During our interventions we observe that too often, a default approach to difficulties in project is for project teams to intervene directly, what we call the ‘Do-It-Yourself’ approach. This observation applies both to owners and contractors. However, the consequences of such an approach are often underestimated. This behavior frequently results in poor performance, while dramatically increasing the workload and responsibilities of the project team. In our new White Paper 2020-10 ‘How to Fight The Trap of Do-It-Yourself Approaches on Large Complex Projects’ we explore the reasons for this behavior and what alternatives should be considered before reverting to this approach.

Contracting or subcontracting in projects is akin to delegating to a third-party part of the project execution responsibility. As with any delegation of work, this requires some measure of ‘letting go’ or detachment: work will not be performed exactly the way you would do it, but at the end it will work and be compliant with the expectations. When difficulties arise, it may be tough to just sit there and instruct the person or entity to which you have delegated the work on how to recover; there is a natural tendency to step in and do it yourself. The same psychological syndrome is at work on a larger scale on projects. Some project directors (in particular those that tend to be rather on the micro-control side of the management scale, or those that have held positions in the same specialty as the contractor) will not resist long before stepping in.

This is of course based (on the often incorrect) assumption that the project team is in a better position to do the work than the contractor; this syndrome thus appears more naturally on the assembly and construction project phases than on specialised supply of equipment.

The Do-It Yourself approach in projects necessarily leads to dealing with a much larger number of smaller contractors and contributors and therefore, setting up the required organisation to coordinate their work. It therefore increases the complexity level that must be managed at the project team level, and the associated requirements in terms of management and control.

Do-It Yourself approaches provide an illusion of control but on complex endeavours such as large, complex projects, generally fail unless there is a definite experience in dealing with the scope.

In general, a Do-It Yourself approach cannot be improvised, and it takes a robust system and project team to directly manage a multitude of contractors and contributors. Therefore, any consideration of such a project execution mode needs to be carefully assessed and substantial investments made in terms of people, processes and systems.

Read our new White Paper 2020-10 ‘How to Fight The Trap of Do-It-Yourself Approaches on Large Complex Projects’ to understand more about this syndrome and the associated precautions!

If you can’t access the link to the white paper, copy and paste the following link in your browser: https://www.projectvaluedelivery.com/_library/2020-10_Tendency_DIY_v0.pdf