Expert Planner

Hi Hassan

Experience.

Best regards

Mike Testro

A promotion.

Seriously though, it will be different for the indiviuals and the companies they work for. Mike is right that ultimately it comes down to experience, but it may be technical experience in a particular field, or a softer attribute such as an improvement in your presentation skills so you can attend formal tender presentations. You could just try the age old trick of simply moving to another company - a promotion usually accompanies this...

The definitions for senior & intermediate planners are very variable, but a few general things I would expect a Senior Planner to be able to do over and above requirements of an intermediate planner:

-Generate a detailed schedule using nothing but contract scope document
-Be capable of participating in meetings with senior management & clients (by participating, I mean actively contribute & influence outcomes)
-Hire, fire, train & mentor more junior planners
-Be a foreceful advocate for good project control practises
-Have a good technical understanding of the industry
-Be able to critically assess other planner’s work
-Be comfortable on site & able to ’eyeball’ progress

Dear Hassan,

You need at least 10,000 hours in a specific field to be classified as an expert. This is equivalent to 5 continuous years and above working at the average of 40 hours a week.

During this period you should have developed your knowlege and be able to complete what have been stated in the previous replies.

With kind regards,

Samer

Hi hassan

I was the first to respond to your thread.

No one has yet mentioned the "bovine scatology" method of advancement.

It worked well with my career advancement - but then again I was the first Bull in the field.

Best regards

Mike Testro.

Thanks everybody,
I got key word (Experience), detail list of skills and quantity and time being at planning to be expert which all were excellent.
I have been in oil and gas engineering companies for around seven years and I feel confident in engineering planning but I don’t know how much it would take to get this confidence if I move to Construction work. I’m good in P6 and generally in softwares but knowledge of field is critical I believe.

Hi Hassan

It is best to stick to your field of experience. If you move from Oil & Gas to construction you will be starting at the bottom - a scheduler putting together other peoples plans.

I have said before "If you can’t build it you can’t plan it"

Why not try the route that I took to promote myself.

Say you are an expert and go for the higher jobs.

Best regards

Mike Testro

Mike,

Your first answer : Experience makes me think about useless or bad experience.
I have been in projects with bad experience or a useless experience. I would say that these projects have contributed with zero or negative experience.

Trying to understand the “bovine scatology” method of advancement, It sounds a concept for male planners.

Fully agree with G.Whitehead, but taking into consideration the following:

- “Generate schedules using nothing but contract scope document” .
Sometimes the contract scope document is just a high level guideline. I would rephrase: Generate schedules based on any source of information (imagination included) and always comply with the contract.

-“Participating in meetings. By participating, I mean actively contribute & influence. “.
To achieve this you need leadership and charisma. Remember that the team has more than one with leadership too.

-“Be comfortable on site” . Be comfortable playing any role at site, home-office. Comfortable on EPC, construction contractors or client side.

Let me finish with the following quotes:

Experience is what you got by not having it when you need it. ~Author Unknown


Experience is the name everyone gives to his mistakes. ~Oscar Wilde,

Idealism is what precedes experience; cynicism is what follows. ~David T. Wolf

Regards to experienced or cynic planners,

carmen

Hi Carmen

Nice to hear from you.

Regarding experience I would say that there is no such thing as bad experience - you can learn from any situation.

Best regards

Mike Testro

Hi Mike,

When you do not hear from me is due to : holidays or working in proposals.

I can identify positive changes in the forum. PP is a must in my daily routine. Every day is getting better and better.

regards,

Hi Carmen

I am a sad old git.

Whenever I go on holiday I take my laptop and internet connections with me and carry on working.

Nothing quite like putting together a delay analysis on a beach in the Maldives.

I call it "Holidays with Pay"

Best regards

Mike Testro