Steven Macdessi – Project Manager Steven Macdessi, Member of The Institute of Arbitrators & Mediators Australia (IAMA)

About Steven Macdessi Project Manager

Steven Macdessi holds a Certificate of Adjudication under the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 2009 (Tasmania).

Steven Macdessi successfully completed a bridging course for registered and/or certified adjudicators who are practicing in other Australian jurisdictions  in accordance with  section 3 “Adjudication Training” of Appendix 2 of the Nominating Authority Conditions of Authorisation.

The bridging course was conducted by Adjudicate Today Pty Ltd who has been authorised as a Nominating Authority under the Act on 1 June 2010.

This Act is to provide for progress payments to be made in a timely fashion under building or construction contracts or contracts for the supply of goods and services relating to building or construction and for disputes in relation to such payments to be adjudicated in a timely and informal way.

The object of this Act is to ensure that any person who undertakes to carry out building work or construction work (or who undertakes to supply building or construction-related goods and services) under a building or construction contract, including such a contract that relates to a residential structure, is entitled to receive, and is able to recover, progress payments in relation to the work or goods and services.

Project Management: The Work Begins

With careful planning, projects can be completed within time and budget. But it also needs to be controlled and managed effectively. In theory, the implementation of the task should be seamless because the work plan is already in place. In reality though, no project goes 100% according to plan. Unexpected issues that require quick and innovative solutions may come up and only the project manager is in a positive to resolve these difficulties.

The project work plan should be reviewed regularly to see whether things are progressing as planned. If you’re handling a complex project, these reviews must be more frequent. The schedule, budget, and output also need to be looked into. This requires discipline and dedication on the part of the project manager.

Warning Signs to Watch Out For:

1. A lot of project managers tend to overlook small deviations from the original budget or schedules, thinking that these can easily be compensated for later on. However, if these variances aren’t corrected quickly, its impact can multiply tenfold.
2. Unscheduled overtime starts being the norm to meet deadlines even at the beginning of the project implementation. If this kind of problem is occurring at the start, expect things to go downhill from there. Adjustments should be made; either the deadlines should be pushed further or the team might need to get additional members.
3. Tasks that are supposedly completed are still being worked on. Don’t assume that every member of the team is responsible will keep to the deadlines. Some project managers think that team members will tell them whenever certain deadlines aren’t met. This doesn’t always happen in real life, they also have a tendency to overlook small deviations that can later become unmanageable.
4. Team morale is declining. Morale starts to shift downwards when team members feel unappreciated. Some people also feel low when they see that the tasks aren’t progressing as planned. Keep them up-to-date about how well they’re doing and motivate them to do better.
5. Quality starts to suffer. Quality is a serious issue in project management. There are quality control measures and testing that can ensure that company standards are met. But it is still better to address the issue at its root. Find out whether quality problems are caused by certain individuals or processes.

Watching out for these warning signs will help the project flow become smoother. As a result, tasks can be completed successfully as planned.

Article by Steven Macdessi, project manager