Category: Australia

Rostered Day Off spent with James Joyce

As I am on a rostered day off in the morning, my thoughts turn away from construction to one of my other passions – Irish literature. The following is also on one of my other blogs which I do not publicise here as we all need some privacy.

When I was six years old I was on holiday in Ireland with my mother. An Irish lady born in beautiful Carlingford county Louth. Although she left school at fourteen she had a passion for literature especially Irish novelists. She was an out an out Feanian and her priorities were country, Catholicism and family in that order. It was she who introduced me to the magical world of irish writers. That magic started on a beautiful summer’s day with a visit to the grave of William Butler Yates at Drumcliff County Sligo. Much to my surprise my mother knelt down and then yanked me down too, and said a silent prayer not just for the great man but for Ireland and its people. (so I learned much later).

As I got older I would borrow my mother’s books and devour them: Yeats, Swift, Pearse, O Riordan, Wilde, Sterne, Goldsmith. But there was one missing – the towering presence of James Aloysius Joyce. And why? Because some of his work had been banned by the catholic church. Of course as teenager anything banned meant I had to have it. It was the late sixties and everything that the establishment did not want us to have, we made sure we had it. No matter if it were books, drinks, acid, music etc. Thus my life-long love affair with Joyce began. As we approach Bloomsday and remember the characters of Ulysses going about their day on 16th June 1904, those early memories of my mother, Ireland, long summers and happy days return. A long way from the Pilbara in Western Australia where I now earn my keep.

So for those who follow this blog a little bit of the magic of Yeats followed my the magnificence of Joyce

The last three lines of one of Yeats’ poems are written on his grave stone

Under bare Ben Bulben’s head
In Drumcliff churchyard Yeats is laid.
An ancestor was rector there
Long years ago, a church stands near,
By the road an ancient cross.

No marble, no conventional phrase;
On limestone quarried near the spot
By his command these words are cut:

Cast a cold eye
On life, on death.
Horseman, pass by!

 And my choice from Joyce’s Ulysses has to be the following two passages from the episode Cyclops:

 After the citizen spots this person at the bar, the person is described:

The figure seated on a large boulder at the foot of a round tower was that of a broadshouldered deepchested stronglimbed frankeyed redhaired freelyfreckled shaggybearded widemouthed largenosed longheaded deepvoiced barekneed brawnyhanded hairylegged ruddyfaced sinewyarmed hero. From shoulder to shoulder he measured several ells and his rocklike mountainous knees were covered, as was likewise the rest of his body wherever visible, with a strong growth of tawny prickly hair in hue and toughness similar to the mountain gorse (Ulex Europeus). The widewinged nostrils, from which bristles of the same tawny hue projected, were of such capaciousness that within their cavernous obscurity the fieldlark might easily have lodged her nest. The eyes in which a tear and a smile strove ever for the mastery were of the dimensions of a goodsized cauliflower. A powerful current of warm breath issued at regular intervals from the profound cavity of his mouth while in rhythmic resonance the loud strong hale reverberations of his formidable heart thundered rumblingly causing the ground, the summit of the lofty tower and the still loftier walls of the cave to vibrate and tremble.

And later the best description of Guinness ever:

Terence O’Ryan heard him and straightway brought him a crystal cup full of the foamy ebon ale which the noble twin brothers Bungiveagh and Bungardilaun brew ever in their divine alevats, cunning as the sons of deathless Leda. For they garner the succulent berries of the hop and mass and sift and bruise and brew them and they mix therewith sour juices and bring the must to the sacred fire and cease not night or day from their toil, those cunning brothers, lords of the vat.

Project Success or Armageddon

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Ok we all know about KPIs, LTIs, positive/negative cashflows, WIP, cost reports etc etc. We have dashboards on our laptops spitting out critical data regarding our performance, document management software etc etc. But if you break it right down, what makes a project so bad that the PM pulls the pin before PC.

Consider three simple points

  • the project team
  • the client
  • the budget

My theory is if you can tick all three as acceptable or above, life is great, the project runs safely and financial well, the client is happy for us to build for him again, we all stay until the end and then we spruke about it on our resumes. Of course during the project life these three point can get better or worse but consider them as an average. If we can tick two then life is hard, there may be a reasonable client, but the job is under priced but at least the team gets along and we put it down to experience. If we can only tick one box things are getting serious. Bad client, crappy budget, but the team still gets along, and when we look back a year after PC we only remember the good laughs as we will all probably working for someone else. The worst case, no boxes ticked I shall leave to the end of this missive.

Now say the team is not great, there are some weak links, or in the worst case scenario, the PM has not picked the team, they have been chosen from on high and maybe the leftovers from other projects. Just names to fill in the organisation chart, keep the client happy and you get what you are given.

Now the client. We all have stories about difficult clients. My worst stories are not about clients but the ubiquitous client representatives. Over the last twenty years a whole industry has developed in companies engaged by clients supposedly to look after the client’s best interest, when in fact the only interest satisfied is the representative’s. They have to prove they are necessary so they crucify builders in every which way.

The final one of the trinity is the budget. How many times have you heard PMs say “which bloody lunatic priced this” or a more recent one I heard was “that estimator knows as much about construction as a horse does about astronomy”

Now what happens when none of the three boxes can be ticked. The team is not yours, they have not interacted well, some have left and more hand me downs are parachuted in, the client (more usually his representatives) is impossible and the budget bears no semblance of reality, now we are in trouble. As the great man said “Forget Armageddon, you are in hell already”

Can someone book that one way ticket – please.

Mentors

We all have them, but we mostly don’t recognize them. They may be family members, managers in the workplace or the old guy you thought was a fool but in hindsight proved to be a pretty wise old bird.

The resources sector has many such people who on the face of it seem world easy, weather-beaten and basically the classic “grumpy old man”. But these are the backbone of the industry. They never read motivational, or self-help books by American Harvard gurus. They have, unwittingly mentored many, many people. often withe either party being totally unaware of what was going on. take the young know it all project manager, two years out of university whose biggest site he has seen is probably his girlfriend’s bare arse. he has no idea about what really happens on site, yet he is a wizard with Primavera, has multiple dashboards on his desktop and can wax lyrically about hours to go, month end forecasting, bloody KPIs, etc, etc. yet has no idea how to manage and pull down and re-assemble a stacker reclaimer or a dragline. Without knowing it his mentors are the people who report to him. Yet often the people with the real knowledge, the backbone of the industry, go un-noticed and not recognised. Sent out to grass whilst the young punk climbs the slippery pole called the corporate ladder.

Long live the grumpy old guy. Hope you read this Dante – I am referring to you, you grumpy old bastard.

Fools aka Pratts

Why do we put up with fools?

Well the first step is to define a fool. Yes we have all met them, worked with them and sometimes we have all been one. If you know you have acted like a fool that’s a start but a lot of people really don’t know when they are being a complete 22 carat unmitigated pratt.

So consider the workplace pratt. The most well known to all of us is Ricky Gervais as David Brent, the bumbling, self deluded manager in the UK tv show “The Office”. Who has never compared their boss to Ricky’s tv character, but the really serious issue is when you have this sort of Pratt who reports to you Well the first step is to define a fool. Yes we have all met them, worked with them and sometimes we have all been one. If you know you have acted like a fool that’s a start but a lot of people really don’t know when they are being a complete 22 carat unmitigated pratt.

So consider the workplace pratt. The most well known to all of us is Ricky Gervais as David Brent, the bumbling, self deluded manager in the UK tv show “The Office”. Who has never compared their boss to Ricky’s tv character, but the really serious issue is when you have this sort of Pratt who reports to you.

Well the first step is to define a fool. Yes we have all met them, worked with them and sometimes we have all been one. If you know you have acted like a fool that’s a start but a lot of people really don’t know when they are being a complete 22 carat unmitigated pratt.

So consider the workplace pratt. The most well known to all of us is Ricky Gervais as David Brent, the bumbling, self deluded manager in the UK tv show “The Office”. Who has never compared their boss to Ricky’s tv character, but the really serious issue is when you have this sort of Pratt who reports to you. Often they believe they are doing a great job, work under the misapprehension that their staff see them as born leaders and their boss thinks they are indispensable.

Bearing this in mind my thoughts went to an incident a few years back when I was Project Manager building a new municipal sewage treatment plant in Mumbai, India. We were working for a large civils company and the client was the equivalent of the local city council. I shall leave the whole Mumbai experience to a separate blog. The team consisted of me, two superintendents, six (yes six) QA inspectors, a project controller, numerous administrators and a dozen drivers, plus various assorted foremen. Everyone accept for me and one of the superintendents were local Indians. The superintendent in question was British and still though of India as the last refuge of the British Empire. I used to get the constant carping of “they do to do it like this in the UK” or “since we gave
them independence the place has gone to the dogs” Curious racist and xenophobic comments considering the basket case that the UK had become. But I digress.

This superintendent was technically very good, a hard worker, honest and loyal. But he was hopeless at managing people and even worse at managing upwards ie to me. In his eyes he was never wrong. The spec was wrong, the drawings were wrong, the consultants were d###heads and the client was off his trolley. All incorrect but not in his mind. This caused unbelievable tension and anyone who has worked in places like India know this attitude leads not to confrontation but to confusion and communication breakdown. I tried everything, the arm around the shoulder, the quiet word, even the threat of a one way ticket.

In the end he had to be convinced that he had to go. But the twist is, and the managing of the situation was, for him to convince himself he had to.

Well he’d did and went!

FIFO for real

There is a great deal of talk in the media about Fly In Fly Out and I suppose Brisbane to Port Hedland which is the same distance as London to Jerusalem, is a fair way to go to work.We mobilsed a week ago so now it is life in the camp for three weeks then back to Brissie for one week! Round trip nearly 10,000 Kim’s or 6,200 miles in the old money so lots of frequent flyer points, long waits at airports, crap airline food and we won’t mention DVT. Is it worth it? Well most of the workforce gross $5,ooo per week and pay more tax in a year than two school teachers earn. They all get free accommodation, flights home and some of the best food I have ever had, plus free Foxtel, WIFI, laundry, transport to work, gym etc etc. And project managers get exactly the same conditions but some earn more than the Prime Minister of Australia. So yes it is worth it. Of course long hours and 13 days straight without a day off is tiring, but the full week at home plus the dollars make it worth while. But there is another side that is often overlooked. You work with people 10 to 12 hours each day seven days a week, you breakfast with them, have dinner with them, wash your clothes with them, and have to listen to them. So situations arise where someone you dined with the previous evening, is someone you have to pull in to line the next day. The secret is keeping a distance from those who are under your responsibility. And if you don’t the consequences become personal. Maybe that is why “the boys” call me an arrogant prick ……… But that’s better than a soft prick.

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Surgeons

Apologies for the lack of recent posts the author has been hospitalized. I had an operation to fix up my ulnar nerve in my right arm. Which meant I could not type. The surgery was straightforward but not having been under the knife for forty years, I found the experience daunting. However, my surgeon was what only can be described as the best.

Surgeons are often perceived as dictorial, dismissive and a breed apart. Mine was not. Yes he had the air of authority and not one for small talk but he really cared about his patient ie yours truly. So thank you Doctor Halliday.

A week ago I could not open a Coles bag of salad, my right hand was turning into a claw, now the hand works and I can do the simple things with my hand that we all take for granted, like typing this post.

For those who are not too squeamish

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDtss_aOHEI&feature=youtube_gdata_player

D and C

Design and construct is my preferred method of delivering projects, yet it can be the most frustrating. I like it because the project team can manage the process but I get frustrated when the team do not manage it well, and as a PM it is my responsibility to manage the team. Yes that sounds like a pile of crap because it is, the real reason is that it means the consultants are working for me NOT the client. I get to approve their invoices, comment on their drawings and generally get up them when they don’t perform.

An architect recently huffed and puffed that he “was not a subcontractor” and why? Because I insisted he signed a consultancy agreement. He being so apoplectic that his Dickie bow started spinning and carried him off to his 1992 Saab 900.

Now for hydraulic consultants aka a plumber with a tie. I have met very few of any real calibre, there are a few but not many. Structural engineers are absolute stars. They charge out a young kid straight from university at some exorbitant rate and when the check his calls just double the size of the steel member to allow for a “safety factor”.

But please don’t start me on acoustic engineers, green star rating advisers, interior designers, Colour coordinators, and the rest of the assorted bunch of “experts”.

But I am exaggerating a tad, I actually have a few friends in the consulting game and they give the construction survivor an equally hard time. There is a difference – I will never work for them. But will they keep working for me?

The IT Crowd


What a breath of fresh air to have an IT department that believes their role is to support operational staff. In other words they exist because we need them and not vice versa. The lifeblood of a company is communication and my new company don’t mouth it they do it. There have been occasions in the past when I have had to literally threaten IT people to be held by their ankles from a window to get them to do what they need to do, so big tick for Amos and his staff.

IT departments when they are a support service do get a hard time and sometimes it is justified. However, when they understand their role and actually sit down with the person with the issue as opposed to hiding behind the dreaded email “help desk”, they then understand what we as project managers need – reliable communication.

Of course as the Project Manager you are responsible for the profitability of the project and IT support gets charged to the job. If you have a problem with a subcontractor for instance you hold the purse strings, but you do not with your company’s internal departments. My new best friend Amos understands that and I take my hat off to him.

Perhaps other IT people could learn from Amos. but if you try to poach him you may have to learn to appreciate hospital food.

New Employees

First impressions when joining a new company are so important. Have you ever shown up on day one only to be greeted with “we did not know you were starting today”. To me the simple steps I put in place to greet new staff are what I expect myself.

I arrived at my new company yesterday morning. On by desk were my new mobile, new laptop, access codes, company procedures manual, contact lists, a welcome email and text, and my team expecting me. My hotel accommodation had been booked, and my car waiting for me at the airport.

Simple stuff but so many companies get it wrong. If they cannot be organised for a new starter how on earth can they organise and deliver projects.

It is so refreshing to get back to new construction where everyone in the team knows what they are responsible for, who they report to and who reports to them. Also to have tried and tested project management software in place ie job costing, document management systems etc. Turn the computer on and familiar icons for Primavera an Aconex appear, no Sharepoint and no linked spreadsheets – Nirvana!

A We have a month in Perth head office and then start on site in Port Hedland. All we need to do is rev up our consultants (D and C), meet the subcontract letting schedule, hire the final project team members and just get into it.

Don’t you just love the smell of green concrete in the morning! Mr Wolf is back.

FIFO

Yes I have joined the legions of Fly In Fly Out (FIFO) construction people here in Australia. I live in Brisbane and now work in Port Hedland. To my Pommy friends that like living in London and working in Jerusalem.

But I am returning to site based construction – concrete and cranes, and I cannot wait. I reckon construction is in the blood, those of us who have spent many years trying to meet deadlines, budgets, etc must have a passion for it, otherwise why would we do it?. It does not matter if it is a high rise on the Gold Coast, resorts on the Mediterranean or coal mines in Kalimantan, there is a certain buzz about being based on site and seeing a job come out of the ground. I need a break from the “coorporate” world of Powerpoint, Politics and Platitude. I want to hear he sound of concrete pumps in the morning not the sound of some bloody management consultant. I also want to feel I have earned my salary not because of what it says on my business card but for what I and the team have achieved.

So farewell Mackay and thanks for all the fish and hello Port Hedland, 39C today and the best fishing in Australia.