Project Execution Planning

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 – Schedule Updates and Progress Considerations (Part 10)

September 19, 2011 By George T McLaughlin PMP CCM

This post is the tenth 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 measurement and schedule updates.

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.

In order to professionally manage time (and, therefore, risk of delay) the manager must have a time baseline [typically a Critical Path Method schedule and a Performance Measurement Baseline – please see earlier posts on these topics] and a method to recognize variations from the baseline. In order to detect variances, the managerial team must have an effective process to measure progress data and update the schedule (or time model). [Read more…]

Filed Under: Claims, Featured, General, Projects Tagged With: Best Practice, Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB), Construction Contract Claims, Construction Contract Planning and Scheduling, Delay, Earned Value Management, Frederic L. Plotnick, George T. McLaughlin PMP, James O'Brian, Managing risk of delay, McLaughlin & McLaughlin, PMI, 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

RESOURCE CENTER UPGRADE

September 7, 2011 By d.mclaughlin

The purpose of this post is to advise readers that the Project Professionals Resource Center feature or page has been upgraded. Please visit this useful page and familiarize yourself with the content. Please visit the Resource Links page which provides links to useful industry tools and resources. The pages were derived from years of frustration searching for reliable, substantiated references. So, the desires to share our choices are listed on the noted pages.

The Resource Center feature of this McLaughlin and McLaughlin [M&M] blog provides blog visitors with information and links to important and useful publications that relate to project management and dispute resolution in project work.

Recently, the Resource Center was upgraded to include several new publications, cite a new version of Mr. Pickavance’s book on delay and add some useful Resource Link updates. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Claims, Featured, General, Projects, Uncategorized Tagged With: AACE International, ABA, Best Practice, Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB), Construction Industry Institute (CII), Doctor Harold Kerzner, George T. McLaughlin PMP, Keith Pickavance, MCAA, McLaughlin & McLaughlin, NECA, PMBOK, Project Execution Plan, Project Execution Planning, Project Management, Project Management Institute (PMI), Project Planning, US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)

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

MANAGING RISK OF DELAY – Recognition and Notice (Part 9)

August 11, 2011 By George T McLaughlin PMP CCM

This post is the ninth in a series of discussions regarding various aspects of time management as it relates to the risk of delay. More specifically, we have titled the series MANAGING RISK OF DELAY, since we focus heavily on the managerial aspects of program / project management. This post addresses planning for and implementing recognition and notice as a managerial tool.

The challenge associated with managing time is common to virtually all projects. This challenge is true for most project management situations. It is intensified in the case of larger and more complex projects as well as fast-track (an ambiguous term) and high technology (similarly, an ambiguous characterization) projects.

In order to professionally manage time (and, therefore, risk of delay) the manager must have a time baseline [typically a Critical Path Method schedule and a Performance Measurement Baseline – please see earlier posts on these topics] and a method to recognize variations from the baseline.

Further, the managerial team must have an effective process to provide timely and compliant notice of the variance to the time baseline. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Claims, Featured, General, Projects Tagged With: Best Practice, Bramble and Callahan, Construction Contract Claims, Construction Contract Planning and Scheudling, Delay, Earned Value Management, George T. McLaughlin PMP, Keith Pickavance, Managing risk of delay, McLaughlin & McLaughlin, Productivity Management, Project Execution Plan, Project Execution Planning, Recognition and Notice, Risk of Delay, Time Management, Time Management Strategy

TIME MANAGEMENT – Schedule Specification Implementation (Part 3)

August 9, 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)
Making State of the Art Scheduling Specifications Work (presented in multiple parts).

The balance of this post and subsequent ones in this series are/will be from the paper. In general, this informative work compares two approaches to schedule specification implementation.

This extract from the paper covers:

WHO OWNS THE FLOAT?
THE RIGHT TO FINISH EARLY
WARNING (understanding of value and commitment)
PRELIMINARY SCHEDULE SUBMITTAL [Read more…]

Filed Under: Claims, Featured, General, Projects Tagged With: concurrent delay, Construction Contract Planning and Scheduling, construction time management, Corps of Engineers, CPM, CPM scheduling, Delay, Float, Float Ownership, liquidated damages, Managing risk of delay, Project Execution Plan, Project Execution Planning, Risk of Delay, Schedule Specification, Slack, Time Management, Time Management Strategy, US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)

TIME MANAGEMENT – Schedule Specification Implementation (Part 2)

August 4, 2011 By George T McLaughlin PMP CCM

This Subject Series addresses the sources and implementation of a contract schedule specification. The Subject Series structure 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)
Overview (this post)
Paper by Making State of the Art Scheduling Specifications Work (presented in multiple parts).

The balance of this post and subsequent ones in this series are/will be from the paper. In general, this informative work compares two approaches to schedule specification implementation.

INTRODUCTION

The past decade has witnessed an explosion in affordable microcomputer-based scheduling software, a greater appreciation of the importance of CPM scheduling techniques in controlling time and cost, and a broader understanding of how to use these techniques within the construction industry. The past ten years have also seen an increase in CPM schedule related disputes ranging from entitlement to delay damages to termination for default for failing to perform according to the approved progress schedule. There are almost as many different scheduling specifications as there are construction contracts. Yet, as just one example, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps ofEngineers), the largest constructor in the world and a pioneer in requiring the use of CPM scheduling techniques on their projects, has not significantly changed its scheduling specification in the last ten years.

The Corps of Engineers scheduling specification has served as a model for many scheduling specifications in both the public and private sectors. Recently, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) adopted a major revision to the Corps specification. This paper examines some of the changes and the arguments that they’re designed to resolve. [Snip]. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Claims, Featured, General, Projects Tagged With: Construction Contract Planning and Scheduling, construction time management, Delay, DFW, George T. McLaughlin PMP, Managing risk of delay, McLaughlin & McLaughlin, NAS, National Analysis System, Project Execution Plan, Project Execution Planning, Risk of Delay, Schedule Specification, Time Management, Time Management Strategy, US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)

TIME MANAGEMENT – Schedule Specification Implementation (Part 1)

August 3, 2011 By George T McLaughlin PMP CCM

This Subject Series will address the sources and implementation of a contract schedule specification. The Subject Series structure 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)
Overview (this post)
Paper by Mr. Stu Ockman – Making State of the Art Scheduling Specifications Work (presented in multiple parts).

The challenge associated with managing time is common to virtually all projects. This challenge is true for most project management situations. It is intensified in the case of larger and more complex projects. Examples include Lump Sum Turn Key (LSTK), Engineer Procure Construct (EPC), and other similarly executed projects. In addition to the normal issues associated with bulk progress, actions or inactions by the owner [employer], notice requirements, owner-furnished (free issue) equipment and others can add considerable complexity to this challenge. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Claims, Featured, General, Projects Tagged With: Construction Contract Planning and Scheduling, construction time management, Delay, George T. McLaughlin PMP, James O'Brian, Jon Wickwire, Managing risk of delay, McLaughlin & McLaughlin, Project Execution Plan, Project Execution Planning, Risk of Delay, Schedule Specification, Stuart Ockman, Time Management, Time Management Strategy

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