ICEC-IPMA Apr2006 prsnt v00 - danton-progm...experience in Construction Project and Programme Management. Worked, at various management levels, for Client organisations and Contractors

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An Initial Review of Project Reporting in the Context of Complexity

Antoniadis D.N.

(Senior Project Manager & Research Student

UK)

11stst ICEC & IPMA Global CongressICEC & IPMA Global Congress

on Project Management and 5on Project Management and 5thth World Congress on Cost Engineering, Project World Congress on Cost Engineering, Project

Management & Quantity SurveyingManagement & Quantity Surveying

Ljubljana, Slovenia April 23 Ljubljana, Slovenia April 23 –– 26, 200626, 2006

Edum-Fotwe F.T.

(Loughborough University

UK)

Thorpe A.

(Loughborough University

UK)

The speaker

D.N. Antoniadis

Senior Project Manager with a Project Management Consultancy, UK.

Currently doing a part time PhD in Project Management at Loughborough

University, with an MSc in Project Management and over 20 years

experience in Construction Project and Programme Management.

Worked, at various management levels, for Client organisations and

Contractors before becoming a Consultant.

Led also a number of change initiatives including the setting up of three

Programme Offices.



What I will talk about:

In reviewing ‘Project Reporting in the

Context of Complexity’ I will talk about:

What are the issues with Reporting

How do these occur

What can be done

Challenges for the future



Why Complexity?

Einstein said: “You cannot

solve the problem with the

same kind of thinking that

gives rise to the problem”



What are the issues with Reporting?

In Reporting the Project team has to deal with intricate problems that involve:

� People issues

� Organisational related issues

� Technology related issues, and

� Process related issues

All dealing with interconnections and interactions of structures, systems and people



How do these issues occur? - 1

Reciprocal interdependencies

Bi-directional flow of information, based

on the formula (n2-n) {where n=number of info nodes}

Filtering

The message is in the wrong language

The medium(s) used



2



Company

Report

A

Other

dept.

Company

Report

B Others

Project Reporting

process

Project Team

Report

Pockets of

info

manipulation

Individual

reports

Vacuum filter

Company

Report

A

Other

dept.

Company

Report

BOthers

Project Reporting

process in reality

Project Team

Report

Pockets of

info

manipulation

Individual

reports



How do these issues occur? - 2The Continuous process of Reporting



m=medium, n=noise, f=filter,

e=error, I=interconnection

e=encoder, d=decoder, m=medium,

n=environment, p=project team

Legend

Subscripts

How do these issues occur? - 3

When requests from various parties are not coordinated nor

standardised

The frequency of reporting does not fit the systems available,

nor the timetable

The systems used do not minimise/reduce duplication of effort

The boundaries are not regulated

The interconnections and their critical factors are not

appreciated, nor understood



It is the regulation of the boundaries, the minimisation of the influencing factors and the software systems used that control the level of reporting complexity in projects. The levelof complexity increases:

What can be done? 1

� Define properly the standard PM Structures

� Identify the boundaries

� Manage the boundaries using the tools and ensure

consistency and frequency of good communication

� Describe what is required - use the tools PEP and

PCH

� When building up the PCH, allow for flexibility, do

not assume that every project is the same



� Reduce the number of different tools (avoid spreadsheets)

� Reduce duplication of effort in reporting,

� Adjust the frequency of reporting to the

requirements

� Identify the stakeholder requirements and provide

training on reading the report(s),

� Finally, reporting is not just a contractual obligation.

It is about the 5 Ts: ‘Trust, Truth, Tolerance,

Thoughtfulness and not going over the Top’.



What can be done? 2

3

Challenges for the future?Challenges for the future?

“The observer and the observed cannot be independent.

The act of observing disturbs the system’ Niels Bohr.

� The act of reporting is an observation upon the project

� The reporting disturbs the project resulting in:

� 99% syndrome, or ‘prisoner’s dilemma’, or ‘is not me gov’

� We have to review reporting and develop the processes,

technologies, systems, and behaviours, which will enable

us to move away from the above.

� We need more information about information



ClosingClosing

Baccarini, D.:Complexity consists of

many varied interrelated parts and can be

operationalized in terms of

differentiation and interdependency





“… to understand the actual we must contemplate the possible” Dawkins R. ‘The extended phenotype’ p.2

Contact Details: Dimitris Antoniadis

Tel. No.: (++)44 7754 522 049

Email: [email protected]

Or [email protected]

Website: www.danton-progm.co.uk

ICEC-IPMA Apr2006 prsnt v00 - danton-progm...experience in Construction Project and Programme Management. Worked, at various management levels, for Client organisations and Contractors

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