“Paused” Is Not a Project Status
What an owner needs to preserve when a capital project is put on hold. After an eighteen-month pause, the restart found the project manager gone,…
project governance
What Does an Owner’s Rep Actually Do?
The architect designs. The contractor builds. The broker handles the transaction. Who is looking across the project for the owner? An owner’s representative works only…
The Facilities Director Left. The Decision Process Got Exposed.
The knowledge may remain. Context and authority may no longer sit in the same place. When a facilities director leaves mid-project, the technical analysis can…
The Executive Sponsor Is Not an Appeals Court
A vendor disagreed with a decision and took it to someone more senior. The owner is the one who has to live with what happened…
The Building Gets Transferred. The Reasoning Often Doesn’t.
Capital projects don’t just transfer buildings. They transfer the consequences of decisions—often without transferring the reasoning behind them. A General Manager inherited a building that…
Every Project Gets an Explanation. Not Every Explanation Is True.
The project is finished. Lessons-learned reviews often settle on a tidy explanation like “stakeholder alignment,” which names no decision and leads the next project to…
The Hidden Signal That Your Organization Has Outgrown a Facilities-Only Approach
The tipping point isn’t more projects. It’s when every new priority begins changing the assumptions behind projects already in the plan. When a strategic initiative,…
“Your Guy” Still Has to Earn It
When trusted recommendations quietly change the conversation. An owner-recommended permit expediter fell behind, and the team quietly absorbed the work while concerns circulated in hallways,…
Every Executive Has an Attention Budget
What Capital Projects Reveal About Executive Leadership A capital construction project generates a stack of reports every month, and most executives will never read past…
Why Tenants Are Asked to Approve Construction Decisions They Don’t Understand
The approval request isn’t where the decision starts. An email shows up. Can you approve this? Attached might be: A furniture package A lighting selection…
If Your OAC Meeting Turns Into a Debate, You’ve Already Lost Control
If everything is being discussed in OAC, nothing is being managed at the right level. The OAC meeting is not a workshop.When it turns into…
Bad News Does Not Get Better With Age
“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place” – George Bernard Shaw
Who Is Actually Leading the Construction Project for the Owner?
The architect is designing it. The contractor is building it. Someone inside the company is attending the meetings. That still doesn’t answer the question. Construction…
Should You Manage the Capital Project Internally?
The question isn’t whether someone on staff can manage the project. It’s whether the organization has the right capability—and capacity—to do it. Originally published March…
Is the Owner Holding Up the Project?
The schedule can slip even when the architect, contractor, and consultants are doing exactly what they are supposed to do. Originally published March 2012. Updated…