WK 1.0- JOHN AGBO - Bruce Tuckman Assignment. 1. Base on my survey, the results show that we are at Tuckman's perfoming stage. a)Observable behaviours - The team leader tries to keep order and contributes to the task at hand.-Responsibilities are shared.-We have set procedures to ensure that things are orderly and run smooth. 2. Leadership style - Participating / Detatched delegation. References- http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/teamsuv.html, http://www.businessballs.com/tuckmanformingstormingnormingperforming.html. Hello Dr. Paul, I do not know if this meets the format for week 1 blog postings. Do I need to further break it down into the format you quoted (Engineering Economy, 14th Edition, page 27, Table 1-1)?I can understand that for Wk2.If so please respond.Meanwhile,some of us are still expecting the Engineering Economy to be supplied to us for future refs.
WK1 - John Agbo - Tuckman's Assignment 1) Based on the survey I took, we are at the perfoming Stage. a)Team leader tries to order and contribute to the task at hand. - Responsibilities are shared, - We have set procedures to ensure that things are orderly and run smooth. 2) participating / Detached delegation.
Is the posting for wk1 ok in this format.Wk2 may be easier to break down into the format you quoted(Engineering Economy, 14th Edition, page 27, Table 1-1). Also note that most of us are still expecting the Engineering Economy(just incase you need to refer us to it).
Hi John, I would have liked to see a bit more of a formal response, and I would prefer to see it phrased roughly according to the outline shown on Table 1-1 of Engineering Economy, page 27. (And if someone can make a photocopy, scan it in and pass it around, that would be fine)
In this assignment (Tuckman analysis), the problem/opportunity statement would be we need to be able to know what stages the team is in as it will change our leadership styles.
The feasible alternatives would be Forming, Storming, Norming or Performing. (Adjourning would almost certainly be eliminated as an option)
The development of the outcomes would be your analysis of which ones are PROBABLY the most likely.
The selection of the criteria would come from an analysis of the handouts in your supplemental section of the hard binder or from other research.
The analysis would come from your individual score on the assessment questionair vs those of your colleagues.
The selection of the preferred alternative would reflect the consensus of the group and the conclusion would be which leadership style is appropriate for the project and program managers to be using given the current stage this team is in.
The performance monitoring part will come from time to time in the future, I will ask you to revisit this assignment and assess where you are and what management style you should be using.
Does this answer the question sufficiently enough?
PS: John, while you arrived at a conclusion, you failed to support your conclusion with any facts nor did you collaborate with your team members to see if there was consensus.
While you may well be right, that you are in the performing stages, you need to back that up by referencing the observable behaviors from the supplemental handouts.
You also need to explain clearly what management style should the project managers/program managers be adopting and why.
1. The Project plan,scheduled to have been approved by 29th nov 2010 did not sail through until about 7th Dec 2010 before an official NTP was issued. 2.If a possible risk of a week long delay was identified by the team during the face to face session and was rated high, the team could have worked hard enough to clean up the plan in the class or could have properly delegated responsibilities to individuals to tidy up. 3. Due to alignment issues(forming stage of the team) and not fully understanding what the team had to do, some ends were left open ended. The general challenge of unreliable internet service also impacted on communication during the weekly meeting. 4.Subsequently,i would recommend that for the team to achieve a deliverable on schedule, a proper risk analysis has to be carried out and individuals sould take ownership of action item(s) to mitigate it.Secondly,it is important for the team to improve on communication. 5. The recommendation may be evaluated by applying these basic principles and check the expected dates and actual dates of the deliverable.
Good evening..we got a tasking week ahead and the holiday season will definitly affect our productivity. Guys it is not enough to aportion lost days with more time in the post-season days. It is only obvious that even with no season the targets seems more and more tasking with little or no time. All hand must be on deck henceforth as an appeal.
WEEK 1.0: EVALUATING MY TEAMS DEVELOPMENT AND BEHAVIOUR – the Tukman’s Forming Storming Norming Performing Model
The importance of knowing a teams’ behaviour cannot be over emphasized and as such, evaluating a team’s behaviour occasionally would help its members know the team current status and where it intends to be. There are several techniques for evaluating a team’s behaviour such as the Tukman’s Forming Storming Norming and Performing model, Tannenbaum and Schmidt’s continuum, and Hersey’s and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership model.
STAGES IN A TEAM’S DEVELOPMENT
1. Forming: The first stage in group development, characterized by much uncertainty 2. Storming: the second stage in group development, characterized by intragroup conflict 3. Norming: the third stage in group development, characterized by close relationships and cohesiveness 4. Performing: the fourth stage in group development, when the group is fully functional 5. Adjourning: the final stage in group development for temporary groups, characterized by concern with wrapping up activities rather than task performance.
On application of the Tukman model, our team was found to be in the “performing” stage. Some of the behaviours displayed by the team that suggest we are in the performing stage includes the following; a mindset that shows we are all in it together and shares responsibility for the team success or failure, team leader tries to keep order and contributes to the task at hand, and all have accepted each other as member of the team.
A team must continuously practice those identified behavioural traits relevant at the performing stage, or risk slipping away from it. In other to maintain its position in this stage, there are certain leadership style which its leaders should exhibit, such as constant communication with all members of the team, impartial dealings with members, and also effective collaboration with members before important decisions are taken, among others
Though other models can equally be used in evaluating a team’ behaviour, the Tukman forming storming norming performing model is quite popular among managers in most organisation.
REFERENCE: Group Behaviour, Prof. M. Thenmozhi, Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Madras. Email:mtm@iitm.ac.in
WEEK 2.0: CHOICE OF PAPER TOPIC FOR MY AACE CCE CERTIFICATION
Selecting a paper topic during my week-long AACE face-to-face program in Lagos was a bit challenging for me.
I had a lot of vague topics in my mind ranging from my immediate work environment to the broader society. Despite being guided by Dr. Paul’s numerous examples on possible paper topic of interest, I wanted to generate my own idea, and which must be related to the practice of project management/project execution in my country.
Having such a mindset, I was able to narrow my choice of topics to the following:
1. Challenges to effective project delivery in the Niger Delta 2. Why project management is not working 3. Impact of poor front end planning to projects
Challenges to project delivery in the Niger delta has always been a problem for all categories of contractor/companies I have worked with in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria. One common complaint by all companies I had contact with was lack of satisfaction with performance at the end of the project, even when such project seems successful. This dissatisfaction usually centred on costs overrun, schedule slippage, lack of competitiveness, etc
The problem with “why project management is not working” has generated a lot of concerns recently, with numerous solutions being proffered.
Impact of poor front end planning to projects still affects project objectives even with an excellent project execution phase.
Though the above topics have a lot of similarity, I was only concern with one that has much impact in my current work and profession, provide insights to factors that guarantee project success peculiar to locality and one that gives adequate information that would aid both local and foreign project managers in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria.
Consequently, I came up with “Challenges to Effective Project Delivery in the Niger Delta” after the above considerations.
I just submitted the draft table of content to Dr. Paul through my project manager, and I hope to scale through.
Week 2.0 Polygamy in Nigeria could emerge as a solution to large unmarried female population Alternatives 1. Monogamy Monogamy People say it’s easier, less fighting, legal, consistency. On the other hand some people get bored. During fights there is no outside influence to assist, less income; one will probably have to stay home to take care of children, meaning there is half the income, with more expense.
2. Polyandry. Although it is generally accepted that females can gain material benefits by mating with more than one male, the proposal that polyandry provides genetic benefits remains controversial, largely because direct experimental support is lacking. Here, we report the results of a study testing for genetic benefits to polyandry in the pseudoscorpion Cordylochernes scorpioides. This is regarded as unacceptable to most male population
My Assessment In the 2005 population census a state like Rivers has the following distribution for a seven year sample of age bracket 18 -44yrs, there are still intensive research on why female population is larger in most southern states of Nigeria as there distribution is almost same with rivers state as shown in this distribution.
Year
In the years of study there is consistent 14% to 25% gap that needed to be filled by male population This analysis clearly show that if monogamy is maintained reasonable number of responsible women who want to enjoy married life will end up not getting married. This is represented by the indicator of the annual differential in the population according to sex. Recommendations:- If about 10 to 15% of male population takes on polygamy, the psychological trauma of the unmarried women will largely reduce more so more people around to help pay bills, take care of children, take care of house work/yard work. If two are fighting, they can turn to the other(s) in the relationship for their opinion. More love and support for everyone. It will reduce the risk of STD’s as you will be sure of the persons you are in relationship with especially prolific Nigerian males.
From we will go back to our tradition al family values, and tolerance References Jeanne A. Zeh, †‡ and David W. Zeh† *Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204-5513 “1993, National Review Inc, 215 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10016”.
WK1_TONY_NigeriaAACE Present Stage in Team Development
“Teams like individuals, progress through various stages in their life cycle. Each stage of development holds its own unique relationships and demonstrated behaviours. The stages of team development must be understood by team members and leaders in order to recognize the signals that indicate normal team growth and development” . Bruce Tuckman identified four stages (initially) in his team development model and these are Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing . Nigeria AACE team is now in the Forming stage. The observable behaviours/actions that support my observation are, first agreements among members (team governance agreement, meeting mode etc), uncertainty on how to quickly tackle the deliverables required to obtain the notice to proceed (NTP), disorderliness in weekly meetings, heavy dependence on programme/ deputy program manager for the way forward, attempts to define group behavior, for example, what to do with people who don’t attend weekly meetings etc. The management style the programme managers should be using is directing. The problem at this stage as I see it is that we came from the face to face without a clear understanding of what is required to get notice to proceed (NTP) which effectively commences work in the distance learning mode (DLM). The result is that we are a 1.5 weeks late in starting the works slated for the DLM mode. There are two alternative solutions that I am proposing: 1. The face to face programme should be elongated to include one full day for the team to complete and sign off all the deliverables required to obtain the client’s notice to proceed. 2. The face to face programme remains unchanged but the programme manager clearly spells out the 1st week post face to face deliverables and how to go about them. It should include a risk analysis with mitigation actions The possible outcomes for alternative 1 are, 1. Team would directly focus on paper project immediately after face to face. 2. We would not have delays 3. We would avoid the pressure we are in right now to deliver two weeks work in one week. The possible outcomes for alternative 2 are; 1. Have the NTP deliverables completed early in the week following face and obtain the NTP 2. Team would understand their priority and not jump the gun in selecting topic before NTP 3. Would have alternative actions for identified risk, for instance alternative group name etc 4. Team members would clearly know their deliverables and avoid a situation where certain persons have to rescue some pms who did not know they were to deliver on some items The key performance indicators for my assessment of the alternatives are, get NTP (notice to proceed) not later than the second day of the week following face to face, submission of paper topic and 1st blog posting done the 1st week after face to face Of the two alternatives, alternative two carries a higher risk, the mitigation plans may even fail. Unknown unknown risk could even occur and that would derail or delay the programme. Alternative 1, that is, extend programme by 1 day to enable completion and sign off before leaving face to face has lower risk and would better engineer success as per the KPIs above.
WK1_TONY_NigeriaAACE Present Stage in Team Development
“Teams like individuals, progress through various stages in their life cycle. Each stage of development holds its own unique relationships and demonstrated behaviours. The stages of team development must be understood by team members and leaders in order to recognize the signals that indicate normal team growth and development” . Bruce Tuckman identified four stages (initially) in his team development model and these are Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing . Nigeria AACE team is now in the Forming stage. The observable behaviours/actions that support my observation are, first agreements among members (team governance agreement, meeting mode etc), uncertainty on how to quickly tackle the deliverables required to obtain the notice to proceed (NTP), disorderliness in weekly meetings, heavy dependence on programme/ deputy program manager for the way forward, attempts to define group behavior, for example, what to do with people who don’t attend weekly meetings etc. The management style the programme managers should be using is directing. The problem at this stage as I see it is that we came from the face to face without a clear understanding of what is required to get notice to proceed (NTP) which effectively commences work in the distance learning mode (DLM). The result is that we are a 1.5 weeks late in starting the works slated for the DLM mode. There are two alternative solutions that I am proposing: 1. The face to face programme should be elongated to include one full day for the team to complete and sign off all the deliverables required to obtain the client’s notice to proceed. 2. The face to face programme remains unchanged but the programme manager clearly spells out the 1st week post face to face deliverables and how to go about them. It should include a risk analysis with mitigation actions The possible outcomes for alternative 1 are, 1. Team would directly focus on paper project immediately after face to face. 2. We would not have delays 3. We would avoid the pressure we are in right now to deliver two weeks work in one week. The possible outcomes for alternative 2 are; 1. Have the NTP deliverables completed early in the week following face and obtain the NTP 2. Team would understand their priority and not jump the gun in selecting topic before NTP 3. Would have alternative actions for identified risk, for instance alternative group name etc 4. Team members would clearly know their deliverables and avoid a situation where certain persons have to rescue some pms who did not know they were to deliver on some items The key performance indicators for my assessment of the alternatives are, get NTP (notice to proceed) not later than the second day of the week following face to face, submission of paper topic and 1st blog posting done the 1st week after face to face Of the two alternatives, alternative two carries a higher risk, the mitigation plans may even fail. Unknown unknown risk could even occur and that would derail or delay the programme. Alternative 1, that is, extend programme by 1 day to enable completion and sign off before leaving face to face has lower risk and would better engineer success as per the KPIs above.
Week 1.0-SeeGod-Tuckman Team (AACE Nigeria) Assessment In this week blog, I will discuss about the team assessment using Tuckman’s model. At this stage of our team’s alignment, and using the survey in the link as shown http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/teamsuv.html, i conclude that we are in the ‘Norming’ stage. The reason for the above analytic decision is because of the following reasons below; • Agreement and consensus is largely formed among the team. • Facilitation by various leaders (PM/DPM) is well responded to. • There is also general respect for the leader and some of leadership is shared by the team. • Furthermore, roles and responsibilities are clear and accepted. • Smaller decisions are delegated to individuals or small teams within group The leadership style recommended to be used by the program/project managers during this stage of team development should be Participating mode. This is because the team is growing confident working without close supervision and direction by the leaders. Participating style of leadership would enhance better commitment and foster trust among team members. The reason why i do not think the team is at the performing stage is shown below; • Team is deficient in being strategically aware with a clear understanding of why it is doing what it is doing. • Team cannot stand on its own feet with no interference or participation from the leader. • The team needs to be instructed or assisted. • Team members always ask for assistance from the leader with personal and interpersonal development. • Leader cannot delegate and oversee at this stage. Finally, i believe with more participating leadership style, the AACE Nigeria team members would reach the performing stage in Tuckmans’ Model.
Bibliography Giammalvo, P. D. (2010). Day 3: AACE Certification Prep Course [PowerPoint slides]. Lagos: Nigeria. Tuckman's forming storming norming performing model
Week 1.0-Akubo Arome-Tuckman Team (AACE Nigeria) Assessment Understanding team’s development stages is critical for the overall success or failures of the team. The problem for the focus of this discussion is to determine which of the Tuckman’s stages of team development is Nigeria AACE? Using Tuckman’s 1965 team development model by completing the questionnaires relating to characteristics of teams, i concluded from the scoring that Nigeria AACE is at the FORMING stage. This assertion is supported by the fact that the team depends on the leader eg Dr Paul for guidance and direction. Members of the team are not very clear of their roles and responsibilities and in some cases are not aware of task and targets including deadlines. In conclusion, i feel it is normal for Nigeria AACE to be at this stage of team development given that the team is barely two weeks old. With strong will to understand and solve assigned task and target, the team eventually will get to the performing stage soon.
Week 2 – Abandonment of public funded project after collection of upfront payment.
The problem statement With many meaningful Projects abandoned all over the Region. The affected projects include hospitals, school buildings, canalization, highways and electricity.
The panacea This is simple, pay based on earned value management process and use of only technically capable contractors
Earned value management What is to be valued in this context? A project! Let us start by defining what a project is. (2) A project consists of a defined objective to develop or produce a new product, capability or to expand capacity within a specified time frame and budget. (3) A project is a temporary effort to create a unique product or service. Projects usually include constraints and risks regarding cost, schedule or performance outcome. What is value? American Billionaire Warren Buffet quote as the definition of value related to project delivery. (4) Price is what you pay. Value is what you get. What then is earned value management in project delivery? (3) Earned value management is the process of defining and controlling the project so that the project objectives are met. (5) EVM is an integrated management control system for assessing, understanding and quantifying what a contractor or field activity is achieving with program dollars. (6) It is a systematic project management process used to find variances in projects based on the comparison of worked performed and work planned.
The Earned value for variable budget using Quantity Adjusted Budget (QAB): A quantity adjusted budget (QAB) varies directly with the quantity of work and is calculated by multiplying the budgeted workhour rates (and/or dollar rates) by the actual work quantities. Measuring Work progress using Cost ratio: Percent complete = actual cost or workhours to date divided by Forecast at completion
Using only capable contractors. We have discussed about earned value management the firstly. Now the other part is the use of only competent contractors, in the execution of government projects as observed in the execution of multi-billion dollars projects. Good examples of such projects are in the oil and gas industry, where the IOCs perform a pre-qualification exercise and pick only those technically capable of executing such projects. A good repository for such pre-qualification reference is the IOC/NOC JV NIPEX Joint Qualification portal: https://www.nipexng.com/irj/servlet/prt/portal/prtroot/com.sap.portal.navigation.portallauncher.anonymous
Conclusion If earned value management and proper pre-qualification becomes the pivot for most public projects in Nigeria. We will not have projects abandoned everywhere in the country.intention.
On the long run these will guarantee completed projects, zero tolerance to corruption and accountability.
Recommendations All levels of government ministries should apply EVM and transparent contractor selection in support of due process. There should be the aggressive introduction of EVM in all national planning activities and regular workshops organized for earned value management. A systematic approach is to forward this paper for follow-up with any interested government agency. Change they say is difficult - Slowly but surely we will enter the world of paying for only that which merits all conditions of a thorough finished product.
References. 12.Project Management Using Earned Value, Humphries and Associates 2002
3.James R. Chapman 1997 http://www.hyperthot.com/pm_intro.htm
4.Warren Buffet quote copied from http://www.valuequotes.net/ 2003-2010
5.NASA from http://evm.nasa.gov/
6.Earned Value Management Explained by Umesh Dwivedi, PMP copied from http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/earned-value-management-explained.html
7.Dr. Joseph J. Orczyk, PE CCE - Skills & Knowledge of Cost Engineering Fifth Edition 2010
Week 2 – Abandonment of public funded project after collection of upfront payment. The problem statement There too many meaningful Projects abandoned all over the Region
The panacea This is simple, pay based on earned value management process and use of only technically capable contractors! Earned value management What is to be valued in this context? A project! Let us start by defining what a project is. (2) A project consists of a defined objective to develop or produce a new product, capability or to expand capacity within a specified time frame and budget. A project is a temporary effort to create a unique product or service. Projects usually include constraints and risks regarding cost, schedule or performance outcome. Now we have two interesting definitions of a project. What is value? American Billionaire Warren Buffet said Price is what you pay. Value is what you get. Value and project have been defined above by differently. What then is earned value management in project delivery? Earned value management is the process of defining and controlling the project so that the project objectives are met. EVM is an integrated management control system for assessing, understanding and quantifying what a contractor or field activity is achieving with program dollars. It is a systematic project management process used to find variances in projects based on the comparison of worked performed and work planned. The Earned value for variable budget using Quantity Adjusted Budget (QAB): A quantity adjusted budget (QAB) varies directly with the quantity of work and is calculated by multiplying the budgeted workhour rates (and/or dollar rates) by the actual work quantities.
Measuring Work progress using Cost ratio: Percent complete = actual cost or workhours to date divided by Forecast at completion
Using only capable contractors. We have discussed about earned value management the firstly. Now the other part is the use of only competent contractors, in the execution of government projects as observed in the execution of multi-billion dollars projects. Good examples of such projects are in the oil and gas industry, where the IOCs perform a pre-qualification exercise and pick only those technically capable of executing such projects. A good repository for such pre-qualification reference is the IOC/NOC JV NIPEX Joint Qualification portal: https://www.nipexng.com/irj/servlet/prt/portal/prtroot/com.sap.portal.navigation.portallauncher.anonymous Conclusion If earned value management and proper pre-qualification becomes the pivot for most public projects in Nigeria. We will not have projects abandoned everywhere in the country. The solution as pay only what has need done within specification and contractual agreement, then will have legacy projects for praise and not mockery of government’s original planned intention. On the long run these will guarantee completed projects, zero tolerance to corruption and accountability. Recommendations All levels of government agencies should apply EVM and transparent contractor selection (due process). There should be the aggressive introduction of EVM in all national planning activities and regular workshops organized for earned value management. A systematic approach is to forward this paper for follow-up with any interested government agency. Change they say is difficult - Slowly but surely we will enter the world of paying for only that which merits all conditions of a thorough finished product.
References. 1.Project Management Using Earned Value, Humphries and Associates 2002
2.James R. Chapman 1997 http://www.hyperthot.com/pm_intro.htm
3.Warren Buffet quote copied from http://www.valuequotes.net/ 2003-2010
4.NASA from http://evm.nasa.gov/
5.Earned Value Management Explained by Umesh Dwivedi, PMP copied from http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/earned-value-management-explained.html 6.Dr. Joseph J. Orczyk, PE CCE - Skills & Knowledge of Cost Engineering Fifth Edition 2010
Lanre, You apparently are not reading my emails....??? Didn't I give you a specific assignment for your W1 report? I will accept this as your W2 report, but I want you to re-read my email instructions to you (and maybe even talk to your colleagues???) and to the Tuckman Survey and repost as W2 report.
Oikemute-W1, Nice job,Oikemute!!! You followed the basic step by step outline shown in Engineering Economy, page 27, table 1-1 and you cited your work.
I would recommend that you also look at the supplemental handouts I provided as that contains some very nice guidelines to help you not only observe what stage your team is in, but provides a comprehensive assessment of the leadership styles at this stage.
Keep up the good work and can you contact Lanre and mentor him, please? Help him understand the assignment?
W2-Oikemute, Another excellent posting, Oikemute!!! You understand what I am looking for and are following the step by step template. Just be sure to cite your sources.
Keep up the good work and mentor your colleagues.....
W1-SeeGod, Very nicely done, SeeGod!!! Followed my recommendations exactly. About the only suggestion I would offer would be to cite the source of your step by step process (EngEcon, page 27, Table 1-1) but otherwise, very well researched and written.
W1-Arome, Not too bad, Arome. For future postings, I would rather see you get in the habit of structuring them more along the lines of the step by step process shown in Engineering Economy, page 27, Table 1-1.
And I am also keen to make certain you cite your sources. So while I am accepting this weeks posting, for the future I expect to see a more structured approach.
W2-Idubamom, Nice job, Idubamom!!! A little bit longer than what I would like to see (I am trying to get you to be more concise and keep your posting to 200 - 500 words) but not bad for your W2 posting.
W1-Tony, Not bad for your first posting, but I didn't see any citations. I am trying to get you out of the habit of making unsubstantiated statements. They may be correct ones, but I am looking for you to find others who agree or support or can back up what you say.
Part of this process is to help build your confidence in your own knowledge and understanding.
Keep up the good work, but for future postings, be sure to follow the step by step outline I provided to you.
Week 2.0 Polygamy in Nigeria could emerge as a solution to large unmarried female population Alternatives 1. Monogamy Monogamy People say it’s easier, less fighting, legal, consistency. On the other hand some people get bored. During fights there is no outside influence to assist, less income; one will probably have to stay home to take care of children, meaning there is half the income, with more expense.
2. Polyandry. Although it is generally accepted that females can gain material benefits by mating with more than one male, the proposal that polyandry provides genetic benefits remains controversial, largely because direct experimental support is lacking. Here, we report the results of a study testing for genetic benefits to polyandry in the pseudoscorpion Cordylochernes scorpioides. This is regarded as unacceptable to most male population
My Assessment In the 2005 population census a state like Rivers has the following distribution for a seven year sample of age bracket 18 -44yrs, there are still intensive research on why female population is larger in most southern states of Nigeria as there distribution is almost same with rivers state as shown in this distribution.
Year
In the years of study there is consistent 14% to 25% gap that needed to be filled by male population This analysis clearly show that if monogamy is maintained reasonable number of responsible women who want to enjoy married life will end up not getting married. This is represented by the indicator of the annual differential in the population according to sex. Recommendations:- If about 10 to 15% of male population takes on polygamy, the psychological trauma of the unmarried women will largely reduce more so more people around to help pay bills, take care of children, take care of house work/yard work. If two are fighting, they can turn to the other(s) in the relationship for their opinion. More love and support for everyone. It will reduce the risk of STD’s as you will be sure of the persons you are in relationship with especially prolific Nigerian males.
From we will go back to our tradition al family values, and tolerance References Jeanne A. Zeh, †‡ and David W. Zeh† *Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204-5513 “1993, National Review Inc, 215 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10016”.
Thanks for your comments. I did not receive the mail(probably went to my spam box) where you specified the project Topic for Wk1. Will Report on the Turksmann model as instructed for the W2 post . Thanks
WEEK 1.0(REVISED): TEAM ASSESSMENT USING TUCKMAN’S MODEL Constant team evaluation is very vital to a team’s success. Tuckman’s model is one of the various models used in assessment of teams. On application of the Tuckman’s model, I found that our team was in the “performing” stage. Behavioral attributes displayed by the team that suggest the teams stage (performing stage) includes but not limited to the following; the team leader tries to order and contribute to task at hand and responsibilities are shared especially as noticed during the online meetings, there are set procedures to ensure things are orderly and run smooth. Finally, I’m convinced that Constant and prompt Communications with team members must not be compromised to ensure team success and to ensure that the team does not derail from the right track. REFERENCE: Engineering Economy, 14th Edition, page 27, Table 1-1 Tuckman's forming storming norming performing model
WEEK 1.0(REVISED)John: TEAM ASSESSMENT USING TUCKMAN’S MODEL
John, are you SURE the team is in the "performing stage"?
1) The project plan which was close to 90% when we finished the face to face session on Friday, took another 1.5 weeks to complete;
2) We are entering W3 and we have yet to get a project or program status report;
3) The blog posting SPI for W1 was .26 and the SPI for W2 was .21.
I would strongly urge you not only to be more objective in your assessment, but did you take the time to look carefully at the supplemental materials in the back of your hard binder from the Kick Off Session? There is a very well written article on Tuckman that you failed to cite below.
Bottom line- do NOT try to bullshit me!!!! ;-) First, check your facts and before you publish anything, stop for a few minutes and ask whether what you have written makes sense. Suggest you go back and this time do some serious research and come back with a conclusion that is supportable.
Another Christmas is here again and I am faced with the task of making my house more befitting and beautiful. The walls require to be repainted and arrangements are underway. The biggest challenge I am faced with right now is a choice of floor finish. I had a lot of options in mind ranging from replacing the existing rug carpet with a new rug carpet to replacing the existing rug carpet with ceramic floor tiles, painting the screeded floor with gloss paint, replacing the existing rug with rubber (PVC) carpets. After deliberations with my wife, and owing to the fact that I wanted something durable, attractive and economical (since it’s a rented apartment), I narrowed my choice of floor finish to the following:
1. Replacing the existing rug with a new rug 2. Replacing the existing rug with ceramic tiles Replacement with a new rug carpet of an average quality will cost about N900 per m2 for the carpet, while the foam underlay will cost about N200/m2 and the gum for holding the edges against the wall will cost approximately N10 / m2. Labor for the laying and transportation of materials will be approximately N350/m2 and transportation will be. This brings the total cost to about N1460 / m2
Replacement with ceramic tiles of an average quality will cost N900/m2 for the tiles, while cement and sand screeded bed which will receive the tiles will cost N250/m2. Labor for the laying and transportation of materials will be approximately N600/m2. This brings it to a total cost of about N1750/m2 Though the most durable will be the ceramic tiles, I was also concerned about the fact that it was more expensive and the fact that I stay in a rented apartment, therefore, opting for the ceramic tiles will mean leaving it behind when I decide to relocate. On consideration of the above, I decided to settle for a replacement of the existing rug carpet with a new rug carpet which is a cheaper alternative and which will be easy to remove when I chose to relocate.
I am at the verge of making the purchases as Christmas draws near.
RE - WK 1 POSTING: PDG I WILL DO AS HAVE SAID. I REVISED MY COMMENTS BASED ON THE INITIAL SUBMISSION OF DECEMBER 9 WHICH YOU ASKED THAT I REVISE.I DIDN'T INTEND TO BULLSHIT YOU.WILL REVISE AND RE-SUBMIT. THANKS.
WEEK 2.0_John_: CHOICE OF FLOOR FINISH FOR MY HOUSE
Not bad, John!!! You have captured almost exactly what I am expecting to see each week.
You took a real problem, applied sound cost engineering/engineering economics principles to solve that problem.
Now, I would hope to see you taking these basic fundamentals and applying them to something a bit more complex, but you are definitely on the right track.
The only part you were weak on was your failure to cite your resources. This posting would have earned an "OUTSTANDING" or even "WOW" if you had only cited something like Engineering Economy, page 105, Unit Pricing Technique; or Chapters 2, 3 or 4 from Skills and Knowledge of Cost Engineering.
But hopefully, by the time we reach W26, you will be an expert at applying these fundamental principles to solving all manner of problems.
Keep up the good work- you are on the right track.
Interesting post. And I have to say, you followed the assessment process very closely, citing a real problem, exploring alternatives and making recommendations based on your assessment as well as citing your sources of information.
Speaking PRAGMATICALLY, do you really want to put up with two or more people with PMS in the same household? And supposing the two of them gang up on you and start to over-rule your decisions? Or how about if they start preferring each other to YOU?
Bottom line- I think your assessment, while done correctly failed to look at the pros and cons sufficiently.
My suggestion would be to look beyond the single reference you provided, and to relate it more closely to Cost Engineering, perhaps you should review Chapter 10 in your Engineering Economy, 14th Edition- "Evaluating Projects Using the Benefit : Cost Method"? Or how about Chapter 14? "Decision Making Considering Multi-Attributes"?
For future postings, I would recommend that you try to link the decision making process more closely to cost engineering/engineering economics and to avoid any challenges of bias, you should cite more than once reference, starting with our course materials.
Otherwise, you are right on track!! Keep up the good work and looking forward to seeing what challenge you are going to take up next week!!
CFH...Thanks for your mentorship. I will limit my post as adviced. I saw lots of previous team's blog postings(massive) and had to really pour out my burning desire for a change in public projects.
WEEK 1_Lanre Giwa_Assessment of NigeriaAACE Team using the Tukmans Model
This week's discussion shall centre on evaluating or assessing the nigeriaAACE team using the Tuckman's model and determining the phase that the team is currently going through.
There are a number of models that explains team development such as: 1. Tannenbaum and Schmidt Continumm[3] 2. Hersey and Blanchard's Situational Leadership model[3] 3. Tuckman's Model[3]
The focus shall be on Tuckmans Model which was developed by Bruce Tuckman.Tuckman proposed a group development model when he maintained that for a team to develop,face challenges and achieve desired results,the team must go through the followiing phases:
1. FORMING PHASE - Members of the team get to know one another,set ground rules and try to understand the objectives of the Project. 2. STORMING PHASE - In this phase,conflicts arise as team members try to obtain leadership.Also, development of mutually acceptable methods of doing things may provoke storming. 3.NORMING PHASE - Conflicts are largely settled and members begin to identify with the team rather than working as individuals. 4.PERFORMING PHASE - Members would concentrate on the task to be achieved as a team. 5. ADJOURNING PHASE - The project closes and roles are terminated.This involves dissolution of the team.
All these phases are levels of effort of the team[5].Based on the Tuckman's model, I would conclude that the NigeriaAACE team is at its FORMING PHASE due to the following reasons:
a. Members of the team are just developing dependency relationships with the leaders and Program manager[2] b. The team is trying to familiarize with reporting templates and other pre-existing standards[2] c. Most of the deliverables(products)submitted are largely individual efforts[1] d. The decision making process is largely by the program manager and it is still fragmented at this phase[1] e.Members of the team are gradually developing relationships amongst themselves and it is quite distant and non existent in few cases[1] f.There seems to be absolute peace amongst team members as no serious conflict has been observed so far.
The recommended intervention at this phase is that the level of direction from the leaders must be very high to guide and assist team members to have a clear understanding of the objectives of the Project and clarity of individual roles in the team.Outcome of the intervention shall be evaluated and will indicate the developmental phase of the team and what to do next.
REFERENCE: 1.http://www.teamtechnology.co.uk/tuckman.html 2.http://www.infed.org/thinkers/tuckman.htm 3.http://www.businessballs.com/tuckmanformingstormingnormingperforming.htm 4.Engineering Economy, 14th Edition, page 27, Table 1-1 5.Giammalvo, P. D. (2010). Day 3: AACE Certification Prep Course [PowerPoint slides]. Lagos: Nigeria. Developmental phases of Project Teams-Tuckman's model.
Re-posted with the references which were earlier missed when copying to the blog
WK1_TONY_NigeriaAACE Present Stage in Team Development
“Teams like individuals, progress through various stages in their life cycle. Each stage of development holds its own unique relationships and demonstrated behaviours. The stages of team development must be understood by team members and leaders in order to recognize the signals that indicate normal team growth and development”[1] . Bruce Tuckman identified four stages (initially) in his team development model and these are Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing[2] . Nigeria AACE team is now in the Forming stage. The observable behaviours/actions that support my observation are, first agreements among members (team governance agreement, meeting mode etc), uncertainty on how to quickly tackle the deliverables required to obtain the notice to proceed (NTP), disorderliness in weekly meetings, heavy dependence on programme/ deputy program manager for the way forward, attempts to define group behavior, for example, what to do with people who don’t attend weekly meetings etc. The management style the programme managers should be using is directing. The problem at this stage as I see it is that we came from the face to face without a clear understanding of what is required to get notice to proceed (NTP) which effectively commences work in the distance learning mode (DLM). The result is that we are a 1.5 weeks late in starting the works slated for the DLM mode. There are two alternative solutions that I am proposing: 1. The face to face programme should be elongated to include one full day for the team to complete and sign off all the deliverables required to obtain the client’s notice to proceed. 2. The face to face programme remains unchanged but the programme manager clearly spells out the 1st week post face to face deliverables and how to go about them. It should include a risk analysis with mitigation actions The possible outcomes for alternative 1 are, 1. Team would directly focus on paper project immediately after face to face. 2. We would not have delays 3. We would avoid the pressure we are in right now to deliver two weeks work in one week. The possible outcomes for alternative 2 are; 1. Have the NTP deliverables completed early in the week following face and obtain the NTP 2. Team would understand their priority and not jump the gun in selecting topic before NTP 3. Would have alternative actions for identified risk, for instance alternative group name etc 4. Team members would clearly know their deliverables and avoid a situation where certain persons have to rescue some pms who did not know they were to deliver on some items The key performance indicators for my assessment of the alternatives are, get NTP (notice to proceed) not later than the second day of the week following face to face, submission of paper topic and 1st blog posting done the 1st week after face to face Of the two alternatives, alternative two carries a higher risk, the mitigation plans may even fail. Unknown unknown risk could even occur and that would derail or delay the programme. Alternative 1, that is, extend programme by 1 day to enable completion and sign off before leaving face to face has lower risk and would better engineer success as per the KPIs above. References 1 Phil Lohr and Patricia Steege –How to move a team from stage to stage. Copright McGraw-Hill 2000 2 Tuckman, B.W and M. A. C Jenson. 1977. Stages of small – group development revisited
Week 3 - The recurring problem of incomplete scope definition in cost estimates preparation. I ask myself a simple question - must we continue like this? I keep having the responsibility of defining or giving project engineers directives on the need for proper scope definition. The major causes of poor scope definition in my environment are inexperience, naivety, laziness and waiting for the last minute to rush for proposal submission. If you've ever attended an end-of-project meeting on a project that had major problems, chances are good that one of the major themes you heard is that “we should have spent more time planning.”[1] Poor scope definition is recognized by industry practitioners as one of the leading causes of project failure, adversely affecting projects in the areas of cost, schedule, and operational characteristics [2]
The effect of poor scope definition includes: Lack of business support - As a project gets larger, even the sponsor may not have a complete picture of what needs to happen for the project to be successful. Poor estimates - Many projects that could be successful are viewed as failures because they overshot their budgets and deadlines. Poor scope control - very difficult to manage scope effectively throughout the project. [1] The remedies towards tackling this problem to mention a few are: Collect Requirements – this first step is the process by which we define and document the requirements needed to meet all project objectives. Create WBS – this process breaks project deliverables down into progressively smaller and more manageable components which, at the lowest level, are called work packages. [3] Implementation is rather challenging; but luckily my boss supported my new way of working.’ Define your scope properly and the estimate you get returns with little or no claims’nor change orders.
References: 1. Tom Mochal 'Poor planning is project management mistake number one' - http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10878_11-5034294.html 2.BUILDING PROJECT SCOPE DEFINITION USING PROJECT DEFINITION RATING INDEX By Chung-Suk Cho and G. Edward Gibson Jr. http://mlsoc.editme.com/files/saloni-publication2/BUILDING%20PROJECT%20SCOPE%20DEFINITION%20USING%20PROJECT%20DEFINITION. 3. Scope Management Plan Template http://www.projectmanagementdocs.com/templates/scope-management-plan.html
W3_Idubamo_Scope Definition First, PLEASE follow the agreed to naming convention!!!
Week#_Your Name_Your Topic
You make unnecessary work on my part and I tend to get cranky......
Having said that, your W3 posting was an excellent one!!! Nice job!! (Aside from the naming!!)
About the only part I think you missed was the importance of using a STANDARDIZED WBS whenever possible.
Standardized WBS (Preferably a globalized one, like CSI's Master or Uniformat, NORSOK Z-014 or OmniClass) is the ideal approach, but lacking that, developing a company wide one will also help prevent "missing" scope items.
By using these Standardized WBS as a checklist, you dramatically decrease the probability of missing something, and if you do discover it is needed at a later date, it makes the change order process much easier and far less contentious.
Lastly, nice use of citations, but at this point, I would rather you started with the reference materials I provided you- Skills and Knowledge of Cost Engineering, 5th Edition; GAO-09-3SP; Engineering Economics, 14th Edition; TCMFramework; Memory Joggers. Start with those FIRST, then seek out others.
Otherwise, nice job and looking forward to your next posting.
Week# 1_Adenaiya Olumide_ Assessing Nigeria AACE Team using the Tukmans Model
Team development is as enhancement of the effectiveness of work groups, by improving goal- and role-clarification and interpersonal processes. Though there are other models, such as Tannenbaum and Schmidt Continuum and especially with Hersey and Blanchard's Situational Leadership® model but Dr Bruce Tuckman Forming, Storming, Norming Performing and Adjourning theory is an elegant and helpful explanation of team development and behaviour. Using Tukmans Model to evaluate team Nigeria AACE, it is clear that the Team came out of the F2F class achieving some elements of Forming and Storming stage of team development because the following visible characteristics. 1. High dependence on leader for guidance and direction. 2. Little agreement on team aims other than received from leader. 3. Individual roles and responsibilities are unclear. 4. Decisions don't come easily within group. 5. Team members vie for position as they attempt to establish themselves in relation to other team members and the leader, So the early week (1 & 2) of the Long Distance Learning (LDL) is characterised by element of Norming where 1. Agreement and consensus is largely forms among team, who respond well to facilitation by leader. 2. Roles and responsibilities are clear and accepted. 3. Big decisions are made by group agreement. 4. Commitment and unity is strong. 5. The team discusses and develops its processes and working style. Not every team moves through these stages in order and the length of time necessary for progressing through (each)these stages depends on the experience of the members, the support the team receives and the knowledge and skill of the team members. In conclusion, for the team to successfully move to the next stage there is need for the team to consciously or unconsciously form working relationships that will enable progress on the team’s objectives and enhance performance. Reference 1. http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/team-development.html
Week# 2_Adenaiya Olumide_ Making Decision on the Children School A good decision-making process can result in a decision that has undesirable outcomes. This is the situation recently experienced with my family relocation from the Lagos Mainland to Lekki. We ultimate achieve the initial goal i.e easy access to & from work but was left with a huge challenge on the children school runs. We usually leave home in the morning with the children and the nanny. We are dropped off in VI and they (nanny and driver) go further to drop the kids off in school (Ikoyi). The driver comes to join us in the office whilst the nanny takes public transport back to Lekki. By midday, the driver has to go to Lekki to pick up the nanny or she commutes by public transport to VI, pick them up from Ikoyi to drop them in Lekki and the driver comes back again to Lekki. This means we do a back and forth of about six times on the road. It is particularly hectic because of the traffic and indeed been an herculean task. Now the school bus option, this we considered but giving the age of both of them particularly the youngest who is only 18 months. Sometimes we have to do nanny change in the car before he eventually gets to school etc. I think they are rather young to be left on the school bus run. There are a lot of nonmonetary values involve in the selection of their present school against other available options. The challenge is making the decision that will give the best economy value on the nonmonetary than cost. Also, to be able to arrive at this there need to select the criterion to determine the best alternative
Reference 1. Engineering Economy, page 26, Revisit your Decision 2. Engineering Economy, page 602, Multiattribute Decisions 3. Engineering Economic Analysis, 10th Edn.(Donald G. Newnan, Jerome P. Lavelle & Ted G. Eschenbach) Chapter 1
Re-posted with the references which were earlier missed when copying to the blog
WK1_TONY_NigeriaAACE Present Stage in Team Development
“Teams like individuals, progress through various stages in their life cycle. Each stage of development holds its own unique relationships and demonstrated behaviours. The stages of team development must be understood by team members and leaders in order to recognize the signals that indicate normal team growth and development” [1]. Bruce Tuckman identified four stages (initially) in his team development model and these are Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing [2]. Nigeria AACE team is now in the Forming stage. The observable behaviours/actions that support my observation are, first agreements among members (team governance agreement, meeting mode etc), uncertainty on how to quickly tackle the deliverables required to obtain the notice to proceed (NTP), disorderliness in weekly meetings, heavy dependence on programme/ deputy program manager for the way forward, attempts to define group behavior, for example, what to do with people who don’t attend weekly meetings etc. The management style the programme managers should be using is directing. The problem at this stage as I see it is that we came from the face to face without a clear understanding of what is required to get notice to proceed (NTP) which effectively commences work in the distance learning mode (DLM). The result is that we are a 1.5 weeks late in starting the works slated for the DLM mode. There are two alternative solutions that I am proposing: 1. The face to face programme should be elongated to include one full day for the team to complete and sign off all the deliverables required to obtain the client’s notice to proceed. 2. The face to face programme remains unchanged but the programme manager clearly spells out the 1st week post face to face deliverables and how to go about them. It should include a risk analysis with mitigation actions The possible outcomes for alternative 1 are, 1. Team would directly focus on paper project immediately after face to face. 2. We would not have delays 3. We would avoid the pressure we are in right now to deliver two weeks work in one week. The possible outcomes for alternative 2 are; 1. Have the NTP deliverables completed early in the week following face and obtain the NTP 2. Team would understand their priority and not jump the gun in selecting topic before NTP 3. Would have alternative actions for identified risk, for instance alternative group name etc 4. Team members would clearly know their deliverables and avoid a situation where certain persons have to rescue some pms who did not know they were to deliver on some items The key performance indicators for my assessment of the alternatives are, get NTP (notice to proceed) not later than the second day of the week following face to face, submission of paper topic and 1st blog posting done the 1st week after face to face Of the two alternatives, alternative two carries a higher risk, the mitigation plans may even fail. Unknown unknown risk could even occur and that would derail or delay the programme. Alternative 1, that is, extend programme by 1 day to enable completion and sign off before leaving face to face has lower risk and would better engineer success as per the KPIs above. References 1 Phil Lohr and Patricia Steege –How to move a team from stage to stage. Copright McGraw-Hill 2000 2 Tuckman, B.W and M. A. C Jenson. 1977. Stages of small – group development revisited
Week# 1_Adenaiya Olumide_ Assessing Nigeria AACE Team using the Tukmans Model
Nicely done, Adenaiya!!! Well written and well cited. It would have been a little bit better if you could have provided the score from the assessment I asked you to do, as it is not clear whether you did it or not, but otherwise, it was well done.
Keep up the good work and looking forward to seeing more of your blog postings in the coming weeks.
Week# 2_Adenaiya Olumide_ Making Decision on the Children School
Excellent choice of topics, Adenaiya! No reason why you cannot or should not be applying sound engineering economic thought process to your personal decisions as well.
But, while you identified a problem, and did identify alternatives and even identified the proper and appropriate decision making tool or technique (multi-attribute decision making) you could have done a better job if you had set it up like example 14-1 on page 607 of Engineering Economy. If you had done that, it would have been an outstanding posting.
I would like to ask the you REVISE this posting and take 20 minutes or so to set up your problem based around problem 14-1. It will prove to be a valuable learning experience for you, as you can use this approach in MANY decision making situations, both in your professional and personal life.
Week# 1.1_Adenaiya Olumide_ Assessing Nigeria AACE Team using the Tukmans Model
Team development is as enhancement of the effectiveness of work groups, by improving goal- and role-clarification and interpersonal processes. Though there are other models, such as Tannenbaum and Schmidt Continuum and especially with Hersey and Blanchard's Situational Leadership® model but Dr Bruce Tuckman Forming, Storming, Norming Performing and Adjourning theory is an elegant and helpful explanation of team development and behaviour. Using Tukmans Model to evaluate team Nigeria AACE, it is clear that the Team came out of the F2F class achieving some elements of Forming and Storming stage of team development because the following visible characteristics. 1. High dependence on leader for guidance and direction. 2. Little agreement on team aims other than received from leader. 3. Individual roles and responsibilities are unclear. 4. Decisions don't come easily within group. 5. Team members vie for position as they attempt to establish themselves in relation to other team members and the leader, So the early week (1 & 2) of the Long Distance Learning (LDL) is characterised by element of Norming where 1. Agreement and consensus is largely forms among team, who respond well to facilitation by leader. 2. Roles and responsibilities are clear and accepted. 3. Big decisions are made by group agreement. 4. Commitment and unity is strong. 5. The team discusses and develops its processes and working style. This can be supported by the result of the team assessment survey carried out on Team NigeriaAACE show below
S/n Score S/n Score S/n Score S/n Score 1 2 2 3 3 5 4 4 5 3 6 4 7 5 8 1 10 1 9 1 11 3 12 3 15 3 16 2 13 4 14 5 18 2 20 3 19 2 17 4 21 2 23 2 24 4 22 5 27 2 28 1 25 4 26 3 29 2 31 1 30 5 32 5 TOTAL 17 17 32 30 Forming Storming Norming Performing Stage Stage Stage Stage Not every team moves through these stages in order and the length of time necessary for progressing through (each)these stages depends on the experience of the members, the support the team receives and the knowledge and skill of the team members. In conclusion, for the team to successfully move to the next stage there is need for the team to consciously or unconsciously form working relationships that will enable progress on the team’s objectives and enhance performance. Reference 1. http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/team-development.html
Week# 2.1_Adenaiya Olumide_ Making Decision on the Children School A good decision-making process can result in a decision that has undesirable outcomes. This is the situation recently experienced with my family relocation from the Lagos Mainland to Lekki. We ultimate achieve the initial goal i.e easy access to & from work but was left with a huge challenge on the children school runs. We usually leave home in the morning with the children and the nanny. We are dropped off in VI and they (nanny and driver) go further to drop the kids off in school (Ikoyi). The driver comes to join us in the office whilst the nanny takes public transport back to Lekki. By midday, the driver has to go to Lekki to pick up the nanny or she commutes by public transport to VI, pick them up from Ikoyi to drop them in Lekki and the driver comes back again to Lekki. This means we do a back and forth of about six times on the road. It is particularly hectic because of the traffic and indeed been an herculean task. Now the school bus option, this we considered but giving the age of both of them particularly the youngest who is only 18 months. Sometimes we have to do nanny change in the car before he eventually gets to school etc. I think they are rather young to be left on the school bus run. There are a lot of nonmonetary values involve in the selection of their present school against other available options. Table1.1 - Making Decision on the Children School Alternatives (offers & Locations) GreenHood School Ikoyi Green Spring Awoyaya Meadow hall Lekki 1 The Learning Place Lekki 1 Discovery house Lekki 1 Cost School Fees 165,000.00 210,000.00 210,000.00 95,000.00 120,000.00 Transport & Logistic 120,000.00 140,000.00 100,000.00 60,000.00 60,000.00 Others 20,000.00 20,000.00 20,000.00 20,000.00 20,000.00 Nonmonetary Value British Curriculum Excellent Excellent Excellent Very Good Very Good America Curriculum Excellent Excellent Poor Poor Poor Academic Rating Excellent Very Good Good Good Good Educational Recognition Excellent Very Good Very Good Good Good Montessori Pre-school Very Good nil Good Good Good The challenge is making the decision that will give the best economy value on the nonmonetary than cost. Also, to be able to arrive at this there need to select the criterion to determine the best alternative Reference 1. Engineering Economy, page 26, Revisit your Decision 2. Engineering Economy, page 602, Multiattribute Decisions 3. Engineering Economic Analysis, 10th Edn.(Donald G. Newnan, Jerome P. Lavelle & Ted G. Eschenbach) Chapter 1
WK2_TONY_IMPACT OF INCOMPLETE SCOPE ON COST ESTIMATES Poor scope definition is recognized by industry practitioners as one of the leading causes of project failure, adversely affecting projects in the area of cost, schedule and operational characteristics [1]. I work as a cost estimator and a major problem I face in my work is that of incomplete scope definition to do the estimate. My customers are the Project Engineers and the conceptual team. More often than not they send some very vague and unquantifiable scope as back up for their estimate request. The result of this is delay in the delivery of the estimate, over or under estimation, high level of contingency allowance and continuous revision of the estimate. Some of the reasons for this poor scoping are; 1. Absence of WBS or incomplete WBS 2. The haste to get budget approval 3. Poor interface between Engineering and project team 4. Some customers don’t know what they want until you start the job [2] 5. Share laziness by scoping engineers An estimate is as good as the scope on which it is based; it is therefore necessary to find solutions which will enable us have reasonable scope for the estimates our clients’ request. Some of the solutions are; 1. Having a standardized WBS where customers plug in the required deliverables for the project. 2. Estimate kick off meeting involving the design team and the customer where expected scope deliverables and timelines are discussed and followed through. 3. One on one engagement of the customer where we discuss and obtain all required information from the customer. The verbal information so obtained is confirmed in written back to the customer 4. A written request to the customers listing all the missing scope items and requesting them to forward same to enable progress or commencement of the estimate.
While all of the above solutions can work, I however note that solution 4 sometimes lead to delays as the customer may be pre occupied with other assignments and may not respond on time. While solution 3 is fast, the estimator may forget to confirm the information back to the customer and the source of the scope becomes doubtful sometime later. There may be some delays setting up the estimate kick off meeting in solution 2.
Solution 1 will enable a speedier and more accurate estimate, “Because a WBS requires you and your project team to account for everything you’ll be creating, you can create very accurate cost estimates of what the project will cost to complete” [3]. From an owner’s perspective, if the cost estimate is not accurate, the financial return from the capital investment may not be realized [4]
References 1. Cho, C., and Gibson, G. Jr. December 2001 “Building project scope definition using project definition rating index”. Journal of Architectural Engineering/December 2001 2. Philips, J. January 28, 2005 “Real World Project Management: Managing the Project Scope”. 3. Philips, J. January 28, 2005 “Real World Project Management: Managing the Project Scope”. 4. Dysert, L., AACE International , 9.1 Skills & Knowledge of Cost Engineering 5th Edition Revised
Week# 2.1_Adenaiya Olumide_ Making Decision on the Children School
Again, VERY well done, Adenaiya!!! Exactly what I am looking for from everyone each week.
We tend to have gotten in the habit of making decisions on "gut feel" instead of taking the time to produce rational, fact based analysis, and while "intuition" may very well be accurate, it makes selling the idea or solution or recommendation to your bosses or other stakeholders difficult if not impossible.
Starting to learn how to apply sound "engineering economics" or "cost engineering" processes to your day to day personal and working environment will not only yield better decisions, but will help you justify those decisions (or sell your recommendations) to your bosses and other stakeholders.
Keep up the EXCELLENT postings, Adenaiya and you will have no problems passing any of your exams.
Week#4_Monigha Idubamo_ preparing my house cost estimate.
I am about commencing the construction of my own home in Port Harcourt and I had to go through the process of concept selection. Faced with the challenge of the choice of building design I sorted the contributions of my wife, colleagues, friends and my Architect. The final concept was A two floor 5-bedroom maisonette with service quarters and good space for outdoor activities. At this point, I was left with the preparation of a conceptual cost estimate; since the detailed design had just started. Immediately I generated a quick high level estimate using the [1] End-Product Units Method which involves the obtaining historical data available from similar projects to relate the end-product units (capacity units). My friend who just completed a similar capacity had his four bedroom done at about $100,000 therefore using the methodolgy above i arrived at the sum of $125,000 + another $10,000 for detailed design as my budget.
The next step was to create a standardized WBS and allocating budget for the building by using the General construction WBS as provided master format. I adopted at this level 1 - Division 01 General requirements, Division 02 Existing conditions, Division 03 Concrete Division 04 Masonry etc.[2] After doing all these I am now able to beat my chest and say good to go with my project within projected cash flow, forecasted time and specified quality. Like the Bible scripture says in St Luke 14:28 - For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? [3]. Therefore starting a project with Cost estimates have two general purposes: (i) to help managers evaluate affordability and performance against plans, as well as the selection of alternative systems and solutions, and (ii) to support the budget process by providing estimates of the funding required to efficiently execute a program.[4]
References: 1. Skills and Knowledge of Cost Engineering, 5th Edition. 2. MASTERFORMAT ™ 2004 EDITION NUMBERS & TITLES 3. www.bible.com 4. GAO Cost Estimating and Assessment Guide March 2009
Week#4_Monigha Idubamo_ preparing my house cost estimate.
Simply AWESOME, Monigha!! OUTSTANDING posting!!
You understand exactly what I am expecting to see each week.
Take a real life problem and show me (and your colleagues) how you are applying "cost engineering" or "engineering economics" tools and techniques to solve these real life problems.
It just doesn't get any simpler than what you've described.
Now EVENTUALLY, I will be looking for more sophisticated applications and hopefully, some will be coming from your working environment, but otherwise, you are definitely on the right track, including nice use of citations.
(I love how you quoted the Bible!! Very Impressive!!!) "God as project manager"- and on the 7th Day, HE rested!!!
Keep up the good work and your "leadership by example"....
The discussion for this week shall be on Material handling
There is an on-going road construction along the lekki peninsula axis in Lagos.One of the major bulk materials needed by the Contactor is CEMENT. The contractor will need cement for concrete mixing,screeding of the road,slabs and walkways.Cement is a material that is very important for road construction and a large amount is usually required. The problem facing the contractor is to determine the best and most economical method of getting the cement to site.
For Material Handling of the cement,there are various options available to the contractor:
1. Setting up a mini cement plant close to the site to produce the cement 2.Buying the cement in 50kg packaged bags 3.Receiving the cement through a Piping System from the factory[1] 4.Buying the cement in large tonnes and transporting to site with a Big Truck
Considering the options available, the contractor must understand that poor material handling may affect efficient construction of the road and will ultimately slow down activities. Another point is that poor handling may damage the materials e.g if the cement is exposed to moisture or weather for a relatively long period, it solidifies.
For every decion on material handling, the contractor should consider the following factors: 1. Type of materials to be handled 2. Material movement should be over the shortest distance possible.[1] 3. Consider Cost of the material handling 4. Materials should be easily accessible and readily available
Based on the factors listed, the writer believes that the contractor should choose the option of buying Cements in packaged 50kg bags for the road construction due to the following reasons: 1. The nearest cement factory is very far from lagos State where the construction is going on. 2. It is very expensive to build a cement factory close to the construction site and it is not cost effective. 3. Small bags are readily available as they can easily be bought off the shelf as required. 4 For storage purposes,it is easier to store packaged cements on site 5. Unusual large volumes will require special request and often lead times.
Reference 1. Skills and Knowledge of Cost Engineering,5th Edition Revised,pg 3.1 - 3.7 2. GAO Cost Estimating and Assessment Guide March 2009
Good posting, Lanre, for W3, but not a GREAT posting......
Why? Too bad you didn't look beyond S&K, 5th Edition and the GAO-09-3SP. If you looked at your Engineering Economy, 14th Edition you would find examples of problems very much like what you described that would help you quantify and analyze the options. (Try Chapter 6 or Chapter 14)
Bottom line- get in the habit of referencing ALL 5 of the major references we provided you- 1) TCMF 2) Skills & Knowledge, 5th Edition 3) GAO-09-3SP 4) Engineering Economy, 14th Edition 5) Memory Jogger Series
If you get in the habit of referencing all 5, you will be amazed at how many new ideas you will pick up and be able to use in making better decisions, not only in your day to day working life, but also in your personal life as well.
Keep up the good work, Lanre, and by W26, you should be an expert.
Thanks for your comment Dr Paul. I will look beyond these books next time. The Challenge is that I am yet to receive the Engineering Economy Book and wondering if i could get a soft copy from you to get me started.
Week#3_Akubo Arome_ How do we protect our Pipelines from Oil Thief/Vandals in Niger Delta Area of Nigeria?
Pipeline vandalisation is one of the major challenges faced by oil and gas companies in Nigeria. Nigeria has a mono-cultural economy that greatly depends on the petroleum industry for Survival. The Nigerian petroleum industry was established about 54 years ago, in 1956 when the first oil well was first discovered in Oloibiri, in the present day Bayelsa. According to Smith (2006), as cited by Freedom (2007), Nigeria’s oil sector has now been developed into a vast domestic industrial infrastructure, consisting of more than 300 oil fields, 5 284 wells, 7 000 km of pipelines, ten export terminals, 22 petroleum storage depots, 275 flow stations, ten gas plants, four refineries, and massive liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects.
With over 7000km of pipelines crisscrossing the swamps and mangroves in the delta, coupled with the neglect of the communities in terms of provision of basic amenities, the people resulted to stealing of crude oil or refined products from the pipelines for economic gains. To mitigate against the vandalisation and subsequent oil theft, the following measures is advised for pipeline protection.
1. Community personnel’s involvement in pipeline security/monitoring contract 2. Pipeline burial to a depth of 3 meters in the swamps 3. Installation of optic fibre cables with the pipeline for early warning 4. Installation of reinforced concrete slab on the pipelines
Community personnel, if involved in the pipeline monitoring contract either as a contract holder or employee, will have that as a source of income and feel a sense of joint ownership with the oil companies such that he will likely do all within his means to protect the lines in his community
Burying pipelines to a depth of 3 meters as against the normal depth of 1 meter will provide difficulty to the vandals reaching that depth as it will require heavy machineries to access such depths in swamps, there by buying time for the security agents to apprehend the vandals.
Furthermore, installing fibre optic cables with the pipelines, early warning signal can be picked and quick response time is achieved when there is attempted vandalisation.
Finally, the installation of reinforced concrete slabs on buried pipelines along the entire right of way will provide adequate physical barriers for the pipelines thereby making it difficult to access.
In conclusion, having estimated the cost of each of the above suggested pipeline protection methods (costing not shown) and considering that, none of the options is entirely fool proof as such system do not exist. The preferred option therefore is to partner with the communities through which pipelines passes, by giving them pipeline monitoring contract in a way that there could benefit from protecting the pipelines. This way, each party, ie the oil companies and the communities have common interest to protect.
References Freedom, C. 2007. Oil Pipeline Sabotage in Nigeria; Dimensions, actors and implications. Available at http://www.iss.co.za/uploads/17_3ONUOHA.PDF (accessed 19 December 2010) Paul, O. 2007. US warn of terrorist attacks in Nigeria. Thisday, 7 September. Smith, J. 2006. Imperial oil. Available at http://indybay.org/newsitems/2006/10/02/18317358.php
Week#3_Akubo Arome_ How do we protect our Pipelines from Oil Thief/Vandals in Niger Delta Area of Nigeria?
Pipeline vandalisation is one of the major challenges faced by oil and gas companies in Nigeria. Nigeria has a mono-cultural economy that greatly depends on the petroleum industry for Survival. The Nigerian petroleum industry was established about 54 years ago, in 1956 when the first oil well was first discovered in Oloibiri, in the present day Bayelsa. According to Smith (2006), as cited by Freedom (2007), Nigeria’s oil sector has now been developed into a vast domestic industrial infrastructure, consisting of more than 300 oil fields, 5 284 wells, 7 000 km of pipelines, ten export terminals, 22 petroleum storage depots, 275 flow stations, ten gas plants, four refineries, and massive liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects.
With over 7000km of pipelines crisscrossing the swamps and mangroves in the delta, coupled with the neglect of the communities in terms of provision of basic amenities, the people resulted to stealing of crude oil or refined products from the pipelines for economic gains. To mitigate against the vandalisation and subsequent oil theft, the following measures is advised for pipeline protection.
1. Community personnel’s involvement in pipeline security/monitoring contract 2. Pipeline burial to a depth of 3 meters in the swamps 3. Installation of optic fibre cables with the pipeline for early warning 4. Installation of reinforced concrete slab on the pipelines
Community personnel, if involved in the pipeline monitoring contract either as a contract holder or employee, will have that as a source of income and feel a sense of joint ownership with the oil companies such that he will likely do all within his means to protect the lines in his community
Burying pipelines to a depth of 3 meters as against the normal depth of 1 meter will provide difficulty to the vandals reaching that depth as it will require heavy machineries to access such depths in swamps, there by buying time for the security agents to apprehend the vandals.
Furthermore, installing fibre optic cables with the pipelines, early warning signal can be picked and quick response time is achieved when there is attempted vandalisation.
Finally, the installation of reinforced concrete slabs on buried pipelines along the entire right of way will provide adequate physical barriers for the pipelines thereby making it difficult to access.
In conclusion, having estimated the cost of each of the above suggested pipeline protection methods (costing not shown) and considering that, none of the options is entirely fool proof as such system do not exist. The preferred option therefore is to partner with the communities through which pipelines passes, by giving them pipeline monitoring contract in a way that there could benefit from protecting the pipelines. This way, each party, ie the oil companies and the communities have common interest to protect.
References Freedom, C. 2007. Oil Pipeline Sabotage in Nigeria; Dimensions, actors and implications. Available at http://www.iss.co.za/uploads/17_3ONUOHA.PDF (accessed 19 December 2010) Paul, O. 2007. US warn of terrorist attacks in Nigeria. Thisday, 7 September. Smith, J. 2006. Imperial oil. Available at http://indybay.org/newsitems/2006/10/02/18317358.php
Week#3_Akubo Arome_ How do we protect our Pipelines from Oil Thief/Vandals in Niger Delta Area of Nigeria?
Pipeline vandalisation is one of the major challenges faced by oil and gas companies in Nigeria. Nigeria has a mono-cultural economy that greatly depends on the petroleum industry for Survival. The Nigerian petroleum industry was established about 54 years ago, in 1956 when the first oil well was first discovered in Oloibiri, in the present day Bayelsa. According to Smith (2006), as cited by Freedom (2007), Nigeria’s oil sector has now been developed into a vast domestic industrial infrastructure, consisting of more than 300 oil fields, 5 284 wells, 7 000 km of pipelines, ten export terminals, 22 petroleum storage depots, 275 flow stations, ten gas plants, four refineries, and massive liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects.
With over 7000km of pipelines crisscrossing the swamps and mangroves in the delta, coupled with the neglect of the communities in terms of provision of basic amenities, the people resulted to stealing of crude oil or refined products from the pipelines for economic gains. To mitigate against the vandalisation and subsequent oil theft, the following measures is advised for pipeline protection.
1. Community personnel’s involvement in pipeline security/monitoring contract 2. Pipeline burial to a depth of 3 meters in the swamps 3. Installation of optic fibre cables with the pipeline for early warning 4. Installation of reinforced concrete slab on the pipelines
Community personnel, if involved in the pipeline monitoring contract either as a contract holder or employee, will have that as a source of income and feel a sense of joint ownership with the oil companies such that he will likely do all within his means to protect the lines in his community
Burying pipelines to a depth of 3 meters as against the normal depth of 1 meter will provide difficulty to the vandals reaching that depth as it will require heavy machineries to access such depths in swamps, there by buying time for the security agents to apprehend the vandals.
Furthermore, installing fibre optic cables with the pipelines, early warning signal can be picked and quick response time is achieved when there is attempted vandalisation.
Finally, the installation of reinforced concrete slabs on buried pipelines along the entire right of way will provide adequate physical barriers for the pipelines thereby making it difficult to access.
In conclusion, having estimated the cost of each of the above suggested pipeline protection methods (costing not shown) and considering that, none of the options is entirely fool proof as such system do not exist. The preferred option therefore is to partner with the communities through which pipelines passes, by giving them pipeline monitoring contract in a way that there could benefit from protecting the pipelines. This way, each party, ie the oil companies and the communities have common interest to protect.
References Freedom, C. 2007. Oil Pipeline Sabotage in Nigeria; Dimensions, actors and implications. Available at http://www.iss.co.za/uploads/17_3ONUOHA.PDF (accessed 19 December 2010) Paul, O. 2007. US warn of terrorist attacks in Nigeria. Thisday, 7 September. Smith, J. 2006. Imperial oil. Available at http://indybay.org/newsitems/2006/10/02/18317358.php
Week#3_Akubo Arome_ How do we protect our Pipelines from Oil Thief/Vandals in Niger Delta Area of Nigeria?
Pipeline vandalisation is one of the major challenges faced by oil and gas companies in Nigeria. Nigeria has a mono-cultural economy that greatly depends on the petroleum industry for Survival. The Nigerian petroleum industry was established about 54 years ago, in 1956 when the first oil well was first discovered in Oloibiri, in the present day Bayelsa. According to Smith (2006), as cited by Freedom (2007), Nigeria’s oil sector has now been developed into a vast domestic industrial infrastructure, consisting of more than 300 oil fields, 5 284 wells, 7 000 km of pipelines, ten export terminals, 22 petroleum storage depots, 275 flow stations, ten gas plants, four refineries, and massive liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects.
With over 7000km of pipelines crisscrossing the swamps and mangroves in the delta, coupled with the neglect of the communities in terms of provision of basic amenities, the people resulted to stealing of crude oil or refined products from the pipelines for economic gains. To mitigate against the vandalisation and subsequent oil theft, the following measures is advised for pipeline protection.
1. Community personnel’s involvement in pipeline security/monitoring contract 2. Pipeline burial to a depth of 3 meters in the swamps 3. Installation of optic fibre cables with the pipeline for early warning 4. Installation of reinforced concrete slab on the pipelines
Community personnel, if involved in the pipeline monitoring contract either as a contract holder or employee, will have that as a source of income and feel a sense of joint ownership with the oil companies such that he will likely do all within his means to protect the lines in his community
Burying pipelines to a depth of 3 meters as against the normal depth of 1 meter will provide difficulty to the vandals reaching that depth as it will require heavy machineries to access such depths in swamps, there by buying time for the security agents to apprehend the vandals.
Furthermore, installing fibre optic cables with the pipelines, early warning signal can be picked and quick response time is achieved when there is attempted vandalisation.
Finally, the installation of reinforced concrete slabs on buried pipelines along the entire right of way will provide adequate physical barriers for the pipelines thereby making it difficult to access.
In conclusion, having estimated the cost of each of the above suggested pipeline protection methods (costing not shown) and considering that, none of the options is entirely fool proof as such system do not exist. The preferred option therefore is to partner with the communities through which pipelines passes, by giving them pipeline monitoring contract in a way that there could benefit from protecting the pipelines. This way, each party, ie the oil companies and the communities have common interest to protect.
References Freedom, C. 2007. Oil Pipeline Sabotage in Nigeria; Dimensions, actors and implications. Available at http://www.iss.co.za/uploads/17_3ONUOHA.PDF (accessed 19 December 2010) Paul, O. 2007. US warn of terrorist attacks in Nigeria. Thisday, 7 September. Smith, J. 2006. Imperial oil. Available at http://indybay.org/newsitems/2006/10/02/18317358.php
Week#3_Akubo Arome_ How do we protect our Pipelines from Oil Thief/Vandals in Niger Delta Area of Nigeria?
Pipeline vandalisation is one of the major challenges faced by oil and gas companies in Nigeria. Nigeria has a mono-cultural economy that greatly depends on the petroleum industry for Survival. The Nigerian petroleum industry was established about 54 years ago, in 1956 when the first oil well was first discovered in Oloibiri, in the present day Bayelsa. According to Smith (2006), as cited by Freedom (2007), Nigeria’s oil sector has now been developed into a vast domestic industrial infrastructure, consisting of more than 300 oil fields, 5 284 wells, 7 000 km of pipelines, ten export terminals, 22 petroleum storage depots, 275 flow stations, ten gas plants, four refineries, and massive liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects.
With over 7000km of pipelines crisscrossing the swamps and mangroves in the delta, coupled with the neglect of the communities in terms of provision of basic amenities, the people resulted to stealing of crude oil or refined products from the pipelines for economic gains. To mitigate against the vandalisation and subsequent oil theft, the following measures is advised for pipeline protection.
1. Community personnel’s involvement in pipeline security/monitoring contract 2. Pipeline burial to a depth of 3 meters in the swamps 3. Installation of optic fibre cables with the pipeline for early warning 4. Installation of reinforced concrete slab on the pipelines
Community personnel, if involved in the pipeline monitoring contract either as a contract holder or employee, will have that as a source of income and feel a sense of joint ownership with the oil companies such that he will likely do all within his means to protect the lines in his community
Burying pipelines to a depth of 3 meters as against the normal depth of 1 meter will provide difficulty to the vandals reaching that depth as it will require heavy machineries to access such depths in swamps, there by buying time for the security agents to apprehend the vandals.
Furthermore, installing fibre optic cables with the pipelines, early warning signal can be picked and quick response time is achieved when there is attempted vandalisation.
Finally, the installation of reinforced concrete slabs on buried pipelines along the entire right of way will provide adequate physical barriers for the pipelines thereby making it difficult to access.
In conclusion, having estimated the cost of each of the above suggested pipeline protection methods (costing not shown) and considering that, none of the options is entirely fool proof as such system do not exist. The preferred option therefore is to partner with the communities through which pipelines passes, by giving them pipeline monitoring contract in a way that there could benefit from protecting the pipelines. This way, each party, ie the oil companies and the communities have common interest to protect.
References Freedom, C. 2007. Oil Pipeline Sabotage in Nigeria; Dimensions, actors and implications. Available at http://www.iss.co.za/uploads/17_3ONUOHA.PDF (accessed 19 December 2010) Paul, O. 2007. US warn of terrorist attacks in Nigeria. Thisday, 7 September. Smith, J. 2006. Imperial oil. Available at http://indybay.org/newsitems/2006/10/02/18317358.php
Week#3_Akubo Arome_ How do we protect our Pipelines from Oil Thief/Vandals in Niger Delta Area of Nigeria?
Pipeline vandalisation is one of the major challenges faced by oil and gas companies in Nigeria. Nigeria has a mono-cultural economy that greatly depends on the petroleum industry for Survival. The Nigerian petroleum industry was established about 54 years ago, in 1956 when the first oil well was first discovered in Oloibiri, in the present day Bayelsa. According to Smith (2006), as cited by Freedom (2007), Nigeria’s oil sector has now been developed into a vast domestic industrial infrastructure, consisting of more than 300 oil fields, 5 284 wells, 7 000 km of pipelines, ten export terminals, 22 petroleum storage depots, 275 flow stations, ten gas plants, four refineries, and massive liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects.
With over 7000km of pipelines crisscrossing the swamps and mangroves in the delta, coupled with the neglect of the communities in terms of provision of basic amenities, the people resulted to stealing of crude oil or refined products from the pipelines for economic gains. To mitigate against the vandalisation and subsequent oil theft, the following measures is advised for pipeline protection.
1. Community personnel’s involvement in pipeline security/monitoring contract 2. Pipeline burial to a depth of 3 meters in the swamps 3. Installation of optic fibre cables with the pipeline for early warning 4. Installation of reinforced concrete slab on the pipelines
Community personnel, if involved in the pipeline monitoring contract either as a contract holder or employee, will have that as a source of income and feel a sense of joint ownership with the oil companies such that he will likely do all within his means to protect the lines in his community
Burying pipelines to a depth of 3 meters as against the normal depth of 1 meter will provide difficulty to the vandals reaching that depth as it will require heavy machineries to access such depths in swamps, there by buying time for the security agents to apprehend the vandals.
Furthermore, installing fibre optic cables with the pipelines, early warning signal can be picked and quick response time is achieved when there is attempted vandalisation.
Finally, the installation of reinforced concrete slabs on buried pipelines along the entire right of way will provide adequate physical barriers for the pipelines thereby making it difficult to access.
In conclusion, having estimated the cost of each of the above suggested pipeline protection methods (costing not shown) and considering that, none of the options is entirely fool proof as such system do not exist. The preferred option therefore is to partner with the communities through which pipelines passes, by giving them pipeline monitoring contract in a way that there could benefit from protecting the pipelines. This way, each party, ie the oil companies and the communities have common interest to protect.
References Freedom, C. 2007. Oil Pipeline Sabotage in Nigeria; Dimensions, actors and implications. Available at http://www.iss.co.za/uploads/17_3ONUOHA.PDF (accessed 19 December 2010) Paul, O. 2007. US warn of terrorist attacks in Nigeria. Thisday, 7 September. Smith, J. 2006. Imperial oil. Available at http://indybay.org/newsitems/2006/10/02/18317358.php
Week#3_Akubo Arome_ How do we protect our Pipelines from Oil Thief/Vandals in Niger Delta Area of Nigeria?
VERY interesting topic, Akubo. Too bad you weren't able to share the cost comparison with us, even if the numbers were disguised.
But what you describe as the ideal solution- engaging the local communities- sounds to me like more than just a pure economic decision? Wouldn't "Benefit:Cost Analysis" or "Multi-Attribute Decision Making" produce a "better" or more rational or complete comparison upon which to base a decision?
Would love to see you develop this more completely and comprehensively. This is the kind of paper that really excites readers and they tend to get published easier........
Important that we "play to the audience" a little bit.......
Keep up the good work, but please remember that the cut-off date is Saturday night at midnight........
W3_Augustine_Oleru_Cost Overrun in Asphalt Road Construction projects in Niger delta area of Nigeria. In Niger Delta area of Nigeria, massive cost overruns on long lead items of road construction projects have left the country in a dilemma as to get the better way of building roads that will not fail even during construction process. The Niger Delta has some peculiar physical qualities, it is mostly flat swampy basin made up of vast plain, built up by accumulation of very weak and highly compressible alluvial sedimentary deposits from the Niger and Benue rivers asphalt paving construction has been a night mare in this satiation. The region is exposed to salty flood crisis crossed by a myriad of rivers which can cause corrosion to steel construction – logged depressions where rainfall and surface water flow can hardly be drained by gravity, also the sea scours, floods and breaks on the river banks cause severe coastal erosion. This physical conditions and the trickle down social effects has given a great blow to project management in road construction leading to cost overrun in almost 95% of projects done in this region. About 98% of roads are asphalt pavement but some other forms like Concrete paving and railways can also to be looked at here. In this work, I looked at the result of the analysis quantitative analysis done to get the optimal road construction material and contracting strategy to minimize cost overrun, Looking on:- KPI”s Asphalt Pavement Concrete Pavement Rail ways 1.What are the overriding risk elements (Technical, Economic, Commercial and (Socio-)Political)
High High High 2.Which contracting strategy supports optimal project delivery? Same factor for all Same factor for all Same factor for all 3.Which material seems to have the lowest impact by the environment? (in 1-100grade) 25 55 30 4.How would you try to include potential product recycling in the assessment? (in 1-100grade)
30 40 60 5.What is the durability of one pavement material over the other? (in 1-100grade)
20 50 40 6.What is the cost / area of each option (in 1-100grade) 57 60 70
7.What is the time of delivery of each option 25 34 60
From this analysis since we know that terrain contributes to 60% to 75% of the causes of cost overrun in our road projects, I recommend the concrete pavement as a valid alternative as it reduces the level of work redone as result of failure even on construction stage. Other generic causes of overrun includes:- Lack of proper planning has often led to delays that lead to increased cost of construction and incessant demands by host community. The peculiar terrain and prohibitive cost of construction in the region necessitates the need for thorough and adequate planning. The planning process involves data collection, analysis of field measurement, contingency plan for host community, inspections and monitoring control plans. If this QA/QC plans, right construction materials, and other project management plans are put in place, i strungly feel that the cost overrun will reduce or even eliminated in this region. 1. Case study: Economic Input-Output Life Cycle Assessment of Asphalt Versus Steel Reinforced Concrete for Pavement Construction. Noellette Conway-Schempf GSIA 209 Posner Hall Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA 15213 2. by Ivy Chang, Construction Bulletin, November 3, 2008 3. Ministry of works and housing Nigeria
W3_Augustine_Oleru_Cost Overrun in Asphalt Road Construction projects in Niger delta area of Nigeria.
Excellent posting, Augustine, but my question is, if the fact these roads consistently over run their budgets, why are we not coming up with a more realistic estimating model?
Surely there is enough historic data by now to show WHY these roads are blowing their budgets and if so, why can we develop square meter or some other cost models which reflect reality?
Also, while I am happy to see you citing outside sources, what I am looking for you to do is make the connection between outside references and AACE's Skills and Knowledge, 5th Edition, Engineering Economy, 14th Edition, GAO-09-3SP and the TCMF. How can the tools and techniques in those references help you solve the very real and legitimate problem you have identified?
You are heading in the right direction, but instead of focusing on risk, I would recommend you focus on developing a realistic cost model. (See Chapter 3 from Engineering Economy, 14th Edition)
Thanks!!! And why do we have two pages? Why can't we consolidate?
And comparing WordPress being used by your colleagues here in Indonesia http://coolcce.wordpress.com/2010/12/20/w12-0-%E2%80%93-wina-%E2%80%93-2500-words-project/#respond, which one gives you the most flexibility and features?
W3_Augustine_Oleru_Cost Overrun in Asphalt Road Construction projects in Niger delta area of Nigeria.
Augustine, thinking about your problem more, instead of doing a risk analysis, I think I would recommend you start out by doing a Root Cause Analysis. http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_80.htm In looking over your posting again, it seems that SOME of the risks you identified are not causes but effects (symptoms) and if you fixed the root cause, you would eliminate the risk entirely or at least mitigate it?
Tony said... PDG, Re-posted for records as earlier posting was wrongly done and so not shown in blog space
WK1_TONY_NigeriaAACE Present Stage in Team Development “Teams like individuals, progress through various stages in their life cycle. Each stage of development holds its own unique relationships and demonstrated behaviours. The stages of team development must be understood by team members and leaders in order to recognize the signals that indicate normal team growth and development” [1]. Bruce Tuckman identified four stages (initially) in his team development model and these are Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing [2]. Nigeria AACE team is now in the Forming stage. The observable behaviours/actions that support my observation are, first agreements among members (team governance agreement, meeting mode etc), uncertainty on how to quickly tackle the deliverables required to obtain the notice to proceed (NTP), disorderliness in weekly meetings, heavy dependence on programme/ deputy program manager for the way forward, attempts to define group behavior, for example, what to do with people who don’t attend weekly meetings etc. The management style the programme managers should be using is directing. The problem at this stage as I see it is that we came from the face to face without a clear understanding of what is required to get notice to proceed (NTP) which effectively commences work in the distance learning mode (DLM). The result is that we are a 1.5 weeks late in starting the works slated for the DLM mode. There are two alternative solutions that I am proposing: 1. The face to face programme should be elongated to include one full day for the team to complete and sign off all the deliverables required to obtain the client’s notice to proceed. 2. The face to face programme remains unchanged but the programme manager clearly spells out the 1st week post face to face deliverables and how to go about them. It should include a risk analysis with mitigation actions The possible outcomes for alternative 1 are, 1. Team would directly focus on paper project immediately after face to face. 2. We would not have delays 3. We would avoid the pressure we are in right now to deliver two weeks work in one week. The possible outcomes for alternative 2 are; 1. Have the NTP deliverables completed early in the week following face and obtain the NTP 2. Team would understand their priority and not jump the gun in selecting topic before NTP 3. Would have alternative actions for identified risk, for instance alternative group name etc 4. Team members would clearly know their deliverables and avoid a situation where certain persons have to rescue some pms who did not know they were to deliver on some items The key performance indicators for my assessment of the alternatives are, get NTP (notice to proceed) not later than the second day of the week following face to face, submission of paper topic and 1st blog posting done the 1st week after face to face Of the two alternatives, alternative two carries a higher risk, the mitigation plans may even fail. Unknown unknown risk could even occur and that would derail or delay the programme. Alternative 1, that is, extend programme by 1 day to enable completion and sign off before leaving face to face has lower risk and would better engineer success as per the KPIs above.
References 1 Phil Lohr and Patricia Steege –How to move a team from stage to stage. Copright McGraw-Hill 2000 2 Tuckman, B.W and M. A. C Jenson. 1977. Stages of small – group development revisited
WK2_TONY_IMPACT OF INCOMPLETE SCOPE ON COST ESTIMATES Poor scope definition is recognized by industry practitioners as one of the leading causes of project failure, adversely affecting projects in the area of cost, schedule and operational characteristics [1]. I work as a cost estimator and a major problem I face in my work is that of incomplete scope definition to do the estimate. My customers are the Project Engineers and the conceptual team. More often than not they send some very vague and unquantifiable scope as back up for their estimate request. The result of this is delay in the delivery of the estimate, over or under estimation, high level of contingency allowance and continuous revision of the estimate. Some of the reasons for this poor scoping are; 1. Absence of WBS or incomplete WBS 2. The haste to get budget approval 3. Poor interface between Engineering and project team 4. Some customers don’t know what they want until you start the job [2] 5. Share laziness by scoping engineers An estimate is as good as the scope on which it is based; it is therefore necessary to find solutions which will enable us have reasonable scope for the estimates our clients’ request. Some of the solutions are; 1. Having a standardized WBS where customers plug in the required deliverables for the project. 2. Estimate kick off meeting involving the design team and the customer where expected scope deliverables and timelines are discussed and followed through. 3. One on one engagement of the customer where we discuss and obtain all required information from the customer. The verbal information so obtained is confirmed in written back to the customer 4. A written request to the customers listing all the missing scope items and requesting them to forward same to enable progress or commencement of the estimate.
While all of the above solutions can work, I however note that solution 4 sometimes lead to delays as the customer may be pre occupied with other assignments and may not respond on time. While solution 3 is fast, the estimator may forget to confirm the information back to the customer and the source of the scope becomes doubtful sometime later. There may be some delays setting up the estimate kick off meeting in solution 2.
Solution 1 will enable a speedier and more accurate estimate, “Because a WBS requires you and your project team to account for everything you’ll be creating, you can create very accurate cost estimates of what the project will cost to complete” [3]. From an owner’s perspective, if the cost estimate is not accurate, the financial return from the capital investment may not be realized [4]
References 1. Cho, C., and Gibson, G. Jr. December 2001 “Building project scope definition using project definition rating index”. Journal of Architectural Engineering/December 2001 2. Philips, J. January 28, 2005 “Real World Project Management: Managing the Project Scope”. 3. Philips, J. January 28, 2005 “Real World Project Management: Managing the Project Scope”. 4. Dysert, L., AACE International , 9.1 Skills & Knowledge of Cost Engineering 5th Edition Revised
WK3_TONY_WBS: WHAT IT IS, AND WHAT IT IS NOT Some persons including project managers misunderstand and misuse the WBS (Work Breakdown Structure). Lilian Buchtick PMP, said some project managers misconstrue WBS to be schedule, list of activities, organizational breakdown structure or resource breakdown structure [1]. Humphreys, G also said, one common misapplication of a WBS is to use it to reflect the organization which is accomplishing the work rather than the work itself [2]. Some reasons for the misunderstand are; equating activities with deliverables, the tree like pattern of the WBS which is similar to an organisation’s chart and confusing scope statement with WBS. Considering the above misgivings what then is a WBS and what is it used for? It is a deliverable-oriented hierarchical decomposition of the work to be executed by the project team to accomplish the project objectives and create the required deliverables [3]. “The WBS is an effective display technique for defining and organizing project work. For the owner, the WBS represents what is being bought while for the contractor, it contains all work being performed on the project” [4]. The end result of the WBS is a clear picture of what the customer will and won’t get as part of the project [5] The WBS is a broken down listing of scope deliverables and not the activities and task to accomplish the deliverables. These task and activities are covered in the project schedule. However a schedule draws from the lowest level of the WBS which is the work package. The WBS is not an organizational hierarchy even though they both use the tree structure. They serve entirely different purposes. While the WBS shows a project and its component parts (the deliverables)in a hierachical form, the organizational hierarchy (organizational breakdown structure) show an organization’s chain of command and communication lines in the command. The WBS is derived from the scope statement. What is the use of the WBS? Mathis Micah, PMP identified three reasons for the use of a WBS in a project; 1. It helps more accurately and specifically define and organize the scope of the total project 2. To help with assigning responsibilities, resource allocation, monitoring the project and controlling the project 3. It allows you double check all the deliverables’ specifics with the stakeholders and make sure there is nothing missing or overlapping The WBS does not stand alone, as a dictionary of actual scope must accompany the WBS structure [6]. The dictionary describes the specifics and exact scope of each deliverable. The above write up is to throw some light on what a WBS is and does not cover the entirety of the subject. The preparation of a WBS would be treated in another write up. References 1. Buchtick, L., Secrets to mastering the WBS in real world projects 2. Humphreys, G., 2.31, Project Management Using Earned Value 3. A guide to the project management body of knowledge 3rd edition (PMBOK Guide) 4. Humphreys, G., 2.31, Project Management Using Earned Value 5. Philips, J., Jan 28, 2005, Real world project management: Managing the project scope. 6. Humphreys, G., 2.31, Project Management Using Earned Value
EXCELLENT posting, Tony!!! Good work. Valid problem statement, exploration of alternative views and good conclusion.
My only concern lies with some of your references.
1. Buchtick, L., Secrets to mastering the WBS in real world projects [PDG] How or where can I find this article? Where was it published?
3. A guide to the project management body of knowledge 3rd edition (PMBOK Guide) [PDG] PMI and AACE are competitors. And generally speaking, while PMI claims to be the worlds leading producer of PM standards, many practitioners believe AACE offers much better technical standards than does PMI. Given PMI and AACE are competitors and given that the exams you are sitting for are from AACE, not PMI, don't you think it would be prudent (from a risk management perspective) to cite AACE publications rather than PMI? Who knows, you too may come to believe that the AACE technical standards are "better" than what PMI offers, but you won't be able to make a valid comparison until you familiarize yourself with the AACE Skills and Knowledge, 5th Edition, Total Cost Management Framework and the AACE Recommended Practices.http://www.aacei.org/technical/rp.shtml
Explained another way, your CCC/E, EVP, PSP and CEP exams are NOT going to be based on PMBOK Guide, but on AACE published materials.
5. Philips, J., Jan 28, 2005, Real world project management: Managing the project scope.
[PDG] How or where can I find this article? Where was it published?
Bottom line here Tony, you need to visit the Owl @Purdue and learn how to properly cite your references and you need to be looking first at the Skills and Knowledge of Cost Engineers, 5th Edition, then to the TCMF, then to Humphrey's and the GAO-09-3SP before you even consider opening the PMBOK Guide. And at the end of the course, you can write a comparison between what PMI offers and what AACE offers.
But otherwise, you did a really great job and I look forward to seeing more of your writing.
EXCELLENT posting, Tony!!! Good work. Valid problem statement, exploration of alternative views and good conclusion.
My only concern lies with some of your references.
1. Buchtick, L., Secrets to mastering the WBS in real world projects [PDG] How or where can I find this article? Where was it published?
3. A guide to the project management body of knowledge 3rd edition (PMBOK Guide) [PDG] PMI and AACE are competitors. And generally speaking, while PMI claims to be the worlds leading producer of PM standards, many practitioners believe AACE offers much better technical standards than does PMI. Given PMI and AACE are competitors and given that the exams you are sitting for are from AACE, not PMI, don't you think it would be prudent (from a risk management perspective) to cite AACE publications rather than PMI? Who knows, you too may come to believe that the AACE technical standards are "better" than what PMI offers, but you won't be able to make a valid comparison until you familiarize yourself with the AACE Skills and Knowledge, 5th Edition, Total Cost Management Framework and the AACE Recommended Practices.www.aacei.org/technical/rp.shtml
Explained another way, your CCC/E, EVP, PSP and CEP exams are NOT going to be based on PMBOK Guide, but on AACE published materials.
5. Philips, J., Jan 28, 2005, Real world project management: Managing the project scope.
[PDG] How or where can I find this article? Where was it published?
Bottom line here Tony, you need to visit the Owl @Purdue and learn how to properly cite your references and you need to be looking first at the Skills and Knowledge of Cost Engineers, 5th Edition, then to the TCMF, then to Humphrey's and the GAO-09-3SP before you even consider opening the PMBOK Guide. And at the end of the course, you can write a comparison between what PMI offers and what AACE offers.
But otherwise, you did a really great job and I look forward to seeing more of your writing.
EXCELLENT posting, Tony!!! Good work. Valid problem statement, exploration of alternative views and good conclusion.
My only concern lies with some of your references.
1. Buchtick, L., Secrets to mastering the WBS in real world projects [PDG] How or where can I find this article? Where was it published?
3. A guide to the project management body of knowledge 3rd edition (PMBOK Guide) [PDG] PMI and AACE are competitors. And generally speaking, while PMI claims to be the worlds leading producer of PM standards, many practitioners believe AACE offers much better technical standards than does PMI. Given PMI and AACE are competitors and given that the exams you are sitting for are from AACE, not PMI, don't you think it would be prudent (from a risk management perspective) to cite AACE publications rather than PMI? Who knows, you too may come to believe that the AACE technical standards are "better" than what PMI offers, but you won't be able to make a valid comparison until you familiarize yourself with the AACE Skills and Knowledge, 5th Edition, Total Cost Management Framework and the AACE Recommended Practices. www.aacei.org/technical/rp.shtml
Explained another way, your CCC/E, EVP, PSP and CEP exams are NOT going to be based on PMBOK Guide, but on AACE published materials.
5. Philips, J., Jan 28, 2005, Real world project management: Managing the project scope.
[PDG] How or where can I find this article? Where was it published?
Bottom line here Tony, you need to visit the Owl @Purdue and learn how to properly cite your references and you need to be looking first at the Skills and Knowledge of Cost Engineers, 5th Edition, then to the TCMF, then to Humphrey's and the GAO-09-3SP before you even consider opening the PMBOK Guide. And at the end of the course, you can write a comparison between what PMI offers and what AACE offers.
But otherwise, you did a really great job and I look forward to seeing more of your writing.
EXCELLENT posting, Tony!!! Good work. Valid problem statement, exploration of alternative views and good conclusion.
My only concern lies with some of your references.
1. Buchtick, L., Secrets to mastering the WBS in real world projects [PDG] How or where can I find this article? Where was it published?
3. A guide to the project management body of knowledge 3rd edition (PMBOK Guide) [PDG] PMI and AACE are competitors. And generally speaking, while PMI claims to be the worlds leading producer of PM standards, many practitioners believe AACE offers much better technical standards than does PMI. Given PMI and AACE are competitors and given that the exams you are sitting for are from AACE, not PMI, don't you think it would be prudent (from a risk management perspective) to cite AACE publications rather than PMI? Who knows, you too may come to believe that the AACE technical standards are "better" than what PMI offers, but you won't be able to make a valid comparison until you familiarize yourself with the AACE Skills and Knowledge, 5th Edition, Total Cost Management Framework and the AACE Recommended Practices.
Explained another way, your CCC/E, EVP, PSP and CEP exams are NOT going to be based on PMBOK Guide, but on AACE published materials.
5. Philips, J., Jan 28, 2005, Real world project management: Managing the project scope.
[PDG] How or where can I find this article? Where was it published?
Bottom line here Tony, you need to visit the Owl @Purdue and learn how to properly cite your references and you need to be looking first at the Skills and Knowledge of Cost Engineers, 5th Edition, then to the TCMF, then to Humphrey's and the GAO-09-3SP before you even consider opening the PMBOK Guide. And at the end of the course, you can write a comparison between what PMI offers and what AACE offers.
But otherwise, you did a really great job and I look forward to seeing more of your writing.
WK2_TONY_IMPACT OF INCOMPLETE SCOPE ON COST ESTIMATES
Another OUTSTANDING posting, Tony!!!
Very structured and written. You tell a nice story and I look forward to seeing the first draft of your paper.
My comments from before apply as well. You really need to spend some time at the Purdue Writing Lab http://owl.english.purdue.edu/ and learn how to properly cite your references. As noted previously,you also need to look FIRST at what AACE has to say and then compare that against what PMI, IPMA, ISO and others have to say. At the end of the course, I suspect you too will come to respect AACE's technical writing more than you will PMI. (And if you look at your PMBOK Guide 2004, page 3 or the PMBOK Guide, page 4, you can see why. PMI does not advocate "Best Practices" (as does the GAO) nor does PMI even advocate "Recommended Practices" (as does AACE) but PMI only advocates those standards "used on most projects, most of the time" which at best means "average" practices and at worst (Given the poor track record of project management success) means downright bad or poor practices.
One of my challenges to you over the coming 22 weeks will be to expose you to other standards so you can draw your own, INFORMED decisions about which standards you want to choose for Nigeria and for yourself as a professional practitioner.
After the successful completion of the face-face session of the AACE preparatory Course, one of the key deliverables is to write a 2500 word paper as part of the requirements for the CCE Certification. One of my responsibility as the Team Lead for Paper Team is to periodically measure progress of activities and submit a weekly report to the Program manager. The Current challenge I am facing is to determine a method of computing the Progress (Percent Complete) [4] of the Team. The result will be an input to the weekly report and will truly reflect the situation of things.
There are about six alternative methods of measuring Progress of work or activities namely: Units Complete Method Incremental Milestone Method Start/Finish Method Supervisor Opinion Cost ratio method Weighted Units method.
The method I want to adopt for progress measurement should fulfill my set criteria such as a fairly objective process, an accurate way of determining the status of the Team and avoidance of false claims. Analyzing the options available, the units completed method would not really work because the tasks identified require different levels of efforts and measuring with the units completed would not be accurate. I cannot use the Start/Finish method and Supervisor method (which is an Educated Guesstimate [4]) because my team members are in various remote locations and I cannot determine start, finish or use my judgment to report status of events. Since the 2500 word is a deliverable to be submitted within a limited time, the cost ratio method would not be an ideal method of measurement.
Based on my analysis and the peculiarity of what is to be measured, I have opted for the Incremental Milestone Method. With this method, I have established a sequence of activities which was extracted from the CPM Schedule and set the activities as milestones to be attained. Subsequently, I assigned certain percentages to each activity and they all add up to 100% to show completion of task. The table below depicts what has been done
TASK /ACTIVITY WEIGHTING CUMULATIVE WEIGHTING Selection of Paper Topic 5% 5% Submission of the ToC 10% 15% Submission of First Draft 10% 25% Run Plagiarism Test 10% 35% Others 65% 100%
The writer is of the view that this method is good enough and fit for purpose. It can be used to calculate the SPI and the CPI for the Project. It would also be used as input in determining the earned value.
’If you cannot measure it, you cannot manage it” [2]
References 1.Chapter 14, Skills and Knowledge of Cost Engineering. 5th Edition Revised. 2.Chapter 29, Project management using Earned Value,pg595. Humprey and Associates. 3.Engineering Economy,14th Edition, Page 27,Table 1-1 4.Giammalvo,P.D.(2010) ,Day 5, AACE Certification Preparation Course Material, pg 50-51,
NigerianAACE _SeeGod Meregini_Blog posting Week 2.0_Selection of the right skill from a competitive pool In this week blog, I will discuss about the problem I helped resolving in the office while trying to select the best personnel from a competitive pool using Engineering Economic Analysis Procedure. The problem was to select the right skill from a very competitive pool of resource. For the purpose of this write-up, I will call the resources by alphabets. I was assigned to a team with the responsibility to solve the problem. I developed alternatives and outcomes for each alternative using some agreed criteria. Please see attached spreadsheet for details. Technical Evalu C.V and Interview Name Required Work Experience Education with relative experience Multiple past Project Responsibility Past Leadership accomplishment History of achievement Proficiency in required tool use Location of job experience Total value based on weighting Conclusion Resource A 6 yes no no yes yes no 15 Resource B 7 yes yes no yes yes yes 17 Resource C 8 no no yes no yes no 12 Resource D 6 yes no yes yes yes no 19 Recomended Resource E 5 yes no yes no yes yes 16
Selection Criteria Evaluation description Required Work Experience>5 =5: If Less than 5=3 Education Multiple past Project Responsibility Past Leadership accomplishment History of achievement Proficiency in required tool use Location of job experience Weighting Highest= 5; Lowest=2 5 2 4 2 3 1
This made it easy for a selection of the preferred alternative based on the technical qualifications. A summary of reasons for the selected alternative were: • Higher long term value to the company • Broader past experience relative to the proposed job • Visible accomplishments in past jobs • Greater Flexibility for the job • Greater familiarity with the job required Finally, a resource was selected. This decision was easier to make using the Engineering Economic Analysis Procedure Bibliography William G. Sullivan, Elin M Wicks, C.Patrick Koelling. (2009). Fourteenth Edition; Engineering Economy
W2_SeeGod Meregini_Selection of the right skill from a competitive pool
FIRST- SeeGod, better check again what the correct NAMING CONVENTION is for these postings? I am not your secretary and don't want to have to make any further corrections. Take the time to look at what your colleagues have done or better yet, read my emails and follow the instructions I provide.
Secondly, while your posting was truly an excellent one, simply citing Engineering Economics is not enough. Which Chapter? Which pages in that chapter? In particular, it looks to me like you were using Multi-Attribute Decision Making, from Chapter 14, but if you did, then you missed several other very important methods that would have helped you better.
Also, you only cited Engineering Economy..... What about Skills and Knowledge? Did Humphrey's have anything to say about making this kind of decision? Did the GAO-09-3SP? Or what did the Memory Jogger series provide you with for ideas?
Bottom line- I am REJECTING your posting as submitted and asking that you post a REVISED W2.1 blog posting that addresses the issues/questions I raised above.
EXCELLENT, Lanre!!! Exactly what I am looking for each week. You identified a problem, found several alternatives, selected the most likely from the alternatives, calculated an example to support your choice and reached a conclusion.
PLUS, you cited your sources very specifically.
Again, EXCELLENT posting and if you don't mind, would you mentor SeeGod on how to cite his references please?
Looking forward to my first progress report to see what you are doing with the Earned Value.
Week# 3_Adenaiya Olumide_ Managing Cost of Project Finance Infrastructure development is an important priority of Multilateral Investment Guaranty Agency (MIGA) with a given estimated need of $230 billion a year solely for new investment to deal with rapidly growing urban centers and underserved rural populations in development. In the fiscal year ending June 30 2010, MIGA issued $1.5 billion in investment guarantees (insurance) for 19 projects in developing countries which are to help support economic growth, reduce poverty and improve people live. MIGA is a member of World Bank Group meant to promote Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), which is a big capital source for the Banks in Nigeria who are financiers of concessional projects. The opportunity cost of capital tells us that firms enter or remain in business if they earn, at a minimum, a normal rate of return (NROR) – that is, normal profit. This means that people will not invest their wealth in a business unless they obtain a positive competitive rate of return. One of the ways infrastructural developments are handled is through Public-Private Infrastructure where the major challenge is estimating investment cost which determines the ROI and concession period. The Minimum Attractive Rate of Return (MARR), is used to maximize the economic well-being of an organization subject to the following consideration 1. The amount of money available for investment, and the source and cost of these funds (i.e. equity fund or borrowed funds) 2. The number of good projects available for investment and their purpose 3. The amount of perceived risk associated with investment opportunities available to the firm and the estimated cost of administering project over short planning horizons versus long planning horizons 4. The type of organization involved (i.e. government, public utility, or private industry) Reference 1. Businessday Tuesday 07, December,2010 (www.businessdayonline.com) 2. www.miga.org/news/index_sv.cfm?aid=2874 3. Engineering Economy, 14th Edition, page 212, 5.2 , 568, 13.1.1 -2; 4. Engineering Economy, 14th Edition, page 568, 13.1.1 -2; 5. Construction Economics- a new approach, Danny Myers, Page 98 6. Engineering Economic Analysis, 10th Edn.(Donald G. Newnan, Jerome P. Lavelle & Ted G. Eschenbach) page 512
W2_Samuel KALU_Prioritising My Christmas Expenses EXCELLENT posting, Samuel!!!!! Exactly what I am looking to see you produce.
The only comment I will make is that despite your excellent use of research and appropriately citing your references, I really need to encourage you to be looking first and foremost at the reference materials we provided. In particular, the example you provided can be found in Chapter 14 of your Engineering Economy, “Multi-attribute decision making”, and while example was truly outstanding, you missed gaining some understanding that you will need when it comes time to sit for your certification exams.
I am accepting your posting for W2, but after everyone receives their Engineering Economy (hopefully soon, Mrs. Joy?) I would like you to revisit this posting and expand your analysis to include some of the other models of multi-attribute decision making.
Keep up the good work Samuel and hopefully we can get the blog site cleaned up before the first of the year.
As a consultant for a private Oil and Gas Company, one of my responsibilities is to advise the company of the appropriate type of contracts to be adopted for award of capital projects.
Succinctly, a contract is simply an arrangement between two or more people that is enforceable at law. [1]Since the company (Owner) is the one awarding the contracts, they have the apparent authority to decide the nature of the contract. The owner will either advertise an invitation to Bid (ITB) or Request for Proposal (RFP).
After studying the nature of the Company’s business, I have identified possible types of contracts that may be used. They are as follows:
1.Fixed Price / Lump Sum Contracts 2.Fixed Price with Economic Adjustment / Escalation 3.Fixed price with Incentives 4.Cost Plus/ Cost Reimbursable Contract 5.Incentivized cost plus / cost reimbursable contracts 6.Cost Sharing contracts 7.Time and Materials Contract
Considering the available alternatives, cost risk analysis was conducted from the Owner’s point of view and identified the basic criteria that are needed in making the final decision for the contract type. As a minimum, It must be enforceable by law, well written and documented, Duration of the Project must be determined, Scope (Technical, Cost and Schedule) of Work, Economic considerations and available Bidders that are interested in Carrying out the Project.
Analyses of the options reveal that fixed contracts without conditions are one-sided contracts that eventually lead to cost overruns, delays and greater problems in Contracts. A lot of variations and claims occur and contractors tend to choose the cheapest and quickest solutions. Fixed price contracts usually absolve the owner from risks and push the bulk of risk on contractors. With this, contractors include large contingencies to cover the risk thereby leading to a very high price for the project.
On the other hand, contracts that are fully Cost plus/Reimbursable are usually done at a high risk to the Owner due to possible inefficiency and waste on the part of the Contractor. Cost plus contracts make it difficult in evaluation of bids or proposals and contractors have low zeal in completing the job as and when due. The company cannot determine the final cost of the project until completed and contractors do not engage their best resources.
Based on the analysis, I would recommend that contracts be awarded using the FIXED PRICE WITH INCENTIVE AND ESCALATION METHOD. This will make it possible to share the risk of economic changes like inflation with the contractor. Secondly, the incentive will motivate the contractor in fulfilling their role on the Project.
References 1.Chapter 25, Skills and Knowledge of Cost Engineering. 5th Edition Revised.
2.Chapter 38, Project management using Earned Value, pp 749 - 753. Humprey and Associates.
My next question would be what do you want to incentivize? What is important to you? Time? Cost? Quality? Safety, Health? Environment?
While am in full and total agreement with you that incentive contracting is the "way to go", you need to be very careful to align the incentives to what the client wants, recognizing the inevitable trade-offs.
Another challenge is how to structure the incentives, how and when to pay them and who deserves to get them. (Do you reward the contractor? Contractors employees? What about the subs and vendors?
Bottom line- you have picked an excellent topic and a very timely and important one, but one that requires considerably more research and understanding in order to "get it right".
Keep up the good work and looking forward to seeing more of your postings in the coming weeks.
Week 2_ SeeGod Meregini_ Change in selection of the right skill from a competitive pool using compensatory model (The Additive Weighting Technique) In this revised blog, I will discuss about the problem I helped resolving using best practices in the office while trying to select the best personnel from a competitive pool. The problem was to select the right skill from a very competitive pool of resources needed for a particular kind of job. For the purpose of this write-up, the feasible alternatives will be called resources (Resource A to Resource E). I was assigned to a team with the responsibility to solve the problem. We gathered data by developing attributes and results for each alternative based on submitted documentations and interviews. We also agreed on some initial selected ranking criteria for each alternative. Please see attached spreadsheet for details. Details of analysis and calculations are in another attached sheet due to the difficulty in attaching to the blog). This made it easy for a selection of the initial preferred alternative based on the perceived technical qualifications. A summary of perceived reasons for the selected alternative (Resource D) were: • Higher long term value to the company • Broader past experience relative to the proposed job • Visible accomplishments in past jobs • Greater Flexibility for the job • Greater familiarity with the job required A lot of these were subjective mainly due to low detail analysis of the attributes for the feasible alternatives. Finally, Resource D was initially recommended. However, I researched on some AACE materials and had to call my team for a rethink based on best practices I discovered. I had to remove the dimension from the data (alternatives/attribute contribution) i.e. using a dimensionless rating. My goal was to devise a procedure that rates each attribute in terms of its fractional accomplishment of the best attainable value. I had researched particularly on chapter 14, Engineering Economy among other AACE materials and used a compensatory Model called the Additive Weighting Technique. My findings led my team brainstorming and agreeing on some new ranking parameters This led to a change of recommendation for Resource B purely based on the weighted score among other things like a SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunities and threats) analysis and Risk management factors. Conclusively, using the Additive Weighting Technique Model which probably is the most popular single-dimensional method reduced the confusion. This allowed for precise definition because it includes both the performance ratings and the importance weights of each attribute when evaluating alternatives.
References 1.Sullivan, W. G., Wicks, E.M., & Koelling, C.P. (2009). Decision making considering multiattributes. In M.J. Horton (Ed.), Engineering economy (14th ed.) (chapter 14) (pp. 602-618). New Jersey, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. 2.AACE International Education Board. (2010).Statistics, probability, & risk. In S.J.Amos (Ed), Skills & knowledge of cost engineering (5th ed) (chapter 31) (pp.31.1-31.9). Morgantown, West Virginia: AACE International. 3.Humphreys, G.C (2002) Introduction to technical risk assessment. Project management using earned value (chapter 3). (pp.67-84). California, CA: Humphreys & Associates, Inc. 4.AACE International Education Board. (2006).Investment decision making In J.K.Hollmann (Ed), Total cost management framework – A process for applying the Skills & knowledge of cost engineering (1st ed) (chapter 3.3.1) (pp.55-63). Morgantown, West Virginia: AACE International.
Week 2_ SeeGod Meregini_ Change in selection of the right skill from a competitive pool using compensatory model (The Additive Weighting Technique) In this revised blog, I will discuss about the problem I helped resolving using best practices in the office while trying to select the best personnel from a competitive pool. The problem was to select the right skill from a very competitive pool of resources needed for a particular kind of job. For the purpose of this write-up, the feasible alternatives will be called resources (Resource A to Resource E). I was assigned to a team with the responsibility to solve the problem. We gathered data by developing attributes and results for each alternative based on submitted documentations and interviews. We also agreed on some initial selected ranking criteria for each alternative. Please see attached spreadsheet for details. Details of analysis and calculations are shown below. This made it easy for a selection of the initial preferred alternative based on the perceived technical qualifications. A summary of perceived reasons for the selected alternative (Resource D) were: • Higher long term value to the company • Broader past experience relative to the proposed job • Visible accomplishments in past jobs • Greater Flexibility for the job • Greater familiarity with the job required A lot of these were subjective mainly due to low detail analysis of the attributes for the feasible alternatives. Finally, Resource D was initially recommended. However, I researched on some AACE materials and had to call my team for a rethink based on best practices I discovered. I had to remove the dimension from the data (alternatives/attribute contribution) i.e. using a dimensionless rating. My goal was to devise a procedure that rates each attribute in terms of its fractional accomplishment of the best attainable value. I had researched particularly on chapter 14, Engineering Economy among other AACE materials and used a compensatory Model called the Additive Weighting Technique. My findings led my team brainstorming and agreeing on some new ranking parameters This led to a change of recommendation for Resource B purely based on the weighted score among other things like a SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunities and threats) analysis and Risk management factors. Conclusively, using the Additive Weighting Technique Model which probably is the most popular single-dimensional method reduced the confusion. This allowed for precise definition because it includes both the performance ratings and the importance weights of each attribute when evaluating alternatives.
References 1.Sullivan, W. G., Wicks, E.M., & Koelling, C.P. (2009). Decision making considering multiattributes. In M.J. Horton (Ed.), Engineering economy (14th ed.) (chapter 14) (pp. 602-618). New Jersey, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. 2.AACE International Education Board. (2010).Statistics, probability, & risk. In S.J.Amos (Ed), Skills & knowledge of cost engineering (5th ed) (chapter 31) (pp.31.1-31.9). Morgantown, West Virginia: AACE International. 3.Humphreys, G.C (2002) Introduction to technical risk assessment. Project management using earned value (chapter 3). (pp.67-84). California, CA: Humphreys & Associates, Inc. 4.AACE International Education Board. (2006).Investment decision making In J.K.Hollmann (Ed), Total cost management framework – A process for applying the Skills & knowledge of cost engineering (1st ed) (chapter 3.3.1) (pp.55-63). Morgantown, West Virginia: AACE International.
Week 2_ SeeGod Meregini_ Change in selection of the right skill from a competitive pool using compensatory model (The Additive Weighting Technique) In this revised blog, I will discuss about the problem I helped resolving using best practices in the office while trying to select the best personnel from a competitive pool. The problem was to select the right skill from a very competitive pool of resources needed for a particular kind of job. For the purpose of this write-up, the feasible alternatives will be called resources (Resource A to Resource E). I was assigned to a team with the responsibility to solve the problem. We gathered data by developing attributes and results for each alternative based on submitted documentations and interviews. We also agreed on some initial selected ranking criteria for each alternative. Please see attached spreadsheet for details. Details of analysis and calculations are shown below. This made it easy for a selection of the initial preferred alternative based on the perceived technical qualifications. A summary of perceived reasons for the selected alternative (Resource D) were: • Higher long term value to the company • Broader past experience relative to the proposed job • Visible accomplishments in past jobs • Greater Flexibility for the job • Greater familiarity with the job required A lot of these were subjective mainly due to low detail analysis of the attributes for the feasible alternatives. Finally, Resource D was initially recommended. However, I researched on some AACE materials and had to call my team for a rethink based on best practices I discovered. I had to remove the dimension from the data (alternatives/attribute contribution) i.e. using a dimensionless rating. My goal was to devise a procedure that rates each attribute in terms of its fractional accomplishment of the best attainable value. I had researched particularly on chapter 14, Engineering Economy among other AACE materials and used a compensatory Model called the Additive Weighting Technique. My findings led my team brainstorming and agreeing on some new ranking parameters This led to a change of recommendation for Resource B purely based on the weighted score among other things like a SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunities and threats) analysis and Risk management factors. Conclusively, using the Additive Weighting Technique Model which probably is the most popular single-dimensional method reduced the confusion. This allowed for precise definition because it includes both the performance ratings and the importance weights of each attribute when evaluating alternatives.
References 1.Sullivan, W. G., Wicks, E.M., & Koelling, C.P. (2009). Decision making considering multiattributes. In M.J. Horton (Ed.), Engineering economy (14th ed.) (chapter 14) (pp. 602-618). New Jersey, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. 2.AACE International Education Board. (2010).Statistics, probability, & risk. In S.J.Amos (Ed), Skills & knowledge of cost engineering (5th ed) (chapter 31) (pp.31.1-31.9). Morgantown, West Virginia: AACE International. 3.Humphreys, G.C (2002) Introduction to technical risk assessment. Project management using earned value (chapter 3). (pp.67-84). California, CA: Humphreys & Associates, Inc. 4.AACE International Education Board. (2006).Investment decision making In J.K.Hollmann (Ed), Total cost management framework – A process for applying the Skills & knowledge of cost engineering (1st ed) (chapter 3.3.1) (pp.55-63). Morgantown, West Virginia: AACE International.
Week 4_Akubo Arome _How do i get my 2500 Words Paper Written? Outsourcing or Self Written
The dilemma been faced by me and some of my colleagues in the Nigeria AACE is how to get our 2500 words paper written. While some has idea of what is required to be done, others do not have a clue on what to do. In my state of indecision, i decided to see this as a project so that i can apply some principles in project management. According to Humphreys (2002), the first step in the earned value project management process is the definition of the project objectives, which include a general description of the technical requirement, its budget and time frame. My technical scope as such is to write a 2500 words paper publishable by AACE within a time frame of one month and a budget of 5000 Nigerian naira.
The two possible available alternatives for me are: (1) To outsource the paper writing wholly and, (2) To get it written by myself.
The two alternatives identified above in my opinion have the following outcome as depicted in table below:
Outsourcing 1. Requires little or no input from me 2. Requires funds for paying the contractor 3. Little or no learning experience from the write up that could be applied in part IV of my CCE certification exams 4. 2500 word paper will be achieved
Self Written 1. Requires my full input 2. Little or no funding required as cost can be covered by general overhead 3. Much learning experience gained to be applied in part IV of CCE certification exams 4. 2500 word paper will be achieved
Having considered the above outcomes from the two alternatives, the most single important selection criteria for me is experience gained from writing the paper which could be applied in the part IV of my CCE certification exams
Contracting out the paper will solve the immediate problem of getting the paper written, however, in the long run, this may not be beneficial for me. This is because f i am able to go through the rigours of writing the paper, the experience gained would help me to navigate through the part IV of my CCE certification exams.
In consideration of my selection criteria, the chosen option is to write the paper myself. This i have started by using the WBS element (Table of Content) which i had earlier submitted for approval and the subsequent approval. The next step is to finish my first draft and submit for review.
Week 4_Akubo Arome _How do i get my 2500 Words Paper Written? Outsourcing or Self Written
The dilemma been faced by me and some of my colleagues in the Nigeria AACE is how to get our 2500 words paper written. While some has idea of what is required to be done, others do not have a clue on what to do. In my state of indecision, i decided to see this as a project so that i can apply some principles in project management. According to Humphreys (2002), the first step in the earned value project management process is the definition of the project objectives, which include a general description of the technical requirement, its budget and time frame. My technical scope as such is to write a 2500 words paper publishable by AACE within a time frame of one month and a budget of 5000 Nigerian naira.
The two possible available alternatives for me are: (1) To outsource the paper writing wholly and, (2) To get it written by myself.
The two alternatives identified above in my opinion have the following outcome as depicted in table below:
Outsourcing 1. Requires little or no input from me 2. Requires funds for paying the contractor 3. Little or no learning experience from the write up that could be applied in part IV of my CCE certification exams 4. 2500 word paper will be achieved
Self Written 1. Requires my full input 2. Little or no funding required as cost can be covered by general overhead 3. Much learning experience gained to be applied in part IV of CCE certification exams 4. 2500 word paper will be achieved
Having considered the above outcomes from the two alternatives, the most single important selection criteria for me is experience gained from writing the paper which could be applied in the part IV of my CCE certification exams
Contracting out the paper will solve the immediate problem of getting the paper written, however, in the long run, this may not be beneficial for me. This is because f i am able to go through the rigours of writing the paper, the experience gained would help me to navigate through the part IV of my CCE certification exams.
In consideration of my selection criteria, the chosen option is to write the paper myself. This i have started by using the WBS element (Table of Content) which i had earlier submitted for approval and the subsequent approval. The next step is to finish my first draft and submit for review.
Week 4_Akubo Arome _How do i get my 2500 Words Paper Written? Outsourcing or Self Written
The dilemma been faced by me and some of my colleagues in the Nigeria AACE is how to get our 2500 words paper written. While some has idea of what is required to be done, others do not have a clue on what to do. In my state of indecision, i decided to see this as a project so that i can apply some principles in project management. According to Humphreys (2002), the first step in the earned value project management process is the definition of the project objectives, which include a general description of the technical requirement, its budget and time frame. My technical scope as such is to write a 2500 words paper publishable by AACE within a time frame of one month and a budget of 5000 Nigerian naira.
The two possible available alternatives for me are: (1) To outsource the paper writing wholly and, (2) To get it written by myself.
The two alternatives identified above in my opinion have the following outcome as depicted in table below:
Outsourcing 1. Requires little or no input from me 2. Requires funds for paying the contractor 3. Little or no learning experience from the write up that could be applied in part IV of my CCE certification exams 4. 2500 word paper will be achieved
Self Written 1. Requires my full input 2. Little or no funding required as cost can be covered by general overhead 3. Much learning experience gained to be applied in part IV of CCE certification exams 4. 2500 word paper will be achieved
Having considered the above outcomes from the two alternatives, the most single important selection criteria for me is experience gained from writing the paper which could be applied in the part IV of my CCE certification exams
Contracting out the paper will solve the immediate problem of getting the paper written, however, in the long run, this may not be beneficial for me. This is because f i am able to go through the rigours of writing the paper, the experience gained would help me to navigate through the part IV of my CCE certification exams.
In consideration of my selection criteria, the chosen option is to write the paper myself. This i have started by using the WBS element (Table of Content) which i had earlier submitted for approval and the subsequent approval. The next step is to finish my first draft and submit for review.
Week 4_Akubo Arome _How do i get my 2500 Words Paper Written? Outsourcing or Self Written
The dilemma been faced by me and some of my colleagues in the Nigeria AACE is how to get our 2500 words paper written. While some has idea of what is required to be done, others do not have a clue on what to do. In my state of indecision, i decided to see this as a project so that i can apply some principles in project management. According to Humphreys (2002), the first step in the earned value project management process is the definition of the project objectives, which include a general description of the technical requirement, its budget and time frame. My technical scope as such is to write a 2500 words paper publishable by AACE within a time frame of one month and a budget of 5000 Nigerian naira.
The two possible available alternatives for me are: (1) To outsource the paper writing wholly and, (2) To get it written by myself.
The two alternatives identified above in my opinion have the following outcome as depicted in table below:
Outsourcing 1. Requires little or no input from me 2. Requires funds for paying the contractor 3. Little or no learning experience from the write up that could be applied in part IV of my CCE certification exams 4. 2500 word paper will be achieved
Self Written 1. Requires my full input 2. Little or no funding required as cost can be covered by general overhead 3. Much learning experience gained to be applied in part IV of CCE certification exams 4. 2500 word paper will be achieved
Having considered the above outcomes from the two alternatives, the most single important selection criteria for me is experience gained from writing the paper which could be applied in the part IV of my CCE certification exams
Contracting out the paper will solve the immediate problem of getting the paper written, however, in the long run, this may not be beneficial for me. This is because f i am able to go through the rigours of writing the paper, the experience gained would help me to navigate through the part IV of my CCE certification exams.
In consideration of my selection criteria, the chosen option is to write the paper myself. This i have started by using the WBS element (Table of Content) which i had earlier submitted for approval and the subsequent approval. The next step is to finish my first draft and submit for review.
Week 4_Akubo Arome _How do i get my 2500 Words Paper Written? Outsourcing or Self Written
The dilemma been faced by me and some of my colleagues in the Nigeria AACE is how to get our 2500 words paper written. While some has idea of what is required to be done, others do not have a clue on what to do. In my state of indecision, i decided to see this as a project so that i can apply some principles in project management. According to Humphreys (2002), the first step in the earned value project management process is the definition of the project objectives, which include a general description of the technical requirement, its budget and time frame. My technical scope as such is to write a 2500 words paper publishable by AACE within a time frame of one month and a budget of 5000 Nigerian naira.
The two possible available alternatives for me are: (1) To outsource the paper writing wholly and, (2) To get it written by myself.
The two alternatives identified above in my opinion have the following outcome as depicted in table below:
Outsourcing 1. Requires little or no input from me 2. Requires funds for paying the contractor 3. Little or no learning experience from the write up that could be applied in part IV of my CCE certification exams 4. 2500 word paper will be achieved
Self Written 1. Requires my full input 2. Little or no funding required as cost can be covered by general overhead 3. Much learning experience gained to be applied in part IV of CCE certification exams 4. 2500 word paper will be achieved
Having considered the above outcomes from the two alternatives, the most single important selection criteria for me is experience gained from writing the paper which could be applied in the part IV of my CCE certification exams
Contracting out the paper will solve the immediate problem of getting the paper written, however, in the long run, this may not be beneficial for me. This is because f i am able to go through the rigours of writing the paper, the experience gained would help me to navigate through the part IV of my CCE certification exams.
In consideration of my selection criteria, the chosen option is to write the paper myself. This i have started by using the WBS element (Table of Content) which i had earlier submitted for approval and the subsequent approval. The next step is to finish my first draft and submit for review.
Week 4_Akubo Arome _How do i get my 2500 Words Paper Written? Outsourcing or Self Written
The dilemma been faced by me and some of my colleagues in the Nigeria AACE is how to get our 2500 words paper written. While some has idea of what is required to be done, others do not have a clue on what to do. In my state of indecision, i decided to see this as a project so that i can apply some principles in project management. According to Humphreys (2002), the first step in the earned value project management process is the definition of the project objectives, which include a general description of the technical requirement, its budget and time frame. My technical scope as such is to write a 2500 words paper publishable by AACE within a time frame of one month and a budget of 5000 Nigerian naira.
The two possible available alternatives for me are: (1) To outsource the paper writing wholly and, (2) To get it written by myself.
The two alternatives identified above in my opinion have the following outcome as depicted in table below:
Outsourcing 1. Requires little or no input from me 2. Requires funds for paying the contractor 3. Little or no learning experience from the write up that could be applied in part IV of my CCE certification exams 4. 2500 word paper will be achieved
Self Written 1. Requires my full input 2. Little or no funding required as cost can be covered by general overhead 3. Much learning experience gained to be applied in part IV of CCE certification exams 4. 2500 word paper will be achieved
Having considered the above outcomes from the two alternatives, the most single important selection criteria for me is experience gained from writing the paper which could be applied in the part IV of my CCE certification exams
Contracting out the paper will solve the immediate problem of getting the paper written, however, in the long run, this may not be beneficial for me. This is because f i am able to go through the rigours of writing the paper, the experience gained would help me to navigate through the part IV of my CCE certification exams.
In consideration of my selection criteria, the chosen option is to write the paper myself. This i have started by using the WBS element (Table of Content) which i had earlier submitted for approval and the subsequent approval. The next step is to finish my first draft and submit for review.
Week 4_Akubo Arome _How do i get my 2500 Words Paper Written? Outsourcing or Self Written
The dilemma been faced by me and some of my colleagues in the Nigeria AACE is how to get our 2500 words paper written. While some has idea of what is required to be done, others do not have a clue on what to do. In my state of indecision, i decided to see this as a project so that i can apply some principles in project management. According to Humphreys (2002), the first step in the earned value project management process is the definition of the project objectives, which include a general description of the technical requirement, its budget and time frame. My technical scope as such is to write a 2500 words paper publishable by AACE within a time frame of one month and a budget of 5000 Nigerian naira.
The two possible available alternatives for me are: (1) To outsource the paper writing wholly and, (2) To get it written by myself.
The two alternatives identified above in my opinion have the following outcome as depicted in table below:
Outsourcing 1. Requires little or no input from me 2. Requires funds for paying the contractor 3. Little or no learning experience from the write up that could be applied in part IV of my CCE certification exams 4. 2500 word paper will be achieved
Self Written 1. Requires my full input 2. Little or no funding required as cost can be covered by general overhead 3. Much learning experience gained to be applied in part IV of CCE certification exams 4. 2500 word paper will be achieved
Having considered the above outcomes from the two alternatives, the most single important selection criteria for me is experience gained from writing the paper which could be applied in the part IV of my CCE certification exams
Contracting out the paper will solve the immediate problem of getting the paper written, however, in the long run, this may not be beneficial for me. This is because f i am able to go through the rigours of writing the paper, the experience gained would help me to navigate through the part IV of my CCE certification exams.
In consideration of my selection criteria, the chosen option is to write the paper myself. This i have started by using the WBS element (Table of Content) which i had earlier submitted for approval and the subsequent approval. The next step is to finish my first draft and submit for review.
Week 4_Akubo Arome _How do i get my 2500 Words Paper Written? Outsourcing or Self Written
Sorry, Akubo, while you can outsource the EDITING of your paper and/or the TRANSLATION of your paper, you cannot outsource the WRITING of your paper. It must be your work.
I have provided a link to the affidavit you have to sign, which will give you a pretty good idea of the parameters you have to work with. As you can see, you must be the PRIMARY author, which means you can have some help (o.e. me and others) but the paper must be MOSTLY your own work.
Another BIG issue is PLAGIARISM. http://www.aacei.org/educ/cert/CCC/plagiarism.shtml
I have uploaded guidelines to help prevent you from plagiarizing the work of others and one of the last things I will be having you do is running anti-plagiarism software.
Wishing you and yours a safe, happy, healthy and PROSPEROUS 2011.
Week 3_ SeeGod Meregini_ Choice on changing my accommodation During this yuletide period, I was faced with a decision to select a plan to change my housing accommodation. The problem was making up my mind on the choice of plan in changing my accommodation. Three proposals and do nothing compose the list of feasible alternatives (choices) in this decision problem. After consultations with my wife, a total of 6 attributes were judged sufficient for the purposes of discriminating among the alternatives. The alternatives were: • Renting a new apartment • Buying a new house on mortgage terms • Building a house • Do nothing – renewing my rent in my current apartment The list of attributes used was: • Cost • Time until completion • Speed to furnish/refurnish(internal) • Need for a loan • Effect on other projects • Change satisfaction We made sure each attribute captured a unique part of the decision problem and all attributes would be sufficient for the purpose of selecting the best alternative. We gathered data by talking to bank officials, estate valuers, lawyers and some friends that accomplished some of the alternatives listed above. A summary of information gathered is shown below: Alternatives Attributes Renting a new apart. Buying a new house Building a house Do nothing Cost $15K $260K $200k $5K Time 1mt 3mts 12mts 0mt Furnish time 3mts 7mts 5mts 0.5mt Loan need Low High Medium None Effect on Prj. High Low Medium None Change satis. Medium High Very High Low
I decided to use a noncompensatory model for two reasons. 1 I wanted non permissible trade-offs among attributes 2 I wanted the comparisons of alternatives to be based on an attribute-by-attribute basis.
Feasible Ranges were also developed. The minimum and maximum acceptable values for each attribute are: Attributes Minimum Accept. Value. Maximum Accept. Value Cost $0 $233K Time 0mt 3mts Furnish time 0mt 4mts Loan needs Medium High Effect on Prj. None Low Change satis Medium Very High When I made comparison of attribute values for each alternatives against the feasible range using the satisficing model, it revealed that none was acceptable. I decided to use the lexicography model after ranking the attributes. Ranking Cost>Time>Loan needs>Effects on other Projects>Change Satisfaction>Furnish time The final choice was Do nothing alternative because cost is the top-ranked attribute and Do nothing alternative is the best of all. I also considered some risk factors while evaluating these alternatives. Conclusively, using a multiattribute decision model helped me reduce making decision using “Gut feelings”. It also enabled me justify my choice using data and proven models. References Sullivan, W. G., Wicks, E.M., & Koelling, C.P. (2009). Decision making considering multiattributes. In M.J. Horton (Ed.), Engineering economy (14th ed.) (chapter 14) (pp. 602-618). New Jersey, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. AACE International Education Board. (2010).Statistics, probability, & risk. In S.J.Amos (Ed), Skills & knowledge of cost engineering (5th ed) (chapter 31) (pp.31.1-31.9). Morgantown, West Virginia: AACE International. Humphreys, G.C (2002) Introduction to technical risk assessment. Project management using earned value (chapter 3). (pp.67-84). California, CA: Humphreys & Associates, Inc. AACE International Education Board. (2006).Investment decision making In J.K.Hollmann (Ed), Total cost management framework – A process for applying the Skills & knowledge of cost engineering (1st ed) (chapter 3.3.1) (pp.55-63). Morgantown, West Virginia: AACE International.
Week 3_ SeeGod Meregini_ Choice on changing my accommodation During this yuletide period, I was faced with a decision to select a plan to change my housing accommodation. The problem was making up my mind on the choice of plan in changing my accommodation. Three proposals and do nothing compose the list of feasible alternatives (choices) in this decision problem. After consultations with my wife, a total of 6 attributes were judged sufficient for the purposes of discriminating among the alternatives. The alternatives were: • Renting a new apartment • Buying a new house on mortgage terms • Building a house • Do nothing – renewing my rent in my current apartment The list of attributes used was: • Cost • Time until completion • Speed to furnish/refurnish(internal) • Need for a loan • Effect on other projects • Change satisfaction We made sure each attribute captured a unique part of the decision problem and all attributes would be sufficient for the purpose of selecting the best alternative. We gathered data by talking to bank officials, estate valuers, lawyers and some friends that accomplished some of the alternatives listed above. A summary of information gathered is shown below: Alternatives Attributes Renting a new apart. Buying a new house Building a house Do nothing Cost $15K $260K $200k $5K Time 1mt 3mts 12mts 0mt Furnish time 3mts 7mts 5mts 0.5mt Loan need Low High Medium None Effect on Prj. High Low Medium None Change satis. Medium High Very High Low
I decided to use a noncompensatory model for two reasons. 1 I wanted non permissible trade-offs among attributes 2 I wanted the comparisons of alternatives to be based on an attribute-by-attribute basis.
Feasible Ranges were also developed. The minimum and maximum acceptable values for each attribute are: Attributes Minimum Accept. Value. Maximum Accept. Value Cost $0 $233K Time 0mt 3mts Furnish time 0mt 4mts Loan needs Medium High Effect on Prj. None Low Change satis Medium Very High When I made comparison of attribute values for each alternatives against the feasible range using the satisficing model, it revealed that none was acceptable. I decided to use the lexicography model after ranking the attributes. Ranking Cost>Time>Loan needs>Effects on other Projects>Change Satisfaction>Furnish time The final choice was Do nothing alternative because cost is the top-ranked attribute and Do nothing alternative is the best of all. I also considered some risk factors while evaluating these alternatives. Conclusively, using a multiattribute decision model helped me reduce making decision using “Gut feelings”. It also enabled me justify my choice using data and proven models. References Sullivan, W. G., Wicks, E.M., & Koelling, C.P. (2009). Decision making considering multiattributes. In M.J. Horton (Ed.), Engineering economy (14th ed.) (chapter 14) (pp. 602-618). New Jersey, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. AACE International Education Board. (2010).Statistics, probability, & risk. In S.J.Amos (Ed), Skills & knowledge of cost engineering (5th ed) (chapter 31) (pp.31.1-31.9). Morgantown, West Virginia: AACE International. Humphreys, G.C (2002) Introduction to technical risk assessment. Project management using earned value (chapter 3). (pp.67-84). California, CA: Humphreys & Associates, Inc. AACE International Education Board. (2006).Investment decision making In J.K.Hollmann (Ed), Total cost management framework – A process for applying the Skills & knowledge of cost engineering (1st ed) (chapter 3.3.1) (pp.55-63). Morgantown, West Virginia: AACE International.
Week 3_ SeeGod Meregini_ Choice on changing my accommodation During this yuletide period, I was faced with a decision to select a plan to change my housing accommodation. The problem was making up my mind on the choice of plan in changing my accommodation. Three proposals and do nothing compose the list of feasible alternatives (choices) in this decision problem. After consultations with my wife, a total of 6 attributes were judged sufficient for the purposes of discriminating among the alternatives. The alternatives were: • Renting a new apartment • Buying a new house on mortgage terms • Building a house • Do nothing – renewing my rent in my current apartment The list of attributes used was: • Cost • Time until completion • Speed to furnish/refurnish(internal) • Need for a loan • Effect on other projects • Change satisfaction We made sure each attribute captured a unique part of the decision problem and all attributes would be sufficient for the purpose of selecting the best alternative. We gathered data by talking to bank officials, estate valuers, lawyers and some friends that accomplished some of the alternatives listed above. A summary of information gathered is shown below: Alternatives Attributes Renting a new apart. Buying a new house Building a house Do nothing Cost $15K $260K $200k $5K Time 1mt 3mts 12mts 0mt Furnish time 3mts 7mts 5mts 0.5mt Loan need Low High Medium None Effect on Prj. High Low Medium None Change satis. Medium High Very High Low
I decided to use a noncompensatory model for two reasons. 1 I wanted non permissible trade-offs among attributes 2 I wanted the comparisons of alternatives to be based on an attribute-by-attribute basis.
Feasible Ranges were also developed. The minimum and maximum acceptable values for each attribute are: Attributes Minimum Accept. Value. Maximum Accept. Value Cost $0 $233K Time 0mt 3mts Furnish time 0mt 4mts Loan needs Medium High Effect on Prj. None Low Change satis Medium Very High When I made comparison of attribute values for each alternatives against the feasible range using the satisficing model, it revealed that none was acceptable. I decided to use the lexicography model after ranking the attributes. Ranking Cost>Time>Loan needs>Effects on other Projects>Change Satisfaction>Furnish time The final choice was Do nothing alternative because cost is the top-ranked attribute and Do nothing alternative is the best of all. I also considered some risk factors while evaluating these alternatives. Conclusively, using a multiattribute decision model helped me reduce making decision using “Gut feelings”. It also enabled me justify my choice using data and proven models. References Sullivan, W. G., Wicks, E.M., & Koelling, C.P. (2009). Decision making considering multiattributes. In M.J. Horton (Ed.), Engineering economy (14th ed.) (chapter 14) (pp. 602-618). New Jersey, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. AACE International Education Board. (2010).Statistics, probability, & risk. In S.J.Amos (Ed), Skills & knowledge of cost engineering (5th ed) (chapter 31) (pp.31.1-31.9). Morgantown, West Virginia: AACE International. Humphreys, G.C (2002) Introduction to technical risk assessment. Project management using earned value (chapter 3). (pp.67-84). California, CA: Humphreys & Associates, Inc. AACE International Education Board. (2006).Investment decision making In J.K.Hollmann (Ed), Total cost management framework – A process for applying the Skills & knowledge of cost engineering (1st ed) (chapter 3.3.1) (pp.55-63). Morgantown, West Virginia: AACE International.
Week 3_ SeeGod Meregini_ Choice on changing my accommodation During this yuletide period, I was faced with a decision to select a plan to change my housing accommodation. The problem was making up my mind on the choice of plan in changing my accommodation. Three proposals and do nothing compose the list of feasible alternatives (choices) in this decision problem. After consultations with my wife, a total of 6 attributes were judged sufficient for the purposes of discriminating among the alternatives. The alternatives were: • Renting a new apartment • Buying a new house on mortgage terms • Building a house • Do nothing – renewing my rent in my current apartment The list of attributes used was: • Cost • Time until completion • Speed to furnish/refurnish(internal) • Need for a loan • Effect on other projects • Change satisfaction We made sure each attribute captured a unique part of the decision problem and all attributes would be sufficient for the purpose of selecting the best alternative. We gathered data by talking to bank officials, estate valuers, lawyers and some friends that accomplished some of the alternatives listed above. A summary of information gathered is shown below: Alternatives Attributes Renting a new apart. Buying a new house Building a house Do nothing Cost $15K $260K $200k $5K Time 1mt 3mts 12mts 0mt Furnish time 3mts 7mts 5mts 0.5mt Loan need Low High Medium None Effect on Prj. High Low Medium None Change satis. Medium High Very High Low
I decided to use a noncompensatory model for two reasons. 1 I wanted non permissible trade-offs among attributes 2 I wanted the comparisons of alternatives to be based on an attribute-by-attribute basis.
Feasible Ranges were also developed. The minimum and maximum acceptable values for each attribute are: Attributes Minimum Accept. Value. Maximum Accept. Value Cost $0 $233K Time 0mt 3mts Furnish time 0mt 4mts Loan needs Medium High Effect on Prj. None Low Change satis Medium Very High When I made comparison of attribute values for each alternatives against the feasible range using the satisficing model, it revealed that none was acceptable. I decided to use the lexicography model after ranking the attributes. Ranking Cost>Time>Loan needs>Effects on other Projects>Change Satisfaction>Furnish time The final choice was Do nothing alternative because cost is the top-ranked attribute and Do nothing alternative is the best of all. I also considered some risk factors while evaluating these alternatives. Conclusively, using a multiattribute decision model helped me reduce making decision using “Gut feelings”. It also enabled me justify my choice using data and proven models. References Sullivan, W. G., Wicks, E.M., & Koelling, C.P. (2009). Decision making considering multiattributes. In M.J. Horton (Ed.), Engineering economy (14th ed.) (chapter 14) (pp. 602-618). New Jersey, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. AACE International Education Board. (2010).Statistics, probability, & risk. In S.J.Amos (Ed), Skills & knowledge of cost engineering (5th ed) (chapter 31) (pp.31.1-31.9). Morgantown, West Virginia: AACE International. Humphreys, G.C (2002) Introduction to technical risk assessment. Project management using earned value (chapter 3). (pp.67-84). California, CA: Humphreys & Associates, Inc. AACE International Education Board. (2006).Investment decision making In J.K.Hollmann (Ed), Total cost management framework – A process for applying the Skills & knowledge of cost engineering (1st ed) (chapter 3.3.1) (pp.55-63). Morgantown, West Virginia: AACE International.
Week 3_ SeeGod Meregini_ Choice on changing my accommodation
EXCELLENT posting, SeeGod!!! Exactly what I am looking for each week. As you progress and develop competency in using the tools and techniques of cost engineering/engineering economics in your personal life, I will be looking for you to apply them in your working life, but right now, this is exactly what I am expecting you to do.
Keep up the good work, but more importantly, as you understand what I am looking for, I will be looking for you to "LEAD BY EXAMPLE" and you can best do that by MENTORING your colleagues.
Happy New Year, and looking forward to future postings from you.
Week 2_ SeeGod Meregini_ Change in selection of the right skill from a competitive pool using compensatory model (The Additive Weighting Technique)
This posting, while on the right track was not specific enough in showing us what you did and how you did it.
Yes, you EXPLAINED how you were going to implement multi-attribute decision making, but you didn't show us any examples of what you did.
In order to get the most out of the course (and prepare you for the difficult Part IV of your exams) I need to be watching to see how you actually set up the problems and then did the calculations.
Your W3 report was much better than your W2 report, although both of them are very much what I am looking for.
Keep up the good work, SeeGod and I hope to see you mentoring your colleagues.
Week 4_ SeeGod Meregini_ Main reason for some personnel with low productivity in my department I work with a lot of stakeholders in getting results for project update and performance The problem was finding the greatest root cause for low personnel productivity that resulted in poor project performance. In carrying out my findings, I came up with a number of causes (feasible alternatives) to this low productivity output by these personnel. The alternatives were: • Leadership behaviour and role • Motivation • Organizational structure • Competency Critical analysis of the outcomes was: • Leadership behaviour and role While recognising that these personnel are not the managers of the projects, they have great influence in coaching and mentoring team members by providing guidance, assistance and feedback that might help individual and by extension the team in producing high performances. These leadership roles were clearly missing from these personnel because of negative attitude and assumptions about people and work Motivation I found out that the drivers (i.e. motivators and demotivators) come mainly from extrinsic (rewards or working conditions) sources for these personnel. While this may not be outrightly bad, it poses a fundamental problem when intrinsic motivation such as personal desire to learn or help others is missing significantly. This is especially true because to have an impact, extrinsic sources must either counter or complement intrinsic sources. • Organizational structure Out of the three structural design framework known i.e. Functional (focus on division of labour or specialization), Divisional (focus on unity of command), and Matrix (focus on tasks), these personnel operated from the matrix. The matrix type gives room for task managers to draw resources from functional and divisional organizations. Sometimes this creates problems because of the shared input given to different projects by these personnel. • Competency This is the skill and knowledge required of an individual to perform a job or function. Knowledge is an understanding gained through experience or study, and skills are abilities that transform knowledge into use I found out that these personnel’s core competencies are not completely needed for the job and hence not correctly tied to enterprise competencies. There were some gaps which was affecting business objectives and strategies. My selection criterion was quantitative perspective i.e. something to plan, measure, and assess In analysing and comparing the alternatives, I came up with the conclusion that competency and leadership is the greatest contributor to excellent personnel performance which is measured in terms of labour productivity. Conclusively, performance can be seen to begin with having competent and capable people. Increased performance outcome is mainly dependent on developing such capability
References Giammalvo, P. D. (2010). AACE Certification Prep Course [PowerPoint slides], Day 4 (pp...) Lagos: Nigeria. Sullivan, W. G., Wicks, E.M., & Koelling, C.P. (2009). Engineering economy and design process. In M.J. Horton (Ed.), Engineering economy (14th ed.) (chapter 1.3) (pp. 27). New Jersey, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. AACE International Education Board. (2010).Performance and productivity management. In S.J.Amos (Ed), Skills & knowledge of cost engineering (5th ed) (chapter 17) Morgantown, WV: AACE International. AACE International Education Board. (2006).People and performance management. In J.K.Hollmann (Ed), Total cost management framework – A process for applying the Skills & knowledge of cost engineering (1st ed) (chapter 11.2.) (pp.240). Morgantown, WV: AACE International. Tate,T, & Stackpole,C. (2006) Applying effective leadership to projects.The advanced project management memory jogger(1st ed) (chapter
Week 4_ SeeGod Meregini_ Main reason for some personnel with low productivity in my department I work with a lot of stakeholders in getting results for project update and performance The problem was finding the greatest root cause for low personnel productivity that resulted in poor project performance. In carrying out my findings, I came up with a number of causes (feasible alternatives) to this low productivity output by these personnel. The alternatives were: • Leadership behaviour and role • Motivation • Organizational structure • Competency Critical analysis of the outcomes was: • Leadership behaviour and role While recognising that these personnel are not the managers of the projects, they have great influence in coaching and mentoring team members by providing guidance, assistance and feedback that might help individual and by extension the team in producing high performances. These leadership roles were clearly missing from these personnel because of negative attitude and assumptions about people and work Motivation I found out that the drivers (i.e. motivators and demotivators) come mainly from extrinsic (rewards or working conditions) sources for these personnel. While this may not be outrightly bad, it poses a fundamental problem when intrinsic motivation such as personal desire to learn or help others is missing significantly. This is especially true because to have an impact, extrinsic sources must either counter or complement intrinsic sources. • Organizational structure Out of the three structural design framework known i.e. Functional (focus on division of labour or specialization), Divisional (focus on unity of command), and Matrix (focus on tasks), these personnel operated from the matrix. The matrix type gives room for task managers to draw resources from functional and divisional organizations. Sometimes this creates problems because of the shared input given to different projects by these personnel. • Competency This is the skill and knowledge required of an individual to perform a job or function. Knowledge is an understanding gained through experience or study, and skills are abilities that transform knowledge into use I found out that these personnel’s core competencies are not completely needed for the job and hence not correctly tied to enterprise competencies. There were some gaps which was affecting business objectives and strategies. My selection criterion was quantitative perspective i.e. something to plan, measure, and assess In analysing and comparing the alternatives, I came up with the conclusion that competency and leadership is the greatest contributor to excellent personnel performance which is measured in terms of labour productivity. Conclusively, performance can be seen to begin with having competent and capable people. Increased performance outcome is mainly dependent on developing such capability
References Giammalvo, P. D. (2010). AACE Certification Prep Course [PowerPoint slides], Day 4 (pp...) Lagos: Nigeria. Sullivan, W. G., Wicks, E.M., & Koelling, C.P. (2009). Engineering economy and design process. In M.J. Horton (Ed.), Engineering economy (14th ed.) (chapter 1.3) (pp. 27). New Jersey, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. AACE International Education Board. (2010).Performance and productivity management. In S.J.Amos (Ed), Skills & knowledge of cost engineering (5th ed) (chapter 17) Morgantown, WV: AACE International. AACE International Education Board. (2006).People and performance management. In J.K.Hollmann (Ed), Total cost management framework – A process for applying the Skills & knowledge of cost engineering (1st ed) (chapter 11.2.) (pp.240). Morgantown, WV: AACE International. Tate,T, & Stackpole,C. (2006) Applying effective leadership to projects.The advanced project management memory jogger(1st ed) (chapter
Week 4_ SeeGod Meregini_ Main reason for some personnel with low productivity in my department I work with a lot of stakeholders in getting results for project update and performance The problem was finding the greatest root cause for low personnel productivity that resulted in poor project performance. In carrying out my findings, I came up with a number of causes (feasible alternatives) to this low productivity output by these personnel. The alternatives were: • Leadership behaviour and role • Motivation • Organizational structure • Competency Critical analysis of the outcomes was: • Leadership behaviour and role While recognising that these personnel are not the managers of the projects, they have great influence in coaching and mentoring team members by providing guidance, assistance and feedback that might help individual and by extension the team in producing high performances. These leadership roles were clearly missing from these personnel because of negative attitude and assumptions about people and work Motivation I found out that the drivers (i.e. motivators and demotivators) come mainly from extrinsic (rewards or working conditions) sources for these personnel. While this may not be outrightly bad, it poses a fundamental problem when intrinsic motivation such as personal desire to learn or help others is missing significantly. This is especially true because to have an impact, extrinsic sources must either counter or complement intrinsic sources. • Organizational structure Out of the three structural design framework known i.e. Functional (focus on division of labour or specialization), Divisional (focus on unity of command), and Matrix (focus on tasks), these personnel operated from the matrix. The matrix type gives room for task managers to draw resources from functional and divisional organizations. Sometimes this creates problems because of the shared input given to different projects by these personnel. • Competency This is the skill and knowledge required of an individual to perform a job or function. Knowledge is an understanding gained through experience or study, and skills are abilities that transform knowledge into use I found out that these personnel’s core competencies are not completely needed for the job and hence not correctly tied to enterprise competencies. There were some gaps which was affecting business objectives and strategies. My selection criterion was quantitative perspective i.e. something to plan, measure, and assess In analysing and comparing the alternatives, I came up with the conclusion that competency and leadership is the greatest contributor to excellent personnel performance which is measured in terms of labour productivity. Conclusively, performance can be seen to begin with having competent and capable people. Increased performance outcome is mainly dependent on developing such capability
References Giammalvo, P. D. (2010). AACE Certification Prep Course [PowerPoint slides], Day 4 (pp...) Lagos: Nigeria. Sullivan, W. G., Wicks, E.M., & Koelling, C.P. (2009). Engineering economy and design process. In M.J. Horton (Ed.), Engineering economy (14th ed.) (chapter 1.3) (pp. 27). New Jersey, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. AACE International Education Board. (2010).Performance and productivity management. In S.J.Amos (Ed), Skills & knowledge of cost engineering (5th ed) (chapter 17) Morgantown, WV: AACE International. AACE International Education Board. (2006).People and performance management. In J.K.Hollmann (Ed), Total cost management framework – A process for applying the Skills & knowledge of cost engineering (1st ed) (chapter 11.2.) (pp.240). Morgantown, WV: AACE International. Tate,T, & Stackpole,C. (2006) Applying effective leadership to projects.The advanced project management memory jogger(1st ed) (chapter
Week 4_ SeeGod Meregini_ Main reason for some personnel with low productivity in my department I work with a lot of stakeholders in getting results for project update and performance The problem was finding the greatest root cause for low personnel productivity that resulted in poor project performance. In carrying out my findings, I came up with a number of causes (feasible alternatives) to this low productivity output by these personnel. The alternatives were: • Leadership behaviour and role • Motivation • Organizational structure • Competency Critical analysis of the outcomes was: • Leadership behaviour and role While recognising that these personnel are not the managers of the projects, they have great influence in coaching and mentoring team members by providing guidance, assistance and feedback that might help individual and by extension the team in producing high performances. These leadership roles were clearly missing from these personnel because of negative attitude and assumptions about people and work Motivation I found out that the drivers (i.e. motivators and demotivators) come mainly from extrinsic (rewards or working conditions) sources for these personnel. While this may not be outrightly bad, it poses a fundamental problem when intrinsic motivation such as personal desire to learn or help others is missing significantly. This is especially true because to have an impact, extrinsic sources must either counter or complement intrinsic sources. • Organizational structure Out of the three structural design framework known i.e. Functional (focus on division of labour or specialization), Divisional (focus on unity of command), and Matrix (focus on tasks), these personnel operated from the matrix. The matrix type gives room for task managers to draw resources from functional and divisional organizations. Sometimes this creates problems because of the shared input given to different projects by these personnel. • Competency This is the skill and knowledge required of an individual to perform a job or function. Knowledge is an understanding gained through experience or study, and skills are abilities that transform knowledge into use I found out that these personnel’s core competencies are not completely needed for the job and hence not correctly tied to enterprise competencies. There were some gaps which was affecting business objectives and strategies. My selection criterion was quantitative perspective i.e. something to plan, measure, and assess In analysing and comparing the alternatives, I came up with the conclusion that competency and leadership is the greatest contributor to excellent personnel performance which is measured in terms of labour productivity. Conclusively, performance can be seen to begin with having competent and capable people. Increased performance outcome is mainly dependent on developing such capability
References Giammalvo, P. D. (2010). AACE Certification Prep Course [PowerPoint slides], Day 4 (pp...) Lagos: Nigeria. Sullivan, W. G., Wicks, E.M., & Koelling, C.P. (2009). Engineering economy and design process. In M.J. Horton (Ed.), Engineering economy (14th ed.) (chapter 1.3) (pp. 27). New Jersey, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. AACE International Education Board. (2010).Performance and productivity management. In S.J.Amos (Ed), Skills & knowledge of cost engineering (5th ed) (chapter 17) Morgantown, WV: AACE International. AACE International Education Board. (2006).People and performance management. In J.K.Hollmann (Ed), Total cost management framework – A process for applying the Skills & knowledge of cost engineering (1st ed) (chapter 11.2.) (pp.240). Morgantown, WV: AACE International. Tate,T, & Stackpole,C. (2006) Applying effective leadership to projects.The advanced project management memory jogger(1st ed) (chapter
Week 4_ SeeGod Meregini_ Main reason for some personnel with low productivity in my department
Good posting, SeeGod!!!! You picked an appropriate and relevant topic and have started applying "cost engineering/engineering economics" thinking to develop "solutions" to the problem.
You did great on Steps 1-5, but were weak on Step 6, choosing your preferred alternatives. You identified them, but didn't tell us WHY you selected those over the others. In applied Engineering Economics/Cost Engineering, you need to justify or support your recommendations.
Also, you missed Step 7, which is to explain how you are going to monitor/control whatever interventions you recommend. How do we (as your management) know that what you recommended is or is not working?
Week 4_ SeeGod Meregini_ Main reason for some personnel with low productivity in my department
PS: SeeGod, you did an OUTSTANDING job also, with your citations. You were very specific, to the chapter and even page that you were referencing. Keep up the good work!!!
Week#5_Monigha Idubamo_ poor contracting and over valuation
As the Vice-Chairman staff co-operative society estate development steering committee. I was recently asked to co-ordinate the re-award of the estate’s perimeter fence. A look at previous fence contract awarded in the past indicated that project was poorly done and so much money paid for little or nothing.
Upon assumption of duty, we asked for the scope of the previous contract and found out that there was none, other than quote on which the contract was negotiated and awarded. The intent was to find out what went wrong and we discovered that there was no proper selection process for the past contractor and he was paid without a measure of valued work pay mechanism.
In my capacity as the project adviser, I suggested the following:
A. Bidders’ selection through Technical pre-qualification. In line with above, invitation was sent out to about twenty three contractors. Seventeen of them returned bid and six others did not. A panel with set criteria evaluated and twelve were successful into the commercial round. Presently, the commercial bid has just been concluded awaiting recommendation for award.
B. Payment to be based on earned value system This met a lot of reservation from other members of the steering committee and the society’s management committee. When the process was explained, they accepted and asked that it be done similarly to the successful bidders during the commercial pre-bid meeting. – 1it was explained to the bidders that the days of poor quality and advance payment were over. They all agreed to abide with the new way of working. 2Criteria for payment will be based on the following: i. Physical site inspection of extent or work. ii Work must be in conformance with technical specification through QC inspection Reports/Tests. iii. Contractual obligations met.
The first test of the earned value system is in place already with the design consultant. Their milestone payment was reduced to earned value for not meeting up with design of a retaining wall stipulated in their scope; the true value of the retaining wall scope was deducted.
The general lesson learnt here is that we should use only contractors that are capable using the right selection process and pay for only what is deserved. As the project progresses, we shall be informed of its progress and final outcome.
References: 1. Pearl Garden Estate Minutes of meeting 21/12/2010, page 2 item 2.9 2. AACE Certification Preparation Course Material, Dr. Paul Giammalvo November 2010; Page 47 of 94.
WEEK4_OLERU_AUGUSTINE_CHALLENGES OF PROJECT EXECUTION IN NIGER-DELTA REGION
It is evident to know that project implementation and execution has encountered a lot of impediment in the present time and effort to mitigate against it has proved abortive. However, this paper will briefly look at this barrier with focus on Niger-Delta region of Nigeria.
Communal crisis has been one of the major contributory factors to the hindrance of project execution in Niger-Delta region of Nigeria. Over time, companies in this region have been faced with war, conflict, misunderstanding etc due to disagreement between members of the host and companies operating in that community. This has resulted in loss of capacity by companies working in these areas.
Unavailability of source raw material has also contributed to this challenge. Communities within this region lacks basic amenities like good portable water, electricity etc. These amenities facilitate project execution within the region. Result shows that average of 85 percent of the construction companies in this zone spend one third of their annual profit in water availability.
Inadequate manpower and human resources are some of the contributory factor to this obstruction. Research had proved that 75 percent of the total population in this area are literates and the remaining fractions that are educated are not well trained. As a result of this inadequacies development has really crashed in this zone.
Youth restiveness has also added to this barrier in this region. Most of the youth in this area between the ages of 16 to 35 years have ruthlessly imposed themselves to companies operating this area for employment. This has left these companies with a lot of tension and panic.
In conclusion, if communal crisis, youth restiveness, inadequate manpower and human resources are not check, project execution will continue to suffer a lot of difficulties in Niger-Delta. References 1. Niger Delta Development Commission manual 2010 2. Why Cost and schedule Overruns in Mega Oil Sands Projects? By Dr J. Ruwanpura & Dr. G. Jergeas.
WK 4_TONY_RISK TRANSFER We encounter risk in our everyday life. To sit on a plastic chair for example is a risk; it could break under your weight. Risk is an uncertain event that has a probability of occurance. According to Alan J. Chilcott 2010, Risk refers to those dangerous activities or factors that, if they occur, will increase the probability that the project’s goals of time, cost and performance will not be met [1]. This definition tends to see risk as having only negative impacts on project but risk can also have positive impact. Where the impact of a risk is positive it is an opportunity. To move forward with any project you need to manage the associated risks. Risks do not stop a project; they only help you take informed decisions on the project. In managing risk you can either, avoid, accept, mitigate or transfer the risk. To transfer risk is to move it to another party to handle. It is further defined as to contractually outsource the work or buy insurance to transfer the risk to a third party [2]. Risk should be transferred only to a party that can better handle it. There is the problem of project owners retaining risk that are better handled by others. On a particular project a client paid tens of millions of dollars to a contractor as standby time claim as a result of security challenges. This huge cost could have been reduced if the contractor had managed this risk. I say this because the contractor would have done everything within its power to reduce the standby time since he has a fixed allowance in his contract to cater for this risk. Furthermore militancy which was responsible for this security risk is targeted at the Asset Owner and not the contractor. The contractor therefore would have a better deal with the militants. Some reasons why project owners retain risk they ought to transfer are; • False impression created by Project Owners in-house staff of their ability to manage all risks • No good basis of estimating the impact by contractors • High cost of transferring the risk. Some alternatives to handling a security risk are: 1. To share this risk with the contractor with an agreed cost assigned to the risk, in case it occurs. If it does not occur the contractor retains the allowed sum and if it occurs and beyond the allowed cost, the contractor bears the extra cost. This will motivate the contractor to work towards the prevention of the occurrence of this risk and also minimise its impact if it occurs. 2. Transfer the risk 100% to the contractor and put in a line item in the commercial bid for this risk so it can be compared with other bidders to ensure it is reasonable. This should be deducted if the risk did not occur; where it exceeds the quoted sum the contractors bears the extra cost. Both alternatives are good but alternative 1 with incentive is better as it serves as motivation to the contractor. References 1. Chilcott, A.,Risk Management-A developing Field of Study and Application. Cost Engineering Vol. 52/No. 9 September 2010 2. Tate, K., and Stackpole, C., Pg 88 Managing Project Risk. The Advanced Project Management Memory Jogger
WEEK5_OLERU_AUGUSTINE_NEED FOR PROJECT MANAGEMENT FOR NIGERIAN ENGINEERS
Over the years, Nigerian Engineers that handles Nigerian projects are found be less productive. Most of the executed projects done by these engineers suffer immense dilapidation and deformation and are done with wide gap from the original project objective. Hence, this situation pose a great trait to industries where these engineers deliver their services. Therefore, it calls for mandatory training for all Nigerian engineers.
Nigeria engineers require good project management training in order to be more efficient and effective in project delivery services. Any work done efficiently reduces time spent on that work cost of work and increases quality of project. Since time is one the determinant factors of any organisation profitability. Nigerian engineer need to be highly efficient in his job. In the other hand, effectiveness brings out the quality of work done and has serious cost implication in the organisation. Therefore should not be neglected.
This can achieve reduction of wastage in projects, bridging the gap between organisation aspect of the project and technical aspect, and creating more jobs through reducing the unemployment level in the country.
This could be done by making a legislation for mandatory Project management training in both the academic curriculum and on the professional level for all Nigerian engineers.
However, if Nigerian engineers are given project management training, there will be high level of productivity in the organisation where these engineers render their services. More so, profitability will be at higher level which enables companies to pay their taxes and invest more in Nigeria, thereby contributing immense to the growth of the nation.
Finally, if productivity increase, contracts are executed more efficiently and effectively and unemployment is reduce, there will be increase in the growth and development in Nigeria economy.
References Nigerian society of Engineers 2009 Paper (Dr. C Nwolu.)
Week 3_John Agbo_ Choice of paint for structural steel structures close to the sea shore I am currently on a construction project for a tank farm situated approx 50m from the sea shore. Due to the nature of the proximity of the site to the sea, the atmosphere is very salty therefore corrosion of structural steel members is very imminent. I am currently faced with the challenge of recommending to my management, the type of paint to be used for the steel members. I took 2 steel sample and applied the following paint types on each sample: 1. Gloss Paint applied over Red Oxide paint 2. Epoxy paint
1. Gloss paint applied over Red Oxide paint: after preparing the steel surfaces and application of these paints, I left them exposed for 2 weeks. Cost Implication of using gloss paint with red oxide paint undercoat: 2 Coats of Red oxide as under coat : 1m2 @ $30/m2 = $30 1 Coat of gloss paint as final coat : 1m2 @ $20/m2 = $20 Labor for painting(undercoat & final):1m2 @ $3/m2 = $3 TOTAL COST PER M2 FOR GLOSS PAINT OPTION = $ 53 2. Epoxy paint : after preparing the steel surfaces and application of this paints, I left them exposed for 2 weeks. Cost Implication of using epoxy paint: 2 Coats of epoxy paint : 1m2 @ $54/m2 = $54 Cost of thinner(to be mixed with epoxy paint) required per m2 : 1m2 @ $15/m2 = $15 Labor for painting:1m2 @ $3/m2 = $3 TOTAL COST PER M2 FOR EPOXY PAINT OPTION = $ 72 Analysis and findings At the expiration of 2 weeks, it was discovered that the steel members coated with gloss paint were completely corroded while the surfaces coated with epoxy paint were still intact. It was discovered that epoxy paints, when used in the terrain, could last for close to a year before it is repainted. Conclusion and recommendation From the cost analysis, the establishment cost of epoxy paint is higher but the running / maintenance cost will be cheaper in the long run since repainting will be carried out every 9 months as against gloss paint that will not withstand the terrain for 2 weeks. I will recommend the use of Epoxy paint to my Management.
References: 1. Chapter 2, Skills and Knowledge of Cost Engineering. 5th Edition Revised. 2. GAO Cost Estimating and Assessment Guide. Best Practices for developing and managing capital Program Costs
Welcome to the Naijacce blogosphere.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy yourselves!
brilliant mate
ReplyDeleteI really dont know whats going on....just seems i can add a comment to your blog post
ReplyDeleteGREAT JOB ABIOLA
ReplyDeleteAnything
ReplyDeletesplendid..we sure will settle in gradually.
ReplyDeleteHi folks,
ReplyDeleteTo make tracking simple and efficient, I would like you to use the following naming convention:
Week-Your Name-Title or Topic
Example- W1-Dr.Paul-Introduction
This will make it very easy for the project manager to track and report on the weekly blog postings.
Thanks and welcome aboard.
Dr. PDG, Lagos, Nigeria
http://www.build-project-management-competency.com
We will make it as we work smart. God help us all.
ReplyDeleteGood to go all. Really worth the exposure to Dr Paul's world class PM delivery.
ReplyDeleteHi Guys,
ReplyDelete2 weeks behind schedule, another great paper topic, lets wake up from our slumber!!!
Hi Abiola,
ReplyDeleteSince we have resolved to create a new blog with another name, can you send the link for the new blog?
Thanks
Wk2-Lanre Giwa - New Blog
Hi All,
ReplyDeleteOur blog name has been changed to NigeriaAACE.
Just checking the system..... Looking forward to seeing your W1 blog postings on Bruce Tuckman and his relevance to managing our team.
ReplyDeleteBR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta
WK 1.0- JOHN AGBO - Bruce Tuckman Assignment.
ReplyDelete1. Base on my survey, the results show that we are at Tuckman's perfoming stage.
a)Observable behaviours - The team leader tries to keep order and contributes to the task at hand.-Responsibilities are shared.-We have set procedures to ensure that things are orderly and run smooth.
2. Leadership style - Participating / Detatched delegation.
References- http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/teamsuv.html, http://www.businessballs.com/tuckmanformingstormingnormingperforming.html.
Hello Dr. Paul, I do not know if this meets the format for week 1 blog postings. Do I need to further break it down into the format you quoted (Engineering Economy, 14th Edition, page 27, Table 1-1)?I can understand that for Wk2.If so please respond.Meanwhile,some of us are still expecting the Engineering Economy to be supplied to us for future refs.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWK1 - John Agbo - Tuckman's Assignment
ReplyDelete1) Based on the survey I took, we are at the perfoming Stage.
a)Team leader tries to order and contribute to the task at hand. - Responsibilities are shared, - We have set procedures to ensure that things are orderly and run smooth.
2) participating / Detached delegation.
Is the posting for wk1 ok in this format.Wk2 may be easier to break down into the format you quoted(Engineering Economy, 14th Edition, page 27, Table 1-1).
Also note that most of us are still expecting the Engineering Economy(just incase you need to refer us to it).
Response to W1_John Agbo_Tuckman.
ReplyDeleteHi John, I would have liked to see a bit more of a formal response, and I would prefer to see it phrased roughly according to the outline shown on Table 1-1 of Engineering Economy, page 27. (And if someone can make a photocopy, scan it in and pass it around, that would be fine)
In this assignment (Tuckman analysis), the problem/opportunity statement would be we need to be able to know what stages the team is in as it will change our leadership styles.
The feasible alternatives would be Forming, Storming, Norming or Performing. (Adjourning would almost certainly be eliminated as an option)
The development of the outcomes would be your analysis of which ones are PROBABLY the most likely.
The selection of the criteria would come from an analysis of the handouts in your supplemental section of the hard binder or from other research.
The analysis would come from your individual score on the assessment questionair vs those of your colleagues.
The selection of the preferred alternative would reflect the consensus of the group and the conclusion would be which leadership style is appropriate for the project and program managers to be using given the current stage this team is in.
The performance monitoring part will come from time to time in the future, I will ask you to revisit this assignment and assess where you are and what management style you should be using.
Does this answer the question sufficiently enough?
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta
PS: John, while you arrived at a conclusion, you failed to support your conclusion with any facts nor did you collaborate with your team members to see if there was consensus.
ReplyDeleteWhile you may well be right, that you are in the performing stages, you need to back that up by referencing the observable behaviors from the supplemental handouts.
You also need to explain clearly what management style should the project managers/program managers be adopting and why.
Hi guys, please update your profile on the blog site especially your pictures. you can download your personal pixs from the yahoo group folder.
ReplyDeletetanx.
WK1- LANRE GIWA - APPROVAL OF PROJECT PLAN
ReplyDelete1. The Project plan,scheduled to have been approved by 29th nov 2010 did not sail through until about 7th Dec 2010 before an official NTP was issued.
2.If a possible risk of a week long delay was identified by the team during the face to face session and was rated high, the team could have worked hard enough to clean up the plan in the class or could have properly delegated responsibilities to individuals to tidy up.
3. Due to alignment issues(forming stage of the team) and not fully understanding what the team had to do, some ends were left open ended. The general challenge of unreliable internet service also impacted on communication during the weekly meeting.
4.Subsequently,i would recommend that for the team to achieve a deliverable on schedule, a proper risk analysis has to be carried out and individuals sould take ownership of action item(s) to mitigate it.Secondly,it is important for the team to improve on communication.
5. The recommendation may be evaluated by applying these basic principles and check the expected dates and actual dates of the deliverable.
Good evening..we got a tasking week ahead and the holiday season will definitly affect our productivity. Guys it is not enough to aportion lost days with more time in the post-season days. It is only obvious that even with no season the targets seems more and more tasking with little or no time. All hand must be on deck henceforth as an appeal.
ReplyDeleteWEEK 1.0: EVALUATING MY TEAMS DEVELOPMENT AND BEHAVIOUR – the Tukman’s Forming Storming Norming Performing Model
ReplyDeleteThe importance of knowing a teams’ behaviour cannot be over emphasized and as such, evaluating a team’s behaviour occasionally would help its members know the team current status and where it intends to be.
There are several techniques for evaluating a team’s behaviour such as the Tukman’s Forming Storming Norming and Performing model, Tannenbaum and Schmidt’s continuum, and Hersey’s and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership model.
STAGES IN A TEAM’S DEVELOPMENT
1. Forming: The first stage in group development, characterized by much uncertainty
2. Storming: the second stage in group development, characterized by intragroup conflict
3. Norming: the third stage in group development, characterized by close relationships and cohesiveness
4. Performing: the fourth stage in group development, when the group is fully functional
5. Adjourning: the final stage in group development for temporary groups, characterized by concern with wrapping up activities rather than task performance.
On application of the Tukman model, our team was found to be in the “performing” stage. Some of the behaviours displayed by the team that suggest we are in the performing stage includes the following; a mindset that shows we are all in it together and shares responsibility for the team success or failure, team leader tries to keep order and contributes to the task at hand, and all have accepted each other as member of the team.
A team must continuously practice those identified behavioural traits relevant at the performing stage, or risk slipping away from it. In other to maintain its position in this stage, there are certain leadership style which its leaders should exhibit, such as constant communication with all members of the team, impartial dealings with members, and also effective collaboration with members before important decisions are taken, among others
Though other models can equally be used in evaluating a team’ behaviour, the Tukman forming storming norming performing model is quite popular among managers in most organisation.
REFERENCE:
Group Behaviour, Prof. M. Thenmozhi, Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Madras. Email:mtm@iitm.ac.in
WEEK 2.0: CHOICE OF PAPER TOPIC FOR MY AACE CCE CERTIFICATION
ReplyDeleteSelecting a paper topic during my week-long AACE face-to-face program in Lagos was a bit challenging for me.
I had a lot of vague topics in my mind ranging from my immediate work environment to the broader society. Despite being guided by Dr. Paul’s numerous examples on possible paper topic of interest, I wanted to generate my own idea, and which must be related to the practice of project management/project execution in my country.
Having such a mindset, I was able to narrow my choice of topics to the following:
1. Challenges to effective project delivery in the Niger Delta
2. Why project management is not working
3. Impact of poor front end planning to projects
Challenges to project delivery in the Niger delta has always been a problem for all categories of contractor/companies I have worked with in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria. One common complaint by all companies I had contact with was lack of satisfaction with performance at the end of the project, even when such project seems successful. This dissatisfaction usually centred on costs overrun, schedule slippage, lack of competitiveness, etc
The problem with “why project management is not working” has generated a lot of concerns recently, with numerous solutions being proffered.
Impact of poor front end planning to projects still affects project objectives even with an excellent project execution phase.
Though the above topics have a lot of similarity, I was only concern with one that has much impact in my current work and profession, provide insights to factors that guarantee project success peculiar to locality and one that gives adequate information that would aid both local and foreign project managers in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria.
Consequently, I came up with “Challenges to Effective Project Delivery in the Niger Delta” after the above considerations.
I just submitted the draft table of content to Dr. Paul through my project manager, and I hope to scale through.
I fully surport ID,
ReplyDeleteAustin Oleru
Week 2.0 Polygamy in Nigeria could emerge as a solution to large unmarried female population
ReplyDeleteAlternatives
1. Monogamy
Monogamy People say it’s easier, less fighting, legal, consistency. On the other hand some people get bored. During fights there is no outside influence to assist, less income; one will probably have to stay home to take care of children, meaning there is half the income, with more expense.
2. Polyandry.
Although it is generally accepted that females can gain material benefits by mating with more than one male, the proposal that polyandry provides genetic benefits remains controversial, largely because direct experimental support is lacking. Here, we report the results of a study testing for genetic benefits to polyandry in the pseudoscorpion Cordylochernes scorpioides.
This is regarded as unacceptable to most male population
My Assessment
In the 2005 population census a state like Rivers has the following distribution for a seven year sample of age bracket 18 -44yrs, there are still intensive research on why female population is larger in most southern states of Nigeria as there distribution is almost same with rivers state as shown in this distribution.
Year
In the years of study there is consistent 14% to 25% gap that needed to be filled by male population
This analysis clearly show that if monogamy is maintained reasonable number of responsible women who want to enjoy married life will end up not getting married.
This is represented by the indicator of the annual differential in the population according to sex.
Recommendations:-
If about 10 to 15% of male population takes on polygamy, the psychological trauma of the unmarried women will largely reduce more so more people around to help pay bills, take care of children, take care of house work/yard work. If two are fighting, they can turn to the other(s) in the relationship for their opinion. More love and support for everyone.
It will reduce the risk of STD’s as you will be sure of the persons you are in relationship with especially prolific Nigerian males.
From we will go back to our tradition al family values, and tolerance
References
Jeanne A. Zeh, †‡ and David W. Zeh†
*Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204-5513
“1993, National Review Inc, 215 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10016”.
WK1_TONY_NigeriaAACE Present Stage in Team Development
ReplyDelete“Teams like individuals, progress through various stages in their life cycle. Each stage of development holds its own unique relationships and demonstrated behaviours. The stages of team development must be understood by team members and leaders in order to recognize the signals that indicate normal team growth and development” . Bruce Tuckman identified four stages (initially) in his team development model and these are Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing . Nigeria AACE team is now in the Forming stage.
The observable behaviours/actions that support my observation are, first agreements among members (team governance agreement, meeting mode etc), uncertainty on how to quickly tackle the deliverables required to obtain the notice to proceed (NTP), disorderliness in weekly meetings, heavy dependence on programme/ deputy program manager for the way forward, attempts to define group behavior, for example, what to do with people who don’t attend weekly meetings etc.
The management style the programme managers should be using is directing.
The problem at this stage as I see it is that we came from the face to face without a clear understanding of what is required to get notice to proceed (NTP) which effectively commences work in the distance learning mode (DLM). The result is that we are a 1.5 weeks late in starting the works slated for the DLM mode.
There are two alternative solutions that I am proposing:
1. The face to face programme should be elongated to include one full day for the team to complete and sign off all the deliverables required to obtain the client’s notice to proceed.
2. The face to face programme remains unchanged but the programme manager clearly spells out the 1st week post face to face deliverables and how to go about them. It should include a risk analysis with mitigation actions
The possible outcomes for alternative 1 are,
1. Team would directly focus on paper project immediately after face to face.
2. We would not have delays
3. We would avoid the pressure we are in right now to deliver two weeks work in one week.
The possible outcomes for alternative 2 are;
1. Have the NTP deliverables completed early in the week following face and obtain the NTP
2. Team would understand their priority and not jump the gun in selecting topic before NTP
3. Would have alternative actions for identified risk, for instance alternative group name etc
4. Team members would clearly know their deliverables and avoid a situation where certain persons have to rescue some pms who did not know they were to deliver on some items
The key performance indicators for my assessment of the alternatives are, get NTP (notice to proceed) not later than the second day of the week following face to face, submission of paper topic and 1st blog posting done the 1st week after face to face
Of the two alternatives, alternative two carries a higher risk, the mitigation plans may even fail. Unknown unknown risk could even occur and that would derail or delay the programme.
Alternative 1, that is, extend programme by 1 day to enable completion and sign off before leaving face to face has lower risk and would better engineer success as per the KPIs above.
WK1_TONY_NigeriaAACE Present Stage in Team Development
ReplyDelete“Teams like individuals, progress through various stages in their life cycle. Each stage of development holds its own unique relationships and demonstrated behaviours. The stages of team development must be understood by team members and leaders in order to recognize the signals that indicate normal team growth and development” . Bruce Tuckman identified four stages (initially) in his team development model and these are Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing . Nigeria AACE team is now in the Forming stage.
The observable behaviours/actions that support my observation are, first agreements among members (team governance agreement, meeting mode etc), uncertainty on how to quickly tackle the deliverables required to obtain the notice to proceed (NTP), disorderliness in weekly meetings, heavy dependence on programme/ deputy program manager for the way forward, attempts to define group behavior, for example, what to do with people who don’t attend weekly meetings etc.
The management style the programme managers should be using is directing.
The problem at this stage as I see it is that we came from the face to face without a clear understanding of what is required to get notice to proceed (NTP) which effectively commences work in the distance learning mode (DLM). The result is that we are a 1.5 weeks late in starting the works slated for the DLM mode.
There are two alternative solutions that I am proposing:
1. The face to face programme should be elongated to include one full day for the team to complete and sign off all the deliverables required to obtain the client’s notice to proceed.
2. The face to face programme remains unchanged but the programme manager clearly spells out the 1st week post face to face deliverables and how to go about them. It should include a risk analysis with mitigation actions
The possible outcomes for alternative 1 are,
1. Team would directly focus on paper project immediately after face to face.
2. We would not have delays
3. We would avoid the pressure we are in right now to deliver two weeks work in one week.
The possible outcomes for alternative 2 are;
1. Have the NTP deliverables completed early in the week following face and obtain the NTP
2. Team would understand their priority and not jump the gun in selecting topic before NTP
3. Would have alternative actions for identified risk, for instance alternative group name etc
4. Team members would clearly know their deliverables and avoid a situation where certain persons have to rescue some pms who did not know they were to deliver on some items
The key performance indicators for my assessment of the alternatives are, get NTP (notice to proceed) not later than the second day of the week following face to face, submission of paper topic and 1st blog posting done the 1st week after face to face
Of the two alternatives, alternative two carries a higher risk, the mitigation plans may even fail. Unknown unknown risk could even occur and that would derail or delay the programme.
Alternative 1, that is, extend programme by 1 day to enable completion and sign off before leaving face to face has lower risk and would better engineer success as per the KPIs above.
Week 1.0-SeeGod-Tuckman Team (AACE Nigeria) Assessment
ReplyDeleteIn this week blog, I will discuss about the team assessment using Tuckman’s model.
At this stage of our team’s alignment, and using the survey in the link as shown http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/teamsuv.html, i conclude that we are in the ‘Norming’ stage.
The reason for the above analytic decision is because of the following reasons below;
• Agreement and consensus is largely formed among the team.
• Facilitation by various leaders (PM/DPM) is well responded to.
• There is also general respect for the leader and some of leadership is shared by the team.
• Furthermore, roles and responsibilities are clear and accepted.
• Smaller decisions are delegated to individuals or small teams within group
The leadership style recommended to be used by the program/project managers during this stage of team development should be Participating mode.
This is because the team is growing confident working without close supervision and direction by the leaders. Participating style of leadership would enhance better commitment and foster trust among team members.
The reason why i do not think the team is at the performing stage is shown below;
• Team is deficient in being strategically aware with a clear understanding of why it is doing what it is doing.
• Team cannot stand on its own feet with no interference or participation from the leader.
• The team needs to be instructed or assisted.
• Team members always ask for assistance from the leader with personal and interpersonal development.
• Leader cannot delegate and oversee at this stage.
Finally, i believe with more participating leadership style, the AACE Nigeria team members would reach the performing stage in Tuckmans’ Model.
Bibliography
Giammalvo, P. D. (2010). Day 3: AACE Certification Prep Course [PowerPoint slides]. Lagos: Nigeria.
Tuckman's forming storming norming performing model
Week 1.0-Akubo Arome-Tuckman Team (AACE Nigeria) Assessment
ReplyDeleteUnderstanding team’s development stages is critical for the overall success or failures of the team. The problem for the focus of this discussion is to determine which of the Tuckman’s stages of team development is Nigeria AACE?
Using Tuckman’s 1965 team development model by completing the questionnaires relating to characteristics of teams, i concluded from the scoring that Nigeria AACE is at the FORMING stage.
This assertion is supported by the fact that the team depends on the leader eg Dr Paul for guidance and direction. Members of the team are not very clear of their roles and responsibilities and in some cases are not aware of task and targets including deadlines.
In conclusion, i feel it is normal for Nigeria AACE to be at this stage of team development given that the team is barely two weeks old. With strong will to understand and solve assigned task and target, the team eventually will get to the performing stage soon.
Week 2 – Abandonment of public funded project after collection of upfront payment.
ReplyDeleteThe problem statement
With many meaningful Projects abandoned all over the Region. The affected projects include hospitals, school buildings, canalization, highways and electricity.
The panacea
This is simple, pay based on earned value management process and use of only technically capable contractors
Earned value management
What is to be valued in this context? A project! Let us start by defining what a project is. (2) A project consists of a defined objective to develop or produce a new product, capability or to expand capacity within a specified time frame and budget. (3) A project is a temporary effort to create a unique product or service. Projects usually include constraints and risks regarding cost, schedule or performance outcome. What is value? American Billionaire Warren Buffet quote as the definition of value related to project delivery. (4) Price is what you pay. Value is what you get. What then is earned value management in project delivery? (3) Earned value management is the process of defining and controlling the project so that the project objectives are met. (5) EVM is an integrated management control system for assessing, understanding and quantifying what a contractor or field activity is achieving with program dollars. (6) It is a systematic project management process used to find variances in projects based on the comparison of worked performed and work planned.
The Earned value for variable budget using Quantity Adjusted Budget (QAB):
A quantity adjusted budget (QAB) varies directly with the quantity of work and is calculated by multiplying the budgeted workhour rates (and/or dollar rates) by the actual work quantities.
Measuring Work progress using Cost ratio:
Percent complete = actual cost or workhours to date divided by Forecast at completion
Using only capable contractors.
We have discussed about earned value management the firstly. Now the other part is the use of only competent contractors, in the execution of government projects as observed in the execution of multi-billion dollars projects. Good examples of such projects are in the oil and gas industry, where the IOCs perform a pre-qualification exercise and pick only those technically capable of executing such projects. A good repository for such pre-qualification reference is the IOC/NOC JV NIPEX Joint Qualification portal: https://www.nipexng.com/irj/servlet/prt/portal/prtroot/com.sap.portal.navigation.portallauncher.anonymous
Conclusion
If earned value management and proper pre-qualification becomes the pivot for most public projects in Nigeria. We will not have projects abandoned everywhere in the country.intention.
On the long run these will guarantee completed projects, zero tolerance to corruption and accountability.
Recommendations
All levels of government ministries should apply EVM and transparent contractor selection in support of due process. There should be the aggressive introduction of EVM in all national planning activities and regular workshops organized for earned value management. A systematic approach is to forward this paper for follow-up with any interested government agency. Change they say is difficult - Slowly but surely we will enter the world of paying for only that which merits all conditions of a thorough finished product.
References.
12.Project Management Using Earned Value, Humphries and Associates 2002
3.James R. Chapman 1997 http://www.hyperthot.com/pm_intro.htm
4.Warren Buffet quote copied from http://www.valuequotes.net/ 2003-2010
5.NASA from http://evm.nasa.gov/
6.Earned Value Management Explained by Umesh Dwivedi, PMP copied from http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/earned-value-management-explained.html
7.Dr. Joseph J. Orczyk, PE CCE - Skills & Knowledge of Cost Engineering
Fifth Edition 2010
Week 2 – Abandonment of public funded project after collection of upfront payment.
ReplyDeleteThe problem statement
There too many meaningful Projects abandoned all over the Region
The panacea
This is simple, pay based on earned value management process and use of only technically capable contractors!
Earned value management
What is to be valued in this context? A project! Let us start by defining what a project is. (2) A project consists of a defined objective to develop or produce a new product, capability or to expand capacity within a specified time frame and budget. A project is a temporary effort to create a unique product or service. Projects usually include constraints and risks regarding cost, schedule or performance outcome. Now we have two interesting definitions of a project.
What is value? American Billionaire Warren Buffet said Price is what you pay. Value is what you get. Value and project have been defined above by differently. What then is earned value management in project delivery? Earned value management is the process of defining and controlling the project so that the project objectives are met. EVM is an integrated management control system for assessing, understanding and quantifying what a contractor or field activity is achieving with program dollars. It is a systematic project management process used to find variances in projects based on the comparison of worked performed and work planned.
The Earned value for variable budget using Quantity Adjusted Budget (QAB):
A quantity adjusted budget (QAB) varies directly with the quantity of work and is calculated by multiplying the budgeted workhour rates (and/or dollar rates) by the actual work quantities.
Measuring Work progress using Cost ratio:
Percent complete = actual cost or workhours to date divided by Forecast at completion
Using only capable contractors.
We have discussed about earned value management the firstly. Now the other part is the use of only competent contractors, in the execution of government projects as observed in the execution of multi-billion dollars projects. Good examples of such projects are in the oil and gas industry, where the IOCs perform a pre-qualification exercise and pick only those technically capable of executing such projects. A good repository for such pre-qualification reference is the IOC/NOC JV NIPEX Joint Qualification portal: https://www.nipexng.com/irj/servlet/prt/portal/prtroot/com.sap.portal.navigation.portallauncher.anonymous
Conclusion
If earned value management and proper pre-qualification becomes the pivot for most public projects in Nigeria. We will not have projects abandoned everywhere in the country. The solution as pay only what has need done within specification and contractual agreement, then will have legacy projects for praise and not mockery of government’s original planned intention.
On the long run these will guarantee completed projects, zero tolerance to corruption and accountability.
Recommendations
All levels of government agencies should apply EVM and transparent contractor selection (due process). There should be the aggressive introduction of EVM in all national planning activities and regular workshops organized for earned value management.
A systematic approach is to forward this paper for follow-up with any interested government agency. Change they say is difficult - Slowly but surely we will enter the world of paying for only that which merits all conditions of a thorough finished product.
References.
1.Project Management Using Earned Value, Humphries and Associates 2002
2.James R. Chapman 1997 http://www.hyperthot.com/pm_intro.htm
3.Warren Buffet quote copied from http://www.valuequotes.net/ 2003-2010
4.NASA from http://evm.nasa.gov/
5.Earned Value Management Explained by Umesh Dwivedi, PMP copied from http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/earned-value-management-explained.html
6.Dr. Joseph J. Orczyk, PE CCE - Skills & Knowledge of Cost Engineering Fifth Edition 2010
W1-Lanre-Project Plan
ReplyDeleteLanre,
You apparently are not reading my emails....??? Didn't I give you a specific assignment for your W1 report? I will accept this as your W2 report, but I want you to re-read my email instructions to you (and maybe even talk to your colleagues???) and to the Tuckman Survey and repost as W2 report.
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta
Oikemute-W1,
ReplyDeleteNice job,Oikemute!!! You followed the basic step by step outline shown in Engineering Economy, page 27, table 1-1 and you cited your work.
I would recommend that you also look at the supplemental handouts I provided as that contains some very nice guidelines to help you not only observe what stage your team is in, but provides a comprehensive assessment of the leadership styles at this stage.
Keep up the good work and can you contact Lanre and mentor him, please? Help him understand the assignment?
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta
W2-Oikemute,
ReplyDeleteAnother excellent posting, Oikemute!!! You understand what I am looking for and are following the step by step template. Just be sure to cite your sources.
Keep up the good work and mentor your colleagues.....
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta
W1-SeeGod,
ReplyDeleteVery nicely done, SeeGod!!! Followed my recommendations exactly. About the only suggestion I would offer would be to cite the source of your step by step process (EngEcon, page 27, Table 1-1) but otherwise, very well researched and written.
Keep up the good work!!
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta
W1-Arome,
ReplyDeleteNot too bad, Arome. For future postings, I would rather see you get in the habit of structuring them more along the lines of the step by step process shown in Engineering Economy, page 27, Table 1-1.
And I am also keen to make certain you cite your sources. So while I am accepting this weeks posting, for the future I expect to see a more structured approach.
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta
W2-Idubamom,
ReplyDeleteNice job, Idubamom!!! A little bit longer than what I would like to see (I am trying to get you to be more concise and keep your posting to 200 - 500 words) but not bad for your W2 posting.
Keep up the good work!!!
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta
W1-Tony,
ReplyDeleteNot bad for your first posting, but I didn't see any citations. I am trying to get you out of the habit of making unsubstantiated statements. They may be correct ones, but I am looking for you to find others who agree or support or can back up what you say.
Part of this process is to help build your confidence in your own knowledge and understanding.
Keep up the good work, but for future postings, be sure to follow the step by step outline I provided to you.
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta
Week 2.0 Polygamy in Nigeria could emerge as a solution to large unmarried female population
ReplyDeleteAlternatives
1. Monogamy
Monogamy People say it’s easier, less fighting, legal, consistency. On the other hand some people get bored. During fights there is no outside influence to assist, less income; one will probably have to stay home to take care of children, meaning there is half the income, with more expense.
2. Polyandry.
Although it is generally accepted that females can gain material benefits by mating with more than one male, the proposal that polyandry provides genetic benefits remains controversial, largely because direct experimental support is lacking. Here, we report the results of a study testing for genetic benefits to polyandry in the pseudoscorpion Cordylochernes scorpioides.
This is regarded as unacceptable to most male population
My Assessment
In the 2005 population census a state like Rivers has the following distribution for a seven year sample of age bracket 18 -44yrs, there are still intensive research on why female population is larger in most southern states of Nigeria as there distribution is almost same with rivers state as shown in this distribution.
Year
In the years of study there is consistent 14% to 25% gap that needed to be filled by male population
This analysis clearly show that if monogamy is maintained reasonable number of responsible women who want to enjoy married life will end up not getting married.
This is represented by the indicator of the annual differential in the population according to sex.
Recommendations:-
If about 10 to 15% of male population takes on polygamy, the psychological trauma of the unmarried women will largely reduce more so more people around to help pay bills, take care of children, take care of house work/yard work. If two are fighting, they can turn to the other(s) in the relationship for their opinion. More love and support for everyone.
It will reduce the risk of STD’s as you will be sure of the persons you are in relationship with especially prolific Nigerian males.
From we will go back to our tradition al family values, and tolerance
References
Jeanne A. Zeh, †‡ and David W. Zeh†
*Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204-5513
“1993, National Review Inc, 215 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10016”.
WK1-LANRE GIWA-RESPONSE TO PAUL's COMMENTS
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments. I did not receive the mail(probably went to my spam box) where you specified the project Topic for Wk1. Will Report on the Turksmann model as instructed for the W2 post . Thanks
BR,
Lanre Giwa ,Lagos
WEEK 1.0(REVISED): TEAM ASSESSMENT USING TUCKMAN’S MODEL
ReplyDeleteConstant team evaluation is very vital to a team’s success.
Tuckman’s model is one of the various models used in assessment of teams.
On application of the Tuckman’s model, I found that our team was in the “performing” stage.
Behavioral attributes displayed by the team that suggest the teams stage (performing stage) includes but not limited to the following; the team leader tries to order and contribute to task at hand and responsibilities are shared especially as noticed during the online meetings, there are set procedures to ensure things are orderly and run smooth.
Finally, I’m convinced that Constant and prompt Communications with team members must not be compromised to ensure team success and to ensure that the team does not derail from the right track.
REFERENCE:
Engineering Economy, 14th Edition, page 27, Table 1-1
Tuckman's forming storming norming performing model
WEEK 1.0(REVISED)John: TEAM ASSESSMENT USING TUCKMAN’S MODEL
ReplyDeleteJohn, are you SURE the team is in the "performing stage"?
1) The project plan which was close to 90% when we finished the face to face session on Friday, took another 1.5 weeks to complete;
2) We are entering W3 and we have yet to get a project or program status report;
3) The blog posting SPI for W1 was .26 and the SPI for W2 was .21.
I would strongly urge you not only to be more objective in your assessment, but did you take the time to look carefully at the supplemental materials in the back of your hard binder from the Kick Off Session? There is a very well written article on Tuckman that you failed to cite below.
Bottom line- do NOT try to bullshit me!!!! ;-) First, check your facts and before you publish anything, stop for a few minutes and ask whether what you have written makes sense. Suggest you go back and this time do some serious research and come back with a conclusion that is supportable.
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta
WEEK 2.0: CHOICE OF FLOOR FINISH FOR MY HOUSE
ReplyDeleteAnother Christmas is here again and I am faced with the task of making my house more befitting and beautiful. The walls require to be repainted and arrangements are underway. The biggest challenge I am faced with right now is a choice of floor finish.
I had a lot of options in mind ranging from replacing the existing rug carpet with a new rug carpet to replacing the existing rug carpet with ceramic floor tiles, painting the screeded floor with gloss paint, replacing the existing rug with rubber (PVC) carpets.
After deliberations with my wife, and owing to the fact that I wanted something durable, attractive and economical (since it’s a rented apartment), I narrowed my choice of floor finish to the following:
1. Replacing the existing rug with a new rug
2. Replacing the existing rug with ceramic tiles
Replacement with a new rug carpet of an average quality will cost about N900 per m2 for the carpet, while the foam underlay will cost about N200/m2 and the gum for holding the edges against the wall will cost approximately N10 / m2. Labor for the laying and transportation of materials will be approximately N350/m2 and transportation will be. This brings the total cost to about N1460 / m2
Replacement with ceramic tiles of an average quality will cost N900/m2 for the tiles, while cement and sand screeded bed which will receive the tiles will cost N250/m2. Labor for the laying and transportation of materials will be approximately N600/m2. This brings it to a total cost of about N1750/m2
Though the most durable will be the ceramic tiles, I was also concerned about the fact that it was more expensive and the fact that I stay in a rented apartment, therefore, opting for the ceramic tiles will mean leaving it behind when I decide to relocate.
On consideration of the above, I decided to settle for a replacement of the existing rug carpet with a new rug carpet which is a cheaper alternative and which will be easy to remove when I chose to relocate.
I am at the verge of making the purchases as Christmas draws near.
RE - WK 1 POSTING:
ReplyDeletePDG I WILL DO AS HAVE SAID. I REVISED MY COMMENTS BASED ON THE INITIAL SUBMISSION OF DECEMBER 9 WHICH YOU ASKED THAT I REVISE.I DIDN'T INTEND TO BULLSHIT YOU.WILL REVISE AND RE-SUBMIT.
THANKS.
WEEK 2.0_John_: CHOICE OF FLOOR FINISH FOR MY HOUSE
ReplyDeleteNot bad, John!!! You have captured almost exactly what I am expecting to see each week.
You took a real problem, applied sound cost engineering/engineering economics principles to solve that problem.
Now, I would hope to see you taking these basic fundamentals and applying them to something a bit more complex, but you are definitely on the right track.
The only part you were weak on was your failure to cite your resources. This posting would have earned an "OUTSTANDING" or even "WOW" if you had only cited something like Engineering Economy, page 105, Unit Pricing Technique; or Chapters 2, 3 or 4 from Skills and Knowledge of Cost Engineering.
But hopefully, by the time we reach W26, you will be an expert at applying these fundamental principles to solving all manner of problems.
Keep up the good work- you are on the right track.
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta
Week 2.0_Agustine_Polygamy in Nigeria
ReplyDeleteInteresting post. And I have to say, you followed the assessment process very closely, citing a real problem, exploring alternatives and making recommendations based on your assessment as well as citing your sources of information.
Speaking PRAGMATICALLY, do you really want to put up with two or more people with PMS in the same household? And supposing the two of them gang up on you and start to over-rule your decisions? Or how about if they start preferring each other to YOU?
Bottom line- I think your assessment, while done correctly failed to look at the pros and cons sufficiently.
My suggestion would be to look beyond the single reference you provided, and to relate it more closely to Cost Engineering, perhaps you should review Chapter 10 in your Engineering Economy, 14th Edition- "Evaluating Projects Using the Benefit : Cost Method"? Or how about Chapter 14? "Decision Making Considering Multi-Attributes"?
For future postings, I would recommend that you try to link the decision making process more closely to cost engineering/engineering economics and to avoid any challenges of bias, you should cite more than once reference, starting with our course materials.
Otherwise, you are right on track!! Keep up the good work and looking forward to seeing what challenge you are going to take up next week!!
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta
To Dr. PDG.
ReplyDeleteJust an academic exercise ( please dont try at home...)
Week 2.0_Agustine_Polygamy in Nigeria
ReplyDeleteYa, I know what you mean!!! Sometimes I think ONE wife is too many!!! :-)
And remember, I also have two daughters as well...... And Yani as my boss.....!!!
So I think I know what I am talking about!!
Gotta do a real careful "Benefit : Cost" analysis (EngEcon Chapter 8) or "Multi-Attribute Decision Making Assessment" (Chapter 14)
Keep up the good work... At least you guys still have a sense of humor!!
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta
CFH...Thanks for your mentorship. I will limit my post as adviced. I saw lots of previous team's blog postings(massive) and had to really pour out my burning desire for a change in public projects.
ReplyDeleteWEEK 1_Lanre Giwa_Assessment of NigeriaAACE Team using the Tukmans Model
ReplyDeleteThis week's discussion shall centre on evaluating or assessing the nigeriaAACE team using the Tuckman's model and determining the phase that the team is currently going through.
There are a number of models that explains team development such as:
1. Tannenbaum and Schmidt Continumm[3]
2. Hersey and Blanchard's Situational Leadership model[3]
3. Tuckman's Model[3]
The focus shall be on Tuckmans Model which was developed by Bruce Tuckman.Tuckman proposed a group development model when he maintained that for a team to develop,face challenges and achieve desired results,the team must go through the followiing phases:
1. FORMING PHASE - Members of the team get to know one another,set ground rules and try to understand the objectives of the Project.
2. STORMING PHASE - In this phase,conflicts arise as team members try to obtain leadership.Also, development of mutually acceptable methods of doing things may provoke storming.
3.NORMING PHASE - Conflicts are largely settled and members begin to identify with the team rather than working as individuals.
4.PERFORMING PHASE - Members would concentrate on the task to be achieved as a team.
5. ADJOURNING PHASE - The project closes and roles are terminated.This involves dissolution of the team.
All these phases are levels of effort of the team[5].Based on the Tuckman's model, I would conclude that the NigeriaAACE team is at its FORMING PHASE due to the following reasons:
a. Members of the team are just developing dependency relationships with the leaders and Program manager[2]
b. The team is trying to familiarize with reporting templates and other pre-existing standards[2]
c. Most of the deliverables(products)submitted are largely individual efforts[1]
d. The decision making process is largely by the program manager and it is still fragmented at this phase[1]
e.Members of the team are gradually developing relationships amongst themselves and it is quite distant and non existent in few cases[1]
f.There seems to be absolute peace amongst team members as no serious conflict has been observed so far.
The recommended intervention at this phase is that the level of direction from the leaders must be very high to guide and assist team members to have a clear understanding of the objectives of the Project and clarity of individual roles in the team.Outcome of the intervention shall be evaluated and will indicate the developmental phase of the team and what to do next.
REFERENCE:
1.http://www.teamtechnology.co.uk/tuckman.html
2.http://www.infed.org/thinkers/tuckman.htm
3.http://www.businessballs.com/tuckmanformingstormingnormingperforming.htm
4.Engineering Economy, 14th Edition, page 27, Table 1-1
5.Giammalvo, P. D. (2010). Day 3: AACE Certification Prep Course [PowerPoint slides]. Lagos: Nigeria.
Developmental phases of Project Teams-Tuckman's model.
PDG,
ReplyDeleteRe-posted with the references which were earlier missed when copying to the blog
WK1_TONY_NigeriaAACE Present Stage in Team Development
“Teams like individuals, progress through various stages in their life cycle. Each stage of development holds its own unique relationships and demonstrated behaviours. The stages of team development must be understood by team members and leaders in order to recognize the signals that indicate normal team growth and development”[1] . Bruce Tuckman identified four stages (initially) in his team development model and these are Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing[2] . Nigeria AACE team is now in the Forming stage.
The observable behaviours/actions that support my observation are, first agreements among members (team governance agreement, meeting mode etc), uncertainty on how to quickly tackle the deliverables required to obtain the notice to proceed (NTP), disorderliness in weekly meetings, heavy dependence on programme/ deputy program manager for the way forward, attempts to define group behavior, for example, what to do with people who don’t attend weekly meetings etc.
The management style the programme managers should be using is directing.
The problem at this stage as I see it is that we came from the face to face without a clear understanding of what is required to get notice to proceed (NTP) which effectively commences work in the distance learning mode (DLM). The result is that we are a 1.5 weeks late in starting the works slated for the DLM mode.
There are two alternative solutions that I am proposing:
1. The face to face programme should be elongated to include one full day for the team to complete and sign off all the deliverables required to obtain the client’s notice to proceed.
2. The face to face programme remains unchanged but the programme manager clearly spells out the 1st week post face to face deliverables and how to go about them. It should include a risk analysis with mitigation actions
The possible outcomes for alternative 1 are,
1. Team would directly focus on paper project immediately after face to face.
2. We would not have delays
3. We would avoid the pressure we are in right now to deliver two weeks work in one week.
The possible outcomes for alternative 2 are;
1. Have the NTP deliverables completed early in the week following face and obtain the NTP
2. Team would understand their priority and not jump the gun in selecting topic before NTP
3. Would have alternative actions for identified risk, for instance alternative group name etc
4. Team members would clearly know their deliverables and avoid a situation where certain persons have to rescue some pms who did not know they were to deliver on some items
The key performance indicators for my assessment of the alternatives are, get NTP (notice to proceed) not later than the second day of the week following face to face, submission of paper topic and 1st blog posting done the 1st week after face to face
Of the two alternatives, alternative two carries a higher risk, the mitigation plans may even fail. Unknown unknown risk could even occur and that would derail or delay the programme.
Alternative 1, that is, extend programme by 1 day to enable completion and sign off before leaving face to face has lower risk and would better engineer success as per the KPIs above.
References
1 Phil Lohr and Patricia Steege –How to move a team from stage to stage. Copright McGraw-Hill 2000
2 Tuckman, B.W and M. A. C Jenson. 1977. Stages of small – group development revisited
WEEK 1_Lanre Giwa_Assessment of NigeriaAACE Team using the Tukmans Model
ReplyDeleteOUTSTANDING posting, Lanre!!! Very nicely researched, written and cited.
Keep up the good work and you will have no problems with part IV of whichever exams you happen to sit for.
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta
Week 3 - The recurring problem of incomplete scope definition in cost estimates preparation.
ReplyDeleteI ask myself a simple question - must we continue like this? I keep having the responsibility of defining or giving project engineers directives on the need for proper scope definition.
The major causes of poor scope definition in my environment are inexperience, naivety, laziness and waiting for the last minute to rush for proposal submission. If you've ever attended an end-of-project meeting on a project that had major problems, chances are good that one of the major themes you heard is that “we should have spent more time planning.”[1] Poor scope definition is recognized by industry practitioners as one of the leading causes of project failure, adversely affecting projects in the areas of cost, schedule, and operational characteristics [2]
The effect of poor scope definition includes: Lack of business support - As a project gets larger, even the sponsor may not have a complete picture of what needs to happen for the project to be successful. Poor estimates - Many projects that could be successful are viewed as failures because they overshot their budgets and deadlines. Poor scope control - very difficult to manage scope effectively throughout the project. [1]
The remedies towards tackling this problem to mention a few are:
Collect Requirements – this first step is the process by which we define and document the requirements needed to meet all project objectives.
Create WBS – this process breaks project deliverables down into progressively smaller and more manageable components which, at the lowest level, are called work packages. [3]
Implementation is rather challenging; but luckily my boss supported my new way of working.’ Define your scope properly and the estimate you get returns with little or no claims’nor change orders.
References:
1. Tom Mochal 'Poor planning is project management mistake number one' - http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10878_11-5034294.html
2.BUILDING PROJECT SCOPE DEFINITION USING PROJECT DEFINITION RATING INDEX By Chung-Suk Cho and G. Edward Gibson Jr. http://mlsoc.editme.com/files/saloni-publication2/BUILDING%20PROJECT%20SCOPE%20DEFINITION%20USING%20PROJECT%20DEFINITION.
3. Scope Management Plan Template http://www.projectmanagementdocs.com/templates/scope-management-plan.html
W3_Idubamo_Scope Definition
ReplyDeleteFirst, PLEASE follow the agreed to naming convention!!!
Week#_Your Name_Your Topic
You make unnecessary work on my part and I tend to get cranky......
Having said that, your W3 posting was an excellent one!!! Nice job!! (Aside from the naming!!)
About the only part I think you missed was the importance of using a STANDARDIZED WBS whenever possible.
Standardized WBS (Preferably a globalized one, like CSI's Master or Uniformat, NORSOK Z-014 or OmniClass) is the ideal approach, but lacking that, developing a company wide one will also help prevent "missing" scope items.
By using these Standardized WBS as a checklist, you dramatically decrease the probability of missing something, and if you do discover it is needed at a later date, it makes the change order process much easier and far less contentious.
Lastly, nice use of citations, but at this point, I would rather you started with the reference materials I provided you- Skills and Knowledge of Cost Engineering, 5th Edition; GAO-09-3SP; Engineering Economics, 14th Edition; TCMFramework; Memory Joggers. Start with those FIRST, then seek out others.
Otherwise, nice job and looking forward to your next posting.
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta
Week# 1_Adenaiya Olumide_ Assessing Nigeria AACE Team using the Tukmans Model
ReplyDeleteTeam development is as enhancement of the effectiveness of work groups, by improving goal- and role-clarification and interpersonal processes.
Though there are other models, such as Tannenbaum and Schmidt Continuum and especially with Hersey and Blanchard's Situational Leadership® model but Dr Bruce Tuckman Forming, Storming, Norming Performing and Adjourning theory is an elegant and helpful explanation of team development and behaviour.
Using Tukmans Model to evaluate team Nigeria AACE, it is clear that the Team came out of the F2F class achieving some elements of Forming and Storming stage of team development because the following visible characteristics.
1. High dependence on leader for guidance and direction.
2. Little agreement on team aims other than received from leader.
3. Individual roles and responsibilities are unclear.
4. Decisions don't come easily within group.
5. Team members vie for position as they attempt to establish themselves in relation to other team members and the leader,
So the early week (1 & 2) of the Long Distance Learning (LDL) is characterised by element of Norming where
1. Agreement and consensus is largely forms among team, who respond well to facilitation by leader.
2. Roles and responsibilities are clear and accepted.
3. Big decisions are made by group agreement.
4. Commitment and unity is strong.
5. The team discusses and develops its processes and working style.
Not every team moves through these stages in order and the length of time necessary for progressing through (each)these stages depends on the experience of the members, the support the team receives and the knowledge and skill of the team members.
In conclusion, for the team to successfully move to the next stage there is need for the team to consciously or unconsciously form working relationships that will enable progress on the team’s objectives and enhance performance.
Reference
1. http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/team-development.html
2. http://www.businessballs.com/tuckmanformingstormingnormingperforming.htm
3. http://humanresources.about.com/od/teambuilding/f/team_stages.htm
4. Engineering Economy, 14th Edition, page 27, Table 1-1
5. Giammalvo, P. D. (2010). Day 3: AACE Certification Prep Course [PowerPoint slides].
6. Tuckman's forming storming norming performing model
Week# 2_Adenaiya Olumide_ Making Decision on the Children School
ReplyDeleteA good decision-making process can result in a decision that has undesirable outcomes. This is the situation recently experienced with my family relocation from the Lagos Mainland to Lekki.
We ultimate achieve the initial goal i.e easy access to & from work but was left with a huge challenge on the children school runs.
We usually leave home in the morning with the children and the nanny. We are dropped off in VI and they (nanny and driver) go further to drop the kids off in school (Ikoyi). The driver comes to join us in the office whilst the nanny takes public transport back to Lekki. By midday, the driver has to go to Lekki to pick up the nanny or she commutes by public transport to VI, pick them up from Ikoyi to drop them in Lekki and the driver comes back again to Lekki.
This means we do a back and forth of about six times on the road. It is particularly hectic because of the traffic and indeed been an herculean task. Now the school bus option, this we considered but giving the age of both of them particularly the youngest who is only 18 months. Sometimes we have to do nanny change in the car before he eventually gets to school etc. I think they are rather young to be left on the school bus run.
There are a lot of nonmonetary values involve in the selection of their present school against other available options.
The challenge is making the decision that will give the best economy value on the nonmonetary than cost. Also, to be able to arrive at this there need to select the criterion to determine the best alternative
Reference
1. Engineering Economy, page 26, Revisit your Decision
2. Engineering Economy, page 602, Multiattribute Decisions
3. Engineering Economic Analysis, 10th Edn.(Donald G. Newnan, Jerome P. Lavelle & Ted G. Eschenbach) Chapter 1
PDG,
ReplyDeleteRe-posted with the references which were earlier missed when copying to the blog
WK1_TONY_NigeriaAACE Present Stage in Team Development
“Teams like individuals, progress through various stages in their life cycle. Each stage of development holds its own unique relationships and demonstrated behaviours. The stages of team development must be understood by team members and leaders in order to recognize the signals that indicate normal team growth and development” [1]. Bruce Tuckman identified four stages (initially) in his team development model and these are Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing [2]. Nigeria AACE team is now in the Forming stage.
The observable behaviours/actions that support my observation are, first agreements among members (team governance agreement, meeting mode etc), uncertainty on how to quickly tackle the deliverables required to obtain the notice to proceed (NTP), disorderliness in weekly meetings, heavy dependence on programme/ deputy program manager for the way forward, attempts to define group behavior, for example, what to do with people who don’t attend weekly meetings etc.
The management style the programme managers should be using is directing.
The problem at this stage as I see it is that we came from the face to face without a clear understanding of what is required to get notice to proceed (NTP) which effectively commences work in the distance learning mode (DLM). The result is that we are a 1.5 weeks late in starting the works slated for the DLM mode.
There are two alternative solutions that I am proposing:
1. The face to face programme should be elongated to include one full day for the team to complete and sign off all the deliverables required to obtain the client’s notice to proceed.
2. The face to face programme remains unchanged but the programme manager clearly spells out the 1st week post face to face deliverables and how to go about them. It should include a risk analysis with mitigation actions
The possible outcomes for alternative 1 are,
1. Team would directly focus on paper project immediately after face to face.
2. We would not have delays
3. We would avoid the pressure we are in right now to deliver two weeks work in one week.
The possible outcomes for alternative 2 are;
1. Have the NTP deliverables completed early in the week following face and obtain the NTP
2. Team would understand their priority and not jump the gun in selecting topic before NTP
3. Would have alternative actions for identified risk, for instance alternative group name etc
4. Team members would clearly know their deliverables and avoid a situation where certain persons have to rescue some pms who did not know they were to deliver on some items
The key performance indicators for my assessment of the alternatives are, get NTP (notice to proceed) not later than the second day of the week following face to face, submission of paper topic and 1st blog posting done the 1st week after face to face
Of the two alternatives, alternative two carries a higher risk, the mitigation plans may even fail. Unknown unknown risk could even occur and that would derail or delay the programme.
Alternative 1, that is, extend programme by 1 day to enable completion and sign off before leaving face to face has lower risk and would better engineer success as per the KPIs above.
References
1 Phil Lohr and Patricia Steege –How to move a team from stage to stage. Copright McGraw-Hill 2000
2 Tuckman, B.W and M. A. C Jenson. 1977. Stages of small – group development revisited
Week# 1_Adenaiya Olumide_ Assessing Nigeria AACE Team using the Tukmans Model
ReplyDeleteNicely done, Adenaiya!!! Well written and well cited. It would have been a little bit better if you could have provided the score from the assessment I asked you to do, as it is not clear whether you did it or not, but otherwise, it was well done.
Keep up the good work and looking forward to seeing more of your blog postings in the coming weeks.
BR,
Dr. PDG,
Jakarta
Week# 2_Adenaiya Olumide_ Making Decision on the Children School
ReplyDeleteExcellent choice of topics, Adenaiya! No reason why you cannot or should not be applying sound engineering economic thought process to your personal decisions as well.
But, while you identified a problem, and did identify alternatives and even identified the proper and appropriate decision making tool or technique (multi-attribute decision making) you could have done a better job if you had set it up like example 14-1 on page 607 of Engineering Economy. If you had done that, it would have been an outstanding posting.
I would like to ask the you REVISE this posting and take 20 minutes or so to set up your problem based around problem 14-1. It will prove to be a valuable learning experience for you, as you can use this approach in MANY decision making situations, both in your professional and personal life.
Identify the revision as W2.1, please.
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta
Week# 1.1_Adenaiya Olumide_ Assessing Nigeria AACE Team using the Tukmans Model
ReplyDeleteTeam development is as enhancement of the effectiveness of work groups, by improving goal- and role-clarification and interpersonal processes.
Though there are other models, such as Tannenbaum and Schmidt Continuum and especially with Hersey and Blanchard's Situational Leadership® model but Dr Bruce Tuckman Forming, Storming, Norming Performing and Adjourning theory is an elegant and helpful explanation of team development and behaviour.
Using Tukmans Model to evaluate team Nigeria AACE, it is clear that the Team came out of the F2F class achieving some elements of Forming and Storming stage of team development because the following visible characteristics.
1. High dependence on leader for guidance and direction.
2. Little agreement on team aims other than received from leader.
3. Individual roles and responsibilities are unclear.
4. Decisions don't come easily within group.
5. Team members vie for position as they attempt to establish themselves in relation to other team members and the leader,
So the early week (1 & 2) of the Long Distance Learning (LDL) is characterised by element of Norming where
1. Agreement and consensus is largely forms among team, who respond well to facilitation by leader.
2. Roles and responsibilities are clear and accepted.
3. Big decisions are made by group agreement.
4. Commitment and unity is strong.
5. The team discusses and develops its processes and working style.
This can be supported by the result of the team assessment survey carried out on Team NigeriaAACE show below
S/n Score S/n Score S/n Score S/n Score
1 2 2 3 3 5 4 4
5 3 6 4 7 5 8 1
10 1 9 1 11 3 12 3
15 3 16 2 13 4 14 5
18 2 20 3 19 2 17 4
21 2 23 2 24 4 22 5
27 2 28 1 25 4 26 3
29 2 31 1 30 5 32 5
TOTAL 17 17 32 30
Forming Storming Norming Performing
Stage Stage Stage Stage
Not every team moves through these stages in order and the length of time necessary for progressing through (each)these stages depends on the experience of the members, the support the team receives and the knowledge and skill of the team members.
In conclusion, for the team to successfully move to the next stage there is need for the team to consciously or unconsciously form working relationships that will enable progress on the team’s objectives and enhance performance.
Reference
1. http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/team-development.html
2. http://www.businessballs.com/tuckmanformingstormingnormingperforming.htm
3. http://humanresources.about.com/od/teambuilding/f/team_stages.htm
4. http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/teamsuv.html
5. Engineering Economy, 14th Edition, page 27, Table 1-1
6. Giammalvo, P. D. (2010). Day 3: AACE Certification Prep Course [PowerPoint slides].
7. Tuckman's forming storming norming performing model
Week# 2.1_Adenaiya Olumide_ Making Decision on the Children School
ReplyDeleteA good decision-making process can result in a decision that has undesirable outcomes. This is the situation recently experienced with my family relocation from the Lagos Mainland to Lekki.
We ultimate achieve the initial goal i.e easy access to & from work but was left with a huge challenge on the children school runs.
We usually leave home in the morning with the children and the nanny. We are dropped off in VI and they (nanny and driver) go further to drop the kids off in school (Ikoyi). The driver comes to join us in the office whilst the nanny takes public transport back to Lekki. By midday, the driver has to go to Lekki to pick up the nanny or she commutes by public transport to VI, pick them up from Ikoyi to drop them in Lekki and the driver comes back again to Lekki.
This means we do a back and forth of about six times on the road. It is particularly hectic because of the traffic and indeed been an herculean task. Now the school bus option, this we considered but giving the age of both of them particularly the youngest who is only 18 months. Sometimes we have to do nanny change in the car before he eventually gets to school etc. I think they are rather young to be left on the school bus run.
There are a lot of nonmonetary values involve in the selection of their present school against other available options.
Table1.1 - Making Decision on the Children School
Alternatives (offers & Locations)
GreenHood School Ikoyi Green Spring Awoyaya Meadow hall Lekki 1 The Learning Place Lekki 1 Discovery house Lekki 1
Cost
School Fees 165,000.00 210,000.00 210,000.00 95,000.00 120,000.00
Transport & Logistic 120,000.00 140,000.00 100,000.00 60,000.00 60,000.00
Others 20,000.00 20,000.00 20,000.00 20,000.00 20,000.00
Nonmonetary Value
British Curriculum Excellent Excellent Excellent Very Good Very Good
America Curriculum Excellent Excellent Poor Poor Poor
Academic Rating Excellent Very Good Good Good Good
Educational Recognition Excellent Very Good Very Good Good Good
Montessori Pre-school Very Good nil Good Good Good
The challenge is making the decision that will give the best economy value on the nonmonetary than cost. Also, to be able to arrive at this there need to select the criterion to determine the best alternative
Reference
1. Engineering Economy, page 26, Revisit your Decision
2. Engineering Economy, page 602, Multiattribute Decisions
3. Engineering Economic Analysis, 10th Edn.(Donald G. Newnan, Jerome P. Lavelle & Ted G. Eschenbach) Chapter 1
WK2_TONY_IMPACT OF INCOMPLETE SCOPE ON COST ESTIMATES
ReplyDeletePoor scope definition is recognized by industry practitioners as one of the leading causes of project failure, adversely affecting projects in the area of cost, schedule and operational characteristics [1].
I work as a cost estimator and a major problem I face in my work is that of incomplete scope definition to do the estimate. My customers are the Project Engineers and the conceptual team. More often than not they send some very vague and unquantifiable scope as back up for their estimate request. The result of this is delay in the delivery of the estimate, over or under estimation, high level of contingency allowance and continuous revision of the estimate.
Some of the reasons for this poor scoping are;
1. Absence of WBS or incomplete WBS
2. The haste to get budget approval
3. Poor interface between Engineering and project team
4. Some customers don’t know what they want until you start the job [2]
5. Share laziness by scoping engineers
An estimate is as good as the scope on which it is based; it is therefore necessary to find solutions which will enable us have reasonable scope for the estimates our clients’ request. Some of the solutions are;
1. Having a standardized WBS where customers plug in the required deliverables for the project.
2. Estimate kick off meeting involving the design team and the customer where expected scope deliverables and timelines are discussed and followed through.
3. One on one engagement of the customer where we discuss and obtain all required information from the customer. The verbal information so obtained is confirmed in written back to the customer
4. A written request to the customers listing all the missing scope items and requesting them to forward same to enable progress or commencement of the estimate.
While all of the above solutions can work, I however note that solution 4 sometimes lead to delays as the customer may be pre occupied with other assignments and may not respond on time. While solution 3 is fast, the estimator may forget to confirm the information back to the customer and the source of the scope becomes doubtful sometime later. There may be some delays setting up the estimate kick off meeting in solution 2.
Solution 1 will enable a speedier and more accurate estimate, “Because a WBS requires you and your project team to account for everything you’ll be creating, you can create very accurate cost estimates of what the project will cost to complete” [3]. From an owner’s perspective, if the cost estimate is not accurate, the financial return from the capital investment may not be realized [4]
References
1. Cho, C., and Gibson, G. Jr. December 2001 “Building project scope definition using project definition rating index”. Journal of Architectural Engineering/December 2001
2. Philips, J. January 28, 2005 “Real World Project Management: Managing the Project Scope”.
3. Philips, J. January 28, 2005 “Real World Project Management: Managing the Project Scope”.
4. Dysert, L., AACE International , 9.1 Skills & Knowledge of Cost Engineering 5th Edition Revised
Week# 2.1_Adenaiya Olumide_ Making Decision on the Children School
ReplyDeleteAgain, VERY well done, Adenaiya!!! Exactly what I am looking for from everyone each week.
We tend to have gotten in the habit of making decisions on "gut feel" instead of taking the time to produce rational, fact based analysis, and while "intuition" may very well be accurate, it makes selling the idea or solution or recommendation to your bosses or other stakeholders difficult if not impossible.
Starting to learn how to apply sound "engineering economics" or "cost engineering" processes to your day to day personal and working environment will not only yield better decisions, but will help you justify those decisions (or sell your recommendations) to your bosses and other stakeholders.
Keep up the EXCELLENT postings, Adenaiya and you will have no problems passing any of your exams.
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta
Week#4_Monigha Idubamo_ preparing my house cost estimate.
ReplyDeleteI am about commencing the construction of my own home in Port Harcourt and I had to go through the process of concept selection. Faced with the challenge of the choice of building design
I sorted the contributions of my wife, colleagues, friends and my Architect. The final concept was A two floor 5-bedroom maisonette with service quarters and good space for outdoor activities.
At this point, I was left with the preparation of a conceptual cost estimate; since the detailed design had just started.
Immediately I generated a quick high level estimate using the [1] End-Product Units Method which involves the obtaining historical data available from similar projects to relate the end-product units (capacity units). My friend who just completed a similar capacity had his four bedroom done at about $100,000 therefore using the methodolgy above i arrived at the sum of $125,000 + another $10,000 for detailed design as my budget.
The next step was to create a standardized WBS and allocating budget for the building by using the General construction WBS as provided master format. I adopted at this level 1 - Division 01 General requirements, Division 02 Existing conditions, Division 03 Concrete Division 04 Masonry etc.[2]
After doing all these I am now able to beat my chest and say good to go with my project within projected cash flow, forecasted time and specified quality.
Like the Bible scripture says in St Luke 14:28 - For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? [3].
Therefore starting a project with Cost estimates have two general purposes: (i) to help managers evaluate affordability and performance against plans, as well as the selection of alternative systems and solutions, and (ii) to support the budget process by providing estimates of the funding required to efficiently execute a program.[4]
References:
1. Skills and Knowledge of Cost Engineering, 5th Edition.
2. MASTERFORMAT ™ 2004 EDITION NUMBERS & TITLES
3. www.bible.com
4. GAO Cost Estimating and Assessment Guide March 2009
Week#4_Monigha Idubamo_ preparing my house cost estimate.
ReplyDeleteSimply AWESOME, Monigha!! OUTSTANDING posting!!
You understand exactly what I am expecting to see each week.
Take a real life problem and show me (and your colleagues) how you are applying "cost engineering" or "engineering economics" tools and techniques to solve these real life problems.
It just doesn't get any simpler than what you've described.
Now EVENTUALLY, I will be looking for more sophisticated applications and hopefully, some will be coming from your working environment, but otherwise, you are definitely on the right track, including nice use of citations.
(I love how you quoted the Bible!! Very Impressive!!!) "God as project manager"- and on the 7th Day, HE rested!!!
Keep up the good work and your "leadership by example"....
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta
WEEK3_Lanre Giwa_ Material Handling
ReplyDeleteThe discussion for this week shall be on Material handling
There is an on-going road construction along the lekki peninsula axis in Lagos.One of
the major bulk materials needed by the Contactor is CEMENT. The contractor will need cement for concrete mixing,screeding of the road,slabs and walkways.Cement is a material that is very important for road construction and a large amount is usually required.
The problem facing the contractor is to determine the best and most economical method of getting the cement to site.
For Material Handling of the cement,there are various options available to the contractor:
1. Setting up a mini cement plant close to the site to produce the cement
2.Buying the cement in 50kg packaged bags
3.Receiving the cement through a Piping System from the factory[1]
4.Buying the cement in large tonnes and transporting to site with a Big Truck
Considering the options available, the contractor must understand that poor material handling may affect efficient construction of the road and will ultimately slow down activities. Another point is that poor handling may damage the materials e.g if the cement is exposed to moisture or weather for a relatively long period, it solidifies.
For every decion on material handling, the contractor should consider the following factors:
1. Type of materials to be handled
2. Material movement should be over the shortest distance possible.[1]
3. Consider Cost of the material handling
4. Materials should be easily accessible and readily available
Based on the factors listed, the writer believes that the contractor should choose the option of buying Cements in packaged 50kg bags for the road construction due to the following reasons:
1. The nearest cement factory is very far from lagos State where the construction is going on.
2. It is very expensive to build a cement factory close to the construction site and it is not cost effective.
3. Small bags are readily available as they can easily be bought off the shelf as required.
4 For storage purposes,it is easier to store packaged cements on site
5. Unusual large volumes will require special request and often lead times.
Reference
1. Skills and Knowledge of Cost Engineering,5th Edition Revised,pg 3.1 - 3.7
2. GAO Cost Estimating and Assessment Guide March 2009
WEEK3_Lanre Giwa_ Material Handling
ReplyDeleteGood posting, Lanre, for W3, but not a GREAT posting......
Why? Too bad you didn't look beyond S&K, 5th Edition and the GAO-09-3SP. If you looked at your Engineering Economy, 14th Edition you would find examples of problems very much like what you described that would help you quantify and analyze the options. (Try Chapter 6 or Chapter 14)
Bottom line- get in the habit of referencing ALL 5 of the major references we provided you-
1) TCMF
2) Skills & Knowledge, 5th Edition
3) GAO-09-3SP
4) Engineering Economy, 14th Edition
5) Memory Jogger Series
If you get in the habit of referencing all 5, you will be amazed at how many new ideas you will pick up and be able to use in making better decisions, not only in your day to day working life, but also in your personal life as well.
Keep up the good work, Lanre, and by W26, you should be an expert.
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta
Thanks for your comment Dr Paul. I will look beyond these books next time. The Challenge is that I am yet to receive the Engineering Economy Book and wondering if i could get a soft copy from you to get me started.
ReplyDeleteThanks
BR
Lanre Giwa
Week#3_Akubo Arome_ How do we protect our Pipelines from Oil Thief/Vandals in Niger Delta Area of Nigeria?
ReplyDeletePipeline vandalisation is one of the major challenges faced by oil and gas companies in Nigeria. Nigeria has a mono-cultural economy that greatly depends on the petroleum industry for Survival. The Nigerian petroleum industry was established about 54 years ago, in 1956 when the first oil well was first discovered in Oloibiri, in the present day Bayelsa. According to Smith (2006), as cited by Freedom (2007), Nigeria’s oil sector has now been developed into a vast domestic industrial infrastructure, consisting of more than 300 oil fields, 5 284 wells, 7 000 km of pipelines, ten export terminals, 22 petroleum storage depots, 275 flow stations, ten gas plants, four refineries, and massive liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects.
With over 7000km of pipelines crisscrossing the swamps and mangroves in the delta, coupled with the neglect of the communities in terms of provision of basic amenities, the people resulted to stealing of crude oil or refined products from the pipelines for economic gains. To mitigate against the vandalisation and subsequent oil theft, the following measures is advised for pipeline protection.
1. Community personnel’s involvement in pipeline security/monitoring contract
2. Pipeline burial to a depth of 3 meters in the swamps
3. Installation of optic fibre cables with the pipeline for early warning
4. Installation of reinforced concrete slab on the pipelines
Community personnel, if involved in the pipeline monitoring contract either as a contract holder or employee, will have that as a source of income and feel a sense of joint ownership with the oil companies such that he will likely do all within his means to protect the lines in his community
Burying pipelines to a depth of 3 meters as against the normal depth of 1 meter will provide difficulty to the vandals reaching that depth as it will require heavy machineries to access such depths in swamps, there by buying time for the security agents to apprehend the vandals.
Furthermore, installing fibre optic cables with the pipelines, early warning signal can be picked and quick response time is achieved when there is attempted vandalisation.
Finally, the installation of reinforced concrete slabs on buried pipelines along the entire right of way will provide adequate physical barriers for the pipelines thereby making it difficult to access.
In conclusion, having estimated the cost of each of the above suggested pipeline protection methods (costing not shown) and considering that, none of the options is entirely fool proof as such system do not exist. The preferred option therefore is to partner with the communities through which pipelines passes, by giving them pipeline monitoring contract in a way that there could benefit from protecting the pipelines. This way, each party, ie the oil companies and the communities have common interest to protect.
References
Freedom, C. 2007. Oil Pipeline Sabotage in Nigeria; Dimensions, actors and implications. Available at http://www.iss.co.za/uploads/17_3ONUOHA.PDF (accessed 19 December 2010)
Paul, O. 2007. US warn of terrorist attacks in Nigeria. Thisday, 7 September.
Smith, J. 2006. Imperial oil. Available at http://indybay.org/newsitems/2006/10/02/18317358.php
Week#3_Akubo Arome_ How do we protect our Pipelines from Oil Thief/Vandals in Niger Delta Area of Nigeria?
ReplyDeletePipeline vandalisation is one of the major challenges faced by oil and gas companies in Nigeria. Nigeria has a mono-cultural economy that greatly depends on the petroleum industry for Survival. The Nigerian petroleum industry was established about 54 years ago, in 1956 when the first oil well was first discovered in Oloibiri, in the present day Bayelsa. According to Smith (2006), as cited by Freedom (2007), Nigeria’s oil sector has now been developed into a vast domestic industrial infrastructure, consisting of more than 300 oil fields, 5 284 wells, 7 000 km of pipelines, ten export terminals, 22 petroleum storage depots, 275 flow stations, ten gas plants, four refineries, and massive liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects.
With over 7000km of pipelines crisscrossing the swamps and mangroves in the delta, coupled with the neglect of the communities in terms of provision of basic amenities, the people resulted to stealing of crude oil or refined products from the pipelines for economic gains. To mitigate against the vandalisation and subsequent oil theft, the following measures is advised for pipeline protection.
1. Community personnel’s involvement in pipeline security/monitoring contract
2. Pipeline burial to a depth of 3 meters in the swamps
3. Installation of optic fibre cables with the pipeline for early warning
4. Installation of reinforced concrete slab on the pipelines
Community personnel, if involved in the pipeline monitoring contract either as a contract holder or employee, will have that as a source of income and feel a sense of joint ownership with the oil companies such that he will likely do all within his means to protect the lines in his community
Burying pipelines to a depth of 3 meters as against the normal depth of 1 meter will provide difficulty to the vandals reaching that depth as it will require heavy machineries to access such depths in swamps, there by buying time for the security agents to apprehend the vandals.
Furthermore, installing fibre optic cables with the pipelines, early warning signal can be picked and quick response time is achieved when there is attempted vandalisation.
Finally, the installation of reinforced concrete slabs on buried pipelines along the entire right of way will provide adequate physical barriers for the pipelines thereby making it difficult to access.
In conclusion, having estimated the cost of each of the above suggested pipeline protection methods (costing not shown) and considering that, none of the options is entirely fool proof as such system do not exist. The preferred option therefore is to partner with the communities through which pipelines passes, by giving them pipeline monitoring contract in a way that there could benefit from protecting the pipelines. This way, each party, ie the oil companies and the communities have common interest to protect.
References
Freedom, C. 2007. Oil Pipeline Sabotage in Nigeria; Dimensions, actors and implications. Available at http://www.iss.co.za/uploads/17_3ONUOHA.PDF (accessed 19 December 2010)
Paul, O. 2007. US warn of terrorist attacks in Nigeria. Thisday, 7 September.
Smith, J. 2006. Imperial oil. Available at http://indybay.org/newsitems/2006/10/02/18317358.php
Week#3_Akubo Arome_ How do we protect our Pipelines from Oil Thief/Vandals in Niger Delta Area of Nigeria?
ReplyDeletePipeline vandalisation is one of the major challenges faced by oil and gas companies in Nigeria. Nigeria has a mono-cultural economy that greatly depends on the petroleum industry for Survival. The Nigerian petroleum industry was established about 54 years ago, in 1956 when the first oil well was first discovered in Oloibiri, in the present day Bayelsa. According to Smith (2006), as cited by Freedom (2007), Nigeria’s oil sector has now been developed into a vast domestic industrial infrastructure, consisting of more than 300 oil fields, 5 284 wells, 7 000 km of pipelines, ten export terminals, 22 petroleum storage depots, 275 flow stations, ten gas plants, four refineries, and massive liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects.
With over 7000km of pipelines crisscrossing the swamps and mangroves in the delta, coupled with the neglect of the communities in terms of provision of basic amenities, the people resulted to stealing of crude oil or refined products from the pipelines for economic gains. To mitigate against the vandalisation and subsequent oil theft, the following measures is advised for pipeline protection.
1. Community personnel’s involvement in pipeline security/monitoring contract
2. Pipeline burial to a depth of 3 meters in the swamps
3. Installation of optic fibre cables with the pipeline for early warning
4. Installation of reinforced concrete slab on the pipelines
Community personnel, if involved in the pipeline monitoring contract either as a contract holder or employee, will have that as a source of income and feel a sense of joint ownership with the oil companies such that he will likely do all within his means to protect the lines in his community
Burying pipelines to a depth of 3 meters as against the normal depth of 1 meter will provide difficulty to the vandals reaching that depth as it will require heavy machineries to access such depths in swamps, there by buying time for the security agents to apprehend the vandals.
Furthermore, installing fibre optic cables with the pipelines, early warning signal can be picked and quick response time is achieved when there is attempted vandalisation.
Finally, the installation of reinforced concrete slabs on buried pipelines along the entire right of way will provide adequate physical barriers for the pipelines thereby making it difficult to access.
In conclusion, having estimated the cost of each of the above suggested pipeline protection methods (costing not shown) and considering that, none of the options is entirely fool proof as such system do not exist. The preferred option therefore is to partner with the communities through which pipelines passes, by giving them pipeline monitoring contract in a way that there could benefit from protecting the pipelines. This way, each party, ie the oil companies and the communities have common interest to protect.
References
Freedom, C. 2007. Oil Pipeline Sabotage in Nigeria; Dimensions, actors and implications. Available at http://www.iss.co.za/uploads/17_3ONUOHA.PDF (accessed 19 December 2010)
Paul, O. 2007. US warn of terrorist attacks in Nigeria. Thisday, 7 September.
Smith, J. 2006. Imperial oil. Available at http://indybay.org/newsitems/2006/10/02/18317358.php
Week#3_Akubo Arome_ How do we protect our Pipelines from Oil Thief/Vandals in Niger Delta Area of Nigeria?
ReplyDeletePipeline vandalisation is one of the major challenges faced by oil and gas companies in Nigeria. Nigeria has a mono-cultural economy that greatly depends on the petroleum industry for Survival. The Nigerian petroleum industry was established about 54 years ago, in 1956 when the first oil well was first discovered in Oloibiri, in the present day Bayelsa. According to Smith (2006), as cited by Freedom (2007), Nigeria’s oil sector has now been developed into a vast domestic industrial infrastructure, consisting of more than 300 oil fields, 5 284 wells, 7 000 km of pipelines, ten export terminals, 22 petroleum storage depots, 275 flow stations, ten gas plants, four refineries, and massive liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects.
With over 7000km of pipelines crisscrossing the swamps and mangroves in the delta, coupled with the neglect of the communities in terms of provision of basic amenities, the people resulted to stealing of crude oil or refined products from the pipelines for economic gains. To mitigate against the vandalisation and subsequent oil theft, the following measures is advised for pipeline protection.
1. Community personnel’s involvement in pipeline security/monitoring contract
2. Pipeline burial to a depth of 3 meters in the swamps
3. Installation of optic fibre cables with the pipeline for early warning
4. Installation of reinforced concrete slab on the pipelines
Community personnel, if involved in the pipeline monitoring contract either as a contract holder or employee, will have that as a source of income and feel a sense of joint ownership with the oil companies such that he will likely do all within his means to protect the lines in his community
Burying pipelines to a depth of 3 meters as against the normal depth of 1 meter will provide difficulty to the vandals reaching that depth as it will require heavy machineries to access such depths in swamps, there by buying time for the security agents to apprehend the vandals.
Furthermore, installing fibre optic cables with the pipelines, early warning signal can be picked and quick response time is achieved when there is attempted vandalisation.
Finally, the installation of reinforced concrete slabs on buried pipelines along the entire right of way will provide adequate physical barriers for the pipelines thereby making it difficult to access.
In conclusion, having estimated the cost of each of the above suggested pipeline protection methods (costing not shown) and considering that, none of the options is entirely fool proof as such system do not exist. The preferred option therefore is to partner with the communities through which pipelines passes, by giving them pipeline monitoring contract in a way that there could benefit from protecting the pipelines. This way, each party, ie the oil companies and the communities have common interest to protect.
References
Freedom, C. 2007. Oil Pipeline Sabotage in Nigeria; Dimensions, actors and implications. Available at http://www.iss.co.za/uploads/17_3ONUOHA.PDF (accessed 19 December 2010)
Paul, O. 2007. US warn of terrorist attacks in Nigeria. Thisday, 7 September.
Smith, J. 2006. Imperial oil. Available at http://indybay.org/newsitems/2006/10/02/18317358.php
Week#3_Akubo Arome_ How do we protect our Pipelines from Oil Thief/Vandals in Niger Delta Area of Nigeria?
ReplyDeletePipeline vandalisation is one of the major challenges faced by oil and gas companies in Nigeria. Nigeria has a mono-cultural economy that greatly depends on the petroleum industry for Survival. The Nigerian petroleum industry was established about 54 years ago, in 1956 when the first oil well was first discovered in Oloibiri, in the present day Bayelsa. According to Smith (2006), as cited by Freedom (2007), Nigeria’s oil sector has now been developed into a vast domestic industrial infrastructure, consisting of more than 300 oil fields, 5 284 wells, 7 000 km of pipelines, ten export terminals, 22 petroleum storage depots, 275 flow stations, ten gas plants, four refineries, and massive liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects.
With over 7000km of pipelines crisscrossing the swamps and mangroves in the delta, coupled with the neglect of the communities in terms of provision of basic amenities, the people resulted to stealing of crude oil or refined products from the pipelines for economic gains. To mitigate against the vandalisation and subsequent oil theft, the following measures is advised for pipeline protection.
1. Community personnel’s involvement in pipeline security/monitoring contract
2. Pipeline burial to a depth of 3 meters in the swamps
3. Installation of optic fibre cables with the pipeline for early warning
4. Installation of reinforced concrete slab on the pipelines
Community personnel, if involved in the pipeline monitoring contract either as a contract holder or employee, will have that as a source of income and feel a sense of joint ownership with the oil companies such that he will likely do all within his means to protect the lines in his community
Burying pipelines to a depth of 3 meters as against the normal depth of 1 meter will provide difficulty to the vandals reaching that depth as it will require heavy machineries to access such depths in swamps, there by buying time for the security agents to apprehend the vandals.
Furthermore, installing fibre optic cables with the pipelines, early warning signal can be picked and quick response time is achieved when there is attempted vandalisation.
Finally, the installation of reinforced concrete slabs on buried pipelines along the entire right of way will provide adequate physical barriers for the pipelines thereby making it difficult to access.
In conclusion, having estimated the cost of each of the above suggested pipeline protection methods (costing not shown) and considering that, none of the options is entirely fool proof as such system do not exist. The preferred option therefore is to partner with the communities through which pipelines passes, by giving them pipeline monitoring contract in a way that there could benefit from protecting the pipelines. This way, each party, ie the oil companies and the communities have common interest to protect.
References
Freedom, C. 2007. Oil Pipeline Sabotage in Nigeria; Dimensions, actors and implications. Available at http://www.iss.co.za/uploads/17_3ONUOHA.PDF (accessed 19 December 2010)
Paul, O. 2007. US warn of terrorist attacks in Nigeria. Thisday, 7 September.
Smith, J. 2006. Imperial oil. Available at http://indybay.org/newsitems/2006/10/02/18317358.php
Week#3_Akubo Arome_ How do we protect our Pipelines from Oil Thief/Vandals in Niger Delta Area of Nigeria?
ReplyDeletePipeline vandalisation is one of the major challenges faced by oil and gas companies in Nigeria. Nigeria has a mono-cultural economy that greatly depends on the petroleum industry for Survival. The Nigerian petroleum industry was established about 54 years ago, in 1956 when the first oil well was first discovered in Oloibiri, in the present day Bayelsa. According to Smith (2006), as cited by Freedom (2007), Nigeria’s oil sector has now been developed into a vast domestic industrial infrastructure, consisting of more than 300 oil fields, 5 284 wells, 7 000 km of pipelines, ten export terminals, 22 petroleum storage depots, 275 flow stations, ten gas plants, four refineries, and massive liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects.
With over 7000km of pipelines crisscrossing the swamps and mangroves in the delta, coupled with the neglect of the communities in terms of provision of basic amenities, the people resulted to stealing of crude oil or refined products from the pipelines for economic gains. To mitigate against the vandalisation and subsequent oil theft, the following measures is advised for pipeline protection.
1. Community personnel’s involvement in pipeline security/monitoring contract
2. Pipeline burial to a depth of 3 meters in the swamps
3. Installation of optic fibre cables with the pipeline for early warning
4. Installation of reinforced concrete slab on the pipelines
Community personnel, if involved in the pipeline monitoring contract either as a contract holder or employee, will have that as a source of income and feel a sense of joint ownership with the oil companies such that he will likely do all within his means to protect the lines in his community
Burying pipelines to a depth of 3 meters as against the normal depth of 1 meter will provide difficulty to the vandals reaching that depth as it will require heavy machineries to access such depths in swamps, there by buying time for the security agents to apprehend the vandals.
Furthermore, installing fibre optic cables with the pipelines, early warning signal can be picked and quick response time is achieved when there is attempted vandalisation.
Finally, the installation of reinforced concrete slabs on buried pipelines along the entire right of way will provide adequate physical barriers for the pipelines thereby making it difficult to access.
In conclusion, having estimated the cost of each of the above suggested pipeline protection methods (costing not shown) and considering that, none of the options is entirely fool proof as such system do not exist. The preferred option therefore is to partner with the communities through which pipelines passes, by giving them pipeline monitoring contract in a way that there could benefit from protecting the pipelines. This way, each party, ie the oil companies and the communities have common interest to protect.
References
Freedom, C. 2007. Oil Pipeline Sabotage in Nigeria; Dimensions, actors and implications. Available at http://www.iss.co.za/uploads/17_3ONUOHA.PDF (accessed 19 December 2010)
Paul, O. 2007. US warn of terrorist attacks in Nigeria. Thisday, 7 September.
Smith, J. 2006. Imperial oil. Available at http://indybay.org/newsitems/2006/10/02/18317358.php
Week#3_Akubo Arome_ How do we protect our Pipelines from Oil Thief/Vandals in Niger Delta Area of Nigeria?
ReplyDeleteVERY interesting topic, Akubo. Too bad you weren't able to share the cost comparison with us, even if the numbers were disguised.
But what you describe as the ideal solution- engaging the local communities- sounds to me like more than just a pure economic decision? Wouldn't "Benefit:Cost Analysis" or "Multi-Attribute Decision Making" produce a "better" or more rational or complete comparison upon which to base a decision?
Would love to see you develop this more completely and comprehensively. This is the kind of paper that really excites readers and they tend to get published easier........
Important that we "play to the audience" a little bit.......
Keep up the good work, but please remember that the cut-off date is Saturday night at midnight........
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta
W3_Augustine_Oleru_Cost Overrun in Asphalt Road Construction projects in Niger delta area of Nigeria.
ReplyDeleteIn Niger Delta area of Nigeria, massive cost overruns on long lead items of road construction projects have left the country in a dilemma as to get the better way of building roads that will not fail even during construction process.
The Niger Delta has some peculiar physical qualities, it is mostly flat swampy basin made up of vast plain, built up by accumulation of very weak and highly compressible alluvial sedimentary deposits from the Niger and Benue rivers asphalt paving construction has been a night mare in this satiation. The region is exposed to salty flood crisis crossed by a myriad of rivers which can cause corrosion to steel construction – logged depressions where rainfall and surface water flow can hardly be drained by gravity, also the sea scours, floods and breaks on the river banks cause severe coastal erosion. This physical conditions and the trickle down social effects has given a great blow to project management in road construction leading to cost overrun in almost 95% of projects done in this region.
About 98% of roads are asphalt pavement but some other forms like Concrete paving and railways can also to be looked at here.
In this work, I looked at the result of the analysis quantitative analysis done to get the optimal road construction material and contracting strategy to minimize cost overrun,
Looking on:-
KPI”s Asphalt Pavement Concrete Pavement Rail ways
1.What are the overriding risk elements (Technical, Economic, Commercial and (Socio-)Political)
High High High
2.Which contracting strategy supports optimal project delivery?
Same factor for all Same factor for all Same factor for all
3.Which material seems to have the lowest impact by the environment? (in 1-100grade)
25 55 30
4.How would you try to include potential product recycling in the assessment? (in 1-100grade)
30 40 60
5.What is the durability of one pavement material over the other? (in 1-100grade)
20 50 40
6.What is the cost / area of each option (in 1-100grade)
57 60 70
7.What is the time of delivery of each option 25 34 60
From this analysis since we know that terrain contributes to 60% to 75% of the causes of cost overrun in our road projects, I recommend the concrete pavement as a valid alternative as it reduces the level of work redone as result of failure even on construction stage.
Other generic causes of overrun includes:-
Lack of proper planning has often led to delays that lead to increased cost of construction and incessant demands by host community. The peculiar terrain and prohibitive cost of construction in the region necessitates the need for thorough and adequate planning. The planning process involves data collection, analysis of field measurement, contingency plan for host community, inspections and monitoring control plans.
If this QA/QC plans, right construction materials, and other project management plans are put in place, i strungly feel that the cost overrun will reduce or even eliminated in this region.
1. Case study: Economic Input-Output Life Cycle Assessment of Asphalt
Versus Steel Reinforced Concrete for Pavement Construction.
Noellette Conway-Schempf
GSIA 209
Posner Hall
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
2. by Ivy Chang, Construction Bulletin, November 3, 2008
3. Ministry of works and housing Nigeria
Dr PDG,
ReplyDeletePlease see other postings in the newer post page.
Regards
Tony
W3_Augustine_Oleru_Cost Overrun in Asphalt Road Construction projects in Niger delta area of Nigeria.
ReplyDeleteExcellent posting, Augustine, but my question is, if the fact these roads consistently over run their budgets, why are we not coming up with a more realistic estimating model?
Surely there is enough historic data by now to show WHY these roads are blowing their budgets and if so, why can we develop square meter or some other cost models which reflect reality?
Also, while I am happy to see you citing outside sources, what I am looking for you to do is make the connection between outside references and AACE's Skills and Knowledge, 5th Edition, Engineering Economy, 14th Edition, GAO-09-3SP and the TCMF. How can the tools and techniques in those references help you solve the very real and legitimate problem you have identified?
You are heading in the right direction, but instead of focusing on risk, I would recommend you focus on developing a realistic cost model. (See Chapter 3 from Engineering Economy, 14th Edition)
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta
Tony, what is the URL to the other page?
ReplyDeleteThanks!!! And why do we have two pages? Why can't we consolidate?
And comparing WordPress being used by your colleagues here in Indonesia http://coolcce.wordpress.com/2010/12/20/w12-0-%E2%80%93-wina-%E2%80%93-2500-words-project/#respond, which one gives you the most flexibility and features?
Asked another way, is it worth switching?
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta
W3_Augustine_Oleru_Cost Overrun in Asphalt Road Construction projects in Niger delta area of Nigeria.
ReplyDeleteAugustine, thinking about your problem more, instead of doing a risk analysis, I think I would recommend you start out by doing a Root Cause Analysis. http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_80.htm In looking over your posting again, it seems that SOME of the risks you identified are not causes but effects (symptoms) and if you fixed the root cause, you would eliminate the risk entirely or at least mitigate it?
Give that some thought.....
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta
Tony said...
ReplyDeletePDG,
Re-posted for records as earlier posting was wrongly done and so not shown in blog space
WK1_TONY_NigeriaAACE Present Stage in Team Development
“Teams like individuals, progress through various stages in their life cycle. Each stage of development holds its own unique relationships and demonstrated behaviours. The stages of team development must be understood by team members and leaders in order to recognize the signals that indicate normal team growth and development” [1]. Bruce Tuckman identified four stages (initially) in his team development model and these are Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing [2]. Nigeria AACE team is now in the Forming stage.
The observable behaviours/actions that support my observation are, first agreements among members (team governance agreement, meeting mode etc), uncertainty on how to quickly tackle the deliverables required to obtain the notice to proceed (NTP), disorderliness in weekly meetings, heavy dependence on programme/ deputy program manager for the way forward, attempts to define group behavior, for example, what to do with people who don’t attend weekly meetings etc.
The management style the programme managers should be using is directing.
The problem at this stage as I see it is that we came from the face to face without a clear understanding of what is required to get notice to proceed (NTP) which effectively commences work in the distance learning mode (DLM). The result is that we are a 1.5 weeks late in starting the works slated for the DLM mode.
There are two alternative solutions that I am proposing:
1. The face to face programme should be elongated to include one full day for the team to complete and sign off all the deliverables required to obtain the client’s notice to proceed.
2. The face to face programme remains unchanged but the programme manager clearly spells out the 1st week post face to face deliverables and how to go about them. It should include a risk analysis with mitigation actions
The possible outcomes for alternative 1 are,
1. Team would directly focus on paper project immediately after face to face.
2. We would not have delays
3. We would avoid the pressure we are in right now to deliver two weeks work in one week.
The possible outcomes for alternative 2 are;
1. Have the NTP deliverables completed early in the week following face and obtain the NTP
2. Team would understand their priority and not jump the gun in selecting topic before NTP
3. Would have alternative actions for identified risk, for instance alternative group name etc
4. Team members would clearly know their deliverables and avoid a situation where certain persons have to rescue some pms who did not know they were to deliver on some items
The key performance indicators for my assessment of the alternatives are, get NTP (notice to proceed) not later than the second day of the week following face to face, submission of paper topic and 1st blog posting done the 1st week after face to face
Of the two alternatives, alternative two carries a higher risk, the mitigation plans may even fail. Unknown unknown risk could even occur and that would derail or delay the programme.
Alternative 1, that is, extend programme by 1 day to enable completion and sign off before leaving face to face has lower risk and would better engineer success as per the KPIs above.
References
1 Phil Lohr and Patricia Steege –How to move a team from stage to stage. Copright McGraw-Hill 2000
2 Tuckman, B.W and M. A. C Jenson. 1977. Stages of small – group development revisited
WK2_TONY_IMPACT OF INCOMPLETE SCOPE ON COST ESTIMATES
ReplyDeletePoor scope definition is recognized by industry practitioners as one of the leading causes of project failure, adversely affecting projects in the area of cost, schedule and operational characteristics [1].
I work as a cost estimator and a major problem I face in my work is that of incomplete scope definition to do the estimate. My customers are the Project Engineers and the conceptual team. More often than not they send some very vague and unquantifiable scope as back up for their estimate request. The result of this is delay in the delivery of the estimate, over or under estimation, high level of contingency allowance and continuous revision of the estimate.
Some of the reasons for this poor scoping are;
1. Absence of WBS or incomplete WBS
2. The haste to get budget approval
3. Poor interface between Engineering and project team
4. Some customers don’t know what they want until you start the job [2]
5. Share laziness by scoping engineers
An estimate is as good as the scope on which it is based; it is therefore necessary to find solutions which will enable us have reasonable scope for the estimates our clients’ request. Some of the solutions are;
1. Having a standardized WBS where customers plug in the required deliverables for the project.
2. Estimate kick off meeting involving the design team and the customer where expected scope deliverables and timelines are discussed and followed through.
3. One on one engagement of the customer where we discuss and obtain all required information from the customer. The verbal information so obtained is confirmed in written back to the customer
4. A written request to the customers listing all the missing scope items and requesting them to forward same to enable progress or commencement of the estimate.
While all of the above solutions can work, I however note that solution 4 sometimes lead to delays as the customer may be pre occupied with other assignments and may not respond on time. While solution 3 is fast, the estimator may forget to confirm the information back to the customer and the source of the scope becomes doubtful sometime later. There may be some delays setting up the estimate kick off meeting in solution 2.
Solution 1 will enable a speedier and more accurate estimate, “Because a WBS requires you and your project team to account for everything you’ll be creating, you can create very accurate cost estimates of what the project will cost to complete” [3]. From an owner’s perspective, if the cost estimate is not accurate, the financial return from the capital investment may not be realized [4]
References
1. Cho, C., and Gibson, G. Jr. December 2001 “Building project scope definition using project definition rating index”. Journal of Architectural Engineering/December 2001
2. Philips, J. January 28, 2005 “Real World Project Management: Managing the Project Scope”.
3. Philips, J. January 28, 2005 “Real World Project Management: Managing the Project Scope”.
4. Dysert, L., AACE International , 9.1 Skills & Knowledge of Cost Engineering 5th Edition Revised
WK3_TONY_WBS: WHAT IT IS, AND WHAT IT IS NOT
ReplyDeleteSome persons including project managers misunderstand and misuse the WBS (Work Breakdown Structure). Lilian Buchtick PMP, said some project managers misconstrue WBS to be schedule, list of activities, organizational breakdown structure or resource breakdown structure [1]. Humphreys, G also said, one common misapplication of a WBS is to use it to reflect the organization which is accomplishing the work rather than the work itself [2].
Some reasons for the misunderstand are; equating activities with deliverables, the tree like pattern of the WBS which is similar to an organisation’s chart and confusing scope statement with WBS.
Considering the above misgivings what then is a WBS and what is it used for?
It is a deliverable-oriented hierarchical decomposition of the work to be executed by the project team to accomplish the project objectives and create the required deliverables [3]. “The WBS is an effective display technique for defining and organizing project work. For the owner, the WBS represents what is being bought while for the contractor, it contains all work being performed on the project” [4]. The end result of the WBS is a clear picture of what the customer will and won’t get as part of the project [5]
The WBS is a broken down listing of scope deliverables and not the activities and task to accomplish the deliverables. These task and activities are covered in the project schedule. However a schedule draws from the lowest level of the WBS which is the work package. The WBS is not an organizational hierarchy even though they both use the tree structure. They serve entirely different purposes. While the WBS shows a project and its component parts (the deliverables)in a hierachical form, the organizational hierarchy (organizational breakdown structure) show an organization’s chain of command and communication lines in the command. The WBS is derived from the scope statement.
What is the use of the WBS?
Mathis Micah, PMP identified three reasons for the use of a WBS in a project;
1. It helps more accurately and specifically define and organize the scope of the total project
2. To help with assigning responsibilities, resource allocation, monitoring the project and controlling the project
3. It allows you double check all the deliverables’ specifics with the stakeholders and make sure there is nothing missing or overlapping
The WBS does not stand alone, as a dictionary of actual scope must accompany the WBS structure [6]. The dictionary describes the specifics and exact scope of each deliverable.
The above write up is to throw some light on what a WBS is and does not cover the entirety of the subject. The preparation of a WBS would be treated in another write up.
References
1. Buchtick, L., Secrets to mastering the WBS in real world projects
2. Humphreys, G., 2.31, Project Management Using Earned Value
3. A guide to the project management body of knowledge 3rd edition (PMBOK Guide)
4. Humphreys, G., 2.31, Project Management Using Earned Value
5. Philips, J., Jan 28, 2005, Real world project management: Managing the project scope.
6. Humphreys, G., 2.31, Project Management Using Earned Value
WK3_TONY_WBS: WHAT IT IS, AND WHAT IT IS NOT
ReplyDeleteEXCELLENT posting, Tony!!! Good work. Valid problem statement, exploration of alternative views and good conclusion.
My only concern lies with some of your references.
1. Buchtick, L., Secrets to mastering the WBS in real world projects
[PDG] How or where can I find this article? Where was it published?
3. A guide to the project management body of knowledge 3rd edition (PMBOK Guide)
[PDG] PMI and AACE are competitors. And generally speaking, while PMI claims to be the worlds leading producer of PM standards, many practitioners believe AACE offers much better technical standards than does PMI. Given PMI and AACE are competitors and given that the exams you are sitting for are from AACE, not PMI, don't you think it would be prudent (from a risk management perspective) to cite AACE publications rather than PMI? Who knows, you too may come to believe that the AACE technical standards are "better" than what PMI offers, but you won't be able to make a valid comparison until you familiarize yourself with the AACE Skills and Knowledge, 5th Edition, Total Cost Management Framework and the AACE Recommended Practices.http://www.aacei.org/technical/rp.shtml
Explained another way, your CCC/E, EVP, PSP and CEP exams are NOT going to be based on PMBOK Guide, but on AACE published materials.
5. Philips, J., Jan 28, 2005, Real world project management: Managing the project scope.
[PDG] How or where can I find this article? Where was it published?
Bottom line here Tony, you need to visit the Owl @Purdue and learn how to properly cite your references and you need to be looking first at the Skills and Knowledge of Cost Engineers, 5th Edition, then to the TCMF, then to Humphrey's and the GAO-09-3SP before you even consider opening the PMBOK Guide. And at the end of the course, you can write a comparison between what PMI offers and what AACE offers.
But otherwise, you did a really great job and I look forward to seeing more of your writing.
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta
WK3_TONY_WBS: WHAT IT IS, AND WHAT IT IS NOT
ReplyDeleteEXCELLENT posting, Tony!!! Good work. Valid problem statement, exploration of alternative views and good conclusion.
My only concern lies with some of your references.
1. Buchtick, L., Secrets to mastering the WBS in real world projects
[PDG] How or where can I find this article? Where was it published?
3. A guide to the project management body of knowledge 3rd edition (PMBOK Guide)
[PDG] PMI and AACE are competitors. And generally speaking, while PMI claims to be the worlds leading producer of PM standards, many practitioners believe AACE offers much better technical standards than does PMI. Given PMI and AACE are competitors and given that the exams you are sitting for are from AACE, not PMI, don't you think it would be prudent (from a risk management perspective) to cite AACE publications rather than PMI? Who knows, you too may come to believe that the AACE technical standards are "better" than what PMI offers, but you won't be able to make a valid comparison until you familiarize yourself with the AACE Skills and Knowledge, 5th Edition, Total Cost Management Framework and the AACE Recommended Practices.www.aacei.org/technical/rp.shtml
Explained another way, your CCC/E, EVP, PSP and CEP exams are NOT going to be based on PMBOK Guide, but on AACE published materials.
5. Philips, J., Jan 28, 2005, Real world project management: Managing the project scope.
[PDG] How or where can I find this article? Where was it published?
Bottom line here Tony, you need to visit the Owl @Purdue and learn how to properly cite your references and you need to be looking first at the Skills and Knowledge of Cost Engineers, 5th Edition, then to the TCMF, then to Humphrey's and the GAO-09-3SP before you even consider opening the PMBOK Guide. And at the end of the course, you can write a comparison between what PMI offers and what AACE offers.
But otherwise, you did a really great job and I look forward to seeing more of your writing.
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta
WK3_TONY_WBS: WHAT IT IS, AND WHAT IT IS NOT
ReplyDeleteEXCELLENT posting, Tony!!! Good work. Valid problem statement, exploration of alternative views and good conclusion.
My only concern lies with some of your references.
1. Buchtick, L., Secrets to mastering the WBS in real world projects
[PDG] How or where can I find this article? Where was it published?
3. A guide to the project management body of knowledge 3rd edition (PMBOK Guide)
[PDG] PMI and AACE are competitors. And generally speaking, while PMI claims to be the worlds leading producer of PM standards, many practitioners believe AACE offers much better technical standards than does PMI. Given PMI and AACE are competitors and given that the exams you are sitting for are from AACE, not PMI, don't you think it would be prudent (from a risk management perspective) to cite AACE publications rather than PMI? Who knows, you too may come to believe that the AACE technical standards are "better" than what PMI offers, but you won't be able to make a valid comparison until you familiarize yourself with the AACE Skills and Knowledge, 5th Edition, Total Cost Management Framework and the AACE Recommended Practices. www.aacei.org/technical/rp.shtml
Explained another way, your CCC/E, EVP, PSP and CEP exams are NOT going to be based on PMBOK Guide, but on AACE published materials.
5. Philips, J., Jan 28, 2005, Real world project management: Managing the project scope.
[PDG] How or where can I find this article? Where was it published?
Bottom line here Tony, you need to visit the Owl @Purdue and learn how to properly cite your references and you need to be looking first at the Skills and Knowledge of Cost Engineers, 5th Edition, then to the TCMF, then to Humphrey's and the GAO-09-3SP before you even consider opening the PMBOK Guide. And at the end of the course, you can write a comparison between what PMI offers and what AACE offers.
But otherwise, you did a really great job and I look forward to seeing more of your writing.
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta
WK3_TONY_WBS: WHAT IT IS, AND WHAT IT IS NOT
ReplyDeleteEXCELLENT posting, Tony!!! Good work. Valid problem statement, exploration of alternative views and good conclusion.
My only concern lies with some of your references.
1. Buchtick, L., Secrets to mastering the WBS in real world projects
[PDG] How or where can I find this article? Where was it published?
3. A guide to the project management body of knowledge 3rd edition (PMBOK Guide)
[PDG] PMI and AACE are competitors. And generally speaking, while PMI claims to be the worlds leading producer of PM standards, many practitioners believe AACE offers much better technical standards than does PMI. Given PMI and AACE are competitors and given that the exams you are sitting for are from AACE, not PMI, don't you think it would be prudent (from a risk management perspective) to cite AACE publications rather than PMI? Who knows, you too may come to believe that the AACE technical standards are "better" than what PMI offers, but you won't be able to make a valid comparison until you familiarize yourself with the AACE Skills and Knowledge, 5th Edition, Total Cost Management Framework and the AACE Recommended Practices.
Explained another way, your CCC/E, EVP, PSP and CEP exams are NOT going to be based on PMBOK Guide, but on AACE published materials.
5. Philips, J., Jan 28, 2005, Real world project management: Managing the project scope.
[PDG] How or where can I find this article? Where was it published?
Bottom line here Tony, you need to visit the Owl @Purdue and learn how to properly cite your references and you need to be looking first at the Skills and Knowledge of Cost Engineers, 5th Edition, then to the TCMF, then to Humphrey's and the GAO-09-3SP before you even consider opening the PMBOK Guide. And at the end of the course, you can write a comparison between what PMI offers and what AACE offers.
But otherwise, you did a really great job and I look forward to seeing more of your writing.
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta
WK2_TONY_IMPACT OF INCOMPLETE SCOPE ON COST ESTIMATES
ReplyDeleteAnother OUTSTANDING posting, Tony!!!
Very structured and written. You tell a nice story and I look forward to seeing the first draft of your paper.
My comments from before apply as well. You really need to spend some time at the Purdue Writing Lab http://owl.english.purdue.edu/ and learn how to properly cite your references. As noted previously,you also need to look FIRST at what AACE has to say and then compare that against what PMI, IPMA, ISO and others have to say. At the end of the course, I suspect you too will come to respect AACE's technical writing more than you will PMI. (And if you look at your PMBOK Guide 2004, page 3 or the PMBOK Guide, page 4, you can see why. PMI does not advocate "Best Practices" (as does the GAO) nor does PMI even advocate "Recommended Practices" (as does AACE) but PMI only advocates those standards "used on most projects, most of the time" which at best means "average" practices and at worst (Given the poor track record of project management success) means downright bad or poor practices.
One of my challenges to you over the coming 22 weeks will be to expose you to other standards so you can draw your own, INFORMED decisions about which standards you want to choose for Nigeria and for yourself as a professional practitioner.
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta
Week 4_LanreGiwa_Progress Measurement
ReplyDeleteAfter the successful completion of the face-face session of the AACE preparatory Course, one of the key deliverables is to write a 2500 word paper as part of the requirements for the CCE Certification. One of my responsibility as the Team Lead for Paper Team is to periodically measure progress of activities and submit a weekly report to the Program manager.
The Current challenge I am facing is to determine a method of computing the Progress (Percent Complete) [4] of the Team. The result will be an input to the weekly report and will truly reflect the situation of things.
There are about six alternative methods of measuring Progress of work or activities namely:
Units Complete Method
Incremental Milestone Method
Start/Finish Method
Supervisor Opinion
Cost ratio method
Weighted Units method.
The method I want to adopt for progress measurement should fulfill my set criteria such as a fairly objective process, an accurate way of determining the status of the Team and avoidance of false claims. Analyzing the options available, the units completed method would not really work because the tasks identified require different levels of efforts and measuring with the units completed would not be accurate. I cannot use the Start/Finish method and Supervisor method (which is an Educated Guesstimate [4]) because my team members are in various remote locations and I cannot determine start, finish or use my judgment to report status of events. Since the 2500 word is a deliverable to be submitted within a limited time, the cost ratio method would not be an ideal method of measurement.
Based on my analysis and the peculiarity of what is to be measured, I have opted for the Incremental Milestone Method. With this method, I have established a sequence of activities which was extracted from the CPM Schedule and set the activities as milestones to be attained. Subsequently, I assigned certain percentages to each activity and they all add up to 100% to show completion of task. The table below depicts what has been done
TASK /ACTIVITY WEIGHTING CUMULATIVE WEIGHTING
Selection of Paper Topic 5% 5%
Submission of the ToC 10% 15%
Submission of First Draft 10% 25%
Run Plagiarism Test 10% 35%
Others 65% 100%
The writer is of the view that this method is good enough and fit for purpose. It can be used to calculate the SPI and the CPI for the Project. It would also be used as input in determining the earned value.
’If you cannot measure it, you cannot manage it” [2]
References
1.Chapter 14, Skills and Knowledge of Cost Engineering. 5th Edition Revised.
2.Chapter 29, Project management using Earned Value,pg595. Humprey and Associates.
3.Engineering Economy,14th Edition, Page 27,Table 1-1
4.Giammalvo,P.D.(2010) ,Day 5, AACE Certification Preparation Course Material, pg 50-51,
NigerianAACE _SeeGod Meregini_Blog posting Week 2.0_Selection of the right skill from a competitive pool
ReplyDeleteIn this week blog, I will discuss about the problem I helped resolving in the office while trying to select the best personnel from a competitive pool using Engineering Economic Analysis Procedure.
The problem was to select the right skill from a very competitive pool of resource.
For the purpose of this write-up, I will call the resources by alphabets.
I was assigned to a team with the responsibility to solve the problem.
I developed alternatives and outcomes for each alternative using some agreed criteria.
Please see attached spreadsheet for details.
Technical Evalu
C.V and Interview Name Required Work Experience Education with relative experience Multiple past Project Responsibility Past Leadership accomplishment History of achievement Proficiency in required tool use Location of job experience Total value based on weighting Conclusion
Resource A 6 yes no no yes yes no 15
Resource B 7 yes yes no yes yes yes 17
Resource C 8 no no yes no yes no 12
Resource D 6 yes no yes yes yes no 19 Recomended
Resource E 5 yes no yes no yes yes 16
Selection Criteria Evaluation description Required Work Experience>5 =5: If Less than 5=3 Education Multiple past Project Responsibility Past Leadership accomplishment History of achievement Proficiency in required tool use Location of job experience
Weighting Highest= 5; Lowest=2 5 2 4 2 3 1
This made it easy for a selection of the preferred alternative based on the technical qualifications.
A summary of reasons for the selected alternative were:
• Higher long term value to the company
• Broader past experience relative to the proposed job
• Visible accomplishments in past jobs
• Greater Flexibility for the job
• Greater familiarity with the job required
Finally, a resource was selected. This decision was easier to make using the Engineering Economic Analysis Procedure
Bibliography
William G. Sullivan, Elin M Wicks, C.Patrick Koelling. (2009). Fourteenth Edition; Engineering Economy
May this day bring forth all you desire! Merry xmas fellow bloggers..
ReplyDeleteW2_SeeGod Meregini_Selection of the right skill from a competitive pool
ReplyDeleteFIRST- SeeGod, better check again what the correct NAMING CONVENTION is for these postings? I am not your secretary and don't want to have to make any further corrections. Take the time to look at what your colleagues have done or better yet, read my emails and follow the instructions I provide.
Secondly, while your posting was truly an excellent one, simply citing Engineering Economics is not enough. Which Chapter? Which pages in that chapter? In particular, it looks to me like you were using Multi-Attribute Decision Making, from Chapter 14, but if you did, then you missed several other very important methods that would have helped you better.
Also, you only cited Engineering Economy..... What about Skills and Knowledge? Did Humphrey's have anything to say about making this kind of decision? Did the GAO-09-3SP? Or what did the Memory Jogger series provide you with for ideas?
Bottom line- I am REJECTING your posting as submitted and asking that you post a REVISED W2.1 blog posting that addresses the issues/questions I raised above.
Merry Christmas, Ho Ho Ho......
Dr. PDG, Jakarta
Week 4_LanreGiwa_Progress Measurement
ReplyDeleteEXCELLENT, Lanre!!! Exactly what I am looking for each week. You identified a problem, found several alternatives, selected the most likely from the alternatives, calculated an example to support your choice and reached a conclusion.
PLUS, you cited your sources very specifically.
Again, EXCELLENT posting and if you don't mind, would you mentor SeeGod on how to cite his references please?
Looking forward to my first progress report to see what you are doing with the Earned Value.
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta
Week# 3_Adenaiya Olumide_ Managing Cost of Project Finance
ReplyDeleteInfrastructure development is an important priority of Multilateral Investment Guaranty Agency (MIGA) with a given estimated need of $230 billion a year solely for new investment to deal with rapidly growing urban centers and underserved rural populations in development.
In the fiscal year ending June 30 2010, MIGA issued $1.5 billion in investment guarantees (insurance) for 19 projects in developing countries which are to help support economic growth, reduce poverty and improve people live. MIGA is a member of World Bank Group meant to promote Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), which is a big capital source for the Banks in Nigeria who are financiers of concessional projects.
The opportunity cost of capital tells us that firms enter or remain in business if they earn, at a minimum, a normal rate of return (NROR) – that is, normal profit. This means that people will not invest their wealth in a business unless they obtain a positive competitive rate of return.
One of the ways infrastructural developments are handled is through Public-Private Infrastructure where the major challenge is estimating investment cost which determines the ROI and concession period.
The Minimum Attractive Rate of Return (MARR), is used to maximize the economic well-being of an organization subject to the following consideration
1. The amount of money available for investment, and the source and cost of these funds (i.e. equity fund or borrowed funds)
2. The number of good projects available for investment and their purpose
3. The amount of perceived risk associated with investment opportunities available to the firm and the estimated cost of administering project over short planning horizons versus long planning horizons
4. The type of organization involved (i.e. government, public utility, or private industry)
Reference
1. Businessday Tuesday 07, December,2010 (www.businessdayonline.com)
2. www.miga.org/news/index_sv.cfm?aid=2874
3. Engineering Economy, 14th Edition, page 212, 5.2 , 568, 13.1.1 -2;
4. Engineering Economy, 14th Edition, page 568, 13.1.1 -2;
5. Construction Economics- a new approach, Danny Myers, Page 98
6. Engineering Economic Analysis, 10th Edn.(Donald G. Newnan, Jerome P. Lavelle & Ted G. Eschenbach) page 512
W2_Samuel KALU_Prioritising My Christmas Expenses
ReplyDeleteEXCELLENT posting, Samuel!!!!! Exactly what I am looking to see you produce.
The only comment I will make is that despite your excellent use of research and appropriately citing your references, I really need to encourage you to be looking first and foremost at the reference materials we provided. In particular, the example you provided can be found in Chapter 14 of your Engineering Economy, “Multi-attribute decision making”, and while example was truly outstanding, you missed gaining some understanding that you will need when it comes time to sit for your certification exams.
I am accepting your posting for W2, but after everyone receives their Engineering Economy (hopefully soon, Mrs. Joy?) I would like you to revisit this posting and expand your analysis to include some of the other models of multi-attribute decision making.
Keep up the good work Samuel and hopefully we can get the blog site cleaned up before the first of the year.
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta
Week 5_LanreGiwa_Contracting for Capital Projects
ReplyDeleteAs a consultant for a private Oil and Gas Company, one of my responsibilities is to advise the company of the appropriate type of contracts to be adopted for award of capital projects.
Succinctly, a contract is simply an arrangement between two or more people that is enforceable at law. [1]Since the company (Owner) is the one awarding the contracts, they have the apparent authority to decide the nature of the contract. The owner will either advertise an invitation to Bid (ITB) or Request for Proposal (RFP).
After studying the nature of the Company’s business, I have identified possible types of contracts that may be used. They are as follows:
1.Fixed Price / Lump Sum Contracts
2.Fixed Price with Economic Adjustment / Escalation
3.Fixed price with Incentives
4.Cost Plus/ Cost Reimbursable Contract
5.Incentivized cost plus / cost reimbursable contracts
6.Cost Sharing contracts
7.Time and Materials Contract
Considering the available alternatives, cost risk analysis was conducted from the Owner’s point of view and identified the basic criteria that are needed in making the final decision for the contract type. As a minimum, It must be enforceable by law, well written and documented, Duration of the Project must be determined, Scope (Technical, Cost and Schedule) of Work, Economic considerations and available Bidders that are interested in Carrying out the Project.
Analyses of the options reveal that fixed contracts without conditions are one-sided contracts that eventually lead to cost overruns, delays and greater problems in Contracts. A lot of variations and claims occur and contractors tend to choose the cheapest and quickest solutions. Fixed price contracts usually absolve the owner from risks and push the bulk of risk on contractors. With this, contractors include large contingencies to cover the risk thereby leading to a very high price for the project.
On the other hand, contracts that are fully Cost plus/Reimbursable are usually done at a high risk to the Owner due to possible inefficiency and waste on the part of the Contractor. Cost plus contracts make it difficult in evaluation of bids or proposals and contractors have low zeal in completing the job as and when due. The company cannot determine the final cost of the project until completed and contractors do not engage their best resources.
Based on the analysis, I would recommend that contracts be awarded using the FIXED PRICE WITH INCENTIVE AND ESCALATION METHOD. This will make it possible to share the risk of economic changes like inflation with the contractor. Secondly, the incentive will motivate the contractor in fulfilling their role on the Project.
References
1.Chapter 25, Skills and Knowledge of Cost Engineering. 5th Edition Revised.
2.Chapter 38, Project management using Earned Value, pp 749 - 753. Humprey and Associates.
3.Engineering Economy,14th Edition, Page 27,Table 1-1
4.Giammalvo, P.D.(2010) ,Day 5, AACE Certification Preparation Course Material, pp 73-79.
5.http://www.contracts-managements.com/contract-types.php
Week 5_LanreGiwa_Contracting for Capital Projects
ReplyDeleteLooking very good, Lanre!!!
My next question would be what do you want to incentivize? What is important to you? Time? Cost? Quality? Safety, Health? Environment?
While am in full and total agreement with you that incentive contracting is the "way to go", you need to be very careful to align the incentives to what the client wants, recognizing the inevitable trade-offs.
Another challenge is how to structure the incentives, how and when to pay them and who deserves to get them. (Do you reward the contractor? Contractors employees? What about the subs and vendors?
Bottom line- you have picked an excellent topic and a very timely and important one, but one that requires considerably more research and understanding in order to "get it right".
Keep up the good work and looking forward to seeing more of your postings in the coming weeks.
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta
Week 2_ SeeGod Meregini_ Change in selection of the right skill from a competitive pool using compensatory model (The Additive Weighting Technique)
ReplyDeleteIn this revised blog, I will discuss about the problem I helped resolving using best practices in the office while trying to select the best personnel from a competitive pool.
The problem was to select the right skill from a very competitive pool of resources needed for a particular kind of job.
For the purpose of this write-up, the feasible alternatives will be called resources (Resource A to Resource E).
I was assigned to a team with the responsibility to solve the problem.
We gathered data by developing attributes and results for each alternative based on submitted documentations and interviews. We also agreed on some initial selected ranking criteria for each alternative.
Please see attached spreadsheet for details. Details of analysis and calculations are in another attached sheet due to the difficulty in attaching to the blog).
This made it easy for a selection of the initial preferred alternative based on the perceived technical qualifications.
A summary of perceived reasons for the selected alternative (Resource D) were:
• Higher long term value to the company
• Broader past experience relative to the proposed job
• Visible accomplishments in past jobs
• Greater Flexibility for the job
• Greater familiarity with the job required
A lot of these were subjective mainly due to low detail analysis of the attributes for the feasible alternatives.
Finally, Resource D was initially recommended.
However, I researched on some AACE materials and had to call my team for a rethink based on best practices I discovered.
I had to remove the dimension from the data (alternatives/attribute contribution) i.e. using a dimensionless rating. My goal was to devise a procedure that rates each attribute in terms of its fractional accomplishment of the best attainable value.
I had researched particularly on chapter 14, Engineering Economy among other AACE materials and used a compensatory Model called the Additive Weighting Technique.
My findings led my team brainstorming and agreeing on some new ranking parameters
This led to a change of recommendation for Resource B purely based on the weighted score among other things like a SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunities and threats) analysis and Risk management factors.
Conclusively, using the Additive Weighting Technique Model which probably is the most popular single-dimensional method reduced the confusion. This allowed for precise definition because it includes both the performance ratings and the importance weights of each attribute when evaluating alternatives.
References
1.Sullivan, W. G., Wicks, E.M., & Koelling, C.P. (2009). Decision making considering multiattributes. In M.J. Horton (Ed.), Engineering economy (14th ed.) (chapter 14) (pp. 602-618). New Jersey, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
2.AACE International Education Board. (2010).Statistics, probability, & risk. In S.J.Amos (Ed), Skills & knowledge of cost engineering (5th ed) (chapter 31) (pp.31.1-31.9). Morgantown, West Virginia: AACE International.
3.Humphreys, G.C (2002) Introduction to technical risk assessment. Project management using earned value (chapter 3). (pp.67-84). California, CA: Humphreys & Associates, Inc.
4.AACE International Education Board. (2006).Investment decision making In J.K.Hollmann (Ed), Total cost management framework – A process for applying the Skills & knowledge of cost engineering (1st ed) (chapter 3.3.1) (pp.55-63). Morgantown, West Virginia: AACE International.
Week 2_ SeeGod Meregini_ Change in selection of the right skill from a competitive pool using compensatory model (The Additive Weighting Technique)
ReplyDeleteIn this revised blog, I will discuss about the problem I helped resolving using best practices in the office while trying to select the best personnel from a competitive pool.
The problem was to select the right skill from a very competitive pool of resources needed for a particular kind of job.
For the purpose of this write-up, the feasible alternatives will be called resources (Resource A to Resource E).
I was assigned to a team with the responsibility to solve the problem.
We gathered data by developing attributes and results for each alternative based on submitted documentations and interviews. We also agreed on some initial selected ranking criteria for each alternative.
Please see attached spreadsheet for details. Details of analysis and calculations are shown below.
This made it easy for a selection of the initial preferred alternative based on the perceived technical qualifications.
A summary of perceived reasons for the selected alternative (Resource D) were:
• Higher long term value to the company
• Broader past experience relative to the proposed job
• Visible accomplishments in past jobs
• Greater Flexibility for the job
• Greater familiarity with the job required
A lot of these were subjective mainly due to low detail analysis of the attributes for the feasible alternatives.
Finally, Resource D was initially recommended.
However, I researched on some AACE materials and had to call my team for a rethink based on best practices I discovered.
I had to remove the dimension from the data (alternatives/attribute contribution) i.e. using a dimensionless rating. My goal was to devise a procedure that rates each attribute in terms of its fractional accomplishment of the best attainable value.
I had researched particularly on chapter 14, Engineering Economy among other AACE materials and used a compensatory Model called the Additive Weighting Technique.
My findings led my team brainstorming and agreeing on some new ranking parameters
This led to a change of recommendation for Resource B purely based on the weighted score among other things like a SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunities and threats) analysis and Risk management factors.
Conclusively, using the Additive Weighting Technique Model which probably is the most popular single-dimensional method reduced the confusion. This allowed for precise definition because it includes both the performance ratings and the importance weights of each attribute when evaluating alternatives.
References
1.Sullivan, W. G., Wicks, E.M., & Koelling, C.P. (2009). Decision making considering multiattributes. In M.J. Horton (Ed.), Engineering economy (14th ed.) (chapter 14) (pp. 602-618). New Jersey, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
2.AACE International Education Board. (2010).Statistics, probability, & risk. In S.J.Amos (Ed), Skills & knowledge of cost engineering (5th ed) (chapter 31) (pp.31.1-31.9). Morgantown, West Virginia: AACE International.
3.Humphreys, G.C (2002) Introduction to technical risk assessment. Project management using earned value (chapter 3). (pp.67-84). California, CA: Humphreys & Associates, Inc.
4.AACE International Education Board. (2006).Investment decision making In J.K.Hollmann (Ed), Total cost management framework – A process for applying the Skills & knowledge of cost engineering (1st ed) (chapter 3.3.1) (pp.55-63). Morgantown, West Virginia: AACE International.
Week 2_ SeeGod Meregini_ Change in selection of the right skill from a competitive pool using compensatory model (The Additive Weighting Technique)
ReplyDeleteIn this revised blog, I will discuss about the problem I helped resolving using best practices in the office while trying to select the best personnel from a competitive pool.
The problem was to select the right skill from a very competitive pool of resources needed for a particular kind of job.
For the purpose of this write-up, the feasible alternatives will be called resources (Resource A to Resource E).
I was assigned to a team with the responsibility to solve the problem.
We gathered data by developing attributes and results for each alternative based on submitted documentations and interviews. We also agreed on some initial selected ranking criteria for each alternative.
Please see attached spreadsheet for details. Details of analysis and calculations are shown below.
This made it easy for a selection of the initial preferred alternative based on the perceived technical qualifications.
A summary of perceived reasons for the selected alternative (Resource D) were:
• Higher long term value to the company
• Broader past experience relative to the proposed job
• Visible accomplishments in past jobs
• Greater Flexibility for the job
• Greater familiarity with the job required
A lot of these were subjective mainly due to low detail analysis of the attributes for the feasible alternatives.
Finally, Resource D was initially recommended.
However, I researched on some AACE materials and had to call my team for a rethink based on best practices I discovered.
I had to remove the dimension from the data (alternatives/attribute contribution) i.e. using a dimensionless rating. My goal was to devise a procedure that rates each attribute in terms of its fractional accomplishment of the best attainable value.
I had researched particularly on chapter 14, Engineering Economy among other AACE materials and used a compensatory Model called the Additive Weighting Technique.
My findings led my team brainstorming and agreeing on some new ranking parameters
This led to a change of recommendation for Resource B purely based on the weighted score among other things like a SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunities and threats) analysis and Risk management factors.
Conclusively, using the Additive Weighting Technique Model which probably is the most popular single-dimensional method reduced the confusion. This allowed for precise definition because it includes both the performance ratings and the importance weights of each attribute when evaluating alternatives.
References
1.Sullivan, W. G., Wicks, E.M., & Koelling, C.P. (2009). Decision making considering multiattributes. In M.J. Horton (Ed.), Engineering economy (14th ed.) (chapter 14) (pp. 602-618). New Jersey, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
2.AACE International Education Board. (2010).Statistics, probability, & risk. In S.J.Amos (Ed), Skills & knowledge of cost engineering (5th ed) (chapter 31) (pp.31.1-31.9). Morgantown, West Virginia: AACE International.
3.Humphreys, G.C (2002) Introduction to technical risk assessment. Project management using earned value (chapter 3). (pp.67-84). California, CA: Humphreys & Associates, Inc.
4.AACE International Education Board. (2006).Investment decision making In J.K.Hollmann (Ed), Total cost management framework – A process for applying the Skills & knowledge of cost engineering (1st ed) (chapter 3.3.1) (pp.55-63). Morgantown, West Virginia: AACE International.
Week 4_Akubo Arome _How do i get my 2500 Words Paper Written? Outsourcing or Self Written
ReplyDeleteThe dilemma been faced by me and some of my colleagues in the Nigeria AACE is how to get our 2500 words paper written. While some has idea of what is required to be done, others do not have a clue on what to do. In my state of indecision, i decided to see this as a project so that i can apply some principles in project management. According to Humphreys (2002), the first step in the earned value project management process is the definition of the project objectives, which include a general description of the technical requirement, its budget and time frame. My technical scope as such is to write a 2500 words paper publishable by AACE within a time frame of one month and a budget of 5000 Nigerian naira.
The two possible available alternatives for me are:
(1) To outsource the paper writing wholly and,
(2) To get it written by myself.
The two alternatives identified above in my opinion have the following outcome as depicted in table below:
Outsourcing
1. Requires little or no input from me
2. Requires funds for paying the contractor
3. Little or no learning experience from the write up that could be applied in part IV of my CCE certification exams
4. 2500 word paper will be achieved
Self Written
1. Requires my full input
2. Little or no funding required as cost can be covered by general overhead
3. Much learning experience gained to be applied in part IV of CCE certification exams
4. 2500 word paper will be achieved
Having considered the above outcomes from the two alternatives, the most single important selection criteria for me is experience gained from writing the paper which could be applied in the part IV of my CCE certification exams
Contracting out the paper will solve the immediate problem of getting the paper written, however, in the long run, this may not be beneficial for me. This is because f i am able to go through the rigours of writing the paper, the experience gained would help me to navigate through the part IV of my CCE certification exams.
In consideration of my selection criteria, the chosen option is to write the paper myself. This i have started by using the WBS element (Table of Content) which i had earlier submitted for approval and the subsequent approval. The next step is to finish my first draft and submit for review.
References
1. Chapter 1, Project management using Earned Value, pp 12. Humprey and Associates.
2. Engineering Economy, 14th Edition, Page 27, Table 1-1
3. Giammalvo, P.D.(2010) ,Day 5, AACE Certification Preparation Course Material.
Week 4_Akubo Arome _How do i get my 2500 Words Paper Written? Outsourcing or Self Written
ReplyDeleteThe dilemma been faced by me and some of my colleagues in the Nigeria AACE is how to get our 2500 words paper written. While some has idea of what is required to be done, others do not have a clue on what to do. In my state of indecision, i decided to see this as a project so that i can apply some principles in project management. According to Humphreys (2002), the first step in the earned value project management process is the definition of the project objectives, which include a general description of the technical requirement, its budget and time frame. My technical scope as such is to write a 2500 words paper publishable by AACE within a time frame of one month and a budget of 5000 Nigerian naira.
The two possible available alternatives for me are:
(1) To outsource the paper writing wholly and,
(2) To get it written by myself.
The two alternatives identified above in my opinion have the following outcome as depicted in table below:
Outsourcing
1. Requires little or no input from me
2. Requires funds for paying the contractor
3. Little or no learning experience from the write up that could be applied in part IV of my CCE certification exams
4. 2500 word paper will be achieved
Self Written
1. Requires my full input
2. Little or no funding required as cost can be covered by general overhead
3. Much learning experience gained to be applied in part IV of CCE certification exams
4. 2500 word paper will be achieved
Having considered the above outcomes from the two alternatives, the most single important selection criteria for me is experience gained from writing the paper which could be applied in the part IV of my CCE certification exams
Contracting out the paper will solve the immediate problem of getting the paper written, however, in the long run, this may not be beneficial for me. This is because f i am able to go through the rigours of writing the paper, the experience gained would help me to navigate through the part IV of my CCE certification exams.
In consideration of my selection criteria, the chosen option is to write the paper myself. This i have started by using the WBS element (Table of Content) which i had earlier submitted for approval and the subsequent approval. The next step is to finish my first draft and submit for review.
References
1. Chapter 1, Project management using Earned Value, pp 12. Humprey and Associates.
2. Engineering Economy, 14th Edition, Page 27, Table 1-1
3. Giammalvo, P.D.(2010) ,Day 5, AACE Certification Preparation Course Material.
Week 4_Akubo Arome _How do i get my 2500 Words Paper Written? Outsourcing or Self Written
ReplyDeleteThe dilemma been faced by me and some of my colleagues in the Nigeria AACE is how to get our 2500 words paper written. While some has idea of what is required to be done, others do not have a clue on what to do. In my state of indecision, i decided to see this as a project so that i can apply some principles in project management. According to Humphreys (2002), the first step in the earned value project management process is the definition of the project objectives, which include a general description of the technical requirement, its budget and time frame. My technical scope as such is to write a 2500 words paper publishable by AACE within a time frame of one month and a budget of 5000 Nigerian naira.
The two possible available alternatives for me are:
(1) To outsource the paper writing wholly and,
(2) To get it written by myself.
The two alternatives identified above in my opinion have the following outcome as depicted in table below:
Outsourcing
1. Requires little or no input from me
2. Requires funds for paying the contractor
3. Little or no learning experience from the write up that could be applied in part IV of my CCE certification exams
4. 2500 word paper will be achieved
Self Written
1. Requires my full input
2. Little or no funding required as cost can be covered by general overhead
3. Much learning experience gained to be applied in part IV of CCE certification exams
4. 2500 word paper will be achieved
Having considered the above outcomes from the two alternatives, the most single important selection criteria for me is experience gained from writing the paper which could be applied in the part IV of my CCE certification exams
Contracting out the paper will solve the immediate problem of getting the paper written, however, in the long run, this may not be beneficial for me. This is because f i am able to go through the rigours of writing the paper, the experience gained would help me to navigate through the part IV of my CCE certification exams.
In consideration of my selection criteria, the chosen option is to write the paper myself. This i have started by using the WBS element (Table of Content) which i had earlier submitted for approval and the subsequent approval. The next step is to finish my first draft and submit for review.
References
1. Chapter 1, Project management using Earned Value, pp 12. Humprey and Associates.
2. Engineering Economy, 14th Edition, Page 27, Table 1-1
3. Giammalvo, P.D.(2010) ,Day 5, AACE Certification Preparation Course Material.
Week 4_Akubo Arome _How do i get my 2500 Words Paper Written? Outsourcing or Self Written
ReplyDeleteThe dilemma been faced by me and some of my colleagues in the Nigeria AACE is how to get our 2500 words paper written. While some has idea of what is required to be done, others do not have a clue on what to do. In my state of indecision, i decided to see this as a project so that i can apply some principles in project management. According to Humphreys (2002), the first step in the earned value project management process is the definition of the project objectives, which include a general description of the technical requirement, its budget and time frame. My technical scope as such is to write a 2500 words paper publishable by AACE within a time frame of one month and a budget of 5000 Nigerian naira.
The two possible available alternatives for me are:
(1) To outsource the paper writing wholly and,
(2) To get it written by myself.
The two alternatives identified above in my opinion have the following outcome as depicted in table below:
Outsourcing
1. Requires little or no input from me
2. Requires funds for paying the contractor
3. Little or no learning experience from the write up that could be applied in part IV of my CCE certification exams
4. 2500 word paper will be achieved
Self Written
1. Requires my full input
2. Little or no funding required as cost can be covered by general overhead
3. Much learning experience gained to be applied in part IV of CCE certification exams
4. 2500 word paper will be achieved
Having considered the above outcomes from the two alternatives, the most single important selection criteria for me is experience gained from writing the paper which could be applied in the part IV of my CCE certification exams
Contracting out the paper will solve the immediate problem of getting the paper written, however, in the long run, this may not be beneficial for me. This is because f i am able to go through the rigours of writing the paper, the experience gained would help me to navigate through the part IV of my CCE certification exams.
In consideration of my selection criteria, the chosen option is to write the paper myself. This i have started by using the WBS element (Table of Content) which i had earlier submitted for approval and the subsequent approval. The next step is to finish my first draft and submit for review.
References
1. Chapter 1, Project management using Earned Value, pp 12. Humprey and Associates.
2. Engineering Economy, 14th Edition, Page 27, Table 1-1
3. Giammalvo, P.D.(2010) ,Day 5, AACE Certification Preparation Course Material.
Week 4_Akubo Arome _How do i get my 2500 Words Paper Written? Outsourcing or Self Written
ReplyDeleteThe dilemma been faced by me and some of my colleagues in the Nigeria AACE is how to get our 2500 words paper written. While some has idea of what is required to be done, others do not have a clue on what to do. In my state of indecision, i decided to see this as a project so that i can apply some principles in project management. According to Humphreys (2002), the first step in the earned value project management process is the definition of the project objectives, which include a general description of the technical requirement, its budget and time frame. My technical scope as such is to write a 2500 words paper publishable by AACE within a time frame of one month and a budget of 5000 Nigerian naira.
The two possible available alternatives for me are:
(1) To outsource the paper writing wholly and,
(2) To get it written by myself.
The two alternatives identified above in my opinion have the following outcome as depicted in table below:
Outsourcing
1. Requires little or no input from me
2. Requires funds for paying the contractor
3. Little or no learning experience from the write up that could be applied in part IV of my CCE certification exams
4. 2500 word paper will be achieved
Self Written
1. Requires my full input
2. Little or no funding required as cost can be covered by general overhead
3. Much learning experience gained to be applied in part IV of CCE certification exams
4. 2500 word paper will be achieved
Having considered the above outcomes from the two alternatives, the most single important selection criteria for me is experience gained from writing the paper which could be applied in the part IV of my CCE certification exams
Contracting out the paper will solve the immediate problem of getting the paper written, however, in the long run, this may not be beneficial for me. This is because f i am able to go through the rigours of writing the paper, the experience gained would help me to navigate through the part IV of my CCE certification exams.
In consideration of my selection criteria, the chosen option is to write the paper myself. This i have started by using the WBS element (Table of Content) which i had earlier submitted for approval and the subsequent approval. The next step is to finish my first draft and submit for review.
References
1. Chapter 1, Project management using Earned Value, pp 12. Humprey and Associates.
2. Engineering Economy, 14th Edition, Page 27, Table 1-1
3. Giammalvo, P.D.(2010) ,Day 5, AACE Certification Preparation Course Material.
Week 4_Akubo Arome _How do i get my 2500 Words Paper Written? Outsourcing or Self Written
ReplyDeleteThe dilemma been faced by me and some of my colleagues in the Nigeria AACE is how to get our 2500 words paper written. While some has idea of what is required to be done, others do not have a clue on what to do. In my state of indecision, i decided to see this as a project so that i can apply some principles in project management. According to Humphreys (2002), the first step in the earned value project management process is the definition of the project objectives, which include a general description of the technical requirement, its budget and time frame. My technical scope as such is to write a 2500 words paper publishable by AACE within a time frame of one month and a budget of 5000 Nigerian naira.
The two possible available alternatives for me are:
(1) To outsource the paper writing wholly and,
(2) To get it written by myself.
The two alternatives identified above in my opinion have the following outcome as depicted in table below:
Outsourcing
1. Requires little or no input from me
2. Requires funds for paying the contractor
3. Little or no learning experience from the write up that could be applied in part IV of my CCE certification exams
4. 2500 word paper will be achieved
Self Written
1. Requires my full input
2. Little or no funding required as cost can be covered by general overhead
3. Much learning experience gained to be applied in part IV of CCE certification exams
4. 2500 word paper will be achieved
Having considered the above outcomes from the two alternatives, the most single important selection criteria for me is experience gained from writing the paper which could be applied in the part IV of my CCE certification exams
Contracting out the paper will solve the immediate problem of getting the paper written, however, in the long run, this may not be beneficial for me. This is because f i am able to go through the rigours of writing the paper, the experience gained would help me to navigate through the part IV of my CCE certification exams.
In consideration of my selection criteria, the chosen option is to write the paper myself. This i have started by using the WBS element (Table of Content) which i had earlier submitted for approval and the subsequent approval. The next step is to finish my first draft and submit for review.
References
1. Chapter 1, Project management using Earned Value, pp 12. Humprey and Associates.
2. Engineering Economy, 14th Edition, Page 27, Table 1-1
3. Giammalvo, P.D.(2010) ,Day 5, AACE Certification Preparation Course Material.
Week 4_Akubo Arome _How do i get my 2500 Words Paper Written? Outsourcing or Self Written
ReplyDeleteThe dilemma been faced by me and some of my colleagues in the Nigeria AACE is how to get our 2500 words paper written. While some has idea of what is required to be done, others do not have a clue on what to do. In my state of indecision, i decided to see this as a project so that i can apply some principles in project management. According to Humphreys (2002), the first step in the earned value project management process is the definition of the project objectives, which include a general description of the technical requirement, its budget and time frame. My technical scope as such is to write a 2500 words paper publishable by AACE within a time frame of one month and a budget of 5000 Nigerian naira.
The two possible available alternatives for me are:
(1) To outsource the paper writing wholly and,
(2) To get it written by myself.
The two alternatives identified above in my opinion have the following outcome as depicted in table below:
Outsourcing
1. Requires little or no input from me
2. Requires funds for paying the contractor
3. Little or no learning experience from the write up that could be applied in part IV of my CCE certification exams
4. 2500 word paper will be achieved
Self Written
1. Requires my full input
2. Little or no funding required as cost can be covered by general overhead
3. Much learning experience gained to be applied in part IV of CCE certification exams
4. 2500 word paper will be achieved
Having considered the above outcomes from the two alternatives, the most single important selection criteria for me is experience gained from writing the paper which could be applied in the part IV of my CCE certification exams
Contracting out the paper will solve the immediate problem of getting the paper written, however, in the long run, this may not be beneficial for me. This is because f i am able to go through the rigours of writing the paper, the experience gained would help me to navigate through the part IV of my CCE certification exams.
In consideration of my selection criteria, the chosen option is to write the paper myself. This i have started by using the WBS element (Table of Content) which i had earlier submitted for approval and the subsequent approval. The next step is to finish my first draft and submit for review.
References
1. Chapter 1, Project management using Earned Value, pp 12. Humprey and Associates.
2. Engineering Economy, 14th Edition, Page 27, Table 1-1
3. Giammalvo, P.D.(2010) ,Day 5, AACE Certification Preparation Course Material.
Week 4_Akubo Arome _How do i get my 2500 Words Paper Written? Outsourcing or Self Written
ReplyDeleteSorry, Akubo, while you can outsource the EDITING of your paper and/or the TRANSLATION of your paper, you cannot outsource the WRITING of your paper. It must be your work.
http://www.aacei.org/educ/cert/CCC/AffidavitForCertPaper.pdf
I have provided a link to the affidavit you have to sign, which will give you a pretty good idea of the parameters you have to work with. As you can see, you must be the PRIMARY author, which means you can have some help (o.e. me and others) but the paper must be MOSTLY your own work.
Another BIG issue is PLAGIARISM. http://www.aacei.org/educ/cert/CCC/plagiarism.shtml
I have uploaded guidelines to help prevent you from plagiarizing the work of others and one of the last things I will be having you do is running anti-plagiarism software.
Wishing you and yours a safe, happy, healthy and PROSPEROUS 2011.
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta
Week 3_ SeeGod Meregini_ Choice on changing my accommodation
ReplyDeleteDuring this yuletide period, I was faced with a decision to select a plan to change my housing accommodation.
The problem was making up my mind on the choice of plan in changing my accommodation.
Three proposals and do nothing compose the list of feasible alternatives (choices) in this decision problem. After consultations with my wife, a total of 6 attributes were judged sufficient for the purposes of discriminating among the alternatives.
The alternatives were:
• Renting a new apartment
• Buying a new house on mortgage terms
• Building a house
• Do nothing – renewing my rent in my current apartment
The list of attributes used was:
• Cost
• Time until completion
• Speed to furnish/refurnish(internal)
• Need for a loan
• Effect on other projects
• Change satisfaction
We made sure each attribute captured a unique part of the decision problem and all attributes would be sufficient for the purpose of selecting the best alternative.
We gathered data by talking to bank officials, estate valuers, lawyers and some friends that accomplished some of the alternatives listed above.
A summary of information gathered is shown below:
Alternatives
Attributes Renting a new apart. Buying a new house Building a house Do nothing
Cost $15K $260K $200k $5K
Time 1mt 3mts 12mts 0mt
Furnish time 3mts 7mts 5mts 0.5mt
Loan need Low High Medium None
Effect on Prj. High Low Medium None
Change satis. Medium High Very High Low
I decided to use a noncompensatory model for two reasons.
1 I wanted non permissible trade-offs among attributes
2 I wanted the comparisons of alternatives to be based on an attribute-by-attribute basis.
Feasible Ranges were also developed. The minimum and maximum acceptable values for each attribute are:
Attributes Minimum Accept. Value. Maximum Accept. Value
Cost $0 $233K
Time 0mt 3mts
Furnish time 0mt 4mts
Loan needs Medium High
Effect on Prj. None Low
Change satis Medium Very High
When I made comparison of attribute values for each alternatives against the feasible range using the satisficing model, it revealed that none was acceptable.
I decided to use the lexicography model after ranking the attributes.
Ranking
Cost>Time>Loan needs>Effects on other Projects>Change Satisfaction>Furnish time
The final choice was Do nothing alternative because cost is the top-ranked attribute and Do nothing alternative is the best of all.
I also considered some risk factors while evaluating these alternatives.
Conclusively, using a multiattribute decision model helped me reduce making decision using “Gut feelings”. It also enabled me justify my choice using data and proven models.
References
Sullivan, W. G., Wicks, E.M., & Koelling, C.P. (2009). Decision making considering multiattributes. In M.J. Horton (Ed.), Engineering economy (14th ed.) (chapter 14) (pp. 602-618). New Jersey, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
AACE International Education Board. (2010).Statistics, probability, & risk. In S.J.Amos (Ed), Skills & knowledge of cost engineering (5th ed) (chapter 31) (pp.31.1-31.9). Morgantown, West Virginia: AACE International.
Humphreys, G.C (2002) Introduction to technical risk assessment. Project management using earned value (chapter 3). (pp.67-84). California, CA: Humphreys & Associates, Inc.
AACE International Education Board. (2006).Investment decision making In J.K.Hollmann (Ed), Total cost management framework – A process for applying the Skills & knowledge of cost engineering (1st ed) (chapter 3.3.1) (pp.55-63). Morgantown, West Virginia: AACE International.
Week 3_ SeeGod Meregini_ Choice on changing my accommodation
ReplyDeleteDuring this yuletide period, I was faced with a decision to select a plan to change my housing accommodation.
The problem was making up my mind on the choice of plan in changing my accommodation.
Three proposals and do nothing compose the list of feasible alternatives (choices) in this decision problem. After consultations with my wife, a total of 6 attributes were judged sufficient for the purposes of discriminating among the alternatives.
The alternatives were:
• Renting a new apartment
• Buying a new house on mortgage terms
• Building a house
• Do nothing – renewing my rent in my current apartment
The list of attributes used was:
• Cost
• Time until completion
• Speed to furnish/refurnish(internal)
• Need for a loan
• Effect on other projects
• Change satisfaction
We made sure each attribute captured a unique part of the decision problem and all attributes would be sufficient for the purpose of selecting the best alternative.
We gathered data by talking to bank officials, estate valuers, lawyers and some friends that accomplished some of the alternatives listed above.
A summary of information gathered is shown below:
Alternatives
Attributes Renting a new apart. Buying a new house Building a house Do nothing
Cost $15K $260K $200k $5K
Time 1mt 3mts 12mts 0mt
Furnish time 3mts 7mts 5mts 0.5mt
Loan need Low High Medium None
Effect on Prj. High Low Medium None
Change satis. Medium High Very High Low
I decided to use a noncompensatory model for two reasons.
1 I wanted non permissible trade-offs among attributes
2 I wanted the comparisons of alternatives to be based on an attribute-by-attribute basis.
Feasible Ranges were also developed. The minimum and maximum acceptable values for each attribute are:
Attributes Minimum Accept. Value. Maximum Accept. Value
Cost $0 $233K
Time 0mt 3mts
Furnish time 0mt 4mts
Loan needs Medium High
Effect on Prj. None Low
Change satis Medium Very High
When I made comparison of attribute values for each alternatives against the feasible range using the satisficing model, it revealed that none was acceptable.
I decided to use the lexicography model after ranking the attributes.
Ranking
Cost>Time>Loan needs>Effects on other Projects>Change Satisfaction>Furnish time
The final choice was Do nothing alternative because cost is the top-ranked attribute and Do nothing alternative is the best of all.
I also considered some risk factors while evaluating these alternatives.
Conclusively, using a multiattribute decision model helped me reduce making decision using “Gut feelings”. It also enabled me justify my choice using data and proven models.
References
Sullivan, W. G., Wicks, E.M., & Koelling, C.P. (2009). Decision making considering multiattributes. In M.J. Horton (Ed.), Engineering economy (14th ed.) (chapter 14) (pp. 602-618). New Jersey, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
AACE International Education Board. (2010).Statistics, probability, & risk. In S.J.Amos (Ed), Skills & knowledge of cost engineering (5th ed) (chapter 31) (pp.31.1-31.9). Morgantown, West Virginia: AACE International.
Humphreys, G.C (2002) Introduction to technical risk assessment. Project management using earned value (chapter 3). (pp.67-84). California, CA: Humphreys & Associates, Inc.
AACE International Education Board. (2006).Investment decision making In J.K.Hollmann (Ed), Total cost management framework – A process for applying the Skills & knowledge of cost engineering (1st ed) (chapter 3.3.1) (pp.55-63). Morgantown, West Virginia: AACE International.
Week 3_ SeeGod Meregini_ Choice on changing my accommodation
ReplyDeleteDuring this yuletide period, I was faced with a decision to select a plan to change my housing accommodation.
The problem was making up my mind on the choice of plan in changing my accommodation.
Three proposals and do nothing compose the list of feasible alternatives (choices) in this decision problem. After consultations with my wife, a total of 6 attributes were judged sufficient for the purposes of discriminating among the alternatives.
The alternatives were:
• Renting a new apartment
• Buying a new house on mortgage terms
• Building a house
• Do nothing – renewing my rent in my current apartment
The list of attributes used was:
• Cost
• Time until completion
• Speed to furnish/refurnish(internal)
• Need for a loan
• Effect on other projects
• Change satisfaction
We made sure each attribute captured a unique part of the decision problem and all attributes would be sufficient for the purpose of selecting the best alternative.
We gathered data by talking to bank officials, estate valuers, lawyers and some friends that accomplished some of the alternatives listed above.
A summary of information gathered is shown below:
Alternatives
Attributes Renting a new apart. Buying a new house Building a house Do nothing
Cost $15K $260K $200k $5K
Time 1mt 3mts 12mts 0mt
Furnish time 3mts 7mts 5mts 0.5mt
Loan need Low High Medium None
Effect on Prj. High Low Medium None
Change satis. Medium High Very High Low
I decided to use a noncompensatory model for two reasons.
1 I wanted non permissible trade-offs among attributes
2 I wanted the comparisons of alternatives to be based on an attribute-by-attribute basis.
Feasible Ranges were also developed. The minimum and maximum acceptable values for each attribute are:
Attributes Minimum Accept. Value. Maximum Accept. Value
Cost $0 $233K
Time 0mt 3mts
Furnish time 0mt 4mts
Loan needs Medium High
Effect on Prj. None Low
Change satis Medium Very High
When I made comparison of attribute values for each alternatives against the feasible range using the satisficing model, it revealed that none was acceptable.
I decided to use the lexicography model after ranking the attributes.
Ranking
Cost>Time>Loan needs>Effects on other Projects>Change Satisfaction>Furnish time
The final choice was Do nothing alternative because cost is the top-ranked attribute and Do nothing alternative is the best of all.
I also considered some risk factors while evaluating these alternatives.
Conclusively, using a multiattribute decision model helped me reduce making decision using “Gut feelings”. It also enabled me justify my choice using data and proven models.
References
Sullivan, W. G., Wicks, E.M., & Koelling, C.P. (2009). Decision making considering multiattributes. In M.J. Horton (Ed.), Engineering economy (14th ed.) (chapter 14) (pp. 602-618). New Jersey, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
AACE International Education Board. (2010).Statistics, probability, & risk. In S.J.Amos (Ed), Skills & knowledge of cost engineering (5th ed) (chapter 31) (pp.31.1-31.9). Morgantown, West Virginia: AACE International.
Humphreys, G.C (2002) Introduction to technical risk assessment. Project management using earned value (chapter 3). (pp.67-84). California, CA: Humphreys & Associates, Inc.
AACE International Education Board. (2006).Investment decision making In J.K.Hollmann (Ed), Total cost management framework – A process for applying the Skills & knowledge of cost engineering (1st ed) (chapter 3.3.1) (pp.55-63). Morgantown, West Virginia: AACE International.
Week 3_ SeeGod Meregini_ Choice on changing my accommodation
ReplyDeleteDuring this yuletide period, I was faced with a decision to select a plan to change my housing accommodation.
The problem was making up my mind on the choice of plan in changing my accommodation.
Three proposals and do nothing compose the list of feasible alternatives (choices) in this decision problem. After consultations with my wife, a total of 6 attributes were judged sufficient for the purposes of discriminating among the alternatives.
The alternatives were:
• Renting a new apartment
• Buying a new house on mortgage terms
• Building a house
• Do nothing – renewing my rent in my current apartment
The list of attributes used was:
• Cost
• Time until completion
• Speed to furnish/refurnish(internal)
• Need for a loan
• Effect on other projects
• Change satisfaction
We made sure each attribute captured a unique part of the decision problem and all attributes would be sufficient for the purpose of selecting the best alternative.
We gathered data by talking to bank officials, estate valuers, lawyers and some friends that accomplished some of the alternatives listed above.
A summary of information gathered is shown below:
Alternatives
Attributes Renting a new apart. Buying a new house Building a house Do nothing
Cost $15K $260K $200k $5K
Time 1mt 3mts 12mts 0mt
Furnish time 3mts 7mts 5mts 0.5mt
Loan need Low High Medium None
Effect on Prj. High Low Medium None
Change satis. Medium High Very High Low
I decided to use a noncompensatory model for two reasons.
1 I wanted non permissible trade-offs among attributes
2 I wanted the comparisons of alternatives to be based on an attribute-by-attribute basis.
Feasible Ranges were also developed. The minimum and maximum acceptable values for each attribute are:
Attributes Minimum Accept. Value. Maximum Accept. Value
Cost $0 $233K
Time 0mt 3mts
Furnish time 0mt 4mts
Loan needs Medium High
Effect on Prj. None Low
Change satis Medium Very High
When I made comparison of attribute values for each alternatives against the feasible range using the satisficing model, it revealed that none was acceptable.
I decided to use the lexicography model after ranking the attributes.
Ranking
Cost>Time>Loan needs>Effects on other Projects>Change Satisfaction>Furnish time
The final choice was Do nothing alternative because cost is the top-ranked attribute and Do nothing alternative is the best of all.
I also considered some risk factors while evaluating these alternatives.
Conclusively, using a multiattribute decision model helped me reduce making decision using “Gut feelings”. It also enabled me justify my choice using data and proven models.
References
Sullivan, W. G., Wicks, E.M., & Koelling, C.P. (2009). Decision making considering multiattributes. In M.J. Horton (Ed.), Engineering economy (14th ed.) (chapter 14) (pp. 602-618). New Jersey, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
AACE International Education Board. (2010).Statistics, probability, & risk. In S.J.Amos (Ed), Skills & knowledge of cost engineering (5th ed) (chapter 31) (pp.31.1-31.9). Morgantown, West Virginia: AACE International.
Humphreys, G.C (2002) Introduction to technical risk assessment. Project management using earned value (chapter 3). (pp.67-84). California, CA: Humphreys & Associates, Inc.
AACE International Education Board. (2006).Investment decision making In J.K.Hollmann (Ed), Total cost management framework – A process for applying the Skills & knowledge of cost engineering (1st ed) (chapter 3.3.1) (pp.55-63). Morgantown, West Virginia: AACE International.
Week 3_ SeeGod Meregini_ Choice on changing my accommodation
ReplyDeleteEXCELLENT posting, SeeGod!!! Exactly what I am looking for each week. As you progress and develop competency in using the tools and techniques of cost engineering/engineering economics in your personal life, I will be looking for you to apply them in your working life, but right now, this is exactly what I am expecting you to do.
Keep up the good work, but more importantly, as you understand what I am looking for, I will be looking for you to "LEAD BY EXAMPLE" and you can best do that by MENTORING your colleagues.
Happy New Year, and looking forward to future postings from you.
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta
Week 2_ SeeGod Meregini_ Change in selection of the right skill from a competitive pool using compensatory model (The Additive Weighting Technique)
ReplyDeleteThis posting, while on the right track was not specific enough in showing us what you did and how you did it.
Yes, you EXPLAINED how you were going to implement multi-attribute decision making, but you didn't show us any examples of what you did.
In order to get the most out of the course (and prepare you for the difficult Part IV of your exams) I need to be watching to see how you actually set up the problems and then did the calculations.
Your W3 report was much better than your W2 report, although both of them are very much what I am looking for.
Keep up the good work, SeeGod and I hope to see you mentoring your colleagues.
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta
Week 4_ SeeGod Meregini_ Main reason for some personnel with low productivity in my department
ReplyDeleteI work with a lot of stakeholders in getting results for project update and performance
The problem was finding the greatest root cause for low personnel productivity that resulted in poor project performance.
In carrying out my findings, I came up with a number of causes (feasible alternatives) to this low productivity output by these personnel. The alternatives were:
• Leadership behaviour and role
• Motivation
• Organizational structure
• Competency
Critical analysis of the outcomes was:
• Leadership behaviour and role
While recognising that these personnel are not the managers of the projects, they have great influence in coaching and mentoring team members by providing guidance, assistance and feedback that might help individual and by extension the team in producing high performances. These leadership roles were clearly missing from these personnel because of negative attitude and assumptions about people and work
Motivation
I found out that the drivers (i.e. motivators and demotivators) come mainly from extrinsic (rewards or working conditions) sources for these personnel. While this may not be outrightly bad, it poses a fundamental problem when intrinsic motivation such as personal desire to learn or help others is missing significantly. This is especially true because to have an impact, extrinsic sources must either counter or complement intrinsic sources.
• Organizational structure
Out of the three structural design framework known i.e. Functional (focus on division of labour or specialization), Divisional (focus on unity of command), and Matrix (focus on tasks), these personnel operated from the matrix. The matrix type gives room for task managers to draw resources from functional and divisional organizations. Sometimes this creates problems because of the shared input given to different projects by these personnel.
• Competency
This is the skill and knowledge required of an individual to perform a job or function. Knowledge is an understanding gained through experience or study, and skills are abilities that transform knowledge into use I found out that these personnel’s core competencies are not completely needed for the job and hence not correctly tied to enterprise competencies. There were some gaps which was affecting business objectives and strategies.
My selection criterion was quantitative perspective i.e. something to plan, measure, and assess
In analysing and comparing the alternatives, I came up with the conclusion that competency and leadership is the greatest contributor to excellent personnel performance which is measured in terms of labour productivity.
Conclusively, performance can be seen to begin with having competent and capable people. Increased performance outcome is mainly dependent on developing such capability
References
Giammalvo, P. D. (2010). AACE Certification Prep Course [PowerPoint slides], Day 4 (pp...) Lagos: Nigeria.
Sullivan, W. G., Wicks, E.M., & Koelling, C.P. (2009). Engineering economy and design process. In M.J. Horton (Ed.), Engineering economy (14th ed.) (chapter 1.3) (pp. 27). New Jersey, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
AACE International Education Board. (2010).Performance and productivity management. In S.J.Amos (Ed), Skills & knowledge of cost engineering (5th ed) (chapter 17) Morgantown, WV: AACE International.
AACE International Education Board. (2006).People and performance management. In J.K.Hollmann (Ed), Total cost management framework – A process for applying the Skills & knowledge of cost engineering (1st ed) (chapter 11.2.) (pp.240). Morgantown, WV: AACE International.
Tate,T, & Stackpole,C. (2006) Applying effective leadership to projects.The advanced project management memory jogger(1st ed) (chapter
Week 4_ SeeGod Meregini_ Main reason for some personnel with low productivity in my department
ReplyDeleteI work with a lot of stakeholders in getting results for project update and performance
The problem was finding the greatest root cause for low personnel productivity that resulted in poor project performance.
In carrying out my findings, I came up with a number of causes (feasible alternatives) to this low productivity output by these personnel. The alternatives were:
• Leadership behaviour and role
• Motivation
• Organizational structure
• Competency
Critical analysis of the outcomes was:
• Leadership behaviour and role
While recognising that these personnel are not the managers of the projects, they have great influence in coaching and mentoring team members by providing guidance, assistance and feedback that might help individual and by extension the team in producing high performances. These leadership roles were clearly missing from these personnel because of negative attitude and assumptions about people and work
Motivation
I found out that the drivers (i.e. motivators and demotivators) come mainly from extrinsic (rewards or working conditions) sources for these personnel. While this may not be outrightly bad, it poses a fundamental problem when intrinsic motivation such as personal desire to learn or help others is missing significantly. This is especially true because to have an impact, extrinsic sources must either counter or complement intrinsic sources.
• Organizational structure
Out of the three structural design framework known i.e. Functional (focus on division of labour or specialization), Divisional (focus on unity of command), and Matrix (focus on tasks), these personnel operated from the matrix. The matrix type gives room for task managers to draw resources from functional and divisional organizations. Sometimes this creates problems because of the shared input given to different projects by these personnel.
• Competency
This is the skill and knowledge required of an individual to perform a job or function. Knowledge is an understanding gained through experience or study, and skills are abilities that transform knowledge into use I found out that these personnel’s core competencies are not completely needed for the job and hence not correctly tied to enterprise competencies. There were some gaps which was affecting business objectives and strategies.
My selection criterion was quantitative perspective i.e. something to plan, measure, and assess
In analysing and comparing the alternatives, I came up with the conclusion that competency and leadership is the greatest contributor to excellent personnel performance which is measured in terms of labour productivity.
Conclusively, performance can be seen to begin with having competent and capable people. Increased performance outcome is mainly dependent on developing such capability
References
Giammalvo, P. D. (2010). AACE Certification Prep Course [PowerPoint slides], Day 4 (pp...) Lagos: Nigeria.
Sullivan, W. G., Wicks, E.M., & Koelling, C.P. (2009). Engineering economy and design process. In M.J. Horton (Ed.), Engineering economy (14th ed.) (chapter 1.3) (pp. 27). New Jersey, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
AACE International Education Board. (2010).Performance and productivity management. In S.J.Amos (Ed), Skills & knowledge of cost engineering (5th ed) (chapter 17) Morgantown, WV: AACE International.
AACE International Education Board. (2006).People and performance management. In J.K.Hollmann (Ed), Total cost management framework – A process for applying the Skills & knowledge of cost engineering (1st ed) (chapter 11.2.) (pp.240). Morgantown, WV: AACE International.
Tate,T, & Stackpole,C. (2006) Applying effective leadership to projects.The advanced project management memory jogger(1st ed) (chapter
Week 4_ SeeGod Meregini_ Main reason for some personnel with low productivity in my department
ReplyDeleteI work with a lot of stakeholders in getting results for project update and performance
The problem was finding the greatest root cause for low personnel productivity that resulted in poor project performance.
In carrying out my findings, I came up with a number of causes (feasible alternatives) to this low productivity output by these personnel. The alternatives were:
• Leadership behaviour and role
• Motivation
• Organizational structure
• Competency
Critical analysis of the outcomes was:
• Leadership behaviour and role
While recognising that these personnel are not the managers of the projects, they have great influence in coaching and mentoring team members by providing guidance, assistance and feedback that might help individual and by extension the team in producing high performances. These leadership roles were clearly missing from these personnel because of negative attitude and assumptions about people and work
Motivation
I found out that the drivers (i.e. motivators and demotivators) come mainly from extrinsic (rewards or working conditions) sources for these personnel. While this may not be outrightly bad, it poses a fundamental problem when intrinsic motivation such as personal desire to learn or help others is missing significantly. This is especially true because to have an impact, extrinsic sources must either counter or complement intrinsic sources.
• Organizational structure
Out of the three structural design framework known i.e. Functional (focus on division of labour or specialization), Divisional (focus on unity of command), and Matrix (focus on tasks), these personnel operated from the matrix. The matrix type gives room for task managers to draw resources from functional and divisional organizations. Sometimes this creates problems because of the shared input given to different projects by these personnel.
• Competency
This is the skill and knowledge required of an individual to perform a job or function. Knowledge is an understanding gained through experience or study, and skills are abilities that transform knowledge into use I found out that these personnel’s core competencies are not completely needed for the job and hence not correctly tied to enterprise competencies. There were some gaps which was affecting business objectives and strategies.
My selection criterion was quantitative perspective i.e. something to plan, measure, and assess
In analysing and comparing the alternatives, I came up with the conclusion that competency and leadership is the greatest contributor to excellent personnel performance which is measured in terms of labour productivity.
Conclusively, performance can be seen to begin with having competent and capable people. Increased performance outcome is mainly dependent on developing such capability
References
Giammalvo, P. D. (2010). AACE Certification Prep Course [PowerPoint slides], Day 4 (pp...) Lagos: Nigeria.
Sullivan, W. G., Wicks, E.M., & Koelling, C.P. (2009). Engineering economy and design process. In M.J. Horton (Ed.), Engineering economy (14th ed.) (chapter 1.3) (pp. 27). New Jersey, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
AACE International Education Board. (2010).Performance and productivity management. In S.J.Amos (Ed), Skills & knowledge of cost engineering (5th ed) (chapter 17) Morgantown, WV: AACE International.
AACE International Education Board. (2006).People and performance management. In J.K.Hollmann (Ed), Total cost management framework – A process for applying the Skills & knowledge of cost engineering (1st ed) (chapter 11.2.) (pp.240). Morgantown, WV: AACE International.
Tate,T, & Stackpole,C. (2006) Applying effective leadership to projects.The advanced project management memory jogger(1st ed) (chapter
Week 4_ SeeGod Meregini_ Main reason for some personnel with low productivity in my department
ReplyDeleteI work with a lot of stakeholders in getting results for project update and performance
The problem was finding the greatest root cause for low personnel productivity that resulted in poor project performance.
In carrying out my findings, I came up with a number of causes (feasible alternatives) to this low productivity output by these personnel. The alternatives were:
• Leadership behaviour and role
• Motivation
• Organizational structure
• Competency
Critical analysis of the outcomes was:
• Leadership behaviour and role
While recognising that these personnel are not the managers of the projects, they have great influence in coaching and mentoring team members by providing guidance, assistance and feedback that might help individual and by extension the team in producing high performances. These leadership roles were clearly missing from these personnel because of negative attitude and assumptions about people and work
Motivation
I found out that the drivers (i.e. motivators and demotivators) come mainly from extrinsic (rewards or working conditions) sources for these personnel. While this may not be outrightly bad, it poses a fundamental problem when intrinsic motivation such as personal desire to learn or help others is missing significantly. This is especially true because to have an impact, extrinsic sources must either counter or complement intrinsic sources.
• Organizational structure
Out of the three structural design framework known i.e. Functional (focus on division of labour or specialization), Divisional (focus on unity of command), and Matrix (focus on tasks), these personnel operated from the matrix. The matrix type gives room for task managers to draw resources from functional and divisional organizations. Sometimes this creates problems because of the shared input given to different projects by these personnel.
• Competency
This is the skill and knowledge required of an individual to perform a job or function. Knowledge is an understanding gained through experience or study, and skills are abilities that transform knowledge into use I found out that these personnel’s core competencies are not completely needed for the job and hence not correctly tied to enterprise competencies. There were some gaps which was affecting business objectives and strategies.
My selection criterion was quantitative perspective i.e. something to plan, measure, and assess
In analysing and comparing the alternatives, I came up with the conclusion that competency and leadership is the greatest contributor to excellent personnel performance which is measured in terms of labour productivity.
Conclusively, performance can be seen to begin with having competent and capable people. Increased performance outcome is mainly dependent on developing such capability
References
Giammalvo, P. D. (2010). AACE Certification Prep Course [PowerPoint slides], Day 4 (pp...) Lagos: Nigeria.
Sullivan, W. G., Wicks, E.M., & Koelling, C.P. (2009). Engineering economy and design process. In M.J. Horton (Ed.), Engineering economy (14th ed.) (chapter 1.3) (pp. 27). New Jersey, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
AACE International Education Board. (2010).Performance and productivity management. In S.J.Amos (Ed), Skills & knowledge of cost engineering (5th ed) (chapter 17) Morgantown, WV: AACE International.
AACE International Education Board. (2006).People and performance management. In J.K.Hollmann (Ed), Total cost management framework – A process for applying the Skills & knowledge of cost engineering (1st ed) (chapter 11.2.) (pp.240). Morgantown, WV: AACE International.
Tate,T, & Stackpole,C. (2006) Applying effective leadership to projects.The advanced project management memory jogger(1st ed) (chapter
Week 4_ SeeGod Meregini_ Main reason for some personnel with low productivity in my department
ReplyDeleteGood posting, SeeGod!!!! You picked an appropriate and relevant topic and have started applying "cost engineering/engineering economics" thinking to develop "solutions" to the problem.
You did great on Steps 1-5, but were weak on Step 6, choosing your preferred alternatives. You identified them, but didn't tell us WHY you selected those over the others. In applied Engineering Economics/Cost Engineering, you need to justify or support your recommendations.
Also, you missed Step 7, which is to explain how you are going to monitor/control whatever interventions you recommend. How do we (as your management) know that what you recommended is or is not working?
Week 4_ SeeGod Meregini_ Main reason for some personnel with low productivity in my department
ReplyDeletePS: SeeGod, you did an OUTSTANDING job also, with your citations. You were very specific, to the chapter and even page that you were referencing. Keep up the good work!!!
Week#5_Monigha Idubamo_ poor contracting and over valuation
ReplyDeleteAs the Vice-Chairman staff co-operative society estate development steering committee. I was recently asked to co-ordinate the re-award of the estate’s perimeter fence. A look at previous fence contract awarded in the past indicated that project was poorly done and so much money paid for little or nothing.
Upon assumption of duty, we asked for the scope of the previous contract and found out that there was none, other than quote on which the contract was negotiated and awarded. The intent was to find out what went wrong and we discovered that there was no proper selection process for the past contractor and he was paid without a measure of valued work pay mechanism.
In my capacity as the project adviser, I suggested the following:
A. Bidders’ selection through Technical pre-qualification.
In line with above, invitation was sent out to about twenty three contractors. Seventeen of them returned bid and six others did not. A panel with set criteria evaluated and twelve were successful into the commercial round. Presently, the commercial bid has just been concluded awaiting recommendation for award.
B. Payment to be based on earned value system
This met a lot of reservation from other members of the steering committee and the society’s management committee. When the process was explained, they accepted and asked that it be done similarly to the successful bidders during the commercial pre-bid meeting. – 1it was explained to the bidders that the days of poor quality and advance payment were over. They all agreed to abide with the new way of working.
2Criteria for payment will be based on the following:
i. Physical site inspection of extent or work.
ii Work must be in conformance with technical specification through QC inspection
Reports/Tests.
iii. Contractual obligations met.
The first test of the earned value system is in place already with the design consultant. Their milestone payment was reduced to earned value for not meeting up with design of a retaining wall stipulated in their scope; the true value of the retaining wall scope was deducted.
The general lesson learnt here is that we should use only contractors that are capable using the right selection process and pay for only what is deserved. As the project progresses, we shall be informed of its progress and final outcome.
References:
1. Pearl Garden Estate Minutes of meeting 21/12/2010, page 2 item 2.9
2. AACE Certification Preparation Course Material, Dr. Paul Giammalvo November 2010; Page 47 of 94.
WEEK4_OLERU_AUGUSTINE_CHALLENGES OF PROJECT EXECUTION IN NIGER-DELTA REGION
ReplyDeleteIt is evident to know that project implementation and execution has encountered a lot of impediment in the present time and effort to mitigate against it has proved abortive. However, this paper will briefly look at this barrier with focus on Niger-Delta region of Nigeria.
Communal crisis has been one of the major contributory factors to the hindrance of project execution in Niger-Delta region of Nigeria. Over time, companies in this region have been faced with war, conflict, misunderstanding etc due to disagreement between members of the host and companies operating in that community. This has resulted in loss of capacity by companies working in these areas.
Unavailability of source raw material has also contributed to this challenge. Communities within this region lacks basic amenities like good portable water, electricity etc. These amenities facilitate project execution within the region. Result shows that average of 85 percent of the construction companies in this zone spend one third of their annual profit in water availability.
Inadequate manpower and human resources are some of the contributory factor to this obstruction. Research had proved that 75 percent of the total population in this area are literates and the remaining fractions that are educated are not well trained. As a result of this inadequacies development has really crashed in this zone.
Youth restiveness has also added to this barrier in this region. Most of the youth in this area between the ages of 16 to 35 years have ruthlessly imposed themselves to companies operating this area for employment. This has left these companies with a lot of tension and panic.
In conclusion, if communal crisis, youth restiveness, inadequate manpower and human resources are not check, project execution will continue to suffer a lot of difficulties in Niger-Delta.
References
1. Niger Delta Development Commission manual 2010
2. Why Cost and schedule Overruns in Mega Oil Sands Projects? By Dr J. Ruwanpura & Dr. G. Jergeas.
WK 4_TONY_RISK TRANSFER
ReplyDeleteWe encounter risk in our everyday life. To sit on a plastic chair for example is a risk; it could break under your weight. Risk is an uncertain event that has a probability of occurance. According to Alan J. Chilcott 2010, Risk refers to those dangerous activities or factors that, if they occur, will increase the probability that the project’s goals of time, cost and performance will not be met [1]. This definition tends to see risk as having only negative impacts on project but risk can also have positive impact. Where the impact of a risk is positive it is an opportunity. To move forward with any project you need to manage the associated risks. Risks do not stop a project; they only help you take informed decisions on the project. In managing risk you can either, avoid, accept, mitigate or transfer the risk. To transfer risk is to move it to another party to handle. It is further defined as to contractually outsource the work or buy insurance to transfer the risk to a third party [2]. Risk should be transferred only to a party that can better handle it.
There is the problem of project owners retaining risk that are better handled by others. On a particular project a client paid tens of millions of dollars to a contractor as standby time claim as a result of security challenges. This huge cost could have been reduced if the contractor had managed this risk. I say this because the contractor would have done everything within its power to reduce the standby time since he has a fixed allowance in his contract to cater for this risk. Furthermore militancy which was responsible for this security risk is targeted at the Asset Owner and not the contractor. The contractor therefore would have a better deal with the militants.
Some reasons why project owners retain risk they ought to transfer are;
• False impression created by Project Owners in-house staff of their ability to manage all risks
• No good basis of estimating the impact by contractors
• High cost of transferring the risk.
Some alternatives to handling a security risk are:
1. To share this risk with the contractor with an agreed cost assigned to the risk, in case it occurs. If it does not occur the contractor retains the allowed sum and if it occurs and beyond the allowed cost, the contractor bears the extra cost. This will motivate the contractor to work towards the prevention of the occurrence of this risk and also minimise its impact if it occurs.
2. Transfer the risk 100% to the contractor and put in a line item in the commercial bid for this risk so it can be compared with other bidders to ensure it is reasonable. This should be deducted if the risk did not occur; where it exceeds the quoted sum the contractors bears the extra cost.
Both alternatives are good but alternative 1 with incentive is better as it serves as motivation to the contractor.
References
1. Chilcott, A.,Risk Management-A developing Field of Study and Application. Cost Engineering Vol. 52/No. 9 September 2010
2. Tate, K., and Stackpole, C., Pg 88 Managing Project Risk. The Advanced Project Management Memory Jogger
WEEK5_OLERU_AUGUSTINE_NEED FOR PROJECT MANAGEMENT FOR NIGERIAN ENGINEERS
ReplyDeleteOver the years, Nigerian Engineers that handles Nigerian projects are found be less productive. Most of the executed projects done by these engineers suffer immense dilapidation and deformation and are done with wide gap from the original project objective. Hence, this situation pose a great trait to industries where these engineers deliver their services. Therefore, it calls for mandatory training for all Nigerian engineers.
Nigeria engineers require good project management training in order to be more efficient and effective in project delivery services. Any work done efficiently reduces time spent on that work cost of work and increases quality of project. Since time is one the determinant factors of any organisation profitability. Nigerian engineer need to be highly efficient in his job. In the other hand, effectiveness brings out the quality of work done and has serious cost implication in the organisation. Therefore should not be neglected.
This can achieve reduction of wastage in projects, bridging the gap between organisation aspect of the project and technical aspect, and creating more jobs through reducing the unemployment level in the country.
This could be done by making a legislation for mandatory Project management training in both the academic curriculum and on the professional level for all Nigerian engineers.
However, if Nigerian engineers are given project management training, there will be high level of productivity in the organisation where these engineers render their services. More so, profitability will be at higher level which enables companies to pay their taxes and invest more in Nigeria, thereby contributing immense to the growth of the nation.
Finally, if productivity increase, contracts are executed more efficiently and effectively and unemployment is reduce, there will be increase in the growth and development in Nigeria economy.
References
Nigerian society of Engineers 2009 Paper (Dr. C Nwolu.)
Week 3_John Agbo_ Choice of paint for structural steel structures close to the sea shore
ReplyDeleteI am currently on a construction project for a tank farm situated approx 50m from the sea shore. Due to the nature of the proximity of the site to the sea, the atmosphere is very salty therefore corrosion of structural steel members is very imminent.
I am currently faced with the challenge of recommending to my management, the type of paint to be used for the steel members. I took 2 steel sample and applied the following paint types on each sample:
1. Gloss Paint applied over Red Oxide paint
2. Epoxy paint
1. Gloss paint applied over Red Oxide paint: after preparing the steel surfaces and application of these paints, I left them exposed for 2 weeks.
Cost Implication of using gloss paint with red oxide paint undercoat:
2 Coats of Red oxide as under coat : 1m2 @ $30/m2 = $30
1 Coat of gloss paint as final coat : 1m2 @ $20/m2 = $20
Labor for painting(undercoat & final):1m2 @ $3/m2 = $3
TOTAL COST PER M2 FOR GLOSS PAINT OPTION = $ 53
2. Epoxy paint : after preparing the steel surfaces and application of this paints, I left them exposed for 2 weeks.
Cost Implication of using epoxy paint:
2 Coats of epoxy paint : 1m2 @ $54/m2 = $54
Cost of thinner(to be mixed with epoxy paint) required per m2 : 1m2 @ $15/m2 = $15
Labor for painting:1m2 @ $3/m2 = $3
TOTAL COST PER M2 FOR EPOXY PAINT OPTION = $ 72
Analysis and findings
At the expiration of 2 weeks, it was discovered that the steel members coated with gloss paint were completely corroded while the surfaces coated with epoxy paint were still intact.
It was discovered that epoxy paints, when used in the terrain, could last for close to a year before it is repainted.
Conclusion and recommendation
From the cost analysis, the establishment cost of epoxy paint is higher but the running / maintenance cost will be cheaper in the long run since repainting will be carried out every 9 months as against gloss paint that will not withstand the terrain for 2 weeks.
I will recommend the use of Epoxy paint to my Management.
References:
1. Chapter 2, Skills and Knowledge of Cost Engineering. 5th Edition Revised.
2. GAO Cost Estimating and Assessment Guide. Best Practices for developing and managing capital Program Costs