Managing Deliverables – A Team Responsibility By: Mohamed Kamel

Managing Deliverables – A Team Responsibility

Mohamed Kamel                                                                                                            

August 26, 2014

Deliverables are the basis of any agreement, and deliverables are measured by time and quality. The client is looking for a specific deliverable at a specific time with a specific quality.

For the most part, we don’t have full control over the time element, but it is a shared responsibility between the several parties of the team: architecture, owner, client, etc. This shared responsibility is the outcome of an agreed-upon schedule that meets the needs of the project and has the buy-in of all stakeholders on the team.

On the other hand, we should have full control over the quality of our deliverables. But to be able to manage a deliverable’s quality, we need to be able to manage the time and allow a buffer period for the quality check. Since quality is also a shared responsibility, all parties should respect the schedule to allow this buffer to exist; and all parties should have their input delivered by the required time and containing the required input.

The control of the deliverables starts with the client defining the requirements and the schedule, maintaining a buffer against delays, updating the schedule logically and sharing the project information with all parties.

When we review these concepts in the context of our deliverables, we find, as sometimes happens, that there may be a big gap both in understanding and in managerial style.

The Problem

On those occasions when the process doesn’t work as well as it might, it may be that one party plan the works without aligning the schedule and without getting buy-in from all parties concerned. And as we all know too well, if you don’t have someone’s buy-in, you are usually not getting their maximum effort.

Sometimes, a client is not able to provide crucial information or input at the prescribed time or in the prescribed manner. Other times, there may be mismanagement of User Group Meetings (UGM).  Sometimes the established schedule has not been rationalized as how to deal with conflicting elements and how these should be aligned between all consultants.   

None of this is an excuse for any party not to deliver, but it does demonstrate the importance of managing both schedule elements and the client’s deliverables. This management issue can be a simple one if we know how to deal with it.

The Resolution

There are several tools that could be used to overcome inefficiency of a member of the overall team:

-          Monitor the agreed-on schedule and define the milestones: define clearly when you need the input to be able to start and when you need the input to be able to deliver on time.

-          Report all delays and the effect of these delays on your deliverables; having to work on a compressed schedule can mean late delivery or lower quality.

-          Use the open issue log efficiently, by reporting all missing elements and the exact state of the design.

-          Do not deliver unless you are sure that you satisfy your professional responsibility, or be sure to record the status including the unchecked elements.

Again, unless there is a documented reason, there is no excuse not to deliver on time and with the prescribed quality.  This doesn’t apply only to construction documents, it applies to all project documents, including packages issued for review, for coordination, reporting, commenting on RFIs and shop drawings, issue site instruction…etc. This is everyone’s job.