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Only fools and the bankers who created the GFC think the future is absolutely predictable. The rest of know there is always a degree of uncertainty in any prediction about what may happen at some point in the future. The key question is either what degree of uncertainty, or in project management space what is the probability of achieving a predetermined time or cost commitment.

There are essentially three ways to deal with this uncertainty:

Option oneis to hope the project will turn out OK. Unfortunately hope is not an effective strategy.

The Guild of Project Controls is in formation, and most people have a view of what is involved in ‘project controls’ but what is the ‘dictionary’ definition of ‘project controls’?  To answer this question, my proposed definition for ‘project controls’ is:

The Complex Projects Contract 2013 (CPC2013) focuses on managing time to ensure projects are delivered to specification on budget and without delays. Unlike existing contracts, which target failure by requiring financial compensation for late completion, CPC2013 provides the procedures to enable parties to manage time, cost and risk events in a modern and proactive fashion. It is also the first standard form contract to cater for Building Information Modelling (BIM) and the future of collaborative design.

Planning Planet members are invited to a free AIPM Project Controls SIG  (PC-SIG) meeting to be held at The Water Rat Hotel, 256 Moray Street, South Melbourne VIC, 3205: http://www.thewaterrathotel.com.au/

Date: Wednesday 20 November 2013,  Start 5.30 pm – Start (note earlier start time) Finish 7.00 pm -  There is no catering for the forum but interested participants are invited to pre and  post- forum drinks at the bar (after all it is a pub!!).

The agenda for the meeting is:

There is not a project in this world that does not use spreadsheets from time to time and many are run exclusively by spreadsheets – in numerous surveys Microsoft Excel is listed as the most common / popular project management tool.  And generally speaking Excel gets the calculations it is asked to perform 100% correct.  Unfortunately the same cannot be said of the users who set up the calculations!

There is not a project in this world that does not use spreadsheets from time to time and many are run exclusively by spreadsheets – in numerous surveys Microsoft Excel is listed as the most common / popular project management tool.  And generally speaking Excel gets the calculations it is asked to perform 100% correct.  Unfortunately the same cannot be said of the users who set up the calculations!

As a scheduler within various industries, I have been asked “What is Schedule Quality?” In fact, if you pose this question to various project personnel, you may receive more than one answer per individual! Why? Some view “schedule quality” as a simple series of measures and techniques. I believe that the pursuit of schedule quality is a multi-front battle.

I met  a lovely old guy last week at a Fleetwood Mac concert at Madison Square Gardens who was an Attendant there. We got talking while I was getting a beer and he told me he'd worked there for forty years, he remembered when Fleetwood Mac first played there 20 years ago, Led Zeppelin filmed Song Remains the Same, Rolling Stones tours, he'd seen them all, I was very envious.

The simple fact ignored by most accountants, general management and project managers is that cost is an output from the management process, and pretending cost is a manageable input is a recipe for disaster.

One of the more common discussions on the web and in other places is focused on arguing the merits of, or comparing, the PRINCE2 Methodology with the PMBOK Methodology.