Effective Project Management: Guidance and Checklists for Engineering and Construction

GARTH G.F. WARD manages the project management consultancy and training business Ritchie Ward Associates. For sixteen years he lectured at Cranfield School of Management and for ten years was Director of the Masters Course in Project Management. In addition, Garth has over twenty years of experience as a project manager in both client and contracting organizations, including Shell-Mex and BP, Bechtel, Kellogg and Chemico.

Preface xix Acknowledgements xxi Introduction 1 Part I Projects and Their Management 5 Section A Project Characteristics and Phases 6 1 Characteristics 7 2 Phases 8 3 Project Patterns 11 4 Reasons for Projects 12 5 Project Needs 12 Section B Project Management Characteristics 14 1 Models 16 2 Characteristics 18 3 Key Management Decisions and Phases 20 4 Project Management Patterns 24 Section C Execution Planning Influences 26 1 Project Characteristics, Size, and Complexity 26 2 Strategic Decisions 27 3 The Historic Nature of an Industry 30 4 The Characteristics of the Industry/Business Sector 31 5 Phases and Schedule 41 6 Execution Planning 41 7 Generic Influences on Project Execution 42 Section D The Project Management Role 43 1 Strategic and Contractual 43 2 Organizational and Functions 43 3 Responsibilities and Orientation 46 4 Competencies and Leadership 47 5 Abilities and Skills 48 6 The Project Manager 50 Section E The Manager of Projects 52 1 Financial Situation 52 2 Scope of Work and Change Orders 54 3 Project Progress and Status 54 4 Health, Safety, and Environment 56 5 Quality Audits and Status 56 6 Risk Management 56 7 Client Relations 56 8 Formal Reviews 56 9 The Project Management Group 57 10 Evaluating a Project Manager 57 11 The Manager of Projects and the Client(s) 58 Section F The Owner and Client 59 1 Some Fundamentals 59 2 Cost and Planning 61 3 Things to Watch 61 4 Most Important of All - Safety 62 Section G Achieving Success 63 1 The Project Management 66 2 Alignment of Objectives and Client-Contractor Relations 67 3 Involvement of Users 68 4 Get and Build the Right Team with Clear Roles and Responsibilities 70 5 Clear and Complete Scope Definition 70 6 Thorough Planning of the Work 71 7 Planning Communications 72 8 The Efficiency of the Project Launch Phase 73 9 Change Control 74 10 Effective Decision Making 74 11 Tackle Things Today - Tomorrow They Will Be Bigger 75 12 Conclusions for Success 75 Part II Programme Management 77 Section A Programme Management - What's in A Name? 78 1 Programme Management Conclusions 79 2 Summarizing Programme Management 80 3 Key Roles for a Programme Manager 81 Section B Business Change Programmes 82 1 Blueprint 82 2 Programme Organization 82 3 Change Stakeholders 83 4 Benefits Realization 83 5 Gate Reviews 84 6 Project Controls 84 7 Terminating the Programme 85 Section C Management of Portfolios 86 Part III Feasibility and Contracting 89 Section A Feasibility Studies 90 1 Feasibility Study Plan 91 2 Defining the Project 92 3 The Feasibility Report 92 4 Proposed Execution Plan 94 5 The Next Step 95 Section B Contracting Strategy Considerations 96 1 Business Strategy and Stakeholder Alignment 96 2 Regional and Local Factors 96 3 Market Intelligence 97 4 Prequalification Processes 97 5 General Contracting Issues 98 Section C Issuing an Enquiry 103 1 Enquiry Preparation Phase 103 2 Tendering Phase 106 3 Evaluation Phase 106 Section D To Tender or Not to Tender 109 1 The Tendering Decision 109 2 The Tender Decision Analysis 110 3 The Final Tendering Decision 113 Section E Tendering and Proposal Phase 115 1 Tendering Preliminaries 115 2 Developing the Tender or Proposal - In-house Work 117 3 Coordinating with Third Parties 121 4 Coordinating with the Client 121 5 Commercial 122 6 Reviewing the Tender or Proposal 124 7 Before Submitting the Tender or Proposal 125 8 After Completion of the Tender or Proposal 125 9 Proposal Team Presentation 126 10 Possible Client Questions for the Proposal Team 129 Section F Contracts 131 1 Starting Work 133 2 Awarding Con