“The shortest distance between two points is a straight line.” – Euclid
“The longest distance between two points is a shortcut.” – Albert Lester
The two quotes above come from one of my favorite books on project management, Project Management, Planning and Control, by Albert Lester. I like his book because it’s practical, comprehensive and filled with wisdom.
I think most people who have worked on projects long enough, in any industry, would agree with Mr. Lester’s keen observation about shortcuts.
So what’s a shortcut? One of the greatest shortcuts in all of Oil & Gas manufacturing is the common practice of taking a customer order without having first nailed down the scope and then fully planned-out the work and resources necessary to deliver it. I consider this front end work to be plain common sense. In legal terms, some call it due diligence. Why? Because a standard of care should be taken long before agreeing to commit your organization to any contract. Plus customers don’t like being lied to. Unfortunately, due diligence takes time. And many organizations feel like they don’t have the time, money or resources to devote to proper planning. This is a fallacy, because in my experience, there is always time and money “found” in order to meet contractual obligations when the project goes awry. Companies that don’t plan their promises are usually late and over budget. They’re not likely predictable, repeatable nor highly profitable.
So where would you rather spend your money? Up front doing due diligence where the costs to do the planning are bounded? Or would your rather spend your money at the back end, where things are way out of control and the expected finish date and total costs are anybody’s guess? I think most people intuitively know the correct answer.
So what are you doing today to plan your promises better? What resources are you devoting in good faith today—and before issuing that quote—to make sure you and your customer agree on what project success looks like in terms of safety, scope, price, delivery date, and equipment performance? How many of the people who actually have to do the work did you consult when you prepared your plan?
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