Based on the press coverage these are the Portfolio of Mega Projects across the Globe;
OBOR( One Belt One Road) ($500 Billion)
CPEC( China Pakistan Economic Corridor)($50 to 60 Billion)
NEOM(Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt) ($500 Billion)
US Infrastructure Upgrade( Minimum 50 Projects worth $137 Billion)
Brexit( 50 Billion Euro Impact)
Communication Medium: Chinese(Mandarin or Cantonese),English, Arabic
Awareness of the Local Culture; Chinese,Saudi,American,Egyptian, British
Political Connections: Communist Party, Establishment in Pakistan, Saud Family
Companies most likely to benefit: Bechtel,Jacobs, Parsons,NESPAK,Chinese EPC's
A combination of the factors above will play a role, but the chief requirement will be communication skills aligned with the local requirements, as PM's spend 90% of the time communicating either verbally,in writing or through body language.
This list of Project Portfolios should keep the PM community primarily of the Civil Engineering background busy for the next 10 to 15 years.
I would love to work on the Brexit project. Sign me up.
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2 replies by Ehsan Khan
Mar 08, 2019 11:37 AM
Ehsan Khan
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Brexit
If you have been following Brexit, the need for a SOW and Project Charter and Scope and Out of Scope would have made Theresa May's life much easier.
At present the chaotic approach to Brexit is underscoring the need for a seasoned PM to help Theresa May and the EU.
The stumbling way that the Brexit is going on is highlighting the importance of
360 degree Communication
Leadership
A clearly defined Project Plan with clearly articulated Charter, Deliverables, Scope inclusions and Exclusions.
Timeline with linkages
Delegation of Work packages.etc .etc.etc
Classic Case Study of what can go wrong if not managed properly.
My 2 cents, although my knowledge of Brexit is very elementary.
Sep 01, 2019 11:21 PM
Ehsan Khan
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Now that we are in uncharted waters and the UK parliament has been suspended for lack of progress on Brexit, dont you think a clearly defined SOW and Charter would have made it easy for the UK government to manage the required changes and get it done neatly,efficiently and with minimal waste of resources.
This entire process is a classical demonstration of the chaos that ensue when things are done in an unstructured and undfined manner. I dont think Boris Johnson will be able to ramrod the process with any success. If any, this augurs poorly for the unity of the UK as a country and the EU as a whole.
What do you think we should voluntarily document a SOW and Charter and present that via Social media?
The challenge is that the scale and complexity of mega projects is increasing faster than the capture of patterns to successfully complete them. I really enjoyed the recent PM Journal issue which focused on this PM niche...
Kiron Saving Changes...
Anonymous
Ehsan
Any mega project requires skills from all disciplines, even road projects. Obviously road projects are mostly transportation and civil engineering but a mega road project is not just roads.
Now about the 90% communication on the PM role; I honestly think this is a PMP Exam Myth that is trying to make things harder than they are. Sure communication is important but is not primary.
For these projects, you will find within a team maybe 30 languages spoken - so it is necessary to focus on communication but it is beyond what we study for the PMP. For example, on one project I worked on years ago - all of our safety signs and materials were in 4 languages and we made sure (through staffing plan) that every construction crew has a foreman that speaks one of the four languages.
Now - delivering these projects successfully is a challenge and one of the problems is using project management. These projects are and should be managed as strategic mega program - there is no 500$B project there are hundreds of projects leading to the $500B program that would take 10 to 20 years to complete.
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1 reply by Ehsan Khan
Jan 15, 2018 1:06 PM
Ehsan Khan
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Mr Ajam,
Sorry, took a lot of time to respond to your worthy comments.
All these Portfolio of Projects definitely need more than Civil Engineers, you are right on that, but will need all variety of Civil Engineers, engineers having expertise in Soil mechanics, Structures, Transportation, Environmental in the starting phases and then when the basic infrastructure is in place then the M.E's, Network Engineers and the rest will have to contribute and realize the true potential of this proposed massive investment plan.
Communication skills in my humble view will have to play a pivotal role in the conceptualization,planning and execution of these grandiose Portfolio of projects. Hailing from Pakistan and having a deep interest in CPEC, i see the lack of clarity and unclear articulation of the strategic objectives after the charter as the one of the main reasons, why these CPEC is stumbling from the get go. Communication is not just the translation of SOW in respective languages for the stake holders to understand their tasks. It is the process of getting all the the stakeholders on board and keeping them focused till the achievement of the objectives
Communication skills will play a major role if the Vision behind these Portfolio of projects gets translated into tangible deliverables and the fruits of these massive endeavours are reaped by the stakeholders or gets lost in the process.
My 2 cents, i will defer to your seniority, knowledge and expertise and look forward to learning more from you. As i am one of the the Tifl-e- Maktab
Mr Ajam,
Sorry, took a lot of time to respond to your worthy comments.
All these Portfolio of Projects definitely need more than Civil Engineers, you are right on that, but will need all variety of Civil Engineers, engineers having expertise in Soil mechanics, Structures, Transportation, Environmental in the starting phases and then when the basic infrastructure is in place then the M.E's, Network Engineers and the rest will have to contribute and realize the true potential of this proposed massive investment plan.
Communication skills in my humble view will have to play a pivotal role in the conceptualization,planning and execution of these grandiose Portfolio of projects. Hailing from Pakistan and having a deep interest in CPEC, i see the lack of clarity and unclear articulation of the strategic objectives after the charter as the one of the main reasons, why these CPEC is stumbling from the get go. Communication is not just the translation of SOW in respective languages for the stake holders to understand their tasks. It is the process of getting all the the stakeholders on board and keeping them focused till the achievement of the objectives
Communication skills will play a major role if the Vision behind these Portfolio of projects gets translated into tangible deliverables and the fruits of these massive endeavours are reaped by the stakeholders or gets lost in the process.
My 2 cents, i will defer to your seniority, knowledge and expertise and look forward to learning more from you. As i am one of the the Tifl-e- Maktab Saving Changes...
I would love to work on the Brexit project. Sign me up.
Brexit
If you have been following Brexit, the need for a SOW and Project Charter and Scope and Out of Scope would have made Theresa May's life much easier.
At present the chaotic approach to Brexit is underscoring the need for a seasoned PM to help Theresa May and the EU.
The stumbling way that the Brexit is going on is highlighting the importance of
360 degree Communication
Leadership
A clearly defined Project Plan with clearly articulated Charter, Deliverables, Scope inclusions and Exclusions.
Timeline with linkages
Delegation of Work packages.etc .etc.etc
Classic Case Study of what can go wrong if not managed properly.
My 2 cents, although my knowledge of Brexit is very elementary. Saving Changes...
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