What to fix first when a project is already behind

When a project is behind, the instinct is to open the programme and re-sequence. It is the most visible lever, and it is usually the least effective one available in the first fortnight.

Re-sequencing moves work around. It does not remove the constraints causing the delay, and on a project where those constraints are informational rather than physical, it frequently makes things worse by creating new interfaces.

Look at the queues first

Before touching the programme, count four things:

• How many submittals are with a reviewer, and how long the oldest has been there.
• How many RFIs are unanswered, and how many of those are blocking work that could otherwise start.
• How many drawings are pending approval for construction.
• How many inspection requests are booked but not carried out.

On most delayed projects these four numbers explain more of the slippage than the sequence does, and they can be improved within days rather than months.

Why the queues are usually worse than anyone thinks

Each party sees only their own portion. The contractor knows what they have submitted, the consultant knows this week’s desk load, the client sees a monthly report. Nobody holds the ageing profile of the whole picture, so the aggregate is genuinely unknown until somebody assembles it.

The first time a project puts these numbers on one screen, the reaction is almost always the same: the total is far larger than any individual estimate was.

Then fix the intake

Clearing the queue once is worth doing. Stopping it re-accumulating is worth more.

That means guided submission so items arrive complete, automatic routing so nothing sits unassigned, and resubmissions that carry their history so the reviewer is not starting again. These are unglamorous changes that compound quickly.

And record what you are doing

One caution. A recovery period is exactly when contemporaneous records are most likely to lapse, because everyone is busy, and exactly when they matter most, because entitlement is being determined.

If the recovery works, the records are a footnote. If it does not, they are the entire basis of the conversation that follows.