Recognition of the root cause of construction project failures is the first step towards improvement.
Basically, a lack of understanding of work scope and the associated detailed work activities, processes, and resources are required as well as how these activities impact participants and stakeholders cause repair, renovation, maintenance, or new build projects to be late, over budget, or otherwise completed poorly.
How can things go as planned if there is no plan?
Creating a detailed scoped of work (SOW) and properly communicating is to all involves parties is critical to achieving consistent best value outcomes, and is generally a failure point for the majorit of projects.
The owner project manager is responsible for the creation of a detailed SOW. The owner works with internal and external teams to create and validate the SOW. The SOW drives project time, cost, quality and associated project objectives, goals, and final results. The SOW, in concert with the owner PM’s ability to lead diverse teams from concept through completion, ultimately determines overall project “success”.
An unclear scope directly leads to confusion among project participants, scope creep, and change orders. Associated robust processes are needed for scope creation and overall project planning, procurement, and project delivery. Without both a detailed SOW and a robust process, efficient project management is impossible.
