Doing

10

Jul

Changecancellation, claims, closure, planning, social licence

Case study – Project cancellation

How do you respond when your project is suddenly shelved? Here is a short case study. A project in East Africa has been unexpectedly cancelled at short notice following the…

09

Feb

Doingpayment

Extended payment terms: Good news for global firms

In July 2017, I wrote a widely-read article on extended payment terms stating that extended -- and, arguably, unfair terms -- were not only bad for business but seemed to…

22

Dec

Initiation, Scopeauthority, consultant, management, principal, scope, services, work

Scoping management services

Most project engineers consider themselves competent to write the technical scope of work for a work package. But scoping the provision of project, study or engineering management services requires different…

19

Dec

Change, Control, Doingclient, cognitive bias, complexity, contractor, fundamental problems, perceived causes, quality, symptomatic solutions, unexpected side effects

Down the rabbit hole – How cognitive bias leads to failure

The resources industry is going through hard times. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we all pulled together? Sadly, many operators and clients still prefer to blame the contractor for their troubles. But clients…

18

Jul

Control, Selectioncredit, payment, payment terms, terms, trade, trade credit

Extended payment terms: who really pays the price?

In tough economic times, businesses large and small look for ways to manage their cash flow more effectively. When money is tight it’s common for firms to seek to widen…

04

Mar

Doing, Planningpmbok, procurement, procurements, project, review

Book review – Project Procurement Management: A Guide to Structured Procurements

     Most suitable for single procurements or small projects   There are not that many books out there for the project procurement practitioner, so I was pleased to find…

08

Feb

Doing, Initiationideas, procurement, vendor

Vendor banging your head against procurement’s door? Here’s how to get noticed

Are you a vendor banging your head against the wall of a large company's procurement department? Do you have a great product or service, but can't get anyone to talk…

27

Dec

Doing, Initiation, Planning, Scope, Selection, Shaping, Strategyconstruction, contract, contractor, design, scope, technology

The reluctant constructor

As a project manager, you are considering the sole-source appointment of a contractor with a unique technology and construction methodology. You have commissioned work from this contractor before and you…

25

Oct

Control, Doingbehaviour, contracting, contractors, difficult, financial distress, fragility, insolvency, markets, resilience, resilient, risk, volatility, weak signals

The art of bouncing back – resilient contracting in difficult markets

Volatility increases during times of economic decline. Not every business providing contracting services will survive it, and some will fail catastrophically. But some, paradoxically, will thrive. What makes some contractors resilient and…