Make sure to consider and allow for project commercial risks:

• Protect yourself with insurance
• Make risk plans (for specific risks)
• Evaluate possible risks (rate them)
• Work out likely percentages (probabilities) and build these in to the costs.
• Allow for loss of resources (team members sick, injured, quiting)

Tagged with: insurance

Filed under: Cost • Planning • Risk

Don’t count on overtime for yourself or for your team.

The project should be managed to avoid needing overtime.

Overtime costs more, is less efficient, increases safety risks, and tires the team so they are less effective later.

Tagged with: efficiency • overtime

Filed under: Human Resources • Planning • Time

Make sure your team knows who is responsible for what work.

People who need to know are:

• Team members
• Project manager
• Organization Management

If people don’t know, then they communicate to the wrong people, there is confusion and lack of accountability for work packages, there is lower efficiency as some work packages get more resources than necessary, and some get too few or none.

Tagged with: accountability • efficiency • responsible • work packages

Filed under: Communication • Human Resources • Planning • Training

Allow for rework and failure in budget costs and time.

In my opinion, you should allow 3-5% of the total project value to cover this. This will vary based on the type of project. Just make sure you allow for it.

Tagged with: failure • rework

Filed under: Cost • Planning

At the planning stage of your project, check if other projects might affect yours.

For example:

• Planned road works in front of the access gate to the site.
• Upgrades of nearby electrical supplies or pipes.

If you don’t allow for these influences, you may get significant delays to your schedule.

Tagged with: delays • influences • interference • site access

Filed under: Construction • Planning • Time

Plan your lay down area for delivery and storage of equipment. You may have a marked “area” supplied by the client but you should mark on the ground exactly where deliveries are to be placed.

Record and track all items in the lay down area (when delivered and when used).

Remember to allow for security fencing and possibly guards if the area is accessible.

People often think about security for the larger or more valuable equipment but often forget that it is the small, easy to carry, things that go missing and don’t get noticed until later when they are needed.

Tagged with: deliveries • lay down area • laydown area • security • security fencing

Filed under: Construction • Planning

Remember to allow for close-downs over Christmas.

Many fabrication companies, suppliers, fabricators etc have 2 weeks close-down around Christmas.

For planning a long project you might need to allow a 4 week period of low or no productivity from mid December to mid January, because of the number of people on leave, which means things take longer to get done (such as approvals).

Tagged with: Christmas • close down • closedown • December • holiday • January

Filed under: Planning • Time

Use a template for your work breakdown structure

Before starting on your WBS, check if your organization has a template for the WBS for similar types of projects. If no templates are available, get samples of WBS from previous projects in the organization to base yours on. While you do that, make it a template for your future projects.

Even better would be a project management system with a built in work breakdown structure building system.

Tagged with: system • template • WBS • work breakdown structure

Filed under: Documentation • Planning • Scope

If you don’t have your resources fully utilised (booked and working) they may be taken from you by your senior management to be put on projects which look like they need them (i.e. demanding more resources).

Plan your schedules so that your people are fully occupied. This includes trades crews, you don’t want them running out of work because of late deliveries of equipment etc and then being put on different projects.

If you lose staff resources to other projects it is very difficult to get them back.

Tagged with: schedule • staff resources

Filed under: Human Resources • Planning

If you get lots of emails (particularly ones that you are copied on) then it may be worth considering setting some email filters to sort emails to certain folders (design, construction, urgent, etc).

All emails that you are only CC’d on should be automatically filtered.

Priority emails that are sent to you only or you as the main person should be filtered to an “Important” folder for review more immediately.

Consider only reviewing your emails at specific times each day (say 9am and 3pm). All emails received could have an automatic reply sent stating “I only read emails at 9am and 3pm each day, if you require an urgent response please call me directly on ———”

Tagged with: email • filter • folders • review • sorting

Filed under: Communication • Time

Remember that the more responsibility you have, the more money you will be paid. Although this doesn’t always follow straight away.
Generally, you get paid based on your level of responsibility.

Tagged with: pay • pay level • responsibility

Filed under: Human Resources

If you say you will be at a meeting, be there on time.

Make sure work is completed on time. If it cannot be, document why (variations, wet weather, changed conditions).

Reliability and delivering on time will mean you will get better (more important) projects, more money, and more responsibility.

You want to be someone who people can say “He can do it”, not “don’t give that project to him.”

I have known many project managers who avoid going to the weekly company project managers review meeting because they consider it a waste of time. This leads to the director/manager of that person to consider them unreliable (and sometimes complain about their lack of attendance to those who did show up at the meeting). The advantage of going to a weekly review meeting is that you can get a feel for resource availability and learn from the problems and mistakes of other projects (this is particularly important for new project managers).

Tagged with: meetings • on time • reliability • reliable • unreliable

Filed under: Planning • Time

As a project manager you should make sure all your team members submit claims, hours, expenses etc as soon as possible, and definitely before the end of month accounting date.

If that information comes in late the profit/margin on the project can quickly change and affect plans.

The hours must also be made to the correct project. You don’t want hours suddenly being transferred to your project from a few months ago because they were incorrectly allocated. This could make an in profit project suddenly be making a loss. If it was done correctly first time, the losses could have been seen earlier and planned or allowed for.

Tagged with: claims • expenses • loss • profit

Filed under: Documentation • Human Resources • Planning • Training

You should make sure that terminology that is ambiguous or unclear is made clear with definitions.

This can avoid mistakes and reduce the time necessary to re-design.

For example:

• “Rail Overbridge”. Is this a rail bridge that goes over something, or is it a rail with a bridge over it?
  • A Rail Overbridge is a bridge over the railway.
  • A Rail Underbridge is a bridge carrying the railway and allowing a roadway, river etc. to pass under the railway.

You may have to get clarifications of definitions from you project sponsor for organizational specific terms.

Don’t assume all your team knows the terms.

Tagged with: definitions • mistakes • terminology • terms

Filed under: Communication • Design • Documentation

Instigate and enforce a good change management system

Change management coordinators and people who have to approve changes spend a lot of time chasing signatures, putting information in to spreadsheets, and general admin duties that could be automated.

It is easy to lose track of changes, or not document them properly.

Documentation for changes often lags a long way behind the actual change occurrence.

Many companies use a collection of spreadsheets. This can be cumbersome because different copies are in different locations, people forget to fill in details. The change coordinator ends up having to fill in all details (when that person may not understand the change).

A very good system would only need the coordinator to set up the initial templates in the system and file hard copies of signatures on approvals as they are received.

Ideally want a system in which the internal instigator can log-in, tick boxes to show effects of changes, type the title and description, allocate who is responsible to enter costs and who should sign. The system should then send messages to those people to review the item fill in details (and attach supporting docs) and approve (all on the system), with printouts available for the person to print, sign, and send to coordinator to file (if required). Ideally want instigators to be able to do all with little work from coordinator except for filing hard copies.

It is even better if your system allows for electronic authorisation, eliminating the need to print and sign papers.

Often the problem with a system is that emails get sent and people don’t notice them, leading to change documentation to be overlooked. This can be avoided with a log-in system that lists what tasks are to be completed for that person.

A system should have a way of enforcing adherence. Ideally where each person who may have to authorise a change has an icon which tells them when something is waiting their authorization.

I system could be a simple database, or it could be a complete enterprise system. Having a system is the important part.

If a senior manager calls up and wants a report on all the changes on a project sorted by cost, with a good system you should be able to give it to him within a few minutes. If your change management system is just on a collection of spreadsheets, this may not be possible. Even better, a good system would allow the manager to log-in and look at the reports themselves.

Tagged with: authorisation • change management • change management system • database • reports • signatures • spreadsheets

Filed under: Communication • Design • Documentation • Planning • Time

Make a task list for yourself at the end of each day for the next day.
This frees your mind from constantly thinking “I must remember to do that tomorrow.”

It means that you have less stress and don’t constantly think about work when you are at home.

You can tick off these tasks as you accomplish them, giving yourself encouragement and a small sense of accomplishment each time.
Don’t worry about listing them in order of priority, just put an “A” next to the few that are highest priority.

Tagged with: priority • task list • tasks

Filed under: Planning • Time

Help yourself focus on the first important task in the morning by putting that task on your keyboard before you leave the office the day before.

This reminds you as soon as you arrive that it is the most important thing for you to do.

It helps you to focus on an important task first.
I think better first thing in the morning, so forcing myself to work on that most important task gives me a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction when I complete it.

How do you keep yourself focused?

Tagged with: focus • important tasks

Filed under: Planning