Who are you really fighting against?
Your answer might change depending on the day!
Maybe a business partner comes to mind who doesn’t ever seem to see things your way.
Maybe it’s a company department or policy that always tends to put roadblocks up.
Maybe it’s something more abstract, like apathy or distraction.
Projects have villains, and as you try to accomplish your goals, you’ll inevitably have to fight one battle after the next.
Over the last decade, I’ve seen one particular towering, fiery enemy appear over and over again:
Surprises.
Nothing dries up budgets like an unwelcome surprise cost. In telecom, having to repair shared infrastructure is a common killer.
Nothing sinks a timeline like a misunderstood deliverable. Ever submit the wrong information to a jurisdiction for permitting?
Nothing ruins a network like a priority site that can’t be built. I’ve seen crews sent to a site only to find the “free ground space” observed on a CAD drawing to be a series of 3-foot retaining walls!
How would your quality of life improve if surprises were eliminated from your projects?
My team and I once developed a strategy to combat a carrier’s #1 worst enemy: Tower MOD costs.
And here’s the funny thing about this solution: it saved them exactly $0.
Why was it even a solution then? Because their problem in this particular situation wasn’t the dollar amounts themselves, but the way the dollars were allocated. Surprise MOD costs were tearing gaping holes in their network design!
Investing time and resources at the beginning of a project can significantly reduce the risk of surprises! Here are a few best practices to help improve predictability:
Designate someone to lead your entire organization in planning. You need this person to have the experience and EIQ to be able to extract the best from your project experts, and it needs to culminate in a project plan that holds everyone accountable to deliver.
Include your customers and vendors in the planning process. Each of them has a part to play, and by looping them into the plan, you may uncover further opportunities to help them succeed (like the example above).
Develop a playbook when surprises do step out of the shadows. For instance, if I can’t get a landlord to respond to my approval requests, what are some ways I can get their attention?
If you can’t afford any more surprises, I want to help. Schedule a call to find out how I might support you.
