Methodology Weakness in Project Control

  Cost Management   Knowledge Shelf  

After more than forty years in project control work, I must conclude that the industry is still far from solving the most serious of all project control problems—budget overruns. Considerable improvements have been made over the years—new tools and procedures have been developed—but the number of budget overruns today are nearly as numerous and severe as they were the day I joined the industry in 1972. We still have a long way to go. This fact has been verified by numerous surveys, including a recent Ernst & Young survey referenced in the July 2015 issue of World Oil. The survey states that a staggering two out of three offshore projects are running significantly over budget or are delayed or cancelled. However, budget overruns are not typical for just the oil industry—budget overruns are typical for all industries, especially for industries dealing with complex, non-repetitive projects such as petroleum projects, bridge projects, naval shipbuilding projects, hospital projects, etc.

So, why has this state of affairs been allowed to continue year after year? There are many reasons, but in this short write-up, I will focus on the fact that the control over projects is often lost because the most popular project control tools simplify the control issue to the extent that vital steering parameters are lost or get out of sight.

Project control …

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