Changing the wheels while the bus is moving: Embedded Programme PMO for the Natura&Co Avon Global Cyber Security Programme.
What began following acquisitions in the retail sector and the centralisation of a cyber security function, is now a security information programme and team serving Avon. HotPMO provided an embedded PMO consultancy team throughout – a Programme PMO Manager, A Jira-skilled PMO Analyst, and a Financial Analyst – all working as a seamless extension of the Avon team from day one.
In 2022, with four large business units (Aesop since 2013, The Body Shop plus Avon International and Natura) a centralised Natura&Co Group Cyber Hub was formed. This spawned a number of initiatives including a Cyber Security Portfolio in 2023 – consisting of 30 projects and programmes all focussed on delivering a much more secure business environment.
With the introduction of SAFe® (Scaled Agile Framework) in early 2023, the team got to work! Adoption of Agile as the preferred framework meant that the change management kicked into gear and the 75 strong team were put through their paces and trained on all things Agile, Jira and Confluence.
A best of breed Portfolio structure was setup with rich guidance and governance material on the Cyber Hub Confluence and SharePoint sites.
Following a series of security implementations and the later corporate spin offs of Aesop and The Body Shop, the team and portfolio were split across the remaining work. This continued until September 2024 with the carve out of the two businesses (with both still owned by Natura&Co) to form an Avon Cyber Security Programme, more closely aligned with Avon’s strategic objectives.
Our three-person embedded team: a Programme PMO Manager; Jira-specialist PMO Analyst, and Financial Analyst, worked alongside the Natura&Co and Avon teams across this entire period. Here are some of the learnings from that partnership.
Leadership:
- Re-enforcement that leadership is always the differentiator. From the CISO at the time to today’s CISO – walking their talk is the key ingredient. Ensuring the continued delivery of security outcomes aligned with the ever-evolving landscape, the teams themselves mirrored this and some of the best (wise, pragmatic, adaptable, intrinsically motivated) leadership was evidenced, independent of titles.
The Approach:
- Whichever framework or methodology our clients adopt, the application is key. It needs to work in the environment and be consistently applied for any chance of success. In this example, the choice of SAFe was the impetus to adopt Agile ways of working and was modified to suit Avon’s governance to be as efficient and effective as possible. Our embedded team provided continuity and institutional knowledge across every iteration.
Metrics:
- With the choice of Jira and Agile made, the team bravely adopted the use of story points across initiatives and estimated work accordingly which supported helpful conversations and iterations to continually improve and evolve. This continues today.
Governance:
- Governance was and still is critical to the success of the portfolio and programmes. It is an enduring testament to the value of managing and measuring not just the delivery outputs and outcomes but also the inherent risks, dependencies and consistent reporting of progress. Applying good governance helps drive the transparency and accountability needed for teams to continually improve and refine, share knowledge, reduce duplication of effort – all leading to more effective working. We believe that governance and the PMO are multipliers to maintain strategic alignment and move faster (slow down, streamline to a flow state, which drives speed).
In a nutshell – the biggest success has been the recruitment process and the culture – the people. Get that right and the rest will follow. As if you didn’t know that already 😉
Inspired by this success? Let’s create yours.
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