Page 10 - ipma italy journal_vol 1_02.2015
P. 10
IPMA ITALY Journal of Applied Project Management
Volume 1 no. 2 (July 2015)
Nowadays, project managers working monitored by the project manager
and by the organization he operates
in the oil and gas industry face in.
Typically, any firm on the market is
challenges of increasing complexity. structured in such a way that project
requirements are reviewed prior to
Technology is evolving fast. Markets accept an order from a customer.
In the bid phase, sales teams are
require project schedules to be tight supposed to have sufficient resources
to scrutinize the requirements and
and, at the same time, adaptive develop a base offer. This proposal is
normally carefully tailored on what
enough to accommodate new vendor can offer and what customer
asks for. As a result of this effort, the
requirements anytime throughout work organization benefits of a clear
contractual package, to be put in
execution. production according to an agreed
schedule upon signature. If nothing has
There is more than that. Explorations been left in a grey area, the project will
start with a solid background.
and oil productions are moving more We can’t expect such as smooth
process in case one or more variations
and more towards remote areas, are required on orders already in
execution. An extensive evaluation of
leading to develop unconventional what the implementation of new
requirements would potentially cost to
solutions like floating LNG. the project may be a burdensome task
for a team already engaged to
Environmental impacts as well as safety execute the initial project scope.
Especially if such new requirements are
compliance are acquiring greater introduced all of a sudden, after
months from works’ kick off.
importance in project management, As we said, a variation is not necessarily
something detrimental. In contrast, it
as a consequence of a broad cultural may even help a project to overcome
financial difficulties, by increasing its
change. productivity, or to obtain some buffer
on an initial tight schedule. It all
Last but not least, not infrequently depends on the ability of the project
manager to manage that variation
stakeholders of large projects consist of request and materialize all the
opportunities that the change gives
joint ventures created ad hoc, third rise to.
parties called to check compliance to
regulations and large networks with
different interests, potentially in conflict
each other.
To keep the route in all these
challenging circumstances, a
successful manager needs a very
strong framework embracing both
technical competences and
behavioral skills.
1. Change orders management
GE Oil & Gas has consolidated a
significant experience in the
management of large and complex
projects in demanding environments.
Such experience suggests that the
variation management is one of the
most important areas to be closely
9
