Month: June 2016

Orlando: Prayers to all affected 

No matter who we are no matter who did it no matter the policies are no matter what religion you are no matter your beliefs, this act of barbaric proportions in Orlando is condemned unequivocally.

Please do not turn opportunistic or make this political . RIP #innocentvictims

Risk Flowdown- A Myth?- What do you think?

Not an opinion but an open forum for anyone contractually savvy to provide their “two cents”. For Prime contract that is either Cost reimbursable, Unit Prices or Time & Material, how true is the notion that risks from the Prime are flowed down to the sub-contracts? Are all costs being eventually paid up by the Customer?

May be you don’t get profits and Overhead on specific overruns, but all sub-contract costs are certainly included. Now how about Prime contracts that are Lumpsum; a different ball game here.These are contracts where risks and opportunities would be borne in its entirety by the contractor.

 

Project Management- Not Rocket Science

Project Management almost sounds like a cliche doesn’t it? We get myriads of literature, wannabe project managers, management gurus making fast bucks while stating the obvious! At the risk of stating another well work cliché, I will say this- Stick to the basics and that’s the mantra for success.

It is NOT rocket science and it is not that hard. Yet when you see, read and hear all these esoteric folks make it sound like they just invented the wheel, it could potentially  cast doubts in one’s mind. I am not claiming to know it all for even a moment, but as I see it, there are a few elements of a project in any industry that are common themes which play a major role in the project’s ability to make it or break it.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW?

  1. Contract Terms & Conditions
    1. Contract types
    2. Role of lower tier contractors
    3. Other services
  2. Project baselining
    1. Setting up the execution plan
    2. Setting up realistic achievable schedules
    3. Setting up costs
    4. Team buy in
  3. Contingency
    1. The Cost of Time
    2. Burden & overheads
  4. Dealing with Change
    1. Change to Project capital costs
    2. Change to project completion date
    3. Creeping delays
  5. Dealing with Project performance
    1. What happens?
    2. Causes and ongoing issues
    3. Performance management

This is not an exhaustive list and I have left some sections out on purpose. But what you see is part of a special book I will be working on with an esteemed Professor at GW University, Washington DC.