Project Management

I would like to point out that there is an important association between the basic skill of Project Management and the Australian Economy. I am an industrial chemist, and I work mainly in engineering factories in the areas of process and materials development and quality assurance. The main reason I am not a medical doctor, like most of my mates, is that while I was at Melbourne High School, I always had two small jobs in the evenings to pay for my passion of building classic racing motorcycles out of parts. As a result, I got a job in the public service after I failed half of my Matriculation exams, and studied applied chemistry on a part time basis. As a result, I have excellent project management skills. When you build classic racing motorcycles, they need to be built in your head before you buy parts.
My son is a mechanical engineer who works in the construction industry. He had problems finding people who can manage projects, and at times he has had 40 projects going simultaneously.
I recently had an argument with him, because he blames his costs over-runs on the unions. I do not know what Project Management software his company uses, however after I retired I worked on contract bringing a certain item into production. The engineers with whom I worked had never seen a Gannt Chart which is used in project management, and probably did not know how to flow-chart a process.
Many Australian construction companies have failed because of costs over-runs on projects. Project Management is one of the most basic and important skills.

If you want to study project over run in terms of time and cost, come to the U.K. and look at some of our infrastructure projects.

In Oxford they needed to replace a Victorian rail bridge. This involved closing a main road into the city.

The original plan was for it to be closed for 10 months. This quickly changed to 2 years (more than double) and the latest is that it will remain closed ‘indefinitely’ as they argue over who needs to find the (massive) unplanned funds to complete.

It’s beyond a joke. You could not make this shit up.

The Victorians must have had magic skills that are beyond the teachings of modern civil engineering…

When the first section of the M1 motorway was built in the early sixties, it took 19 months. This consisted of 55 miles of carriage way, all the bridges, culverts, & services.
They are currently converting a 11 mile section of the M6 to a so called Smart Motorway (Smart my Arse), which is just a cut price way of adding another lane. Unless I'm mistaken they have been on with it for over 4 years. It seems to take 6 months to fill a pothole in these days.

I'm not sure the Victorians were _that_ much better, plenty of entrepreneurs of that era went bust trying to build their grand plans. Its just that those who succeeded have left a great legacy. Brunel with his railways and bridges, Bazalgette with his London sewers spring to mind. I suspect that the entrpreneurs & engineers in those days had the power to force their projects through, the peasant classes wouldnt have been able to object to their grand schemes. Although the Met line station in Watford is some distance from Watford town 'cos the local landowner wouldnt allow the railway to cross his land.

Closure of a road / underpass beneath the bridge for an indefinite period is questionable, but I would imagine that building a replacement bridge that meets modern standards, and in the middle of a congested city, is more complex that building one to Victorian standards. A bit of reading suggests that dealing with utilities around the bridge is adding complexity to the project, but shouldnt be insurmountable. The bridge is just outside of Oxford station and carries a railway 'main line', so that has to be kept operable - somehow. I will be travelling on that line in a week or two, I will keep a look out as the train goes through Oxford.

Hammersmith Bridge in London being closed to vehicles for many years while they argue about who pays to repair it is another example of political paralysis, although maybe there are hidden agendas in that?

HS2 and the Elizabeth Line are great feats of engineering. The cost overruns are ridiculous, but maybe its just that the original budgets were unrealistic? (I do think HS2 will be good - eventually, and that the cancellation of the northern legs is short sighted)

When everything is said and done, there is usually more said than done

Mmmmmm.

Strange engineers if they had never seen a Gannt chart. 20 years ago I was working with engineers on NZ projects and that was a normal tool. Progress etc reviewed every week or two.

My son is currently leading a $200 mm construction project in Oz. About 400 people on site. Currently ahead of time and under budget.

He said a very good way to keep on top of it is if it is a design and build project. That way he as construction project manager was able to work with the design engineers and optimise the build process. Get late items off the critical path and optimise the build process saving millions. Seems to work. His projects have a good track record.

johnm said:

Mmmmmm.

Strange engineers if they had never seen a Gannt chart. 20 years ago I was working with engineers on NZ projects and that was a normal tool. Progress etc reviewed every week or two.

My son is currently leading a $200 mm construction project in Oz. About 400 people on site. Currently ahead of time and under budget.

He said a very good way to keep on top of it is if it is a design and build project. That way he as construction project manager was able to work with the design engineers and optimise the build process. Get late items off the critical path and optimise the build process saving millions. Seems to work. His projects have a good track record.

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Obviously he is successful because of his Dad , yes ?

Richard Tool said:

Obviously he is successful because of his Dad , yes ?

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Haha. Fortunately all my kids are smarter than their dad.

As the eldest points out he was the first in our family to graduate high school.

But fortunately in New Zealand there are other ways into university. His mum left school at 15. But did her entrance qualification while in the navy working signals branch at night. She finally graduated Master of Laws with First Class honours. Not many 15 year old school leavers manage that.

So maybe that's where my kids get their brains from. .

And re unions in Australia. Yes some of the problems can start here.

But for example another son was peripherally involved in trying to sort the baggage handling and aircraft ground movement issues at Sydney airport. He said many of the decisions made by middle management regarding staffing and resource allocation were breathtakingly lacking in imagination when it came to assessing unintended consequences.

But then you don't have to be educated smart to have brains, it's how you use your brain, and how many universities educated people get it wrong and seems a lot in construction do get it wrong.

ashman said:

But then you don't have to be educated smart to have brains, it's how you use your brain, and how many universities educated people get it wrong and seems a lot in construction do get it wrong.

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Sometimes your screwed no matter how good you are.

Same son got assigned a project that was about 30 % complete. Previous project manager had resigned.

Most of the subcontractor work and contracts were signed and locked in.

The steel fabrication sub contractor was staffed by 100% incompetents. Contracted to deliver a certain amount of fabricated steel per week they never once met target and were often at less than 40 %. There was nothing he could do about it. The previously agreed contract left him no option.

And it wasn't just the normal steel supply train issues. They just screwed up time and time again. For example contract required 5 major beams of a certain design. They delivered 7. What a waste of money.

Fortunately they were a branch of a major multinational so it was worthwhile going to arbitration to get some money back. But usually companies like that just declare bankruptcy.

He has many stories like that. Continuous pour concrete jobs where the concrete supplier runs short of cement half way though despite being asked several times if he's all set up to go.

Major architecture elements which need to be incorporated into large buildings supplied at totally different sizing despite the plans being check and agreed THREE times.

And on and on.

All my kids went to uni. But all actually did double degrees. So their professional degree engineering, law etc. But also a parallel business degree. My construction son says the accounting, economics and commercial law elements of his business degree are often very helpful in running his projects.

Plus his first company where he started as a graduate trainee put him onsite up the the Northern Territory where for six months he made foundations, tied steel and poured concrete under the eye of a site foreman. Only six months but sometime at least on the wheelbarrows.

By the way a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing with a Gannt chart.

Very often an arithmetic summation of the P50 or means of the task elements are used as the base project plan.

But if you consider a project with say 250 level 3 tasks each of which has a P90 P50 P10 estimate and do a probabilistic roll up the average project timing estimate will be a lot longer than the arithmetic summation.

What are the chances you will do 250 tasks and everyone will hit your best estimate?

So day one Management usually has an unrealistic expectation of how things will go. And if politicians are involved then the craziness becomes mindblowing.

There is sn Ozzie comedy programme called Utopia on Netflix. It's about a govt organisation charged with scoping major infrastructure projects. My son cannot watch it because he says it's a documentary and he starts throwing things at the TV after 5 mins.

I could write a novel regarding gas projects (LNG and Domestic) and upper Mining.
What a bunch of Maroons. (Bugs Bunny™ )

Time Warp said:

I could write a novel regarding gas projects (LNG and Domestic) and upper Mining.
What a bunch of Maroons. (Bugs Bunny™ )

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If it's LNG train near Darwin my son said it was the worst six months of his life. Early on in his working life. Made lots of money but worked 70 hours plus a week and finally resigned due to certain managers convinced they could dig very large holes in the ground during rainy season in the Northern Territory. Of course they were a swimming pool in three days. Mud above the wheels of the trucks.

johnm said:

If it's LNG train near Darwin my son said it was the worst six months of his life. Made lots of money but worked 70 hours plus a week and finally resigned due to certain managers convinced they could dig very large holes in the ground during rainy season in the Northern Territory. Of course they were a swimming pool in three days. Mud above the wheels of the trucks.

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Yes John, Itcthys (I lived in Darwin from 2007 to 2010 and went back for that job 2015 to 2016. All stainless pipe on the flares (horizontal) and a great supervisor (a plumber) who I had at Pluto 2010 to 2012.
100's of purged fit ups and a specialised crew (hand picked) so no drama, just hard work and good times.
As a bonus, one day one of the crew TA's asked me, should we get a crew syndicate for Lotto (or something like that and I thought it a great idea) $100 each per 5 weeks and won a few Rubles.

Week 2 of the second 5 weeks.
We each got $48700.


What is better than that, the flare was finished and I got an offer to go back west so took it.
That site had around 7100 personal and 100's of crews and who is in the crew I was sent to?
An old mate who I started school with in late 1964 in Hamilton.

I have made the most of every job and enjoyed every job you just have to become independent of the upper management and the easiest way to do that is be a professional tradesman and they will soon leave you to it. They of course come back to pat themselves on the back once you have completed something.

Is this the time to tell the Ozzie's that the only people getting stuff done are the Kiwis?

Similar in London. My nephew who is a tradesman builder went to London for 18 months. The company he worked for liked him so much that the sponsored him as a permanent resident. Became foreman and spent most of covid cycling around London trying to stop all their gear being stolen off sites. These days he is their Construction manager.

But earlier on he worked for a company with very bad HSE practice. He cleaned up alot but the scafolders wouldn't change so he resigned. The following Monday one of them was killed. And a few days later he had police at his door wanting him to be a witness for a prosecution.

Don't know if you have ever been in the UK but I have seen so called "gas fitters" doing domestic work. I left.

Time Warp said:

Yes John, Itcthys (I lived in Darwin from 2007 to 2010 and went back for that job 2015 to 2016. All stainless pipe on the flares (horizontal) and a great supervisor (a plumber) who I had at Pluto 2010 to 2012.
100's of purged fit ups and a specialised crew (hand picked) so no drama, just hard work and good times.
As a bonus, one day one of the crew TA's asked me, should we get a crew syndicate for Lotto (or something like that and I thought it a great idea) $100 each per 5 weeks and won a few Rubles.

Week 2 of the second 5 weeks.
We each got $48700.
View attachment 116836

What is better than that, the flare was finished and I got an offer to go back west so took it.
That site had around 7100 personal and 100's of crews and who is in the crew I was sent to?
An old mate who I started school with in late 1964 in Hamilton.

I have made the most of every job and enjoyed every job you just have to become independent of the upper management and the easiest way to do that is be a professional tradesman and they will soon leave you to it. They of course come back to pat themselves on the back once you have completed something.

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My son worked on that plant at the very beginning. Doing the civil works mostly I think. 2014 15 ?

johnm said:

My son worked on that plant at the very beginning. Doing the civil works mostly I think. 2014 15 ?

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That sounds about right, as soon as that project was little more than something in the future (long before) houses started to climb.
A new house in Palmerston was around $350000 in 2008, by 2010 it was more like $650000.

There are plenty of folk from overseas including the UK with fake CV's, poor attitudes and no skills.
Its part and parcel.
One of the reasons nothing is to much trouble when it comes to bikes is that is the antidote to the politics of working.

I have been thinking of selling up (I still have bikes in storage in NZ including my 900SD) everything and moving to Thailand.
65 on Wednesday.

Time Warp said:

That sounds about right, as soon as that project was little more than something in the future (long before) houses started to climb.
A new house in Palmerston was around $350000 in 2008, by 2010 it was more like $650000.

There are plenty of folk from overseas including the UK with fake CV's, poor attitudes and no skills.
Its part and parcel.
One of the reasons nothing is to much trouble when it comes to bikes is that is the antidote to the politics of working.

I have been thinking of selling up (I still have bikes in storage in NZ including my 900SD) everything and moving to Thailand.
65 on Wednesday.

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I enjoyed Thailand. Worked there a few months.

But I'm a cold weather person. I like snow. Plus I still have a few uni and bike mates about. I retired to the Wairarapa and built myself a good shed. Have about 80 m of garage and workshop space. Plus I also like to do a bit of gardening. I'm off to Manfield this weekend for the Classic Register's spring festival. Don't race anymore but I'm slowly putting my 500 Dommie race bike back together. Also do a couple of adventure bike rides on my DR650 to tne South Island each year with old work colleagues. All geologists so we can interpret the hills as we ride along. Not too bad retirement really. So long as my knees hold out.