Toiling for project success in the Channel Islands

Scott Crittell ChPP, who works in special projects in financial services, shares his thoughts on the long history of projects in the Channel Islands

Victor Hugo wrote his 1866 novel Toilers of the Sea on (and about) the small island of Guernsey. The novel’s heroine, Deruchette, promises to marry the man who can carry out a project that is beset by extreme risk, namely salvaging a ship’s steam engine from some nearby rocks. Today the kinds of project happening on Guernsey and Jersey – not to mention smaller Channel Islands such as Alderney and Sark – are less perilous. Hugo came to the Channel Islands partly out of necessity, as an exile from France, but the islands today are inherently attractive destinations, especially for a budding project manager.

The attraction partly lies in the legal set-up. Although the Bailiwicks of Guernsey and Jersey are self-governing Crown Dependencies (they have their own parliaments and laws), they are members of the British-Irish Council and have close political links to Westminster. The islands simultaneously have all the requirements of a central and local government with a wide variety of projects needed to sustain ventures across many sectors. These include construction, farming, telecommunications and financial services.

A few recent examples highlight the range of project-based innovation on the islands. On Jersey, for instance, there is a Harbour Master Plan to connect all harbour areas, and ongoing works to bolster sea defences in response to changing conditions wrought by climate change. Guernsey, moreover, has recently developed the Admiral Park area, producing 67,000 sq ft of office space. In terms of technology, Jersey has hit the headlines by implementing an island-wide ‘one gigabyte’ architecture for all businesses and homes, putting the island at the top of the World Broadband Speed League in 2021. Guernsey is now undertaking a similar project.

Financial services, meanwhile, is an industry with many types of project on offer. Projects in this sector help to provide for innovative products, as well as compliance with legislation and tax transparency. In practice, this means a variety of projects to ensure compliance with both local regulations and international directives such as MiFID2 from the European Securities and Markets Authority. The variety of projects and the needs of the financial sector are broad, encompassing accounting, information technology and data protection.

For Hugo, of course, this would have been an alien world. The 19th-century shipping businesses known to Hugo have morphed into the businesses we’ve come to expect in the 21st century. But there are continuities, too – entrepreneurial foresight and project management skills remain key to success.

So, where next for project management in the Channel Islands? APM is now working within the education framework of Jersey and Guernsey to provide access to APM qualifications, thereby supplementing professional skills in these sectors. APM is also extolling the virtues of membership both individual and corporate, working with the local Institute of Directors, civil service, chamber of commerce and financial regulators.

And people have listened. Recently, the Channel Islands Committee has moved to full branch status within APM, and is no longer a subsidiary of the Wessex branch. This is a key milestone that will foster greater understanding in the Channel Islands of the similarities and differences in project management needs across the islands. In many ways, the islands represent useful microcosms, offering snapshots of forces that play out in the world’s larger economies.

Here in the islands, we see more clearly, and often more quickly, what works and what doesn’t when it comes to project management and project success. The project management scene in the Channel Islands is bright. With APM nurturing the professionalism and efficacy of project management here, key elements are in place to prepare for and sustain growth in our rapidly changing world.

Scott Crittell ChPP FAPM is a Guernsey-based project professional and a committee member of APM’s recently approved Channel Islands branch.

THIS ARTICLE IS BROUGHT TO YOU FROM THE SUMMER 2023 ISSUE OF PROJECT JOURNAL, WHICH IS FREE FOR APM MEMBERS.