Executives in major project based businesses should be concerned that too many risk signals are hidden in the noise
Donnie MacNicol
ComplexChangeCatalyst?_leader in using human-centric data to improve delivery + maximise certainty_newPM_Prog Director_Board Advisor_Keynote_Facilitator_Delivery Club/Experts/Podcast Founder_Climate(320ppm)/Data Activist
Hypothesis: “The Executives and Leadership in major project based businesses, exemplified in Infrastructure and Construction, are struggling to obtain value from their organisation’s burgeoning financial, project and other operational data. This should be of concern given the increasing incidences of serious corporate performance problems.”
To survive and prosper in this fiercely competitive industry organisations must have a real-time, single version of the truth for decision-making, planning, forecasting, value engineering, project portfolio control/reporting and more. Frustratingly the data, current and legacy, that would support this is stubbornly spread out across far too many uncontrolled spreadsheets, other 'home grown' databases or files, as well as multiple enterprise application data silos.
To date, there has been no practical remedy for this - a system that works for tech averse business people who need to clearly see the signal from the noise. On demand without delay. A system that meets their unique needs without a costly, disruptive and lengthy solution deployment.
The risks can manifest themselves in multiple ways leading to various financial & operational challenges depending upon the companies' specific historical and current situational factors. Resolution requires a new and custom 'remedy'.
What are your thoughts on what this remedy might be?
Transforming the delivery of major capital projects
5 年A generalisation, but there is typically insufficient automation of controls systems around the industry. As you identify the truth is either hidden in multiple buckets - meaning there is a need to extract data, process it and create reporting on it. Each episode of handling allows error to creep in or introduce manipulation of the underlying message. Increasing automation of our controls systems is not impossible, we must compare ourselves to other sectors. Also, I agree with Dr PDG from Boston, real time or as close to as possible is the holy grail for a variety of uses in E&C industry. Again, this is achievable.
Executive | Researcher | Author | Speaker
5 年So true Donnie MacNicol. It’s not that we don’t have the data we need, the issue is that there is too much to get through. So we find ourself using a confirmation bias to confirm the risks that we have seen before.
Project management consultant and trainer. Primary author of the original (1996) PMBoK Guide. Curmudgeon.
5 年I must admit that I am not knowledgeable about the internal operations of project-based infrastructure organizations, so everything here could be true. But reading as an outsider, what I saw was a bunch of unsubstantiated allegations. Not quite to the level of Chicken Little, but getting there. I've always taught that ?problem statements are bolstered by numbers. This one would be as well. For example ... was?Carillion guilty of any of these sins?