Labor/Labour Productivity – Overtime Impacts (Part 11)

PLANNING CONSIDERATIONS

This is the eleventh posting regarding labor/labour productivity and disruption.  This contribution provides managerial considerations or issues regarding the impact of overtime on labor productivity.  The Subject Series can be viewed here.

Two key points:

  1. “The project plan is needed as a baseline to calculate the expected cost and time performance (cost estimate or price and the project schedule)”
  2. “Time and cost forecasts must be evaluated and adjusted if the project plan execution changes and overtime is introduced, increased or reduced.”

Project planning is one of the major challenges for program and project management teams.  Past posts have discussed many aspects of project planning.  The series regarding Project Management Challenges is here.  Part 5 of this series is particularly relevant or germane to the discussion regarding the impact of overtime on labor productivity in this post.

The impact of overtime on labor productivity is a relevant and serious consideration in many aspects of program and project management.  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.

Perhaps more importantly the impact on the schedule duration must consider the planned and forecasted progress using the proper productivity.  As overtime is introduced, progress may well be impacted.  The time impact of more work hours per week is mitigated or offset by the lowered productivity.

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

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

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.

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 Stakeholder Management. [Read more…]

PROJECT MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES – Project Planning Lessons Learned (Part 7)

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.  Learning from the experiences of others is an effective method 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.

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. [Read more…]

PROJECT MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES – Project Planning Issues (Part 6)

Planning the project properly, documenting the plan professionally and then implementing the plan successfully are likely the source of most project success and failure outcomes.  While project planning is one of the most fundamental skill sets in project management, the requisite processes and actions are not well developed or successfully implemented.  There is value in the planning process and value in implementing a well documented plan.  This was discussed in the prior post in this Subject Series.

Learning from the experiences of others is an effective method 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 and several following posts focus on issues in planning and problems that have their source or root cause in planning. [Read more…]

PROJECT MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES – Project Management Plan (Part 5)

This post is the fifth in a series of discussions regarding current challenges being encountered in today’s project management.  More specifically, we have titled the series PROJECT MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES, since we intend to focus heavily on the managerial aspects of program / project management.  This post addresses the Project Management Plan [also known as Project Execution Plan, Project Plan and other titles].  The last post (Part 4) addressed the project planning process.

Authoritative information and guidance regarding project management comes from many sources.  A few that may be obvious include:

In order to frame and organize this topic, we are using the PMI Project Management Processes for a Project as presented in A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide).

Many discussion groups and forums can be helpful.  These include AACE, PMI, LinkedIn and others. [Read more…]

PROJECT MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES – Project Planning Process (Part 4)

This post is the fourth in a series of discussions regarding current challenges being encountered in today’s project management.  More specifically, we have titled the series PROJECT MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES, since we intend to focus heavily on the managerial aspects of program / project management.  This post addresses the project planning process.  This is a crucial challenge and the importance of this process cannot be overstated.

Authoritative information and guidance regarding project management comes from many sources.  A few that may be obvious include:

In order to frame and organize this topic, we are using the PMI Project Management Processes for a Project as presented in A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide).

Many discussion groups and forums can be helpful.  These include AACE, PMI, LinkedIn and others. [Read more…]