Covid-19 – Thoughts on Recovery 6) Final Chapter – Toward planning, and execution

(Warning may contain Metaphors and Analogies, #justsayn )

 I feel I’ve stretched this metaphor as far as it will go, we will wrap up the discussion today with some words on Planning and Execution.

Let’s do a quick review of the resources we’ve created for ourselves.

We built a Lessons Learned file where we recorded our observations and experiences both good and bad regarding our preparedness to the emergency and readiness for recovery.

We built a Risk Register, where we recorded the Risks we currently face, with mitigation strategies, and the Risks which threaten our Recovery Project, also with mitigation strategies. We’ve used our Risk Register and our Lessons Learned to avoid building failure into our Recovery Plan.

We’ve envisioned what our Recovery goals are and built Scope of Work to drive to those goals. Then we Scrubbed our Scope, placing boundaries on our project by defining concisely what the project objective(s) are, and refusing all scope that does not directly serve the plan.

We took the time to understand our realistic budget, and we took time to create real estimates for our Scope of work, and then we did the painful but always necessary step of Scrubbing our Scope to budget. Understanding of priorities was important to our teams for this piece, because we already had Scrubbed Scope that represented the real project, scrubbing to budget often means letting go of parts of scope that will be the least damaging to our primary purpose.

To stay with our Brownfield Project model, we would now plan our accepted Scope, not in general plans, ie “replace hot-water tank”, detailed plans, acquire the materials required to replace the hot-water tank, shut in, drain, etc…

At the Bistro for the plan to have a contractor remove the fireplace and install the take-out window. We need the contractor to provide us with a detailed plan, including materials, finishing both inside and out, a schedule, detailed cost estimates etc. Since SCB contracted this part of their order, they will not build the detailed execution plan, nor will they execute the work, but they are accountable to understand and approve the contractor’s plan.

A well-planned execution presents no surprises, it provides solid real timelines and accurate cost estimates. A well-planned order includes allowance for the unexpected. This allowance needs to be evaluated realistically with the best data available, this, once again, is an activity that must never be done with blinders on, pie in the sky optimism. The key is to keep it real.

At the Social Comfort Bistro for instance, the proprietors did not think of it in advance because they have basically zero construction experience, but the contractor they’ve engaged brought it up as part of his estimate, asbestos. 

Testing for asbestos in the exterior brick work and interior plaster work is required prior to the start of construction. This is a cost that our team did not count on in the high-level estimate. The contractor has provided two job estimates, one would be used if the asbestos tests come back negative, another, more costly, estimate if the samples come back positive. 

The building they are in was built circa 1955, no one on the SCB team realized the potential for asbestos. 

The contractor advises the team that in his experience, they should expect that the tests will come back positive for asbestos, and for the safety of his team and the public, they will need to follow asbestos handling protocols. 

The Bistro did build an allowance for the unexpected into their budget, if the tests do come back positive, they understand they will have no cushion left in their budget. 

There is an addition to the SCB Lessons Learned file in this disclosure, more care should have been taken at the initial estimate stage to understand the limitations of what the contractor communicated. The team realizes there was a breakdown in their process to have not learned about and account for the asbestos wild card. 

 The challenging thing for all of us building our recovery project(s) is the almost complete unknown of our timeline. When will the emergency project wrap up, when can we start on our plan?

If it makes anyone feel better, I’ve faced this same issue from Leadership of major energy infrastructure. No accountability to commit to timelines, no respect for Long-range planning, treat everything as a complete “surprise”. 

This project is less irritating in that regard because there genuinely was/is absolutely no way anyone could have known this project would take place at all, much less when it will conclude; whereas in the career examples from my past, very little is “unknown” or “unpredictable”, and failure to commit to Long-Range Planning timelines is 100% a Leadership accountability failure. 

When I look backward through this lens it occurs to me that this might be the first time I’ve been involved in an Emergency Project that is actually an honest emergency, maybe I’m an oddity, but I’ve always resented “emergency” that is actually a mere function of incompetent management and leadership. This real emergency is a lot of things in my life, almost none of it favourable, but I’m oddly grateful because it is an honest emergency.

This is my final post on this writing project, I truly hope I’ve inspired at least one reader move from “React” to “Respond” and start thinking in terms of Planned Recovery. Our metaphors have taken us as far as they can, but anyone who followed along is now sitting; prepared, ready, and proactively working toward their own recovery.

Keep updating your Lessons Learned file, keep a close eye on those Risks you’ve called out in your Risk Registry, stay the course on Scope Control. (meaning do not let new scope that did not meet the original inclusion bar to creep into the project)

If your business, like many, has a legacy of emotional, passion based decision making, you now understand that, and much of the time that passion is on your side, this crisis has allowed you to grow and understand when to put emotion in a box and exclude it from the discussion.

One need not be a mental health professional to understand the immense step forward that becoming proactive represents for anyone in this crisis. A crisis like none we’ve faced before.

All of us who have made the step to Respond, and have been able to stop React, and Plan our Recovery, I would argue that we have a greater social obligation now to help those who are stuck on the endless React Hamster wheel or worse, help the people around us shake off their reactions, and move now toward a Planned Recovery.

 Bad things have happened.

 Change is upon us.

Responding with Planned Recovery will always yield better outcomes, we each control how we allow change to impact us. 

 This is not the End!

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