RAFAEL BARBOSAReliability Engineer| VLi LogísticaSantos-Sp, Brazil
We've seen some major economic crisis in several countries in the last 10 years. Such scenario demands the reduction of project costs, among other challenges. Therefore, in this case, what would be the best ways for reducing project costs and increase its efficiency? Saving Changes...
There are a lot of things that can be done at a macro level like changing the scope, different tools and management frameworks. Authority of a PM is often limited though. Two areas I frequently look to help these problems:
1) Reduce bureaucracy. Focus on content before formatting. I don't need deliverables to be pretty if they are functional.
2) Improve integration. Problems often occur when team 1 doesn't know what team 2 is doing. Having people with that oversight can be critical. This can also be certain people focused on removing roadblocks for other contributors such as having SMEs in specialty functions that assist many groups. I'm always willing to spend an hour of my time, to save an hour of 10 other people's time if that's what it takes.
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1 reply by RAFAEL BARBOSA
Nov 14, 2018 6:07 PM
RAFAEL BARBOSA
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Thanks for sharing, Keith. For sure bureaucracy reduction and integration are important in this scenario.
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Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
The worst thing to do is working with focus on reduce cost. That is downsizing strategy and will impact on your organization will be out of business.
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1 reply by RAFAEL BARBOSA
Nov 14, 2018 6:09 PM
RAFAEL BARBOSA
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Good point, Sergio, mainly for internal projects. For external projects, such as in rhe construction industry, the cost reduction plays a key role for the survivability of the company.
Saving Changes...
RAFAEL BARBOSAReliability Engineer| VLi LogísticaSantos-Sp, Brazil
Nov 14, 2018 5:56 PM
Replying to Keith Novak
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There are a lot of things that can be done at a macro level like changing the scope, different tools and management frameworks. Authority of a PM is often limited though. Two areas I frequently look to help these problems:
1) Reduce bureaucracy. Focus on content before formatting. I don't need deliverables to be pretty if they are functional.
2) Improve integration. Problems often occur when team 1 doesn't know what team 2 is doing. Having people with that oversight can be critical. This can also be certain people focused on removing roadblocks for other contributors such as having SMEs in specialty functions that assist many groups. I'm always willing to spend an hour of my time, to save an hour of 10 other people's time if that's what it takes.
Thanks for sharing, Keith. For sure bureaucracy reduction and integration are important in this scenario. Saving Changes...
RAFAEL BARBOSAReliability Engineer| VLi LogísticaSantos-Sp, Brazil
Nov 14, 2018 6:00 PM
Replying to Sergio Luis Conte
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The worst thing to do is working with focus on reduce cost. That is downsizing strategy and will impact on your organization will be out of business.
Good point, Sergio, mainly for internal projects. For external projects, such as in rhe construction industry, the cost reduction plays a key role for the survivability of the company.
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1 reply by Sergio Luis Conte
Nov 14, 2018 6:24 PM
Sergio Luis Conte
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Perhaps I did not fully understand you but here my comment. My experience in construction industry is reducing cost is reducing quality at all levels (materials, human resource, safety, etc) which still put the organization out of buisiness. Just my experience.Efficiency and cost reduction is not the same. And organizations must be prepare for crisis in advance not when crisis arrives. Just in case cost reduction is the strategy no problem, go for it. But it must be an strategy and the impact must be evaluated obviously.
Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
Nov 14, 2018 6:09 PM
Replying to RAFAEL BARBOSA
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Good point, Sergio, mainly for internal projects. For external projects, such as in rhe construction industry, the cost reduction plays a key role for the survivability of the company.
Perhaps I did not fully understand you but here my comment. My experience in construction industry is reducing cost is reducing quality at all levels (materials, human resource, safety, etc) which still put the organization out of buisiness. Just my experience.Efficiency and cost reduction is not the same. And organizations must be prepare for crisis in advance not when crisis arrives. Just in case cost reduction is the strategy no problem, go for it. But it must be an strategy and the impact must be evaluated obviously. Saving Changes...
Improve quality - remember a penny spent on conformance can save dollars on the cost of non-conformance. Lean out delivery processes and governance (without reducing quality!) and focus on delivering must haves rather than goldplating.
Kiron Saving Changes...
Gururaj Kumar ShettyMES and PLM Manufacturing Manager - IT| Epiroc ABOrebro, Sweden
To my knowledge, there are multiple ways to optimize the project cost. Reduction of project cost depends upon the type and nature of the project in terms of criticality, priority and importance of the project to the organization. Having said that, few high level guiding principles for project cost optimization are, - Having right resources (Human Resources, S/W, H/W etc) - Self organized team with right tool and processes. - Defining the clear vision, scope and effective involvement of all stakeholders from the beginning. - Selecting appropriate project execution model - Waterfall/Scrum/V-model suiting project objective. - Use best practices (re-use, refactor, lesson learnt etc). - Retrospective and Continual improvements through out the project to keep o keep Quality-Cost-Schedule intact. Saving Changes...
