9. Projecting

Well I guess the official name is project management, something that I have lived and breathed for the most part of a quarter of a century. In most parts of the world successful project management is all about first knowing the plan, the whole plan and nothing but the plan! Along with all the risk, issues and inter-dependencies that go along with complex projects. I have personally run a large number billion dollar plus projects in my consulting times and although I expected a few problems with building a world-class lodge in the middle of in a forest in the middle of no-where in country that has hyper-inflation and a language I barely speak – what could possibly go wrong?

I was expecting that I could use my deep project management experience to make things happen. I am not surrounded by a bunch of high-performing, over-achievers coming from the top schools in the world and have deep experience in the areas I needed. Turns out I was too trusting and believed that they could do the jobs they were assigned to properly and be able to undertake basic project management activities.

After taking over the project after 14 months of construction, not knowing at the time that if I had not taken over after the divorce, we would not, most likely, be finished after 12 years of construction. What I found was an absolute mess; no team structure, no plan, hundreds of thousands of dollars of unpaid debts, no budget responsibility and most importantly no communication between the various teams. Don’t get me wrong, most of the team were working hard, but every rarely in the same direction.

A lot of people here in Argentina that our timelines were aggressive and most construction projects have years to complete. Now I know why. Successful project management relies on doing things “concurrently” and “proactive planning” – I am very sure they don’t have Argentine Spanish words for these ones!

During the construction phase, we probably had close to 100 people or companies involved. From memory we had 20 builders, 3 plumbers, 5 electricians, 4 painters, 4 ceiling installers, 6 carpenders, 8 furniture makers, 5 steelmakers, 4 wood suppliers, 4 pool experts, 2 interior designers, 2 architects 8 labourers, 5 heavy machinery companies, 1 bobcat guy, 8 building material suppliers, and one translator (more on that later).

Each trade pretty much did whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted with very little oversight. I have since changed that and believe it or not, it turns out we will be completed after 16 months, which in Argentinian speak, is muy bien.