Small oversight leads to huge problems in largest tunnel project

Bertha before drilling began in July 2013. CreditTed S. Warren/Associated Press

It's been 18 months since I first blogged about Seattle's big dig project: the tunnel to replace the Alaskan Way viaduct. This was a huge project including the world's largest drill bit with a 57.5 feet diameter. I remember reading a few months ago about the bit hitting an unknown object that caused it to stall. What's going on now?

A hole dug by Bertha, the tunnel-boring machine that went dormant last December.CreditDavid Ryder for The New York Times

In a recent NY Times article, we learn that the pipe it hit back in December caused damage that has stalled the drill until next March. Rescuing the bit required the drilling of a shaft to reach the damaged area, shoring up the tunnel it already dug to prevent it from collapsing, replacing huge parts then making further repairs.

A crane hoisting a tunnel-boring tool at a construction site where a large shaft is being dug to get to Bertha. CreditDavid Ryder for The New York Times

One of the biggest problems is the size of everything involved. When everything is scaled up, the cost and time to repair problems scales up exponentially. The eighteen month delay and hundreds of millions in budget overruns all stem from an eight inch diameter steel pipe that nobody involved in the project knew was in the way of Bertha. I'd love to see the official risk management of this project.

Dear PM Advisor. Apr. 28, 2014

Dear PM Advisor

I had a real weird experience last week. I'm a consultant for a pharmaceutical company and I am managing a project where my client is outsourcing its packaging to a contract manufacturing organization (CMO). I am just taking over this project. I had a few calls with the CMO but wanted to plan the project with them face-to-face. 

I met with their director of quality who was extremely rude to me from the first moment. He said he had no respect for me because I wasn't a full-time employee of the pharma company. He told me the pharma company needs the CMO more than they need my client. He accused me of trying to intimidate him while trying to push his agenda down my throat. The meeting degenerated to a stand-off with me saying: "Well, my first impression of you was correct." (He threw me under the bus after my first phone conversation) and him saying: "Same applies to me!"

I've never been treated like that in 30 years of experience in the pharma world. I felt like walking out. How would you handle this situation? 

Flabbergasted in Philadelphia

Dear Flabbergasted,

Wow! First of all, sorry about your experience. That was indeed unfortunate and unprofessional. I'd love to know how you solved it.

Is it possible that you did anything before this meeting to antagonize this CMO before your arrival? It sounds like you did nothing to intimidate him during the meeting so you may have done so during that earlier call. Throwing you under the bus makes it sound like you were called out for some kind of bad behavior on your part. Perhaps you need to ask someone else who was at that phone call what their impression was.

The other possibility is that the director is a jerk. There are indeed people like that in the world and they often gravitate to positions of responsibility where they can force people to put up with their bad behavior. I've met a few jerky quality and regulatory people.

But the CMO needs your client and it's important you tell your client the attitude of the CMO. The CMO needs to get straight the customer/provider relationship.

As to what you should have done, there's nothing like a few deep breaths to defuse a tense situation like this. Allow the other person to speak first. If they refuse, speak first but use the diplomatic approach:

1. Make a statement both of you agree with and get him to at least nod his head: "We both want to hand over this work to your CMO, right?"
2. Show how there is an obstacle in the way of reaching this mutually agreed upon goal: Planning the project.
3. Ask him what he thinks is the best way to proceed.
4. Work together to remove the obstacle

And make sure he understands that, as project manager, you will be the person he has to deal with and that's easier if you develop some sort of working relationship. 

Good luck,

PM advisor.

Send your questions to Bruce@RoundTablePM.com

Dear PM Advisor September 25, 2012

Dear PM Advisor,

How do I get my company's Global IT department to work on divisional projects?

Underserved in Florida

Dear Underserved,

Can I suggest a liberal sprinkling of Captain Kirk figurines?

Seriously though, this decision is probably above your pay grade. Assigning resources to projects must be done by the management team who OWNS the Project Management process at your company. My guess is that there is little PM maturity within your company and departments are being allowed to practice bad behavior like hogging their own resources.

What your company needs is a steering committee made up of Director or VP level managers who commit to running projects within the company properly. This team will prioritize the company projects by business importance and then fully staff the top projects until all the resources are used up. At that point, the remaining projects are put on hold until new resources appear, either through hiring or finishing existing projects.

When resourcing projects, the steering committee must ensure that each department frees up enough resources to man all projects: functional, global and divisional projects. If a project does not have a needed resource, it needs to be placed on hold. If many projects are fully loaded except with IT resources, a tremendous pressure forms on the IT head to free up resources to get these projects accomplished.

Until this happy day comes around, what can you do? Like any other project obstacle you come across, you need to influence the decision-makers to get the IT resource you need to accomplish your needs. Find out who has the authority to make that decision and set about influencing him/her to give you a resource. Use your sponsor, show off the project benefits in a way that is personally relevant to the stakeholder, befriend him, whine, beg, do whatever it takes to get the person you need. Threaten to hire a consultant, actually do hire one. If this is your project's biggest problem, you need to resolve it.

Meanwhile, make sure that all status reports indicate what the lack of this resource is doing to your project's schedule and cost. Elevate this information as high as you can until the problem is resolved.

Good luck,

PM advisor

Send me your questions at bfieggen@gmail.com

Projects always have problems

In my first formal Project Management training course I was taught to embrace project problems. Cadence told me that:
1. Projects always have problems
2. The earlier you identify problems, the sooner you can work on solutions
3. People who tell you that their projects have no problems are lying

This advice has always worked for me so I reserve a section in my status report for problems or issues.

Colin Powell's latest autobiography

This week I'm reading Colin Powell's latest book: 'It worked for me.' Lots of great leadership advice in there.

He addresses problems in Chapter Six:
"If your desk is clean and no-one is bringing you problems, you should be very worried. It means that people don't think you can solve them or think you don't want to hear about them. Or, far worse, it means they think you don't care. Either way it means your followers have lost confidence in you and you are no longer their leader."

What do you guys think of this advice?