The Big Problem of Small Projects

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(No Transcript)
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SESSION 1
The Big Problem of Small Projects
Practical Solutions for Sustaining / Improving
Production with Limited Resources for Capital
Projects
ECC Future Leaders Group
Abbey King Process Engineer BEK
Jeff Dressel Manager of Business Development KBR
Byron Elliott Engineering Manager Shaw Energy
Chemicals
Helen Mott Regional Inside Sales Mgr Jacobs
Engineering
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Contributors

• Hayley Brown Bentley
• Ron Feken - DuPont
• Julie Lambert - ConocoPhillips
• Michelle McNichol Mustang
• Allison Miller Drobniak- Mustang
• Jeff Pratt - Flowserve
• Mauricio Villegas - Worley Parsons

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Outline

• What is a Small Project? with Interactive
  Questions
• Survey results
• Problems with small projects
• Solutions for small projects
• Outside the Box Ideas

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Audience Response Questions

• Are you from an
• Owner
• Contractor
• Supplier
• Other
• What do you consider to be a small project
  (TIC)?
• lt1 million
• 1-9 million
• 10-100 million
• 101-300 million
• gt300 million

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Whats a Small Project

• CII definition 100,000-2 million

ECC FL Survey (May 2008)
Daratech Survey (May 2008)
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Small Projects Definition

• Differs company to company
• Relative to the size of the company
• Fewer project controls
• Shifts based on total industry work-load
• Generally, no technical specialists
• Schedule may be shorter

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Large Projects vs. Small Projects

• Large Project
• Adherence to standardization
• Supports specialists
• Multiple company interface
• Difficult Communication
• Dedicated staff
• Big sticks
• Potentially large bonuses or penalties

• Small Project
• Flexible and fit-to-purpose
• More diverse skill-sets needed
• Single source
• Easier Communication (fewer parties)
• Part-time staff- High turn-over
• Little or no sticks
• Potentially small bonuses (if any) or penalties

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Audience Response Questions

• Do you use employees with less than 5 years
  experience to manage jobs?
• Yes
• No
• What percentage of these employees manage
  multiple projects?
• 0-20
• 20-40
• 40-60
• 60-80
• 80-100

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Small Project Survey Highlights

• 50 of companies use employees lt 5 yrs experience
  to manage
• 88 of employees manage multiple projects. 43 of
  those manage 5 or more at a time.
• Does your company have a separate small projects
  Group
• Owners
• Yes 50 No 50
• Contractors
• Yes 42 No 58

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Audience Response Question

• What is your Small Project Attitude?
• Necessary Evil?
• Bread and Butter?
• Foot in the Door of a client?
• Ignored? Overlooked?
• Strategic Priority?

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The Cost of Not Caring

• Small projects typically make up 25-50 of your
  budgets / backlog
• (Higher for Operators - Lower for
  Contractors)
• Training ground for large projects
• Poorly executed small project today could mean
  loss of a large project tomorrow
• Risk to Company Reputation
• Impact on Company, Culture, and Morale

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Problems

• Project prioritization and adequate basic data
• Limited budgets vs. fast schedules
• People experience and retention issues
• Managing multiple projects
• Gaining the attention of key stakeholders when
  required to ensure projects are properly scoped
  and executed with minimal rework.

Flexibility of engineering and design resources
to work multiple projects effectively. If
resources are loaded full time on small projects,
they become less cost effective and productivity
actually declines because more hours are spent
against limited budgets.
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Current Small Project Techniques

• Preventing Staff Turnover
• Bundling Projects (Leverage knowledge and
  experience)
• Mentoring / Career development
• Multi-skilled Staff
• Defined roles / responsibilities / dedicated team
• Good Communication and Teamwork
• Recognition of value vs. cost of right staff
• Competitive compensation / bonuses / rewards
• Top management visibility and emphasis

taken from CII Small Projects Toolkit
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FL Survey ResultsWhat tool / procedure has had
the greatest positive impact on small projects in
your industry?

• Six Sigma
• Project Controls (cost, schedule, material
  control)
• Integrated Project controls and execution
  software
• FEL Process
• Small project delivery model. This process will
  allow small projects to gain the discipline and
  rigor of large project delivery without being too
  onerous.
• Globalization of work methods, modern
  communication tools, cost estimating
  spreadsheets, archived lessons learned client
  feedback

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Out-of-the-Box Ideas

• Virtual Office (Simulated work-place)
• Flee the cube nation!
• Engineering without the overhead
• Culture change for next generation
• Training opportunities for young leaders
• Empower decision-makers at each location
  (Project Management burn-out)
• Small projects to build teams for large projects

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Out-of-the-Box Ideas

• Small Projects as Innovators
• Training ground for new tools, methods and ideas
• Ideas moved to large projects with people
• Management to encourage and reward new ideas
• Other ideas
• Get young engineers out in the field early
• Provide alternate work location, making project
  harder to poach
• Collaborate with academia to start a small
  project training ground
• Hire students part-time during school year

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Future Small Project

• Compressor Revamp Brazil
• Late decision for award TIC 20MM
• Tight schedule to meet shutdown date

We Won the Bid!
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World-Wide Engineering
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World-Wide Recruiting and Staffing
How? VIRTUALLY!!!

• Staffing Requirements
• 1 PM
• 2 PE
• 12 eng
• 20 designers
• Flexible Locations

• Recruiting Tools
• Facebook,MySpace, Second Life, Linked In
• You-tube videos
• Web Cams
• Video conferencing

http//www.youtube.com/watch?vJcXF1YirPrQ
Virtual recruiting is anywhere, anytime without
relocation.
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Heres our staff
Germany
India
China
PM USA
Virtual Hub
JOBSITE Brazil
PE Australia
PE South Africa
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How do we Communicate?
Common Platforms
Common Spaces
Flexible Interfaces

• Standardized Software Tools

• Web Based Tools (i.e. Skype)

• Common IT space, VPNs

• Web-based Common Spaces

• Translator Programs

• Messenger / Communicator

• Real Time Documentation and Communication

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WORLD-WIDE COMMUNICATION

• Virtual project team
• Shared applications editing documents.
• Face-to-face meetings.
• Minimal office space.
• No travel.

HP Halo Telepresence Solutions (Video
Presentation 1 min.)
Cisco WebEx Meeting Center (Video Presentation
2 min.)
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A Day in the Life of the Project

• Virtual Meeting - USA, Brazil, and Germany
• Establish activities and confirm scope

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A Day in the Life of the Project

• Virtual Meeting between USA and China
• Document Transfer USA to China

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A Day in the Life of the Project
Zzzz..

• Problem in China PM still awake?
• Skype PE in Australia
• Problem Solved Proceed with work

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A Day in the Life of the Project

• Conference Call between China and India
• Transfer Drawings to India

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A Day in the Life of the Project

• Transfer Document from India to USA

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A Day in the Life of the Project
APPROVED
28 hours between Inception and Issue
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Q A
GUIDE What problems did you have that our great
solutions would help.