The front end of projects is the “value creation” stage. Properly handled, this stage ensures that the opportunity is fully characterized, external and internal drivers are managed, a complete suite of options are evaluated in a robust way, the best alternative is chosen, and stakeholders are fully aligned.

Today’s relentless pressure to do more with less requires a 4-dimensional plan: 1) simpler, lower cost project concepts, 2) better market understanding and supply chain strategies, 3) leaner, more efficient organizations, and 4) intense risk and performance management.

Unanticipated events are common in major projects – arresting them early requires skills beyond risk management programs. The HRO (Highly Reliable Organization) principles described in the article “Mindful Leadership” represent the most advanced thinking in this area – and are relevant to every team.

Successful project delivery systems must do three things: 1) develop and deploy people into the right roles, 2) provide clear expectations for the work required, and 3) establish the governance model for how major decisions will be made.

The Project Execution Plan is the road map for how the project will be implemented successfully, including the strategies for supply chain, staffing, engineering and construction management, and operational readiness.

Successful asset developments are delivered by people — creating the right organizational strategy takes into account the strengths of the owner staff as well as the procurement and contracting strategy. Developing the next generation of leaders requires a careful choice of assignments, formal training opportunities, and mentor/network relationships.

The best projects are supported by expert evaluation of readiness for the next decision threshold. All major decisions such as opportunity entry, development concept selection, execution strategy, and project sanction benefit from an independent assessment which is free from organizational biases. This ensures that risks, technical definition, and project planning quality are seen clearly, and helps to counterbalance the unwarranted optimism that often occurs during a development’s lifecycle.

Firms are increasingly relying on mergers and acquisitions to grow their businesses, and the best implementations run seamlessly through the pre-close, mandatory, transition, and maturation phases. At the end – original objectives are met, employees are energized, and best practices have been identified and embedded across the enterprise.

Projects run into trouble for a variety of reasons — late engineering, inadequate leadership, poor contractor performance, late changes – and many more. Regardless the cause, the solution is creating a full diagnosis, developing a recovery plan, and implementing the plan quickly in a way that can be sustained. The specialty skills strategic intervention are even more sophisticated than the ones required for running a successful project from the beginning.

In today’s companies major changes are occurring all the time – organizational structures, new work processes and systems, business performance transformations, etc. Most change efforts fail, though – and the successful ones have at their core a set of “battle tested” practices that differentiate them. These best practices run from creating the case for change, establishing the right change leadership structure and cadence, all the way through to fostering the mindsets and behaviors required for success.