Source: Wikimedia Commons
Having lived in England for a few years, I got to be pretty good at navigating the London subway, also known as the “Tube” or “Underground”. One of the warnings repeatedly blared out over the station speakers reminded travelers to “Mind the Gap” between the platform and the train. Failure to heed the warning could result in injury or death.
On any project, it’s the project manager’s responsibility to “mind the gaps”. Leaving the project gaps untended will lead to failure—most of us who have been around Oil & Gas manufacturing projects long enough have the torn, bloody t-shirts to remind us. So what does it mean to mind the gaps?
Most manufacturing organizations are divided into functional areas, such as Engineering, Accounting, HR, Quality, Operations, Aftermarket, etc. Operations can be further broken down into Planning, Procurement, Machining, Welding, Assembly, Test, etc. With such specialization comes compartmentalization separated by gaps. It’s important to understand how all of the work needed to deliver a piece of equipment flows between the gaps. Astute project managers think and plan in terms of organizational workflow. Every deliverable identified in the project WBS has a workflow associated with it, whether it’s the creation of a drawing, or the creation of a router, or the equipment’s final assembly. Most project management activity consists of monitoring and controlling the workflows, with special concentration on ensuring smooth hand offs across all of the gaps in between the functional areas. If you want your projects to be successful, then be sure to “mind those gaps”.
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