users, work with the support team to provide the information they require and support the users during the warranty period.
The value of work packages
Work packages are very useful for estimating effort and for managing progress on a project. A typical work package will contain the following information:
- Work package title/name.
- Code.
- Status.
- Total budget. (Based on days of effort.)
- Start date.
- Completion date.
- Personnel/resource.
- Project code.
- Comment.
- Purpose of the work package.
- Key objectives.
- Success measure.
- Tangible deliverables.
- Type of deliverable.
- Key dependencies.
Cutover dress rehearsals: Critical for reducing risk
What are cutover dress rehearsals?
Dress rehearsals are the most effective activities for managing cutover risks that you can undertake on a project.
In cutover dress rehearsals the team completes all the steps in the cutover runbook to ensure that it is complete and all timings are correct. The process takes place in an isolated environment. Desk-based reviews are no substitute for running cutover dress rehearsals.
Parallel runs
If you are implementing a new finance system, your plans should include parallel runs. There are options for this activity:
- Complete parallel runs in the dress rehearsal (or another isolated) environment before going live.
- Go live and continue to run the legacy system for a period of time.
The importance of documentation on an Agile project
The Agile Manifesto was created in 2001.
The Agile Manifesto describes the four principles of agile development:
- Individuals and interactions over processes and tools.
- Working software over comprehensive documentation.
- Customer collaboration over contract negotiation.
- Responding to change over following a plan.
Manifesto for Agile Software Development (agilemanifesto.org)
Many people misinterpret the principles, and these errors can have serious implications for projects. They mistakenly assume that the items on the right are not important (or don’t apply at all) on an Agile project, but their assumption isn’t correct.
The Agile Manifesto's principles prioritise the left items, but the right items are still included. They are important, and the degree of importance depends on:
- The complexity of the project.
- The type of project. (Does it include new infrastructure, dependencies with other teams and complex data mapping?)
- Scope of delivery.
- Number of people on the project and number of teams.
- The type of project.
- Third-party documentation requirements. For example, a project in a regulated environment.
- On the topic of development in a regulated environment, be sure to confirm that Agile will be accepted. Some regulators stipulate that development and testing must be separated.
- The contract negotiation requirements based on the scope of activities and responsibilities of third parties.
- Requirements for post-go-live documentation.
- Processes and tools definitely have a place in Agile. Test automation is one example.
It is important to prepare the appropriate level of documentation for your project, regardless of methodology.
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Pathway IT Consultants Registered Office: Mansion House, Manchester Road, Altrincham, Cheshire, WA14 4RW
Company Number 6200503
VAT Registration Number 975 9277 52
enquiries@pathwayitconsultants.co.uk
Training locations in Milton Keynes and throughout the UK.
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