"Planning is a condition for being dual"

This article focuses on perception that stakeholders have regarding what planners’ team do in the project. So before talking about this key point, we shall discuss first about the main role of these people through their several deliverables and outputs.

“Plans are nothing; planning is everything” - Dwight D. Eisenhower

The schedules reflect the adopted strategy to achieve and finish a project. Likened to a guideline shared to fix and adjust the common target dates. So it acts like a “collective compass” for the Project team. That’s why building up planning sequences is the first step. It comes after identifying work packages in accordance with Contract, Procurement and Engineering Dept. inputs. These major inputs are “Scope of Work Exhibits”, “Time Schedule Exhibits” with (Key Milestones) and finally the “Price Schedule Exhibits”. All these datas are mandatory to fix “rules of game” with subcontractors. In fact, if all elements are gathered successfully, a first Baseline can be issued and shared for monitoring.

"Without Labor, nothing prospers" - Sophocles

A reliable mobilization plan is a complementary part to the Planning. It helps to analyze and see if allocated resources are enough to complete the job without any delay. Planning staffs use “histogram” charts with trend lines to see relevant activity peaks either for leveling or reinforcing the manpower. These indications could help to both highlight if critical activities are well-staffed and estimate by the same way the level of co-activity.

“The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities” - Stephen Covey

Priorities are close to strategy. The Plan execution, KPI(s), then different tools for follow up (Physical Progress, Earned Values indicators …), are key points to identify the project drifting. Planner’s teams are familiar with these topics. They provide Top Management with reports for risks mitigation.

In spite of being “centric” and playing its role of “Backbone”, planner’s team could suffer from a double bind syndrome. Especially, when the Project is going down facing a plenty of constraints in terms of Progress (completed vs. planned), the Planning Dept. becomes guilty and responsible for all what happens on earth. In that case, the Stakeholders perception becomes interesting and worthy to be analyzed to understand origin of the conflict.

Top Management needs to have a quick overview on what is occurring on field (site work), so you have to provide them with the accurate data coming from your interfacing work. Planners team looks like “Stormtroopers”, loyal and discrete.

Regarding Construction teams and others, as your work is based upon theory, models and calculation formulas, they consider you as “a disconnected project entity”, disconnected completely from field. Moreover, when you highlight good points in your reporting, you also dig out what others buried (dust under the carpet).

So this situation could be tremendous for everyone due to permanent conflicts. And monitoring the project could be entirely compromised. To avoid the consequences and minimize the double bind effects, some tips are up to help planners team :

1. Find the suitable alliances within the Project teams.
2. Ask for more committment from your bosses regarding your role (Top management).
3. Write procedures, notes, and flow charts to explain your role and your duties.
4. Define common KPI(s) with others.
5. Pay attention to "wording" used in your reports (Communication Control)