In an economic environment replete with ongoing mega projects, one wonders how such gargantuan developments could be accomplished in real time as planned.
Mega projects are generally valued over $1 billion, and are so great in impact that new business communities and infrastructure must be created that would eventually influence national economies by their degree of success. And success requires integrating complex, concurrent project efforts with local, regional and national socioeconomic, cultural as well as community dynamics.
Against this background, a precise methodology — a command center or war room — strategy is essential in managing modern mega projects. The complexity of current day mega projects is beyond the operational comprehension of any one person or group, hence a forum is needed in which the complexity can both be simplified and addressed effectively.
The mega project’s optimization and direction is foremost yet respect for each component system is equally important to success. Just as group dynamics can take on personality characteristics, mega projects have a culture reflective of all its components and the meaning that comes from the project’s mission.
The integration of various viewpoints found in command centers enables discovery, explanation, prediction and appropriate prioritization. Only an advanced command center provides transparency and vision of the project landscape for real time execution with requisite audit trail and methodology.
Mega projects are human, hardware and software systems stacked again and again upon one another with overlapping and independent action within the project landscape. They communicate, create, interact and even at times conflict. In all, the project itself is a system of systems. Each system has its own mission and greater missions emerge among systems, ultimately composing the great work that is the mega project.
There is in mega projects contrast emerging as harmony, discord building into resonance, and destruction enabling construction. The command center is the best means of orchestration in mega projects as it synthesizes and integrates all the moving parts and efforts.
Mega projects are orchestrated, much like a conductor leading a fine company of musicians. The music of the mega project is the careful movement of talent and resources among many different efforts and types of work contribution. There are those that administer, others design and plan, still others move earth and create, and so on. The performance of all must be brought together for contrast and harmony that makes the project happen.
The “command center” expression is used because it brings to mind images appropriate to multimedia business information facilities. We are accustomed to seeing them in television shows — action episodes, news programming and documentaries, and movies; also familiar are network operating centers (NOCs) that display power systems, water works, and telecommunication with maps, video feed, and representative icons for the various equipment and plants that make up the network. NOCs provide the ability to visualize and comprehend the key elements of the network and how they interact. Projects have equal complexity yet the concepts of command center or NOC do not quite capture what happens in mega projects execution.
In mega projects, the “to do” list is very, very lengthy. Progress is achieved when there are two dynamics in place: priority setting and delegation.
Setting priorities is constant in mega projects. Some efforts will move faster than others and push for resources to sustain momentum. Others will lag behind and seek resources to catch up. With information about bottlenecks and accurate views of progress on various initiatives, choices are made with more precision, inspiring confidence.
Delegation is easier to achieve with confidence in choices, real-time information, reliable audit trails and stewardship, all within the ambit of project orchestration centers (POCs). POCs are a better expression that represents what takes place in multimedia leadership facilities envisioned for mega projects. The music that is a mega project comes from blending various efforts like sounds according to the chords and notes on the sheets which are the plan for performance. Just as a conductor leads an orchestra, the POC can lead a mega project with communication using shared meaning, integration of action and reflection on results that lead to further performance and construction.
POCs are more than information and computer technology (ICT). They are complex and advanced human dynamics. Elements of learning with mastery and competency, trust, transparency, access to information, delegation of authority, facilitation of complicated issues with high volumes of data, and responsible conduct are equally important to achieving high performance.
POC’s importance to mega project planning, management and stewardship, i.e., discovery, explanation, prediction and appropriate prioritization, is crucial.
The POC aggregates information from the past with projections and plans. The display of this information engages reflection and discussion of individual issues and/or several issues in concert with one another. The POC is a place for invitation. While a core group may manage and staff the POC, others in the project can be involved in the POC or at distance through connectivity on remote computers, personal digital assistants (PDA’s), cell phones and other devices. Such participation can be virtual or real time.
Discovery is emboldened in the POC by the concentration of information, accurate information, and the visualization of pertinent facts, figures, viewpoints and decisions. The interaction with the information is further advanced with the POC’s capability to bring different perspectives into consideration: those closest to the work, those managing priorities close to the work, responsible managers and executives along with staff and experts as well as outside stakeholders.
The POC is the intelligence center for the project offering information and analysis, including positing disconfirming views that elicit adaptation and insight.
Creative tension exists in the POC among the varied views and representations of the project landscape. This can inspire insight that builds upon the differences and improved understanding of the project provided by the integration of information and thought.
The POC can be instrumental in project community development, too. With its view of the project landscape and archives, the POC offers useful information for orientation and assimilation. The POC can drive distant learning for project employees and support on-line coaching specific to tasks. Safety and security protocols can be managed with two-way image exchanges to clarify status on actions such as safety lockouts, people and asset security and more.
The POC enables conflict resolution by first clarifying differences in perception which drives a conflict.
Then the POC’s view of the project landscape helps examine viewpoints that are at odds with one another. Both supporting and disconfirming information can be quickly assembled and reviewed in a POC. The POC is a transparent forum where it is not as easy to “make one’s case” by biasing report as pertinent information is “very complete” in POC. The blending of supporting and disconfirming information can settle disputes and promote problem solving that integrates insights.
The POC plays a role in settling disputes and preventing a division of the project community. Unchecked, people will align according to relationships and their loyalties in place of the facts. “This poisons any project and for mega projects, institutional divides can accrue that manifest themselves in growing tension among groups, open conflict and misuse of resources.”
The POC gets the word out fast as to what actually takes place without the “spin” of factions and points to the advantage of having resolved matters and the importance of moving forward together. In time the POC will be a rumor-killer and much-valued resource for anyone to find out what is really happening and the direction of the project. This includes letting people know their concern is recognized, though maybe not addressed, as other priorities are worked out.
There are three steps to building a POC: facility ICT and multimedia architecture, mapping information requirements and advanced group dynamics & facilitation.
The facility ICT and multimedia architecture requires an integrator experienced in government and business command centers and war rooms.
These integrators are skilled at selecting software and hardware that enable the characteristics for the POC, such as the ability to “see” the project from all angles … this will require the installation of cameras and sensors, a less expensive enterprise if the latest technologies are deployed with wireless connectivity; high-speed processing that can handle enormous data loads and shift through the volume to discern meaningful patterns and descriptions of key issues and events; the ability to drill down on issues … with some POC members drilling down while others remain at strategic levels; visualization that mixes pictures, technical diagrams and briefing data
POC also provides alarms and alerting tools that bring attention to emerging issues and events, imminent peril and all clear signals permitting work to resume; visual contrasts for differing opinion to highlight disconfirming views and information; and an interlacing of financial, commercial, organizational, engineering, construction, procurement, infrastructure use (with emphasis to bottleneck detection and alerting), security, safety, and environmental monitoring data with impact on project finances (equity and debt), early income, cost, schedule, liability, safety & security, environmental outcomes, and community sensitivities.
There will be special moments on critical decisions or major crises that require advanced facilitation. Having experts readily available to assist … even by video conferencing … can advance the productivity and effectiveness of the POC. Board meetings and reviews, look back analysis of critical events, planning, major milestones and the most difficult crises, especially the circumstance where multiple crises are poaching upon the project’s success, are all examples of where advanced facilitation is typically needed.
The POC may have a single chief executive or an executive panel, depending on its design. Mega projects are most often led by one person. Sitting in the POC, in a hotel in another country with a laptop, or in the back of a limousine with a PDA, the POC should offer the executive a view of the project landscape. The project executive can be tactical or strategic or both at the moment.
At the executive’s finger tips is the capacity to see what is happening, to draw upon at his demand: any pertinent data – drilling down to any level of detail, access to experts for timely input, and the ability to share information with the project community, customers, owners, and community and country leaders.
The executive can control access … permitting sharing only as the project policy or he sees as fit. There is a “paper trail” in audit that tracks the exchange of information, document movement, and transactions for accountability on any matter at any level. The executive can call for expert opinion, assessments of influences one on the others, future scenarios, status reports and debate among principals to arrive at options.
The executive orchestrates action from the POC and receives timely feedback on progress.
The POC maintains a pulse on the project so that an executive can scan in quickly to see if there are matters warranting his attention. In all, the POC is like the control panel on an advanced craft, enabling the executive to see the project’s landscape, take readings on critical variables, appreciate the network of influence inside and outside the project, glean feedback on leadership initiatives, and then communicate with stakeholders and contributors in the project community.
(The writers are managing directors of TTech LLC, a technology-transfer engine with offices in the US.)