The Wake of the Boat

September 2024

THE DRIVER BEHIND "PLANNING FOR SUCCESS"

A goal of writing "Planning for Success" was to share my experience of how execution can be performed successfully using the Five Pillars of Project Execution, namely, Safety, Quality, Cost Control, Schedule and Risk Management. These pillars were developed over years of project execution and have served me well. The two pillars that are key to overall project execution are Safety and Quality.

THE FIVE PILLARS OF CAPITAL PROJECT EXECUTION

I believe that IF the Project Team focuses on the pillars of Safety and Quality, the remainder of the Five Pillars "get swept along in the project wake." Please do not construe my words to say that Risk Management, Cost and Schedule are not important - what I am saying is that carefully managing both Safety and Quality - Risk Management issues, the Project Cost and the Project Schedule should not pose any insurmountable obstacles during project execution.

Developing the Safety goals for the capital project are paramount. Once these goals have been formalized, the Project Manager and/or the Project Engineer need to distribute to all team members. Start every meeting with a Safety Moment that aligns with the Safety goals. This will keep Safety in the forefront of all team members mindx.

Outlining the Quality goals for the capital project will support project excellence. Early involvement by the Quality Manager to assist in establishing the goals is key for any capital project. The Project Manager needs to push his organization to assign this person as soon as funding for the project is approved by the Stakeholders.

FOCUS ON SAFETY AND QUALITY

The Project Team must accept this premise. Using the Safety and Quality pillars as a primary guideline the team should review the Project Initiation Checklist, assign the proper activity weighting, and apply the necessary project resources to accomplish these activities.

I use the Project Initiation Checklist, which defines specific activities to be completed during the first 90 days of project execution. This list will assist the Project Team to identify activities to focus on during project initiation, starting with team assignments shown for the responsible parties.

These Front-end activities are typically completed before the Master Project Schedule is released for team use. Use the completed Project Initiation Checklist to drive early team activities.

CAN YOU JUMP THE WAKE OF A BOAT?

If you have water-skied, you quickly learn a fundamental fact: stary inside the boat motor's wake and everything is relatively calm and smooth. Outside the wake the story is different. This does not mean you can't "jump the wake" and ski outside the boat motor wake. Jumping the wake means you must have the experience to maneuver outside of the wake and be able to maneuver back inside the boat's wake. My experience has led me to understand that both time and experience are required to master wake jumping. But don't be afraid of executing a wake jump.

THE MORAL OF THIS STORY

All pillars will constantly be front and center during execution of the project. My message is this - when executing capital projects, Safety and Quality should be the first pillars your team focus on - Cost, Schedule, and Risk Management will come along for a ride in the project's wake. Not that these three pillars are of less importance, but they are highly dependent upon both Safety Plan and Quality Plan developed for the project.

CHAPTER 6 OF "PLANNING FOR SUCCESS"

Chapter 6 of "Planning For Success" includes the Roles and Responsibilities for the project team members. The Project Manager and Project Engineer should tailor the job descriptions to fit the specific needs of the capital project. This will take time but will pay huge dividends throughout project execution. Please note that this document is consider 'live' and should be updated as frequently as the Project Manager and Project Engineer see a need.