I was once asked by a non-English speaker; “What is a dashboard?” Our Client wanted a ‘dashboard’ summary of the monthly status as part of Project Controls for a ‘health check’.

I explained that cars have dashboards. Analogously, I told her that my first car (a Spitfire) had a ‘dashboard’ with a speedometer (marginally functional) to measure speed, temperature gauge (working) to warn of impending overheating, fuel gauge (temperamental) to let me know when I needed to top-up the tank, an odometer (erratic) to let me know how far I had travelled, plus a rev-counter that didn’t work.

Now, that was a dashboard and, as I knew my car, I adjusted to its idiosyncrasies and often temperamental behavior. I later owned an XJS but that’s another story.

I digress, so back to dashboards. The dashboard lets you know the status at a given time and trends can be observed and acted upon. However, it then transpired that our Client really wanted a Boeing 747 cockpit instrument display with full diagnostics. The Client said they needed full visibility on the health of the project…every week.

So, a dashboard for a project’s ‘health check’…would that be an annual physical with a general question of “how are you?”, followed by a routine measurement of weight, blood pressure, pulse and check of reflexes. Not really, our Client wanted ICU level diagnostics, blood parameters and white corpuscle count, ECG, MRI, etc. with an almost continuous measurement. The production, presentation, analysis and resources in producing such a dashboard is time consuming. Furthermore, by the time it is presented, analysed, and interrogated (inevitably), and revised (certainly), this information is ‘historical’ at best.

Project Controls should be about utilising current essential information to steer the Project based upon trends, and foresight. Do we really need ICU diagnostics all the time? Has “Project Controls” just become monitoring and analysis of voluminous amounts of data on the presumption that every project needs ICU level diagnostics. “Keeping one’s finger on the pulse” is a recognized medical euphemism but that’s exactly it, “the pulse” rather than every single neuron, synapse and heartbeat.

The more data we have the more analysis can be carried out and we can then, if we put the value of data to one side, demonstrate to our Clients how we can use masses of data presented in a myriad of ways to explain every nuance of the project. This may get a message through, albeit not necessarily the right message, and that message is one of ‘monitoring’ rather than ‘control’.

Unfortunately by the time we submit, present and explain everything on the dashboard; compare it against the last dashboard so that differences can be explained and argued as the poor innocent messenger tries to avoid being shot…it’s time for the next dashboard!

So, by providing frequent ICU level diagnostics historically, are we running the risk of analysis-paralysis with a (mis)conception that we can really control a project through historical, potentially irrelevant (but voluminous) data? All projects need first aid on occasion but are we becoming hypochondriacs fearing that project-death is just around the corner. I would, optimistically, prefer to think that death is not lurking and waiting to ambush my project at every turn; after all the car dashboard is glanced at while the ‘driver’ steers the car and watches the road ahead. If a driver does take his eye off the road ahead and overanalyzes his dashboard he may well end up in ICU himself, or dead, ‘cos that’s what happens when you don’t keep your eye on the road

Bio:

MBA, MSc DIC, BSc; Chartered Engineer, Chartered Geologist, PMP

Over thirty years’ experience on large multidisciplinary infrastructure projects including rail, metro systems, airports, roads, marine works and reclamation, hydropower, tunnels and underground excavations.

Project management; design & construction management; and contract administrative in all project phases from feasibility, planning & design, procurement, implementation, execution and completion on Engineer’s Design and Design & Build schemes.