My
project management philosophy:
1. All successful
projects are the result of good teamwork.
2. If you haven’t got a plan you can’t change it.
3. ‘Killer grams’
Ref 1:
All
links in the chain have to be strong – one weak
link and it all falls apart. This runs right through from the
draughtsman to the owner. It cannot be overstated how important
it is to have an owner or owner’s representative, who
comprehends what he or she has actually started. If the person
in charge does not understand it makes every stage one which
has to be explained and justified before it can proceed. This
is a protracted process and ruins continuity.
Ref 2:
If you don’t have a plan, you have no control
because you don’t know who is doing what when. You don’t
have to be the controller of the plan yourself, but somebody
has to be. This, of course, is project management. Once you have
a plan it becomes obvious at some stage – often towards
the beginning – that parts of it are not going to work
in the originally expected fashion. The plan may then be updated
to accommodate these changes. Things remain under control. No
plan, no control; the time and cost goes sky high and disasters
happen because essential things get forgotten.
Ref 3:
This sign – in large letters - was on the
design office wall in one of the companies I worked for before
setting up on my own. It always astonishes me how little emphasis
is given to the weight of high speed craft – often by those
who work within the industry. Nobody expects an aeroplane to
take to the skies if it is overweight; possibly this is because
our baggage is always weighed before taking a flight. The same
principle applies to fast planing craft; too heavy and they won’t
get up and plane on the water surface, or will struggle to do
so. The vertical rise of a planing craft is much less than for
an aircraft (and there is less distance to fall), but planing
is different from just floating just as flying is different from
standing on the runway. Weight is the by far the largest factor
in planing boat performance and too much weight in the wrong
place is the biggest cause of design disasters.
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