Following our webinar organised with Planisware on Scheduling for Large, Complex Industrial Projects, you will find below the recording of the webinar as well as the slides in downloadable format. Enjoy!
If you can’t access the links, here are the links to the video: https://vimeo.com/planisware/webinar-advanced-scheduling – and to the slides: https://www.slideshare.net/ProjectValueDelivery/advanced-scheduling-for-large-complex-industrial-projects
As a reminder, if you have not yet registered, our founder Jeremie Averous will be live in a webinar on scheduling practices on 15 June in partnership with the scheduling software editor Planisware. Register here!
Two timings are planned on the same day to accommodate Asia as well as Americas, in addition to Europe.
In addition to the possibility to ask questions live, participants will receive a free extract of the new second edition of our book on scheduling.
Don’t miss this opportunity to exchange on the latest principles of industrial project scheduling for large, complex projects!
If you can’t access the link in the post here is the full link that you can copy and paste in your browser: https://planisware.com/advanced-scheduling-large-complex-projects
In partnership with the scheduling software editor Planisware, our founder Jeremie Averous will be live in a webinar on scheduling practices on 15 June. Two timings are planned on the same day to accommodate Asia as well as Americas, in addition to Europe.
In addition to the possibility to ask questions live, participants will receive a free extract of the new second edition of our book on scheduling.
Don’t miss this opportunity to exchange on the latest principles of industrial project scheduling for large, complex projects!
If you can’t access the link in the post here is the full link that you can copy and paste in your browser: https://planisware.com/advanced-scheduling-large-complex-projects
Another book by Edward W. Merrow the founder of Independent Project Analysis IPA, has just come out early 2023: “Contract Strategies for Major Projects – mastering the most difficult element of project management”. This book like previous books by the author relies on statistical analysis of the vast database of IPA to analyse the success factors of various contracting strategies and other influential parameters.
This book is probably bound to become one of the important reference books for large industrial projects, because it provides important insights on the advantages and drawbacks of various contracting schemes. In particular, it clearly shows that “EPC lump sum” approaches to contracting have severe disadvantages contrary to common belief by decision-makers not fully aware of large industrial projects.
The worst contracting strategy appears to be alliancing, while the best appears to be separating Engineering & Procurement on one side, with Construction on the other. This separation appears to provide significant benefits, provided the owner project team is sufficiently capable to handle the interface.
Other considerations will be of interest to the project practitioners: the importance of contractor prequalification, to understand what are really their proven capability and limits; the limited interest of using incentives in addition to those fundamentally included in the contracting model (they never seem to work!). The book also presents some results that depend on the actual scale of the project, as certain contracting approaches may appear to work well for relatively modest projects but much less for very large projects.
Of interest is the provision of observable performance of various contracting strategies not only in terms of cost and schedule slippage, but also on cost and schedule performance compared to the benchmark for the facility to be built: certain approaches may provide less slippage, but with an initial planned performance in terms of cost and schedule which may be above the average. This then questions the overall profitability of the infrastructure.
This book will find its place as a major reference book in your project management library and we can only engage the project practitioner to read it.
Project Value Delivery announces joining Archery Strategy Consulting Group, which has acquired a majority shareholding. Read the press release here.
Project Value Delivery, which will remain a separate entity and brand, will thus be provided with new development and growth opportunities to create value for its clients in its areas of expertise, as well as in synergy with Archery Strategy Consulting in the Aerospace&Defence and Transportation sectors.
Archery Strategy Consulting is a consulting firm specialized in three industrial sectors of large projects and large contracts (Aerospace-Defence-Security, Transportation-Logistics-Mobility and Energy-Environment). Through this strategic partnership, Archery Strategy Consulting strengthens its offering in the management of large projects / programs and extends its capabilities to new sectors at the center of the strategic autonomy challenge such as Renewable Energies, Mining and Oil & Gas. The footprint of Project Value Delivery in Singapore will also allow Archery Strategy Consulting to support its clients on Asian markets.
Stéphane Albernhe, founder of Archery Strategy Consulting: “We are delighted to welcome Project Value Delivery and its team within Archery. Their track record and recognized expertise in the management of complex projects complement our ability to effectively support our clients in the management of their industrial projects. In addition, Project Value Delivery’s international presence strengthens our ability to support our clients in Asia and provides additional growth opportunities for the Group.”
Jérémie Avérous, founder of Project Value Delivery: “This partnership will allow PVD to provide its clients with additional capabilities thanks to Archery expertise and Archery clients will be able to benefit from our competences. It will also allow PVD to rely on Archery platform to grow and offer its expertise to new customers, particularly in Archery areas of Aerospace, Defence and Transportation.”
Read the press release here, which also includes a detailed description of the capabilities of both organisations.
Definitions of project success can vary according to the circumstances and stakeholder viewpoint. A clear definition of expected project success, translated in terms of project objectives, is however essential at the outset to ensure that actual performance can be compared to expectations. In our new White Paper [2022-12] ‘How to Measure Success for a Project’, we review different possible definitions and how they can be combined to support performance target definition.
Project success can be defined in multiple ways depending on the viewpoint, and success factors can often be contradictory. Definition of project success thus requires the usage of balanced scorecards to be established as a reference set of targets. Key stakeholders, including key suppliers, should be aligned on the most important objectives. In addition, a clear prioritisation of success factors needs to be defined at the outset to drive decision-making when the project is faced with evolving circumstances. Final evaluation of project success compared to initial expectations is also not straightforward as circumstances and markets may have changed significantly in the meantime, but it remains a useful exercise for continuous improvement of the decision-making process.
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/2022-12_different_measures_project_success_v1.pdf
Complex projects can only be understood using a holistic systemic approach: the understanding of the performance of one part of the project is not correlated to the performance of the whole project. However, many organisations are still using discipline specific rather than transverse KPIs to assess performance and thus miss the emergence of transverse issues. It is essential to implement tools and processes that address the systemic aspect through transverse checks on the consistency of performance throughout projects and project portfolios. In our new White Paper 2020-12 ‘How Systemic Approaches are Needed for Complex Projects’ we expose in more detail the reasons for this need and what tools and processes can provide proper oversight.
Complex systems theory explains why the performance of the complex system is not just the sum of the performance of the parts. Some characteristics may emerge from the system itself; and the performance of the system is also only weakly correlated to the performance of its parts because of such effects as bottlenecks, natural variation and other non-linear behaviour and interdependence of various system components
Irrespective of a high level of oversight on each part of the system, a systemic oversight is needed, that takes a broader view. There are numerous examples of systems which looked fine seen from partial discipline indicators but were quite inadequate from a systemic perspective. An extreme example of an approach that will never work, but still sometimes observed, is the attempt to drive large complex projects using a set of discipline schedules without an integrated project schedule.
In order to assess the performance of a complex project, approaches are thus needed that consider the entirety of the system in a comprehensive manner and check the consistency across the project. Those approaches need to be:
Comprehensive and holistic, without necessarily going into the detail of each discipline, but focusing on the consistency of the overall picture and on the interfaces between disciplines and interdependency of stakeholders,
Broad in terms of scope coverage (in particular, external stakeholders)
Focused on the systemic issues such as: culture, team integration and performance, value to the organisation, consistency of the approach, proper coordination of activities etc.
Identifying gaps and duplications across all disciplines and parts of the project
Depending on the phase of the project, the methods to provide this systemic oversight may vary, still the methods will always rely on bringing together data and reports from all disciplines and checking their consistency.
Implementing systemic oversights of project performance is not easy and often not natural in many organisations. Specific reporting and checking practices used around complex projects do respond to the need, however, they need to effectively cover all relevant disciplines in a balanced manner and with a specific focus on their interdependence. This sometimes require difficult adjustments in organisations that are more used to concentrating on the local performance of each discipline. Strong leadership is then required to effectively implement systemic monitoring, which is the only way to have a reliable measurement of the effectiveness of the organisation, systems and processes on a large complex project.
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/2020-12_need_systemic_oversight_approach_v0.pdf
The new Expert Paper by Kamlesh Narwani ‘Five Principles of Capital Project Agility’ discusses the key principles of Agility in the Oil and Gas Capital Projects, how they are needed in the current business context, resulting in profound transformation of ways of working. It also briefly exposes a methodology for measuring their application and beneficial use.
The relevancy and success of Capital
Project companies depends on their ability to pre-emptively take a fresh and
nimble look at the components of its project execution. Agility is the way to
longevity and the five principles in this paper provide guidance in this
undertaking, by:
Converging of all processes into a cohesive solution output
Optimizing assurance with building trust in the project team and expanding their work focus
Governing the work by directionally influencing the project team towards maximum success
Using modern systems for automation and seamless information interface
Continually focusing on lean (waste reduction) & adaptability (evolving execution)
If you can’t access the link to the white paper, copy and paste the following link in your browser: https://www.projectvaluedelivery.com/expert/PVD_Expert_2019-02_Key_Execution_Agility_Principles_v0b.pdf
We have been very honored to give the keynote speech to the annual seminar of Escofin, the group of estimating and cost control managers from the major project-driven companies based in France. The presentation is now accessible on Slideshare, both in a French (original) and English versions.
Governance is an essential factor in large, complex projects.
Our new presentation explains the shortcomings of many Capex projects’ governance setups both for Contractors and Owners, and includes some key recommendations for the right governance to be put in place.
In particular the following governance failure modes are explained:
the organization does not understand the specifics of Project Management
Ineffective Governance organization
Inadequate decision-making framework
Inadequate reporting / information from the project.
If you can’t access the links directly, copy and paste the following in your browser: https://www.slideshare.net/ProjectValueDelivery/how-governance-makes-or-breaks-a-project
How Governance Issues Can Make or Break a Project (new PVD presentation)
Governance is an essential factor in large, complex projects.
In particular the following governance failure modes are explained:
The presentation is available on Slideshare.
If you can’t access the links directly, copy and paste the following in your browser: https://www.slideshare.net/ProjectValueDelivery/how-governance-makes-or-breaks-a-project