Successful utility project management from lessons learned

The value of reviewing project histories is in the knowledge that project practitioners and researchers can acquire from understanding the lessons that previous project experiences and outcomes impart, lessons showing what worked and what failed, lessons for repeating past successes and avoiding past mistakes. This article details six lessons the author learned--from the literature and from various assessments of actual project experiences--about the requirements needed to effectively manage utility and government energy projects, lessons that identify the factors influencing project outcome, lessons that include applying centralized project management, using strong project management, assigning project authority to a single project manager, enlisting the support of senior managers, using a controlled acquisition process, and employing project-wide management systems and controls. This article then lists eight problems that can detrimentally affect project outcome as well as nine aspects common to successful projects.