Managing the Megaproject by: Mohamed Kamel

Managing the Megaproject

Mohamed Kamel

Sep 14, 2012

I hope what follows will spark an interest in discussing this topic, so that our collective knowledge can grow and our entire HHA family can benefit.   

The project management triangle contains four elements that we must monitor in any project: scope, time, cost and quality. Scope creep, project delay, cost overrun and rework are common deficiencies in projects. To be able to meet the project goals and objectives and to minimize these deficiencies, we should start the project management process as early as the first day of the project and as soon as the initiation phase starts. Throughout the entire project process, we should maintain strong monitoring of all these four elements.    

Megaproject is not a portfolio.  Megaproject is a project that has a higher magnitude in value and a special interest from the stakeholder, most commonly the public sector. Megaproject is a project with a life cycle, meaning that any action or decision taken at the first moment of the project will affect each of the four elements above until the closing out and beyond.

Inevitably, the project’s size and the public’s interest in it increase the complexity of managing the megaproject; so that managing the project is not only a matter of managing the four elements internally, but also of managing the expectations and the relation of the stakeholders. Moreover, because of the substantial impact of a megaproject, and the public’s attention to it, it creates multiple stakeholders, complicating the project management role. A megaproject is never a one-party challenge; it is a challenge for the entire slate of project partners.  Managing a megaproject successfully requires managing the complexity of each stakeholder’s objectives and roles.

The HR Challenge

In every project, human resources are the most important element, and success there depends on two actions we take at early stages: 1) creating procedures and 2) team building.  With megaprojects these first actions are more than important, they are crucial.

Managing human resources in a megaproject means managing individuals from different backgrounds, different experiences, different projects and different philosophies. In addition to these, moving from one scope to another often creates areas of confusion.

We have to be careful in understanding that managing team members is not instructing said members.  Managing team members means understanding their needs, their capabilities and their efficiencies.  It means coordinating their efforts and following up on their understanding of the project goals and objectives, as related to the four elements of scope, time, cost and quality. At that point, we can then provide direction.

Team building is not team assembling; if it were, we could simply assemble a team of the best professionals and the best personalities.  However, without building the strength within the team and a collective understanding of the role of each team member, and his or her responsibilities and authorities, we haven’t built a team. Instead, we’ve created a staggered and separated set of individuals working in isolation. So team building is an essential step.

Procedures are the most efficient way to run a project and are a tool in building the team as well.  All procedures are important, but most important is the communication procedure. In a megaproject, internal communication is key to managing the project.  And how we manage the communication between the internal and the external world is either a tool for success or a prescription for failure.

In any project, but most importantly in a megaproject, we should follow the most known quote in project management: “Don’t say it…Write it”.  Because a few days from now, it will be: “...you said…I said...well, what I understood was...”  When the history is lost, facts become opinions. 

A team has to stand firm in understanding the scope, the duties and the relation between the stakeholders. By applying the simple project management rules of communication, team building and follow-up, a megaproject could become a simple project that is only mega in magnitude and public interest.