Best Practices

Labor/Labour Productivity – Overtime Impacts (Part 9)

October 12, 2011 By George T McLaughlin PMP CCM

INDUSTRY STANDARDS

This is the ninth posting regarding labor/labour productivity and disruption. This contribution provides industry sources and references on the impact of overtime on labor productivity. The Subject Series can be viewed here.

Understanding the impact on labor/labour productivity and cost due to overtime is an essential skill related to both planning and forensic analyses. Remember, the impact on productivity applies to all hours worked, not just the hours associated with premium time costs. Hence, often the productivity impact is more costly than the premium time compensation component of the payroll costs.

The impact of overtime on labor/labour productivity is not limited to construction field labor. It presents in engineering, programming, consulting and other professional man-hours.

For this post, we will use United States definitions and standards as a baseline. Many of the authoritative studies and analyses are done relative to US practices, if not US Gulf Coast (a common estimating standard or baseline).

However, these standards are relevant to the world open market. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Claims, Featured, General, Productivity, Projects Tagged With: Best Practice, Best Practices, Construction Contract Claims, Construction Contract Planning and Scheduling, George T. McLaughlin PMP, Labor Productivity, Labour Productivity, Managing risk of delay, McLaughlin & McLaughlin, Overtime impacts on productivity, Productivity Management, Project Execution Planning, Risk of Delay

PRODUCTIVITY SERIES REVIEW (reissued)

October 8, 2011 By George T McLaughlin PMP CCM

Project Professionals blog had a series of posts earlier this year. Over the next several weeks, the intention is to add to this popular series. This summary was posted in June. Since June, the number of readers has increased significantly. Consequently, we are reissuing this post as a kickoff and restart of the labor/labour productivity series.

Productivity has become a hot topic and has given rise to much discussion and debate in the project management world. Labor productivity can be a competitive advantage or a managerial disaster. Therefore, we believe that there is high potential benefit in a review of McLaughlin & McLaughlin’s Productivity Series. Below, we have the titles and links to each post followed by a brief summary of the content. We intend to augment these posts with additional writings on the subject.

MANAGING RISK OF DELAY – Forecasting and Management (Part 12)

September 30, 2011 By George T McLaughlin PMP CCM

This post is the twelfth in a series of discussions regarding various aspects of time management as it relates to the risk of delay. This post addresses the managerial aspects of forecasting related to time management.

Planning for and implementing (time-related as opposed to cost-related) forecasting is, perhaps, one of the most important aspects of Time Management and, consequently, Managing Risk of Delay. As with progress assessment, timely (early) detection of trends (positive and negative) allows timely managerial action. Timeliness of action has a heavy influence over the effectiveness of Time Management. In project work, it is imperative that one finds problems quickly and fixes these problems rapidly. In order to implement timely action, professional and realistic time forecasting is required.

The challenge associated with managing time is intensified in the case of larger and more complex projects as well as fast-track and high technology projects. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Claims, Featured, General, Projects Tagged With: Best Practice, Best Practices, Construction Contract Claims, Construction Contract Planning and Scheduling, Earned Value Management, George T. McLaughlin PMP, Managing risk of delay, McLaughlin & McLaughlin, Productivity Management, Project Execution Plan, Project Execution Planning, Risk of Delay, Schedule Update, Time Management, Time Management Strategy

MANAGING RISK OF DELAY – Progress Assessment (Part 11)

September 24, 2011 By George T McLaughlin PMP CCM

This post is the eleventh in a series of discussions regarding various aspects of time management as it relates to the risk of delay. This post addresses planning for and implementing progress assessment.

Planning for and implementing progress assessment is, perhaps, one of the most important aspects of Time Management and, consequently, Managing Risk of Delay. Timely (early) detection of trends (positive and negative) allows timely managerial action. Timeliness of action is a heavy influence over the effectiveness of Time Management. In project work, it is imperative that one finds problems quickly and fixes these problems rapidly. In order to implement timely action, professional progress assessment is required.

The challenge associated with managing time is intensified in the case of larger and more complex projects as well as fast-track and high technology projects. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Claims, Featured, General, Projects Tagged With: Best Practices, Construction Claims, Construction Contract Planning and Scheduling, Delay, Earned Value Management, George T. McLaughlin PMP, Managing risk of delay, McLaughlin & McLaughlin, Productivity Management, Progress Reporting, Project Execution Plan, Project Execution Planning, Risk of Delay, Schedule Update, Time Management, Time Management Strategy

MANAGING RISK OF DELAY – Subject Series Summary Update

September 15, 2011 By George T McLaughlin PMP CCM

This summary update provides readers with an overview of prior posts and provides a baseline for future posts that will follow on a timely basis. The last summary was posted on June 12, 2011.

This summary is very brief and simply serves as an index for readers to follow. More robust summaries are provided in the June summary. Of course, detailed descriptions are contained in the individual posts.

Ideally this summary provides a starting point to investigate best practice on many delay-related features of project management.

The Context and Challenge (Part 1) – Talk/Speech by Mr. Keith Pickavance

Time-Management Strategy (Part 2) – Strategy according to CIOB Guide

As-Planned Schedule / Accepted Programme (Part 3) – Establishing the Time Management Baseline

Schedule Preparation and Maintenance (Part 4) – Managing the Time Baseline

Earned Value Management (Part 5) – Importance and Management of the Time Baseline Tool

Critical Path and Earned Value Management (Part 6) – Managing with Critical Path, Earned Value Management and Productivity Tools

Earned Value and Schedule Performance Indicators (Part 7) – Time Management Tools

Schedule Specification Sources and Implementation (Part 8) – Managerial Tools with sources

Recognition and Notice (Part 9) – Managerial Alerting and Action Tools

Going forward, we will post other features of MANAGING THE RISK OF DELAY. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Featured, General, Projects, Uncategorized Tagged With: Best Practices, Construction Contract Claims, Construction Contract Delay, Construction Contract Planning and Scheduling, Delay, Earned Value Management, George T. McLaughlin PMP, Managing the Risk of Delay, McLaughlin & McLaughlin, Productivity Management, Project Execution Plan, Project Execution Planning, Risk of Delay, Schedule Specifications, Time Management, Time Management Strategy

PROJECT MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES – Project Planning Lessons Learned (Part 9)

September 11, 2011 By George T McLaughlin PMP CCM

RESOURCE REQUIREMENTS

Project success and failure outcomes… Planning the project properly, documenting the plan professionally and then implementing the plan successfully are likely the sources of most project success and failure outcomes. Using best practices and learning from the experiences of others are effective methods for skill set development. Many organizations that use project management on an ongoing basis close out projects with a compilation of “lessons learned.” These firms have found value in studying the specific issues that have emerged in the past.

As part of the planning process, a review of relevant lessons learned can be instructive as well as a “sanity check” or completeness evaluation regarding the adequacy and comprehensive nature of your Project Management Plan.

This post continues the focus on issues in planning and problems that have their source or root cause in planning. The subject is Resource Requirements. In this regard, the post will focus on human resources or staffing. This discussion is not focused on direct labor (e.g. construction craft labor, software engineering man-hours). [Read more…]

Filed Under: Claims, Featured, General, Projects Tagged With: Best Practices, George T. McLaughlin PMP, McLaughlin & McLaughlin, PMI, PMOK, Project Execution Plan, Project Execution Planning, Project Management, Project Planning, RACI, RAM, Resource Requirements, RM, Stakeholders

PROJECT MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES – Project Planning Lessons Learned (Part 8)

August 29, 2011 By George T McLaughlin PMP CCM

STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT

Planning the project properly, documenting the plan professionally and then implementing the plan successfully are likely the sources of most project success and failure outcomes. Using best practices and learning from the experiences of others are effective methods for skill set development. Many organizations that use project management on an ongoing basis close out projects with a compilation of “lessons learned.” These firms have found value in studying the issues that have emerged in the past.

This post continues the focus on issues in planning and problems that have their source or root cause in planning. The subject is Stakeholder Management. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Claims, Featured, General, Projects Tagged With: Best Practices, George T. McLaughlin PMP, McLaughlin & McLaughlin, PMBOK, PMI, Project Execution Plan, Project Execution Planning, Project Management, Project Management Plan, Project Management Planning, Project Planning, Stakeholder Management, Stakeholders

TIME MANAGEMENT – Schedule Specification Implementation (Part 6)

August 24, 2011 By George T McLaughlin PMP CCM

This Subject Series addresses the sources and implementation of a contract schedule specification. The Subject Series structure is presented in multiple parts and the series is a logical extension of the series titled MANAGING RISK OF DELAY. The intention is to capture sources of best practice in Time Management as it relates to implementing a professional schedule specification.

The overview of this series is:

Managing Risk of Delay – Schedule Preparation and Maintenance (Part 4)
Managing Risk of Delay – Schedule Specification Sources and Implementation (Part 8)
Schedule Specification Implementation Overview (Part 2)
Schedule Specification Implementation Specific Issues (Part 3)
Schedule Specification Implementation Weather Delays and Approved Schedule (Part 4)
Schedule Specification Implementation Claims Avoidance and Schedule Updates (Part 5)
Schedule Specification Implementation Recovery Plans and Conclusion (Part 6).

The balance of this post is from the paper. In general, this informative work compares two approaches to schedule specification implementation.

This extract from the paper covers:

RECOVERY PLANS
CONCLUSIONS [Read more…]

Filed Under: Claims, Featured, General, Projects Tagged With: Approved Schedule, Best Practices, Construction Contract Planning and Scheduling, construction time management, Corps of Engineers, CPM scheduling, Delay, George T. McLaughlin PMP, Managing risk of delay, McLaughlin & McLaughlin, Risk of Delay, Schedule Approval, Schedule Specification, Time Management, Time Management Strategy, US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Weather Delays

TIME MANAGEMENT – Schedule Specification Implementation (Part 5)

August 19, 2011 By George T McLaughlin PMP CCM

This Subject Series addresses the sources and implementation of a contract schedule specification. The Subject Series structure is and will be multiple parts and be a logical extension of the series titled MANAGING RISK OF DELAY.

The overview of this series is:

Managing Risk of Delay – Schedule Preparation and Maintenance (Part 4)
Managing Risk of Delay – Schedule Specification Sources and Implementation (Part 8)
Schedule Specification Implementation Overview (Part 2)
Schedule Specification Implementation Specific Issues (Part 3)
Schedule Specification Implementation Weather Delays and Approved Schedule (Part 4)
Making State of the Art Scheduling Specifications Work (presented in multiple parts).

The balance of this post is from the paper. In general, this informative work compares two approaches to schedule specification implementation.

This extract from the paper covers:

PERIODIC SCHEDULE UPDATES
CLAIMS AVOIDANCE [Read more…]

Filed Under: Claims, Featured, General, Projects Tagged With: Approved Schedule, Best Practices, Claims, claims avoidance, construction claims avoidance, Construction Contract Planning and Scheduling, construction time management delay, George T. McLaughlin PMP, Managing risk of delay, McLaughlin & McLaughlin, Periodic schedule updates, Risk of Delay, Schedule Approval, Schedule Specification, Schedule Updates, Time Management, Time Management Strategy, US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)

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