Guessing is not a strategy: How to build decision velocity with AI and real-time data
June 10, 2026 | Live Webinar
Viewing Posts by Karen Chovan
Are you Ready for PMI Congress?
| A few days ago, a tweet posted by Cornelius Fichtner flashed across my feed…How to get the Most out of Attending a Project Management Conference – a rebroadcast of a previous podcast episode. And in the transcript of this podcast, he provided an extensive checklist to use in preparation of attending a conference. With PMI Congress fast approaching, I decided to take a look, and I was quite impressed by the length and detail included within. If you are a detailed planner (as many PMs are), you might want to grab a copy – even if only to get your thoughts going about what you should be trying to get out of a conference. It is designed so that you will be well prepared and come away from the conference feeling satisfied that you have achieved everything you came for, and more! I had of course already done some preliminary planning, and given the time I have left, I decided to take a bit more of an agile approach with this list… Goals & Metrics I already have goals in mind for the conference:
I won’t set targets on the number of talks to attend, because from experience, I have found that sometimes the best learning comes from personal dialogues as opposed to rushing from talk to talk. But networking isn’t something everyone is comfortable with either. Maybe metrics and targets like number of talks to attend, or number of people to meet, are important to you. It really depends on what motivates you, how you absorb information, and how open you are to just being flexible too. If you want to use them, make sure you set them up in advance (as for all projects!) Risk Avoidance I scanned the list for anything that might introduce major risks to success – and confirmed that I had accomplished the most critical tasks required to date:
Optimizing Opportunity Next I looked at items that will help me enjoy my time at the conference:
The Rest? It is all up in the air and will ebb and flow as the event proceeds. I’m flexible, and so long as I am enjoying things, I’ll go with where things fall. After all, this isn’t a project with life or death risks to manage. Maybe we will meet and have a great conversation. Or maybe you can’t make it, and you’ll want to know a bit more about what was missed. For you, I will share some things:
Maybe it will entice you to come to the next, if you weren’t able to this time around… |
Taking Control of Runaway Project Failure Rates
| In a previous post, I’ve written about project failure rates in the mining and oil and gas sectors. Ernst and Young issued reports in 2014 and 2015 which reported 50-90% of projects are facing cost overruns, and between 50-85% projects are facing schedule delays, (depending on the geographical region you study, and whether they are metal mining or oil and gas developments.) Average budget overruns on these projects have spanned from 50 to over 100%. In their reports, several causes of overruns were noted on both the internal and external fronts. Primarily, most are non-technical issues, including: poor management, conflicts and communications, poor planning leading to optimistic estimates, regulatory delays and changes, and geopolitical issues, including economic downturns, commodity pricing, and disruptions caused by local and NGO stakeholders. Links & Inter-relations From experience and past research, it is my opinion that many of these non-technical factors are directly linked and inter-related - for example, disruptions by stakeholders primarily come about when they are dissatisfied with the level of engagement and/or emphasis placed on addressing their wants and needs, leading to conflicts and barriers to continue mandated engagement sessions, to access lands or to obtain work permits. This, in turn, not only causes impacts on exploratory work and collection of environmental and other relevant information necessary for project definition, regulatory assessments and applications, but also directly impacts the ability to gain regulatory approvals, and extends the timelines over which this may be completed. Much of this disruption originates from poor or incomplete engagement and communications, and mismanaged conflicts, both externally and internally. Lost in Translation Even with the right external engagement and an initial acceptance of a proposal, if the wants and needs of our stakeholders are not well defined and pulled appropriately into the scope of the project, (read, specified as criteria or requirements), then the planning for that project becomes flawed and incomplete, causing the creation of budgets and schedules that are lacking in robustness. I have dealt with technical knowledge gaps in my own experience, and have interviewed several other environmental assessment practitioners, who have validated my concerns. Often recommendations made by environment and social engagement practitioners are ignored. Perhaps the design team may have misunderstood how to produce the results requested, or it may simply have been that the criticality of the recommendations was under-appreciated. Under these circumstances, the resulting design becomes insufficient, and the details necessary to gain approvals (without a fight), or to ensure positive environmental outcomes, are left out. The typical reasoning provided? The proposed option is the most “cost effective.” Risks Run Amok Many risks to the project, or arising from the project, unfortunately get left unaddressed, and eventually end up having to be accommodated in later project phases as change requests and/or scope creep in order to gain that approval. And the later changes are introduced to a project, the more time and money it takes to address them, hence forming the basis for poor performance rates of projects at a broader scale. So, in reality, with all these issues being cited as causes of project failure rates, this is simply not true. We have it in our power to change it. Along with significantly altering failure statistics. Had we done our jobs right, and not only engaged all of our stakeholders appropriately, but also at the right time (meaning before we commence planning and design of our proposed infrastructure), a large proportion of project impacts would diminish. We will have done a better job defining all of the requirements to include within the scope of our projects. There would have been a broader, more refined scope, the risks associated would have been more clear, and the opportunities to find optimized, innovative solutions to address all of the requirements and risks, available to our design teams. Taking Control This level of stakeholder engagement does take effort, and it needs to be carried internally with the teams working on the developments as well. Collaboration, a holistic view, and an understanding of all the interdependencies of our project components are critical, and communications between typically siloed teams need much improvement. Steps can to be taken to introduce broader thinking, and intersecting design philosophies, to form better designs and increase synergies. The creation of an open environment, where expression of new ideas and the introduction of new technologies or methodologies are welcomed. Where concerns about decisions being made by other teams, and providing constructive feedback to each other, for the improvement of the project as a whole, can be voiced freely. Am I suggesting that all of our problems will go away if we carry out these steps? No. Geopolitical issues will not disappear, and regulatory changes should be expected over time, particularly in the extractive sectors where the lifecycles of operations can span many decades. Should we let this stop us from making change? No. Instead, let’s improve what we have control over, and anticipate the other issues - engage, keep a fair and positive relationship with all parties involved, include stakeholders in critical decisions, and design for best practice / performance to avoid future problems. Every team member and stakeholder involved with the project has a role to play, and each have the ability to make a positive impact. Only this will help to optimize and streamline project performance, right from stakeholder engagement, planning and design, through environmental approval processes, development and operations of a site, and finally, to closure. Gaining Support A team representing various areas of expertise will be located in the exhibition hall in the “Ask the Expert” booth at the PMI Congress in San Diego – starting this weekend already! I’ll be there to help answer any questions you might have about sustainability, integration of these issues into project planning, and stakeholder engagement. Come find me! Can’t make it and still have questions? Post them here, or connect with me on LinkedIn, or Twitter and send me a message that way. I’d love to hear from you! |
Creating a Vision
| It has been said by many, that if you commit a vision to paper, express it in detail, so that others can see this vision, and then communicate it broadly in some way, it shall become true. Do you believe in that? As most leaders know, the most critical thing about a vision, is that the people following you get it, that they buy into it, and that they feel motivated enough to support and take action on it. How often do companies fail to achieve the goals that they set out? Did they do a good enough job of describing the end point? Was it appealing enough to gain the support required? Were they willing to publicly state that future goal, to show their commitment? The ones who do seem to make greater strides, even if they don’t fully achieve them in the timeframes set out. They tend to work hard to make them happen - to maintain commitments, to save face. So I believe that there is truth to the statement. But I believe there is not only the element of drive for success that occurs - I think also that it tends to increase the belief in what is possible. For companies, it gives their employees an open, positive sense of direction, where fresh ideas might emerge, small steps are taken, and then a much larger leap is made over time. People put more effort into building that action plan, to removing barriers, and to making it happen when they are encouraged to help build it. For projects, the same is true. If your team cannot clearly understand the desired endpoint, see the final outcomes happening (not just by the client but also by influential stakeholders), then the project team will have difficulty aligning, and each person or disciplinary group will tend to work in different directions according to whatever is pictured in their own mind as success. So, in a team environment, you need to start the visioning process, but involve the major players to ensure they've helped establish and visualize that together. An exercise that has been suggested, to facilitate setting a clear vision, is to imagine your perfect day. To describe it in detail, where you might be, how you might feel, what you can see and smell, and more. This may be a bit more difficult with a team - but a healthy exercise to make sure people can come to the same frame of mind before moving forward. So, for today, to set an example, I put business visions, and work aside for just a minute - I’ve written about those before anyways. And I write about a perfect day. Perhaps it will come to be my every day - through efforts of my own, or by chance, or both! (We all know that achieving goals takes work - planning, removing risks and barriers to its realization, and progressive action until complete - but that is for another day…) My perfect day: I wake on my own accord, after a restful, fabulous sleep, snuggled in my cozy bed, with the sun lighting the room. I get up first, while everyone else sleeps in just a bit - a quiet shower, a few stretches, a hot coffee while my mind comes alive. I might read, or browse some news, email, or social posts of interest. My dog curls up beside me to snooze a bit more. It’s a beautiful sunny day out, the air fresh, a light breeze rustling the trees, and it is a good day for walking. When I’ve finished my coffee, I wake the kids, getting them up for their breakfast, their busy school day. They are sleepy, but content, and rise without issue. They eat peacefully, and get their bags ready to go, telling me about what they will be doing today. My husband comes downstairs after his shower - he is nearly ready for his day too. And then it is time for the kids to be off - goodbye! I make some breakfast for my hubby and I, and we chat easily while we eat. What will we do today? I tell him that I plan to work for a few hours, starting with some solid writing and content generation in the morning. Later this afternoon, I will prepare for a few interviews and coaching sessions I have with students and clients later this week. But in between, I will have a light lunch and then walk down by the beach with our dog, or perhaps drive out to the wooded trails - she loves either one. Always running and playing in the sand and surf, or exploring and darting through the trees, scurrying the chipmunks and birds. She’s fun to watch and brings a smile to my face every time. My husband decides to do some work this morning too - he’s not as much to do today, and he’ll come walking with me later. He has plans to make a gourmet meal for dinner, and will go shopping after our walk to get some fresh supplies - a surprise that we’ll all enjoy. I’m thrilled, of course, as I always am when he cooks like this - he enjoys it and it tastes so good! I can’t wait, and when the kids hear about it they’ll want to help out too. It’s great seeing them transform foods in the kitchen - they have such talent, my little smarty pants in school and master chefs at home! I sit back and relish in the progress that we’ve made - we have no hurries, no worries, no stresses to manage now. We’ve paid off the house, our vehicles, and we buy what we need, when we need it. We aren’t wasteful, but having money to spend at our leisure brings a level of comfort and security that was unexpected. We have had a few good years to put us ahead, and work has been consistent - not too heavy, as I prefer, and bringing in enough income that my husband was able to quit his corporate job and shift to helping out with the business. It’s nice that neither of us needs to put in more than a half day on average each day. We choose how we schedule our days and weeks. We choose the work we’d like to take on. It’s brought an ease to our life, and we don’t want for anything, really. Next year, we plan on traveling a bit more, working from afar, giving back a little more too - I’m investigating various volunteer projects overseas. The kids will enjoy seeing some new parts of the world, and it is great experience for them too. Everything’s online and functioning smoothly for work - and besides, I have access to great support staff who take care of the little things, as needed. I know it will be a fabulous way to run our business and live life - at least for a while. But for now, I need to get those few things done, as I mentioned, and I’m done my breakfast. And so my day has begun. Were you able to envision my day too? If you have never attempted to do this, I encourage you to try! It takes a bit of work, but each time you do it, you get better at filling in the gaps...and it really makes you realize the level of effort that should go into setting a vision with your team!
Will you be attending the PMI Global congress in San Diego? You can schedule a face-to-face chat with me in the “Ask An Expert” sessions and meet me in the Solutions Centre (exhibit hall). Book your session here. |
Are Sector-Specific Project Challenges Really So Different?
| Sustainability is a topic that is always on my mind, or rather, how we can do a better job of addressing past and current social and environmental impacts, how we might live more sustainably, and most importantly, how we might proactively plan future products and developments in a responsible, sustainable manner. When it comes to the last point, I speak and write about this topic quite frequently, with a particular focus on the industrial sectors, an area that often causes a lot of controversy between business and the general public. A few major things come into play to cause problems for these projects –
So, the situations that tend to arise are protests, delays of approvals (for example the XL Keystone pipeline), and even outright work stoppages, if construction approvals were somehow granted without gaining agreement from all external stakeholders (even landowners). This is the case for the current Dakota Access Pipeline project, if anyone has paid attention to media coverage on the protests. I’m reiterating here, but in the extractives sector, studies have shown that up to 70% of project delays (and the costs associated with those delays) are caused by social and environmental challenges. And having read a number of reports on causes of project failure rates in general, I would be willing to bet that these sustainability issues cause delays for other sectors as well, just perhaps to a lesser degree. In my opinion, what most of this boils down to is:
While the first point may not be as common, the rest are seemingly common themes within the project management community, no matter what the sector – a simple observation anyone can make from a scan of the articles and support available online to project managers. So our projects aren’t so different after all, are they? Without appropriate engagement and communications, project teams are bound to miss critical requirements for their project – and as such, develop an incomplete scope to proceed. PMI’s own studies clearly show that poor requirements management (including identification of them) is a primary cause of project failure. Without ensuring we are all well-aligned to the ultimate project goals, and to understanding when it might be okay to shift strategies to get there, we set ourselves up for failure. Without the ability to “coddiwomple”, without taking a staged and iterative approach to our projects, and without a willingness to adjust scope and make alternate decisions, as more information is obtained, it is then inevitable that the ultimate goals of the project are put at risk. But we like to lock in scope, to avoid the management of change, right? I urge you to stop and think about your project’s ultimate goals.
A team representing various areas of expertise will be located in the exhibition hall in the “Ask the Expert” booth at the upcoming North American PMI Congress in San Diego. I’ll be there to help answer any questions you might have about sustainability, integration of these issues into project planning, and stakeholder engagement. Come find me! Can’t make it and still have questions? Post them here, or connect with me on LinkedIn, or Twitter and send me a message that way. I’d love to hear from you! |
Adapting and Avoiding the Risks of Change
| As I read through the blogs already in this portfolio, I realized that a lot of topics relate to changes that are occurring in the world - outside of our control. And yet, we still need to be able to plan and manage our projects within this realm, within this land of ongoing change and adaptation. Amongst those changes already mentioned, there are shifts and improvements in technology, the collection and use of big data, the demand for transparency in performance, and as a result - an increased understanding, awareness, and ownership about the environment and its protection. Climate change, recognition of aboriginal and land ownership rights, social activism to support inequality and unjust treatment of people and the land, and changing consumer habits, are also impacting projects - people are starting to use their wallets to vote on what future products and processes will survive, and how they will need to do so. It is interesting what you can learn, and the conflicts you face, when you work on two sides of the fence at the same time. On one side, a proponent of mining, oil and gas, and other industrial developments necessary to support wasteful consumer habits, growing global populations, and shifts to raise third world regions out of poverty. On the other side, working as an ambassador for the environment, for social justice - for sustainability so that our future generations have a healthy and resourceful world to live in. Urging and influencing leaders and designers alike, to ensure that plans and decisions are based on that triple-bottom-line (economic, environment and social) combined. The two "hemispheres" do not often connect, and when they do it is almost always a bumpy road to do so, although that too is starting to shift. More and more manufacturing companies, processors, and yes, even mining companies, are looking into what climate change, social movements and the circular economy will mean for their businesses - and taking action. Will you be working on projects impacted by these shifts? If not yet, I'd say most definitely within the next 5 years. On all counts. Do you foresee these potential risks and challenges to take into account when planning your projects? Will you pull out the opportunities to avoid these, by choosing to follow a more agile approach, building plans a little more iteratively, cautiously, and taking the time to make more informed decisions, for alternate and better choices? Working in the mining and sustainability sectors for the past 20 years, involved with environmental protection, waste management, land rehabilitation, and looking for solutions to improve performance in all areas environmental has exposed me to a lot of insights, risks and opportunities. Sharing that knowledge, working with other disciplinary specialists, and bringing such perspectives into project planning is my current mission. If we're going to continue developing larger, more complex systems, let's try to get them right on the first try! I will be at the upcoming PMI Global Congress from September 25-27th in San Diego. If you have any questions...book some time with me, ask me a question, and I'll see what I can do to help you out! |