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PHOTO: EVERGREEN ENGINEERING
Project Management: Development, Execution and Critical Communication In a recent pellet mill upgrade project, several challenges led the project to come in late and over budget. BY JEFFREY TUMA “The root of most problems is the solution of most problems: communication.” he foundation for success of a large project is communication. Whether verbal or written conveyance of peoples’ roles and responsibilities, when and where things are happening, or the specific metrics for success, a shared understanding by stakeholders is key. Another component of this is the value of visual communication. In engineering projects, visual communication might include organizational charts, project schedules, budget tracking and drawings,
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all of which are instrumental in project execution. In the absence of these items, misunderstandings, costly overruns, frustrations between project members, project scope deviations and Tuma utter chaos can occur. In the example of a recent pellet mill upgrade project, it initially had a clearly defined project scope and budget, which led to the belief that it would be a very man-
ageable project, not requiring the rigor and project controls that one might typically see. The timeline was based merely on promised equipment deliveries, and installation would commence accordingly. Pretty straightforward, no schedule needed—so some believed. The project budget incorporated a solid contingency for the scope as planned, reserved for those items or circumstances that are generally described as “What we don’t know that we don’t know.” Thus, budgetary spending controls were not fully in place, nor expected to be utilized. In some cases, when subject matter experts feel that a project is easy or a no-brainer, the tendency can be to “not sweat the details,” and to skimp on things like engineering drawings. With this project being a retrofit of a narrow scope, end points and connection points (where the old process meets the new process) were deemed simple and not needing the additional project diligence coming from the proper engineering cycle. Projects of a certain size and scope can be led and managed by a single person. But when projects are large, or small ones grow, it is usually best for a project team to work together toward success. With this project appearing to be straightforward, one person was expecting to manage the budget, scope and schedule, as well as serve as the technical expert for design, installation and commissioning. This considered, the following are some valuable lessons learned, and accompanying recommendations. Communication: Open, Often and Visual Set a project schedule. As the project progressed from initial groundbreaking, contractors mobilized and sought to begin installation planning based on equipment delivery dates. In the beginning, all appeared okay, with a few minor slips and setbacks, but then came notification of the larger delivery delays. Compounding these delays were items being delivered out of sequence and not in full, leaving the installation contractor figuring out how to put the puzzle together. Naturally, questions came about: "When is this arriving? When can that be completed? Do we have enough resources to complete it?” If a project schedule had been used to communicate the impact
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20 PELLET MILL MAGAZINE | ISSUE 1 2022
