Measuring the sustainability of project outcomes

acumen7 member Warren Beardall shared the background to the PhD he is about to start at Leeds University during which he will explore whether sustainability can sit as a central project objective and benefit from united influence of project actors through the appropriate choices of project control. Approaching a PhD mid-way through his career, Warren is well placed to undertake this research, as he has 25 years of industry experience within the PFI sample space, a career focused on project risk and control, a recent MSc distinction in Project Management and is currently embarking on a second MSc in Psychology.

To see more from Warren, visit: Warren Beardall – projects | within projects (projectswithinprojects.blog)

 

Member feedback

April’s second presentation was from acumen7 member Andrew Cobden, who was seeking feedback from the network on some potential next steps in his career. Andrew has worked in the property industry for over 25 years and is currently MD of Vastint UK. Andrew’s experience has afforded him exposure to a broad range of property sectors and for the past 10+ years he has overseen three large-scale mixed-use city centre projects. He is as comfortable in setting the vision for a place as he is with defining the needs of the buildings and spaces that populate it. Andrew leaves Vastint in June and is exploring a number of options. He shared a few ideas, with the members then offering feedback and alternative views.

Network support

acumen7 member Jes Newman was seeking feedback from the network on some potential next steps in his career. Jes listed his career passions as people development, customer service and ‘looking out for the world’. Now based in Cornwall, Jes shared the fascinating story of how he got where he is today, which drew some parallels with other members. Jes invited the members’ views when comparing their own context to his.

 

Associate Member introductions: Meg Reed & Danish Mishra

The second session at acumen7’s January meeting was an opportunity to find out more about the network’s two newly appointed Associate Members.

Meg Reed is the Client Development Manager – Construction at Wilson James. Meg is a specialist in logistics, operations, construction, development, and real estate project and portfolio management. She is passionate about sustainability, innovative logistics and challenging the status quo.

For more information on Wilson James, visit: https://wilsonjames.co.uk/

Danish Mishra is Head of Analytics & Senior Consultant at Complete. Having started out in rocket science, he now helps organisations build competitive advantage. Danish specialises in how knowledge – specifically tacit knowledge – flows through networks, whether they are human, social or computer networks, and its implications for organisations and complex systems.

For more information on Complete Coherence, visit: https://complete-coherence.com/

A review of the Associate Member programme

acumen7’s first Associate Member, Dr Rosie Hughes, who is also an Associate Director at AECOM, reflected on the benefits she has gained from the network in terms of industry knowledge, and both horizontal and vertical learning, with the peer-to-peer learning being the most enriching aspect of the experience. Rosie also commented on the valuable support from her mentor, Richard Ogden, as well as network’s participatory approach and selfless support. acumen7’s Chair, Kim Vernau, echoed the thoughts of the members by saying that Rosie’s involvement has been a beneficial and insightful learning experience for the network as well. For more information on AECOM, visit: www.aecom.com 

The challenges of project collaboration

Another interactive March session was facilitated by a newer acumen7 member, Warren Beardall, who revisited some old stalwart issues of project management and the ever-real challenges facing efforts of project collaboration. Issues of trust, behaviours and adequacy of visibility; propensity for dispute culture to endure; relative interpretations of success. All considered in the context of data driven decision-making, and whether critical control environments and contractual control had sufficient collaborative endeavour at their core. Construction, Public Private Partnerships and findings of Warren’s recent Master’s dissertation which posed these same questions formed the backdrop to a lively discussion. 

Follow Warren’s blog at: https://projectswithinprojects.blog/