Context-Adaptive Project Management: A Scoring Model for Assessing Project Complexity and Uncertainty
M. Ahsan Rahi · SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition · 2005
Abstract Oil & Gas service companies have used project management techniques to ensure that they can effectively deliver increased value to their customers. The success with these techniques can lead to a philosophy that if a few project management processes are good, then more must be better; or that what worked on one project should work on another. This can lead to frustration and inefficiencies where overly bureaucratic processes are dictated, or result in chaos when the processes applied are insufficient for the job at hand. This paper analyzes key characteristics of several types of service company projects (integrated field rehabilitation, production, drilling, etc.) and commercial models (turnkey/lumpsum, joint ventures, performance, reimbursable (price book), etc.) to develop a scoring model that classifies projects by Uncertainty and Complexity. The model plots projects in this two-dimensional space and it is shown that projects within a quadrant benefit from similar project management approaches. This provides an adaptive and consistent means by which to calibrate the type and level of project management required to the context of the project. The model also highlights uncertainty and complexity "spikes" in a project's profile that can be addressed proactively in the proposal development and project planning stages. This approach was previously applied successfully in the software development arena1 and has been adapted and extended for the oil & gas industry. Early applications of this approach have been promising in two case studies that we present. The first is a 2.5–year 350-well turnkey drilling project in the Burgos Basin of Mexico. The second case study is a 10-year integrated field rehabilitation (brownfield) project in the Casabe Field, located in the central part of the Middle Magdalena Valley basin, Colombia. The paper concludes with a discussion of this context-adaptive approach as a key input to overall project portfolio management.