Before Your Next Project Starts, Ask Yourself This...
Winning work is a great feeling.
But in my experience, the real challenge starts after the contract is signed.
Over nearly 20 years in the rail industry, I’ve led project readiness reviews before major possessions, commissioning activities and programme mobilisation. One thing I’ve learned is that asking the right questions early can prevent problems later.
Here are two questions I always come back to.
1. Is everyone clear on how the project will be delivered?
Could your Project Manager, Construction Manager, Design Manager and Test Manager all explain the delivery plan in the same way?
If not, there may be assumptions that haven’t been challenged yet.
2. Is the project genuinely ready to start?
Not just the programme.
The whole project.
Are the design, resources, suppliers, access, materials and key approvals all progressing as planned?
If one of those areas slips, the rest of the programme usually follows.
These are just two of the ten questions I use when reviewing whether a project is ready to move into delivery.
I’ve turned them into a simple Delivery Readiness Scorecard.
Rate your project against each question on a scale of 1-10, then total your score to see how ready your project really is.
It only takes a few minutes and might highlight a few conversations worth having before work begins.
👉 Download the Delivery Readiness Scorecard here
Until next time,
Dan