DUE DILIGENCE

At a recent workshop I was stressing the importance of due diligence and safety on projects. Due diligence “ is the level of judgement, care, prudence, determination, and activity that a person would reasonably be expected to do under particular circumstances”. Due diligence is demonstrated by your actions before an incident occurs, not after the fact. A simple example of due diligence is your company’s safety program where everyone is required to take a safety orientation and sign off or take a test to prove they have read and understood the information. If there is ever an accident, the company... Read More»

Location, Location, Location

No, I am not talking about real estate, I’m referring to location of the project when it comes to project estimating. I was assembling an estimating module for one of my workshops and got into the factors used in estimating. This article will be about some of the factors we use and why. On a day to day basis we use factors for labour productivity. We also take a labour rate from one area and use a factor to get a rate for another area. For conceptual estimates, we may want to evaluate a project by comparing the installed cost... Read More»

Is This A Project Managers’ Favorite Task?

You know what task I’m talking about. Your project is up and running, you’re moving on to another project, gearing up, getting organized, motivated, excited about the new project, just can’t wait to get going, when the boss says, “Oh, by the way”. These are words no project manager wants to hear, but I digress. The boss comes in and says, “Oh, by the way, don’t forget, you have to close out your last project”. Talk about being deflated. Project closeout is the least enjoyable project task there is. It is boring, you’re not motivated, the other team members are... Read More»

Do You Always Under Estimate Your Projects?

I got a request the other day looking for someone to do a workshop on estimating. Some engineers were interested in what projects really cost and how are these costs developed. It sounded like they were doing the estimating and were always wrong. If you do not understand what goes into an estimate and the process involved you will always end up with a poor estimate. In this article I want to give them, and you, the detail that goes into an total installed cost (TIC) estimate for a complex project (multi-disciplined project). This is an estimate that covers the... Read More»

"Manage That Pipeline!"

OK, so for those of you that manage the Project pipeline, I'm sure that many if not most of you have experienced those Charters that don't get approved, or die. The documentation gets completed, it goes to the powers that be, but somehow even though it doesn't get an OK2GO, it doesn't die either. It seems to perpetually stay on hold, but it keeps on getting brought up during the Steering Committee meetings, and six months or a year after its initial pitch, it is decided that the documentation should be reviewed, updated and reviewed again by the team for... Read More»

Project Procurement

What Do You Mean Equipment Deliveries Are Holding Up My Project? In my early days of project management, I learned that if you want to get a project done on time, you have to get the equipment / material to the contractor. Now, I'm sure most have you have been involved in a project that has gone off track because the equipment was late, holding up the contractor which resulted in your missing schedules. Some causes of equipment delay are; lack of planning for purchase of long lead items the procurement cycle expediting drawing approvals lack of vendor response. In... Read More»

Feeling overwhelmed by multiple projects? Take Five.

Some percentage of project managers have the luxury of focusing all of their time and attention on a single project. But the reality is that the vast majority of us are juggling multiple efforts simultaneously. And sometimes, the flurry of activity can cause us to become overwhelmed or lose sight of what we need to focus on. In a perfect world, we would collectively do such a nice job planning, anticipating and preparing for risks and issues, and adequately resourcing our initiatives, that everything would run like clockwork. But ours, my friends, is not a perfect world. And while we... Read More»

Project Portfolios in Turbulent Times

Growth in organizations typically results from successful projects that generate new products, services, or procedures. Managers are increasingly concerned about getting better results from the projects under way in their organizations and in getting better cross-organizational cooperation. One of the most vocal complaints of project managers is that projects appear almost randomly. The projects seem unlinked to a coherent strategy, and people are unaware of the total number and scope of projects. As a result, people feel they are working at cross-purposes, on too many unneeded projects, and on too many projects generally. Selecting projects for their strategic emphasis helps... Read More»

Meetings and Process - How Much Is Enough?

Over the past several months, I must admit that I've not been my usual self. In the interest of being liked, I put aside some assertiveness and have bowed before the whims of others. I've been working with a company recently where the culture welcomes meetings in all shapes, forms, and sizes. Meetings are very commonplace. I suspect you may be thinking that I work at your company. As project managers, we are often tasked with leading and implementing projects that will usher in change. We must be able to stand up and support positive change. I have never been... Read More»

Prioritizing Project Work

Any attempt at leading change in how an organization links projects to strategy is bound to meet resistance. The concept of prioritizing receives almost unanimous intellectual support. Implementing it into the heart and soul of all people in the organization is another story. Forced prioritization goes against the cultural norms in many organizations and conjures up all kinds of resistance if the values it espouses are not the norm in that organization. The path is full of pitfalls, especially if information is presented carelessly or perceived as final when it is work-in-process. A model used to prioritize project needs to... Read More»