S7E156: Navigating the Project Control Landscape: A Journey Through the Decades and Beyond with Shane Forth

In this week’s pod, we were joined by Shane Forth to discuss Navigating the Project Control Landscape: A Journey Through the Decades and Beyond.

Shane’s project controls career began on Phillips Petroleum Teesside Oil Terminal, a 1970s mega-project. Aged 20, he learnt the fundamentals of scheduling using manual techniques. Career progression followed with three further mega-projects worth tens of billions of pounds in today’s terms. This was interspersed with UK construction projects for leading mechanical contractors.

In 1992, as Planning Manager for a major EPC contractor, he quickly learned two important lessons. His enthusiasm to introduce effective project controls integrating cost and schedule was out of step with senior management and a discovery of a skills gap and shortage of project controls resource.

His industry leadership, uniting groups and individuals to create project controls standards, occupational certifications, career paths, competency frameworks, higher professional recognition, and especially apprenticeship programmes, may Shane’s my most enduring legacy.

The main topics we discussed on the podcast were as follows:

• The main evolutions in Project Controls are a realization around the importance of data to major projects and having a dedicated resource pool
• Ask the right questions, get the right answers
• When delivering bad news as a Project Controller, always try to de-personalise the updates
• Project Controllers should aim to engage the experts if they are not sure on a subject
• New starters to the Project Controls function should try to work on their literacy and presentational skills as these are two key competencies that will be used throughout your career
• Project Controls is now seen as a core function and not just an optional extra on major projects

Here are links to some of the topics we discussed:

• Human Resource Skills for the Project Manager: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1880410419/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
• Handbook of People in Project Management: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/140943785X?ref_=dbs_m_mng_rwt_calw_thcv_0&storeType=ebooks&asin=140943785X&revisionId=&format=4&depth=1

Join us next time when we’re joined by Ellen Mellington to discuss Streamlining Operations with Agile Controls: The Key to Business-As-Usual Performance.

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