The Clapped-Out Car

In some respects a programme can be just like owning a clapped out old car. Imagine buying an old run around for £500, it might have an MOT on it so your good to go. Use it for a few weeks no problem and then the issues start to arise. You might be alright for…

Decisions Driven by Data

Information is big business. Information is responsible for driving key decisions. Good decisions start with data, well so do the bad ones. Rubbish in equals rubbish out. The hard part is ensuring you are getting good quality data. It needs to be transparent and on a lot of occasions it isn’t because poor metrics are…

Contract Type Influence On Programme

Something that can easily be overlooked when producing a programme is the type of contract and how that should influence the way the programme is put together. Firstly lets have a look at the options: Option A – Priced contract with activity schedule Option B – Priced contract with bill of quantities Option C –…

Are You in a Reactive Rut?

Reactive planning is waiting for something to happen before planning around it. If the majority of your activities are reactive planned then they are probably incredibly inefficient. Projects often get stuck in the Reactive Planning Rut part what through a project with large amounts of change or where there is really no clear direction on…

Prelim Thickening

Construction projects often experience vast amounts of change. Dealing with the commercial implications of this can often lead of arguments and fractured relationships. Its not something new either. Experienced professionals will already have a good idea of the types of change before a project even goes live. They should produce a Risk and Opportunities schedule…

Fancy Wallpaper

Generally speaking site offices have a bland decor but in every site office around the country you can put your money on a gantt chart being stuck to the wall. Programmes are a plan, they are a tool to assist in the operational delivery of a project. If they aren’t briefed and understood then you…

Support

Tier 1 contractors have the ability to have specialist resources spread across multiple contracts if they are not needed full time on the project. They have whole departments dedicated to specialist functions. Some Tier 2 contractors are still able to do this but on a scaled down version with much smaller departments of only a…

Floaters!

Lets talk floaters, no not the kind that immediately come to mind… I’m talking about project float and how its importance is massively underestimated or just misunderstood. First of all there are different types of float. Generally when were talking float its total float that’s being discussed but for the avoidance of doubt I will…

Do You Read The Instructions

Are you one of these people that likes to throw the instructions to one side and work it out for yourself? Well if you do this with an NEC contract you could be in for some problems. The contract is very clear about what a programme should contain so why is it that so many…