Ask the Expert: Ryan Smith
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
August 08, 2008
How do you plan for unexpected events in managing a project?
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| Ryan Smith, Project manager, Walton Construction Co. St. Louis |
The most prudent approach to managing for the unexpected is to consider all variables that may affect a successful outcome. If you manage a project well, problems rarely arise out of the blue. You can’t completely expect the unexpected, but you can predict and account for potential risks factors.
We create a backup plan for each possibility. We identify all potential threats and formulate contingency plans that would cover them, well before they actually materialize. We recognize risks by understanding the geographic region and marketplace in which the work is taking place. This allows us to predict the weather, labor market, jurisdictional authorities, other entities and other factors that may present risk.
We also build specific reserves into the budget to cover the worst-case scenarios from a financial perspective. This financial flexibility gives our field operations the ability to administer corrective actions more freely as issues arise.
with permission of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch ©August, 2008 |
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