Planner in oil and gas

Dear Mai,



The Construction Team at site is link a chain. The strength of that chain is as strong as its weakest link.



When you have a weak management team and a strong planner/scheduler the results will be worst than having a strong management team and a weak planner/scheduler.



Usually the construction management teams are excellent planners because of their extensive experience at site doing the same jobs under different environmental conditions and different resources. Only a small percentage is interested in software and computers.



I would recommend that you fine tune the soft skills and understand what is the correct and effective approach to reach your decision maker whose main interest is the success of their investment. And provide them with your advice in a proactive and scientific manner that they can understand.



With kind regards,



Samer

Dear Mr. Murray and Mr. Mike:



I have read your both replies over and over , and I have found among those lines the solution core for our suffering as planners / schedulers in general and especial in middle east , (((

Show me a Project Manager that does not understand how a schedule is constructed, maintained, or used to support the project’s management, and I’ll show you a dysfunctional PM ))), I agree with such speech 100% .

And here is my example : we have a high raised building in Dubai which suppose to be delivery in may 2009 , we are now in may 2010 and still the PM team could not do and will not , from day (1) they disagree that the time management tools could be the most important tool to drive the construction product to success , I suffered a lot and still do , it was a big challenge to me to proof my theory to open the investors’ minds about the importance to hire a good planner in project life even t is costly , but and unfortunately a few of the few can be listen .



I can see and say that standards in middle east need more focus and more efforts since the mentality of the project owners still completely blind not all but most .



I agree that the person how would like to build the things he has to understand the method of building .



Hop for both of u and for all pp members a bright road.



Regards

mai

Dear Murray,



Thank you for sharing the story. It is good to know.



Returning to the original question; Planner/ Scheduler from my experience, it depends on the size of the project and the management requirement.



It is good to give guidelines, but it is better to leave it to the Construction team to determine the duties and responsibilities of the post. And I totally disagree with your terminology for the PMs that disagree with your views.



With kind regards,



Samer

Mike,



Thanks forthe bio. I did not knoiw your background, and it really helps. I am grateful to folks like you who DO take the time to advance the Cause. And it sounds as though you and I share many of the same views about what is right or wrion in the Scheduling Practice. When I was asked in 2006 to deliver the Keynote Address to the College of Scheduling, I knew instantly what the topic/theme would be: "Scheduling: AProfession in Turmoil."



I turned to my book (then still a manuscript, only months from goign into print) where I could choose from several chapters dealing with the many problems facing the Scheduling Practice. Having read some of your threads, I can see that we would find far more that we concur on, than otherwise.



I started ICS-Global as my attempt to fix those problems. I have approached each aspect of the Scheduling Practice with a blank canvas mentality, by first identifying the problem(s), the culprits, the solutions, and then I tried to put together a program to deal with that particular category of challenges to the Practice.



I, like yourself, decided early on to ignore the MEGA companies that have their own "solutions." Even if they don’t wor (and all but a few DON’t work), they are too big and too arrogant to be receptive to ideas from outside the box.



Instead, I have focused on the same target audience you have identified. We are VERY CLOSE to opening the ICS-Institute for Construction Scheduling Studies. In time, this school will offer programs for various stakeholders of scheduling products and services. But for starters, I have identified two groups to launch the School.



CAST, which stands for Construction Apprentice Scheduler Training, will be a six-month program (which includes three months of self-study, followed by three months of paid internship with a scheduling consultant) is designed to help individuals enter the fascinating world of scheduling.



The other program, which still lacks a name, is a program designed for non-schedulers (typically project managers or estimators) who have been tasked with producing the project schedule. This is the group you mentioned.



We are also putting together a Straight Talk Series of seminars. The first to roll out with be Straight Talk for Owners, and will dare to tell the emperor that he is naked: to tell Owners that THEY are the #1 reason that their projects finish late.



As for Planning Planet, Keith and I stepped out on the same day. After six months of trying to work "within the system," like Keith, I grew tired of talking to a wall. My ONLY dialogue was with James Williams, whom I hold in high regard. He is a good man, and I look forward to meeting him in person one day.



But James is one thing; Planning Planet leadership(whomever they are behind the Curtain of Oz) have consistly refused to reveal themselves, or to communicate with me directly. I agreed to serve on the PP Board of Advisors, and did so for a few months. But with one suggestion after another going completely unacknowkedged, it finally dawned on me that PP doesn’t want the "advisor’s" participation for the ADVICE, but only for the "gravitas" their name brings.



Since you asked, I will respond that I "DID" offer to head up the accreditation effort for PP, and was rejected. If it interests you to find out why, you may want to ask James. I really don’t know why, but everything in Life works out the way it is meant to.



What makes the rejection especially SAD (for all concerned) is that I happen to be in a rather unique position from which to have moved the entire Scheduling Practice significantly forward. I serve on the CIOB committee to develop training criteria which is an obvious prelude to a truly international credential for schedulers. And unlike the two dominant scheduling credentials in the United States (PSP and PMI-SP), neither emanates from a construction organization.



While this may be a negative point here at PP, where the range spans to all industries that employ p/s practices, not just construction, for me (and ICS, my company) this is an important distinction. Between ICS, CIOB, and PP I thought we could create a scheduling credential that had truly international implications. The marriage between CIOB and PP is a natural one: one representing the "consumers" of scheduling products and services, and the other representing the "providers."



You can imagine my disappointment at NOT having the opportunity to play a role in bridging these two organizations. Now add to this disappointment that, back at ICS, we are working on something called the ICS-Compendium, which will be the FIRST document of its kind (that I am aware of), 600-750 page "bible" written for the same sized companies you talk about: with step by step instruction on how to design, development, maintain and use a single schedule, as well detailed instructions on how to establish and operate a scheduling "practice" within the constructor organization.



Now appreciate that the Compendium is ALSO being written to conform to the boundaries and parameters espoused the CIOB Guide to Good Practices, the PMI Best Practices amd Guidelines, and the AACEI Recommended Practices for scheduling. Finally, know that I have also been asked, recently, to return to service at SEI, the group within the COllege of Scheduling that is writing this country’s first Best Practices and Guidelines for construction scheduling.



Needless to say, I was more than disappointed when my offer to head up the PP accreditation was declined. I respect the decision of the PP leadership, even if I don’t understand it.



Anyway, I just wanted to set the record straight. And as for my good friend, Keith Pickavance, I know that if you were to ask him, you would hear a similar story. He is truly one of the greatest energies to play on the scheduling stage, and his guidance, mentorship, and assistance to PP is surely the greatest loss to PP, and the scheduling practice as a whole. He too was ignored to the point of dismissal.



Sad indeed!



Murray Woolf

Hi Murray



We have not had a real dialogue together on PP so maybe I had better introduce myself.



I am not a planner - I am a builder who can work the software.



In the 45 years that I have been knocking about in the construction industry the only fields taht I have not had direct experience are:

1. Nuclear

2. Offshore

3. petro chem



If you want an hydroelectrical dam built the I am up for it.



Since I started on the Delay Analysis route about 12 years ago I discovered how dire was the general planning practice of Planners/Schedulers in the construction industry.



The thing about delay analysis is that you get to see 20 to 30 different projects a year whereas as a contractors planner you may be involved in 5 - 10 maximum.



In my experience every contractor’s programme has been unfit for delay analysis because they are rubbish to start with.



The largest part of my 1800 threads on PP have been a crusade - an evangenical crusade - to get the blind to follow the path of the one eyed planner. (have a look at my thread on "Ban these planning abominations").



My main thrust is not to the large corporations that employ planning departments but to the mid range construction professional who at say 35 years has been handed his firat project to plan from scratch and is scratching about.



I am part of the PP training - accreditation panel and I am actively co-opertaing on seeking the best way forward.



Currently PP are seeking a Big Name to head up the Accreditation route - Keith Pickavance has ducked out - so you may be ideal.



Best regards



Mike Testro.

Mike,



I’m afraid this understanding, however popular, is less than useful as we, the Planning/Scheduling community move ever closer to establishing standards and credentials to reflect inherent ability to perform planning and scheduling functions on projects (regardless of industry: construction, IT, whatever).



At the end of the day, those who employ Practitioners (planners and/or schedulers) need to know that the individual has the requisite knowledge, experience, education, and awareness to perform their tasks effectively. To this end, those of us struggling to write those standards and credentials are thoughtfully considering the required attributes of the individual.



The understanding you report (though perhaps not your own) fails to shed any light on what attributes are to be required of planners or schedulers.



Beyond this academic argument, I would also submit that a scheduler MUST understand much (not just some, and certainly not none) of what is required to BUILD that which he/she is attempting to schedule. This either/or mind set is, in my humble opinion, a highly destructive view/attidude.



It conjures in my mind a court reporter who mindlessly types shorthand words to capture what is being said in a legal proceeding, without the slightest comprehension of the subject matter itself. Surely, an effective scheduler is more than a mindless drone!



The best schedulers I have come across more often than not have a better understanding of the causitive elements of the Work than those charged with managing it. To be sure, a primary role of the scheduler is to ask the right questions, elicit sufficiently inclusive responses, and then draw the pictures that depict the intended execution strategy at first hiding in the PMs head. Yes, yes -- we DO defer to those who will be responsible for the successful prosecution of the Work, but we do not sit there as detached notetakers without any understanding of "how it is built."



On the flip sidfe, I submit that those who "know how it is built (at least in today’s project management world) SHOULD have an understanding of how it gets conveyed to the computer. There is no excuse for ignorance on their end either.



The clean line you draw between planner and scheduler, I fear, is overly naive, and not helpful. The very notion of segrgating planning and scheduling along lines of who knows how to construct the project and who knows how to construct the schedule is neither helpful nor executable.



The clarification that has evolved over recent years among the leading authorities on the subject aligns the terms planner and scheduler, with the corresponding functions of planning and scheduling, and these have been correlated with rather clear performance goals for each.



If I can attempt a general statement, planning embraces several management steps that are typically performed peior to the execution phase of a project. Feasibility Planning and Optimization Planner are two examples that come to mind. Scheduling tends to buiuld upon the planning phase and its work products but its purpose more tactical, whereas planning is more strategic. (I discuss this at some length in my book.)



The point to be noted is that THE SAME people perform planning as perform scheduling (PMs, Time Management Practitioners (i.e., planners and schedulers -- who are often the same person) --- and THE SAME tools and techniques are used (i.e., Critical Path diagrammnig, etc.)



The days of specialists is long gone; today’s employers look for multi-talented generalists. If readers of this thread are interested in strengthening their marketability, they need to be able to do BOTH -- planning and scheduling. And if they understand the tools, and if they understand the means and methods of the industry they are in -- they are able to deliver whatever the customer wants .. be that plan, or schedule.



The idea that the two cannot, or do not, exist in one person is both incorrect and conter-intuitive. Show me a Project Manager that does not understand how a schedule is constructed, maintained, or used to support the project’s management,and I’ll show you a dysfunctional PM. Show me a scheduler who does not understand the execution means and methods that he is tasked with simulating on paper (first) and in a computer database (second), and I’ll show you a Time Management Practitioner I would NOT hire!

Hi Murray



The consensus in PP seems to be that a scheduler can work the software and a planner knows how to build things.



Sometimes a planne is also a scheduler.



Sometimes you get a scheduler who calls himself a planner but can’t build things - hence the regular calls for sample programmes for the construction of garden sheds.



Best regards



Mike Testro

The terms "planner" is not consistently defined across locales (countries), languages, or industries. Even in one industry (e.g., construction) the term may have different meanins in different project types. For instance, aerospace uses the term differently than in power or healthcare. The same ambiguity can be applied to the term "schduler."



Making matters worse, the terms "planner" and "scheduler" are sometimes used in interchangeably, and at other times are meant to refer to different roles (even though both may use the same tchniques ... logic, CPM etc.)

Hello,



And interestingly, that book was written by one of the PP Board of Advisors...



http://www.planningplanet.com/partners/index.php?q=content/boa-murray-w…



Is very good.



Regards

Hi



There is a good one called



Faster Construction Projects With CPM Scheduling

Hi Ian



Welcome to PP



It is not a good idea to put your email address in the open forum - there are scammers about even on PP.



As far as I am aware there is no difference between a Project Planner and Planning Engineer except maybe that if a planning engineer is working on a single project he may be called the project planner.



Regarding tips for planners the best way is to ask about a specific problem - not just a general enquiry and the it is entirely possible that you will learn more.



Best regards



Mike Testro