What should I do to become a planner?

Tom,

Sorry to say this, but there are people out there with less experience than yourself that call themselves Planners already :oD

However, the paths you have highlighted describe two of the more common paths taken, often not deliberately, into the Planning Arena.

How you get there very much depends on the type of Planner you wish to become. There are many of us, for example, who have worked in a number of sectors who may have expertise in a field they have since left behind.

I, for example ran a Logistics IT system, fell into Planning when I had to Plan and execute the roll-out of a replacement system. Not having access to Project Controls Resources I obtained a copy of MSP, built a programme, threw it away, obtained P3, rebuilt the Programme and ran my roll out through it. That was 7 years ago.

I have since planned in the IT, Pharma and now Nuclear Sectors, and what has become evident is, what you may lack in indepth knowledge of a sector, you can more than make up for with a logical, pro-active approach and good people skills.

There will seldom be a situation where you are working on a Project where you understand as much as each of the discipline leads about their respective disciplines. What you will understand better than any of them is how their work Scope fits into the big picture, and how you can help them plan their work to make their lives easier.

As for your next steps, does your company do any Tender Planning? If so, ask if you can shadow the Process, running through from Scope Development / ITT Interpretation, to WBS Development, Schedule Building, Estimate Development and Review all the way through to the delivery of the Tender programme. Not only will this help give you an idea of how schedules are developed from a Planning perspective, but it will also help give you an awareness as to how the work should flow on your future projects.

As an aside, there is now harm in learning as much as possible about, and getting as much experience as possible within, your chosen sector. There is no substitute, however, for a logical and organised Planner’s mindset and good people skills. It’s possible to Plan effectively with minimal Sector experience, providing your Planning and people skills are up to the task. If they’re not, no amount of experience will help ;o).

sorry if it was a bit rambly and long winded, and in a meeting :oD

Best of luck,

Cheers,

Gordon

Gordon,

Many thanks for taking the time to reply to me.

It’s very reassuring to hear your perspective and to confirm that it can be done without necessarily having to choose to down the ’accidental’ route.

I too was of the opinion that a project can be planned without needing to learn a specific trade within the scope of works, however a few of my colleagues were a little less convinced. This is quite possibly simply due to the paths they have personally taken. Obviously though, it’s important to understand and appreciate the overall picture of how these trades interact with each other and their respective time scales and labour resources etc.

Your suggestion of getting involved in the tendering side of things is a fantastic one! I shall definitely explore this route and see if I can work with and gain some knowledge from the various staff in the office that work in this area. After all, there must be a very close relationship in terms of the work between a Planner and a Estimator or QS.

I’ve managed to scrounge a place on a Microsoft Project course in 2 weeks as our group’s remediation company is having an in-house training session. Won’t do any harm I suppose.

I’ll also research into a suitable construction course to start part time in September.

I feel a lot less lost (tongue twister) now than I did. Thank you.

Tom

Hi Tom,

A brief guide to my route:

1) Got a job in daddy’s electronics company (2 man band) - assembling, testing, installing ultrasonic flowmeters (25 years ago)

2) Enjoyed the physical aspect of manufacturing but was such a lazy git that I wanted to make life easier for the "production process" (this ranged from our own manufacture of the PCBs, drilling them (by hand), component population, equipment assembly, testing, installation and commissioning. This caused me to take an interest in production & operational management.

3) Took an HNC in said subject in order to reconcile my practical knowledge with theoretical.

4) Got sacked by daddy for being a smarmy git.

5) Took a job as a producton controller in a big electronics company.

6) Became disillusioned with the fact that, actually, everybody had no understanding of how a manufacturing system should be implemented. They wanted more output - but decided to sack half of the production personnel (the basic arithmetic just didn’t add-up). Either they were magicians and I was being a bit fick, or they were being a bit fick.

7)Left the industry for four years. Did a Hons Degree in manufacturing systems engineering - and still really fascinated by "work and operational systems". Decided that I wasn’t all that fick. First discovered project scheduling software and manufacturing process computer simulation. Decided this could be really useful and tremendous fun in the real world.

8) Got a job as a Planning Manager in a medium sized electronics company. Concluded that nothing had changed in five years - and that just because you are the MD of a company, it doesn’t mean that you actually have any common-sense or ability to add two numbers together.

9) Got my first contract job as a planning engineer, for small projects that tested aircraft. Enjoyed it and learned the interaction between departments, engineers and other agencies. Realised that everyone hated planners - especially the engineers. Realised that the men-in-grey-suits had absolutely no idea about project planning, programmes, resource loading, duration, effort, milestones, progress etc. etc.

10) Next contract job in the defence industry. Realised that: "Yep, I am right...nobody has a clue". Earned loadsa money. Learned loadsa stuff about Earned value. Learned that politics is more important than arithmetic. Became even more hated by engineers. Learned to paint pretty pictures with Project and baffle them with moo-poo.

11) Next job in the Nuclear industry. More politics, pretty pictures, innumeracy....but became an expert in Earned Value. Did the company’s first major project with fully resourced programmed and Project Central. Got kicked-off it ’cos the EV was showing sh*t progress (more politics). 4 years later, I was proved absolutely right.

Did another major project (same company). Scared the hell out of the PM, but he was good and listened. Recovery action based on pretty-pictures, wot-if scenarios, EV and basic arithmetic. Delivered stuff within a week of the original baseline which had been compiled 3 years earlier. EV and resourced programming bloody well works. Engineers still hate planners. PMs still hate arithmetic. Directors love politics and hate everything else.

Still doing numerous "small" projects simultaneously. Systems and process now fully set-up to generate EV data. PMs much more appreciative of programmes, Project Central and EV. Clients extremely happy at our level of expertise, programmes control & monitoring systems and speed and integrity (on a £10M project, we can get a full set of EV curves within 3 hours).

Above all...after 27 years, I’ve proved that PLANNING REALLY WORKS!!!!!......and if only every other bugger would listen to you. :-)

Cheers.

James.