Managing Engineering Processes in Large Infrastructure Projects

Book excerpt: Project managers are often scolded and crucified for the massive overruns plaguing their megaprojects. While some project managers may deserve the blame, a closer look would reveal that many competent ones are bearing the brunt of the failure, not of Project Management as such, but of Engineering Management. Project management experts would eventually concede that once the engineering team loses control over the ‘technical content’, you can no longer control the time or money spent on it. Engineering mistakes and other “design discrepancies” always breed overruns in projects, and poor performance in subsequent operations, because those design errors will cause difficulties during construction and engender recurring malfunctions in operations. No cost and schedule management tools or weekly status reports can prevent or remedy those situations. Therefore, proceeding from the Systems Thinking approach, this book discusses the causes of, and explores methods that address, such insidious predicaments. It examines topics ranging from stakeholders’ needs and requirements to how they ought to be translated into functions so that they may be performed by the systems under development. Design and development processes and methods, as well as their generic outputs and respective lifecycle implications, are also discussed based on practical, real-life examples.