S1E322 November 2019

S1E3: Why Resource or Cost Load Schedules?

S1E3

S1E3: Why Resource or Cost Load Schedules?

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Resource and Cost Loading Schedules

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S10E219: Why 88% of Schedules Fail, and What AI Still Can't Fix with Michael Pink

88% of project schedules don't follow best practice. So why are we so keen to feed that data into AI and trust the output? In this episode, Dale and Val are joined by Michael Pink, Founder of SmartPM, for a sharp conversation on the forensic side of delay and the state of AI in project controls. Mike has analysed hundreds of thousands of schedules and built a career on working out who delayed what, and why nobody could ever agree. His core message: clean data is not the same as honest data. A technically tidy schedule can tell you a story that never happened, and if you point AI at it, you don't get insight, you get a confident wrong answer at scale. What we cover: Mike's route into construction, from a study-abroad debt to KPMG's construction consulting group 25 years of change in the people and process side of scheduling The shift from reactive forensic work to proactive project controls Data honesty vs data quality, and why integrity is the combination of both (framing credited to Isaac Dyer and Carlos Sanchez) The 88% problem: missing logic, inflated float and moving dates The compression factor, and the exact point a schedule becomes infeasible Why a weekly update beats a monthly one, for almost no extra time P6 vs Microsoft Project, and grading schedule quality across 35 metrics Where LLMs genuinely help, and why quantitative AI is still the long game The future of the scheduler: less building and cleaning, more strategy A genuinely optimistic look at where the profession is heading, and why this might be the best time yet to be in project controls. This episode is proudly sponsored by nPlan.nPlan Summer AI Day 2026: Construction Superintelligence takes place in London on Thursday 25 June 2026, with a fireside featuring Peter Hancock, Project Director at National Grid, and Dima Pogorelsky, MD and Partner at BCG. February's event sold out with standing room only. Register here:https://www.nplan.io/events/nplan-summer-ai-day-2026-construction-superintelligence Connect with Michael Pink at https://www.smartpm.com or on LinkedIn. If you enjoyed this episode, help us pay it forward and share it. Stay safe, be disruptive, and have fun doing it.

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S6E147: Common mistakes that cause avoidable delays and cost over-runs with Dr Alan Barnard

In this week’s pod, we welcomed Dr Alan Barnard to discuss the theory of constraints & decision-making. Dr. Alan Barnard is an entrepreneur, philanthropist, strategy advisor, research scientist, app developer, author, coach, lecturer, podcaster, and lifelong learner. Alan is considered one of the world’s leading Decision Scientists and Theory of Constraints experts. Alan is the CEO of Goldratt Research Labs, which he co-founded in 2009 with Dr. Eli Goldratt, author of THE GOAL, creator of Theory of Constraints and Critical Chain Project Management. Dr. Alan's research focuses on understanding why good people make, and often repeat bad decisions, and how best to avoid these. From this research, Alan and his team at Goldratt Research Labs have developed a range of award-winning Decision Support Apps that help organizations and individuals make better faster decisions when it really matters. Their clients include Fortune 500 companies, Government Agencies, and people from over 70 countries that are using their apps to make difficult life and business decisions. The main topics we discussed on the podcast were as follows: There is a massive amount of invisible simplicity on major projects How do you decide on a goal if you do not know what resources will limit you reaching that goal? Many people become successful due to factors outside their control such as luck and good genes, however almost all successful people make good decision and are hard working, which is in their control To create a stable system, have a single constraint that doesn’t move Projects are always looking for the inherent but invisible simplicity. Critical path methodology enabled projects to simplify how they represent project delivery, however this usually ignores resource and capacity constraints Many people are better at estimating work durations in big chunks rather than at a lower level / individual task based detail Hard to quantify capacity, availability and capability of resources in a project plan. The easiest thing to track is whether a project is waiting for resource The main planning mistake is to ignore capacity when making commitments and launch too many projects at the same time AI is better suited to production environments where there is repetitive information A key skill of a manager is the ability to keep the team “in flow” Here are links to some of the topics we discussed: Flow Theory: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/psychology/flow-theory Impossible Unless: https://www.impossibleunless.com/special-copy-registration Project Portfolio Digital Twin: https://www.projectdigitaltwin.com/sale1648625245366 Goldratt Research Labs: www.goldrattresearchlabs.com Harmony Apps: https://harmonyapps.com/ Dr Alan Barnard Website: www.dralanbarnard.com Critical Chain - Eliyahu Goldratt: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Critical-Chain-Business-Eliyahu-Goldratt/dp/0566080389 How to Improve Work Flow in any Environment - keynote by Dr. Alan Barnard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AkrjO55VBQ&feature=youtu.be Join us next week when we speak to Paul Waskett to discuss Project Controls in design and engineering stages For more information, blogs or to support our charities visit www.projectchatterpodcast.com  If you'd like to sponsor the podcast get in touch via our website. You can also leave us a voice message via our anchor page and let us know if there's something or someone specific that you would like on the podcast.  Proudly sponsored by:  JustDo - https://www.justdo.com/ https://ineight.com/

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S3E70: Infrastructure Cost Overruns and How to Avoid Them with John Hollmann

In this episode Dale and Val talk about cost overruns and risk. Estimating projects can be challenging, but the maturity of contingency, risk and estimate management is considered decades ahead in other sectors, so why not infrastructure? We talk to risk and estimating expert John Hollmann on his views about what makes Infrastructure projects more challenging, as well as the opportunity of technology to help alleviate cost challenges on infrastructure projects.  A little about John: He helps owner companies improve their cost engineering competencies and capabilities. This includes projects involving engineering and construction in most sectors (e.g., process, power, mining, infrastructure, transportation, etc.). John is passionate about the field of Cost Engineering and has been a leader in developing technical standards. John has been on the Boards of AACE and ICEC, as well as lead author and editor of AACE's "Total Cost Management Framework" text, authored "Project Risk Quantification" text, authored many AACE Recommended Practices plus many papers and led the development of AACE's Decision and Risk Management Professional (DRMP) certification. Most recently, working with Koff & Guerrero Consultants, launched the ValidRisk cloud-based risk quantification software.  You can check out more by visiting www.validest.com and validrisk.com    This podcast is brought to you by:     JustDo.com   InEight.com    PlanAcademy.com - save $75 on any course with this link - www.planacademy.com/chatter/ #projectmanagement #projectcontrols #projectplanning #projectriskmanagement #projectledaership

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