Diary of A Rookie Project ManAGER 33

Monday, June XXVII, XXII

Dear Diary,

I woke up feeling good this morning and began my day by checking various aspects of things that work and their performance. Besides checking the temperature of the water from the tap, I also called my friend to inquire about the progress of his landscape project.

As a project manager, it's part of my job to validate the scope and measure the overall health of the project. It's like being a monitoring spirit on projects, constantly assessing whether the outcomes align with what was planned, and whether they are delivered within the expected timeframe and budget.

Upon reaching the office, I contacted the IT specialist who had taken my laptop last week for reconfiguration and installation of some Project Management Information System (PMIS) tools like Primavera, Miro, Kanban Board, and Microsoft Project. He had promised to deliver it by Wednesday. Well, that's still a couple of days away, but I was merely monitoring the progress. If he said it would take him four days and he had already spent two (Friday and Saturday), I expected that at least 50% of the work should have been completed since he had already received 75% of his payment.

Sometimes, it feels like project managers have a natural aversion to being cheated. Tenshak had a look of "you're overreacting" written all over his face when I expressed my concerns and informed him that the IT guy he recommended hadn't even started working on my laptop. He kept insisting, "You should calm down, please calm down..."

I asked Tenshak what he thought Dr. Pam's reaction would be if the Trauma Center wasn't completed in time for operations to commence as scheduled. He kept assuring me that the German construction firm would deliver on time because they don't "follow Nigerian time."

His response made me laugh, but later during lunch, I sat him down in the boardroom and explained the importance of Earned Value Management (EVM) to him, giving him a brief overview. I wanted him to understand how EVM helps us assess the health of the project and allows us to sleep better at night when the project's performance aligns with the predetermined baselines (scope, schedule, and cost).

Through EVM, we compare planned results to actual results and generate reports, including forecasts. For instance, we could say, "If the project continues in this manner, we could save XYZ amount," or we might say, "The project is progressing in a way that may result in an 8-month delay beyond the agreed delivery date," which would be unfortunate news.

This unfortunate news might lead to schedule compression or even change requests. In some cases, projects are abandoned when they become critically ill with no hope of recovery.

I showed Tenshak how to calculate:

Cost Variance by subtracting the Actual Cost from the Earned Value. If the result is negative, it means the project is over budget. If it's positive, it means we've saved money. He particularly liked that part since everyone loves saving money.

Schedule Variance by subtracting the Planned Value from the Earned Value.

I explained that the Planned Value represents the estimated value of the work that was supposed to be completed as of today. We can easily see it on the large A0 size work schedule sheet displayed on the notice board in the boardroom. I showed it to him and provided a visual explanation.

Regarding the Actual Cost, I told him that it refers to the total expenses incurred for the work completed to date. He asked what would happen if they had purchased items like the installation licenses for the PMIS. I explained that usually, the Consultant Quantity Surveyor would conduct a valuation in collaboration with the Contractor's Quantity Surveyor, which would include ongoing offsite fabrications and on-site materials.

Tenshak also inquired about determining the overall project cost without consulting a prophet. I introduced him to ETC (Estimate To Complete), which indicates how much more we expect it to cost to finish the project from this point onward, and EAC (Estimate At Completion). He specifically wanted to know the EAC, which estimates the total project cost. It's calculated as AC + (BAC - EV), where BAC represents the Budget at Completion, i.e., the total project budget that includes various items such as materials, labor, professional fees, plan approval fees, and more.

He moved his laptop to the boardroom, and we multitasked until the end of the day.

Hmm, I didn't schedule that discussion in my to-do list, but I hope when I evaluate my daily work performance for today, it will reflect the positive impact of our boardroom conversation.

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