Peter Kennedy is VP of Programme Management at First Data Corporation in the UK. Here Peter shares his thoughts on why it is important to harness cultural diversity in order to successfully deliver pan-European change programmes.

For me, the most critical part of managing programmes that have stakeholders in more than one European location is to understand other people's culture and have your own culture understood. There are differences amongst European cultures and these trickle down not just into daily life, but into all aspects of business. As in every aspect of life, cultural differences in business can be a positive and powerful element, but can also, if not understood properly, trigger conflict and other issues.

John Holden is a Senior Director with Symantec APJ. In this article, John offers the opinion that it is often bad management that can prevent an organisation achieving the benefits of a global delivery organisation.

Do cultural differences slow you down? How much failure can a manager lay at the feet of traits, behaviour, and other biases that we attribute to our and our employees' cultural heritage? My answer - none, not if you want to keep your job!

Top Tips for Effective Programme Management

Guest post by Tim Simpson - Change Director with our client Capita Life and Pensions  

In my experience, effective Change and Programme Management is anchored in establishing your "Wildly Important Goals", keeping a dashboard of your progress, making clear action plans, and holding each other accountable for delivery. Those lessons still apply to every change project I work on.

Top Tips for Building a Global Organisation Model 

Guest post by Antti Happonen - senior software executive with over 15 years experience 

In my experience, building a global organization model is a great opportunity for a business and the individuals in it to excel but it does not come for free or without potential risks. I have a lot of experience working in global organizations, building and leading teams, setting organizational and operational models, defining best practises etc  and I'm going to share some of my key learning points in this article. Points I'm listing might seem like "no-brainers" but it is amazing how often we forget about getting the basics right and just go full speed ahead and pay for it afterwards.

Guest Post by Cathal Grogan, Managing Director of Verify Recruitment and 20 years IT experience

'Agile' can be a great method for software development. If used correctly it can be quicker and more effective than other methods with much less time spent on documentation etc. But, in my experience, organisations who are successful at implementing 'Agile' as an approach to delivering great solutions are those that take the time to understand not only the development community but the new roles, responsibilities and contributions expected of everyone involved in the process, most importantly the expert users.