The Book On Scheduled Delays: Why Do They Happen and How to Avoid Them

By Jay Damle and Don Armstrong

The book focuses on developing plans and schedules, and rigorously maintaining them. Presenting proven tools to develop credible baseline schedules, it deals with the details of internal and external factors that can cause delays and divulges well-tested key project control tools that you can deploy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Nov 23, 2018
• ISBN: 9781772772463

Book preview

Armstrong

INTRODUCTION

The topic of project planning and scheduling is gaining in importance in today’s world, where projects are executed with tighter and tighter deadlines, and thinner and thinner profit margins. On these projects, money will be spent in amounts from a few million to a few billion dollars. These projects can involve manufacturing facilities, infrastructure, power, mining and metals, oil and gas, residential or commercial facilities, or any number of other kinds of projects, like creating a new software package by a promised date.

In any project scenario, there is an entity that wants to develop a product or build a facility, and bring that product or facility to the market in a certain amount of time, spending no more than a certain amount of money. By definition, a project is an undertaking to execute a defined scope of work and budget that has a timed beginning and a timed end. This defined work scope may be undertaken by the entity itself, or awarded to an outside contractor who has the expertise to get the job done. The latter is usually achieved by entering into a formal contract between the entity (the owner) and the contractor.

I have spent over forty years as a planning and scheduling, and cost engineering, professional, working in the capital projects industry, working on projects where hundreds of millions, to billions, of dollars are budgeted and spent to develop a business proposal, and carry it out to its fruition. Most of that experience has been with one of the outstanding global engineering and construction companies, which offered me opportunities to set up, and subsequently manage, monitor, and successfully complete complex industrial, infrastructure, and commercial facility projects, literally in several countries, on four different continents.

The most rewarding part of my job was setting up teams of experienced, as well as talented, young planners together, and providing the necessary coaching, as well as training a culturally diverse group of planners, to put into place a credible planning program, with effective planning tools, to complete these projects with no schedule surprises.

I have learned that if a project is not planned in a meticulous manner, consistent with fundamental principles of project planning and scheduling, there is little chance it will be finished successfully. And if the project fails, then the consequences can be disastrous to both the parties, as well as the general population, in terms unfulfilled promises, financial burdens, and social injustice. And, if the financial losses are significant enough, they can lead to the demise of the owner and/or the contractor. It is not too difficult to find examples of companies that have failed because of their inability to manage large-scale projects.

Obviously, once an owner/contractor embarks on a project, they have no intention for it to come to such an end. Every project begins with the intention to start, and complete it, on or ahead of schedule, and on or under budget. But I have seen too many instances where the good intentions alone will not be sufficient to achieve this success. That is where meticulous planning, and equally meticulous follow-through on the plan, during the execution phase, comes in. The complexity of the plans that need to be developed and maintained will undoubtedly depend on the complexity of the undertaking. However, no matter how small or how big the project is, planning ahead of time is a necessary step.

What the Reader Can Expect from This Book

The subject area of Project Management, Project Planning and Scheduling, and Cost Engineering, is a vast subject matter. Volumes of books have been written on the subject, which can fill a decent-sized row of shelves in a library. Several educational institutions, professional organizations, training courses, and seminars are available to train an individual or an organization on how to plan and execute a project, including what precautions to take to make sure that the projects are started and completed on schedule and on budget.

But as the idea of writing this book on schedule delays started to germinate in my mind, I realized that there is a gap that I can help fill. Many books are written with more emphasis on theoretical perspective, with little of the practical, on-the-job experiences that can help other project planning, scheduling, and cost engineering professionals in their day-to-day jobs. In this book, I have focused on practical lessons that can help those professionals avoid costly mistakes, and help them succeed in their endeavors.

My intention in writing this book is very humble. I would like to convey to my audience what I have learned over the years in successfully planning medium to mega-sized capital expenditure projects, undertaken in several countries around the world. And, more importantly, I want to explain what it takes to complete projects on time and, therefore, on budget.

At the same time, the subject area is so vast, I am only spending a limited amount of space in the book discussing fundamentals of project planning and scheduling. While doing that, I will point out specific topical references that the reader can further explore. Most of the content is devoted to causes of schedule delays and how to avoid them.

In my experience with projects around the world, I have learned one thing: the fundamentals of project management and, more specifically, project schedule management, are the same across the globe. Yes, there are cultural differences of how we humans will interface with each other, and this will have a profound influence on the outcome of the project. However, in my humble opinion, just like the Law of Gravity doesn’t change, regardless of where you are on this Earth, the fundamental schedule management principles don’t change, since they are based on a sound logical reasoning.

What Benefits Will the Reader Get?

What you will find in the following pages is what I have learned over the past forty or so years of my experience. My career has taken me literally all over the world for projects that were being executed in the power, oil and gas, and infrastructure industries. My experience has taught me what is really required to develop and execute a successful planning and scheduling program, which is applicable to not only the industries that I have mentioned above but a whole host of others.

As mentioned above, I believe the fundamental principles of planning and scheduling do not change from industry to industry, or from country to country. Of course, each industry has a unique set of terminology and nomenclature that they follow in communicating with the people in the same industry. However, the logic behind developing a plan and schedule does not change. Many different types of projects have the same basic phases—engineering or design, procurement or purchasing, construction, building, or storing and distribution, and startup or end-point sale—and each of these phases needs to take place in a certain logical sequence. For example, whether you are building a power plant or a high-rise building, engineering needs to progress to a certain point to allow procurement of equipment and material. This equipment and material needs to be delivered to the construction site before construction work can begin. And engineering, procurement, and construction all need to be sufficiently progressed before the facility can be started up. This logical sequence holds true, regardless of the industry the project belongs to.

There are points that I will make in each of the chapters, which the readers, and those who practice the profession, need to pay close attention to. Some of my observations will be blunt. Since I am not running for any popularity contest, I do want to get them across to you, the reader, unadulterated, without any sugar coating. Keep in mind that how these points are communicated, to whatever audience you face, will depend on the culture of the organization and the culture of the society in which you are working in, and I believe that these points can be made diplomatically with the same effects, without committing kamikaze.

However, sometimes blunt opinions are needed to overcome the deafening silence or lack of action that you may experience. Also, keep in mind that adage, A stitch in time saves nine. Timing is of the essence when you act.

Keeping Project Schedules and Budgets in Perspective

While completing projects on time and under budget is, of course, important, I need to put this subject matter in proper perspective. In any project—but particularly projects that involve individuals working on complex structures, involving movement of equipment and materials, working at elevations, operating complex machinery, or under hazardous conditions—the top priority of project personnel must be worker safety. The work must be undertaken with utmost commitment to worker safety. Following that, the next priority of any project should be quality. It is only with that understanding that the discussion on planning and scheduling that follows in the subsequent pages should be perceived. Any discussions on project schedules can, therefore, be only meaningful when that clear safety and quality priority is established.

A project completed safely, and of top quality, will provide rewarding outcome to the owners for several years. In addition, if such a project is also on schedule and on budget, the rewards to both the owner and the contractor will result in building a profitable, long lasting business.

At the same time, when a project—even one with an impeccable safety and quality record—exceeds the schedule or budget, then the benefits to either party can be dubious and lead to strained business relations. At worst, this can lead to protruded claim arbitration battles. The construction claims industry is a thriving industry, and there are law firms that are very profitable handling schedule delay disputes. If, however, the projects are planned and executed properly, following the principles in this book, the likelihood of this unfortunate outcome can be minimized.

So, here we go….Enjoy the wild ride!!

PART 1

PLANNING AND SCHEDULING

IN THE MODERN WORLD

CHAPTER 1

Evolution of Planning & Scheduling

A Brief Chronology/History & Literature Survey of Developments in the Field

Over the last one hundred years, the art and science of planning and scheduling has evolved tremendously. In preparation for writing this book, I was curious about how this profession evolved over the last century. As a part of doing research for this book, I had an opportunity to visit the Library of Congress, in Washington D.C., where I could dig into the history about this profession.

What a wonderful facility we have in this Library of Congress. Here, you have the capability of electronically searching through millions upon millions of books and journals they have stored within the library and a few adjoining buildings. You can take your laptop to the research room, and log on to the free Wi-Fi they have. Then, you can go to their web site, www.loc.gov, and use the browse feature to locate what you are looking for. Once you locate a book or a journal, or several books and journals, you can request the library staff to get the books delivered, literally, in about ninety minutes, to wherever you will be sitting in the research room on that day.

During my research, the name of one individual, Henry Lawrence Gantt (1861-1919), a Mechanical Engineer by profession, kept surfacing in many various sources as the man who developed the first visual tool to show scheduled and actual progress of projects—what we now call Gantt Charts.

As a planning and scheduling professional, I knew of Gantt Charts, but being curious about what caused him to develop this tool, I came across a book written by none other than Mr. Gantt, called Organizing for Work. This book was published in 1919, and was based on Gantt’s experience in supporting the U.S. military’s efforts in World War One. Reading through the book, I had a better feel for what socio-economic and political transformations the US society was going through in the first and second decades of the twentieth century. Gantt’s company was tasked to manufacture hundreds of thousands of ammunitions pieces that the army required, and they had to produce them in limited time because they were required desperately by the allied forces, in Europe, in defeating the Axis forces.

When he developed the tool, it was a radical concept and an innovation of worldwide importance. The tool, also known more commonly as the bar chart, is still being used widely, because of its simplicity. In the 1930s, it was used on large construction projects, like the Hoover Dam, in 1931, and the US interstate highway network, which started in 1956.

I don’t know what it is about us humans, but we more often tend to think creatively, and make progress to improve our livelihood, under stressful and complex conditions, or whenever we are competing under severe time constraints to achieve a goal.

Just like World War One brought about the invention of the Gantt chart, the next boost in the development of planning and scheduling tools did not come about until 1957-1960, when the US Navy was engaged in their ambitious development of the Polaris Missile program. Under time and budgetary constraints, they had to find a method to control the activities of approximately 3,600 sub-contractors, and suppliers. The Navy retained a management consultant firm (Booz, Allen, and Hamilton) in their efforts. The result was the development of an important tool called Program Evaluation and Review Technique, or PERT. Using this tool, the Polaris program’s goal of making a militarily operational, nuclear-powered submarine, capable of launching an intercontinental ballistic missile from below the surface of the ocean, was accomplished roughly eighteen months ahead of schedule!

Concurrent with the development of PERT, in 1957, the US engineering department of E.I. DuPont de Nemours, Inc. was looking to optimize the cost and scheduling of a project to construct a large synthetic fiber plant. Working with Remington Rand, they engaged in a study to develop a new system for coordinating information relative to planning and scheduling for engineering and construction. The net result of the study was the development of a technique called the Critical Path Method (CPM). Using this technique, DuPont completed the project well ahead of its target date, generating a large flow of unanticipated income from product sales.

Both PERT and CPM used the fundamentals of a logic network, and some basic calculations. However, the original objectives for PERT and CPM were substantially different. PERT started as an event oriented probabilistic system, trying to predict, probabilistically, the outcome of