The new operating model for project teams: Balancing flexibility and standardization
June 25, 2025 | Live Webinar
Navigating Deep Waters: Rolling Wave Planning in Offshore Drilling Operations
Henrique is an experienced Drilling Engineer and Operations Manager with over a decade of expertise in offshore exploratory well projects.
In the offshore drilling industry, where uncertainty and high-risk conditions are inherent, effective project management requires a combination of strategic planning and operational flexibility. This industry faces challenges such as deep-water locations, variable geological structures, high-pressure environments, and potential environmental impacts.
These factors demand precise planning and the ability to respond rapidly to changing circumstances. The overarching structure of these projects usually follows the waterfall methodology, essential for defining project scope, timelines, and resource allocations from the outset.
Such structured planning is critical not only for securing funding and ensuring regulatory compliance, but also for coordinating logistics and safety measures with multiple stakeholders. However, as projects transition to the execution phase, they often encounter unpredictable factors, such as sudden geological shifts or unforeseen technical obstacles.
In these situations, a more agile and adaptive planning strategy becomes necessary to manage this uncertainty effectively. This shift allows project management to remain both proactive in planning and responsive to the dynamic offshore environment, balancing long-term foresight with the flexibility needed to address emerging complexities.
Rolling wave planning is a project management technique …
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