1. How to execute successful
projects and rescue
distressed projects with good
Project Management!

2. What is the Aid
Industry?
Massive Current Human
Need:
• Health
• Nutrition
• Housing
• Livelihoods
International Community
Gives
• Bilateral Aid
• UN Organizations
• NGOs
• Private Foundations
$ 160,000,000,000. / 2009

3. Multi-
Dimensional
Problem
Context with
many
unknowns
Port au Prince,

4. Roots of Failure
in Aid Projects:
• Principle-Agent Problem:
Organizations/Contractors
• Asymmetry of Information:
General Public/Aid Projects
• Inappropriate Project Management Model
• Poorly Trained Project Managers

5. How much do we know?
Solution!

6. 1. Design the project correctly.
2. Choose the correct project management model,
traditional, agile or extreme.
3. Apply project management administrative standards at
every stage.
4. Apply the lessons learned by for-profit organizations in
contexts presenting extreme challenges.
5. Embed a media reporting component in the project.
Successful Project:

7. Probabilit
y
Very high
High
Moderately
high
Medium
Moderately
low
Low Negligib
le
Moderat
e
Moderate
ly serious
Serious Critical Catastroph
ic
Impact
Risk Mitigation
Apply Contingency
Apply Adaptive Contingency
Document problem

8. Does Aid Work?
Andrei Shleifer: No The Grabbing Hand
Jeffrey Sachs : Yes How Aid Can Work
Failure Rate of Projects: 31%
The Big 5:
• Project Design
• The Manager (risk, performance, communication)
• Management Model
• Stakeholder engagement
• The Creeps,
(Scope, hope, effort, feature, cost)

9. Stake
Holders:
• Constituents
• Local Authorities
• Host Country
• Donors
• Your Agencies
• Your staff

10. Franck Helmcke, Thierry Gardére, Edouard Baussan, Jean-Pierre Blanchard, F. Carl
Braun, Lyonel Dartiguenave, Adrien Castera, Bertrand Buteau, Max Chauvet
(Photo prise au Fort-Jacques, Fermathe, Haiti)

11. Effective Response
To Non-Compliance
Rent seeking: unilateral benefit
Profit seeking: mutual benefit
Krueger, Anne (1974). "The Political Economy of the Rent-Seeking Society". American Economic Review 64 (3): 291–303. JSTOR 1808883.
• Bond held in lieu of delivery
• Freeze of personal assets
• Revocation of US and EU visa
• Contract jurisdiction in New York

12. Lessons learned from
for-profits
in difficult contexts:
• Community buy-in
• Reaching out to unorthodox partners
• Thinking far out of the box

13. Types of Contracts:
• Fixed Price, requirements are well known
• Time and Materials, you want control over materials
• Retainer, work statement can’t yet be made
• Cost Plus, performance easily measured

16. Country: El Salvador Haiti
GDP per capita $7,700 (2012 est.) $1,300 (2012 est.)
Population 6,108,590 (July 2013 est.) 9,801,664 (July 2012 est.)
Kilometers of paved roads 2,827 km (includes 327 km
of expressways)
1,011
No expressways
Project: Highway improvement
Status: Successful Failed
Financing: MCC Compact World Bank
Total appraised
cost $M:
USD$ $29, 944,625.60 USD$ 14.000.000
Kilometers of 2-lane paved
road
138 kilometers 104 kilometers
Connecting cities Metapán - Anamoró Port au Prince-
Cap-Haïtien
Dates: November 2006-
October 2012
1990 - 2012
Contractors: MECO S.A. (Costa Rica) OAS Constructora (Brazil)
Centre Nacional des Equipements
(Haiti)
Companies bidding: Astaldi
Eterna
Topsal
Santa Fe
Gaskapital
Ingeniería Estrella (DR)
Vorbe et Fils (Haiti)
Side roads 500 kilometers of gravel feeder roads 1000 kilometers of gravel feeder roads
Bridge work 200 meter bridge built Repair 57 small bridges
Status at scheduled closing
date:
Satisfactorily completed Less than 20% delivered,
work abandoned and not resumed
amid lawsuits

17. I. Project Scope Management:
Highways, Haiti: FAILED El Salvador: DELIVERED
Level: 1 2 3 4 5
Requirements
Definition
Statement of
purpose
Process to
identify
requirements
Stakeholders
involved in
requirements
Functions
fully
documented
Incorporates
quality
improvement
Deliverable
Identification
Names of
deliverables
Customer &
management
identify deliv.
Detailed
description
of deliverable
Consistent
template for
all projects
Improvement
in process
Scope
Definition
Ad hoc, no
standards
Defined
scope
statement
Assumptions
& constraints
clear
Documented
& monitored
Project
experience
data used
WBS Basic work
components
Third level
template
Jointly
identify all
tasks
Inter-project
dependencies
documented
Regularly
monitored
Scope
Change
Control
Ad hoc
communi-
cation
Documented
change
process
Baselines
established &
managed
Integrated
with organ’s
systems
Lessons
learned
17
- “Project Management Maturity Model,” Crawford, 2002

18. II. Project Integration:
Highways, Haiti: FAILED El Salvador: DELIVERED
Level: 1 2 3 4 5
Project Plan
Development
Ad hoc Documented
process
Risk, cost,
schedule,
quality, HR
Integrated w/
organization’s
strategic plan
Improvement
process in
place
Project Plan
Execution
Informal,
verbal
direction
Summary
level metrics
Detail level
metrics,
templates
Variance &
performance
analysis
Lessons
learned
Change
Control
Ad hoc,
without PM
awareness
Scope only
changes
identified
Scope, cost,
schedule
identified
Integrated w/
control, risk
management
Changes are
in efficiency
metrics
Project
Information
System
None Simple PM
information
system
Standardized
system for all
projects
Automated
system
Continuous
improvement
of data & sys.
Project Office Informal, no
standards or
training
Established,
training
available
PM methods,
PM training
mandatory
Best practice,
PM training
for all team
Cost-tracking
support, EV,
PMP training
18

19. III. Project Quality Management:
Highways, Haiti: FAILED El Salvador: DELIVERED
Level: 1 2 3 4 5
Quality
Planning
High-level
plans, ad hoc
Metrics of
reviews, tests
Quality
milestones,
checklists
Product
environment
included
Process
critiqued
during project
Quality
Assurance
No
established
practices
Walkthroughs
peer reviews
QA checklists
standard
Walkthroughs
with other
project teams
Feedback on
processes
Quality
Control
No
established
practices
Guidelines for
testing (unit,
integration)
Standards for
testing, client
involvement
Performance
standards in
place
Decisions on
usability and
fit of product
Management
Oversight
Management
involvement
limited
Mgt assigns
PM, receives
reports
Institution
has standard
PM practices
Integrated w/
corporate
processes
Active role in
management
19
- “Project Management Maturity Model,” Crawford, 2002

20. Project Cost Management:
Highways, Haiti: FAILED El Salvador: DELIVERED
Level: 1 2 3 4 5
Resource
Planning
Individuals
identify
resource req.
Resource
listing defined
Project office
resource
repository
Integrated w/
project office
& HR
Improve
resource
priorities
Cost
Estimating
Scope
statement; ad
hoc estimates
Top WBS,
cost-estimate
template
Cost analysis
of alternatives
Integrated w/
finance, acct,
risk mgt
Improve
forecasting
vs. estimates
Cost
Budgeting
No
established
practice
Baselining
process not
org standard
Time phased
estimates,
baselines
Integrated w/
finance, acct,
risk mgt
Baseline
lessons
learned
Performance
Management
Informal, ad
hoc
Summary
level tracking
Earned value,
corporate
financials
Performance
indices
Measure
efficiency &
effectiveness
Cost Control Non-standard
tracking
Periodic cost
reports
Variance
analysis, est
to complete
Cost reports
integrated w/
tech reports
Cost
assessments,
lessons learn
20
- “Project Management Maturity Model,” Crawford, 2002

21. Project Risk Management:
Highways, Haiti: FAILED El Salvador: DELIVERED
Level: 1 2 3 4 5
Risk
Identification
Risks not
identified
Risk
identification
process
Standards for
risk/symptom
identification
Integrated w/
cost & time
mgt, PMO
Identify org.
priority,
lessons learn
Risk
Quantification
Speculate on
impact if risks
occur
Structured
approach to
rating risks
Multiple
criteria
prioritization
Integrated w/
cost & time
mgt, finance
Improve
quantification
Risk
Response
Development
Risks
considered as
they arise
Informal
strategy for
handling risks
Contingency
plans
Integrated w/
cost & time
mgt, PMO
Tracking
project
reserves
Risk Control Day-to-day
problem
solving
Individualized
approach to
managing risk
Risks
routinely
tracked
Integrated
with control
systems
Risk assess
included in
proj execution
Risk Docu-
mentation
No historical
database
Some
historical data
Historical data
on common
risks
Interdepen-
dent risks
betw projects
Improve
collection
activity
21- “Project Management Maturity Model,” Crawford, 2002

24. Bridges in El Salvador

25. Recommendations:
1. Design the project correctly.
2. Choose the correct project management model, traditional, agile or extreme.
3. Apply project management administrative standards at every stage.
4. Apply the lessons learned by for-profit organizations in contexts presenting
extreme challenges.
5. Use modular project execution teams for extreme challenges.
6. Access, build, and use documented lessons in extreme environments.
7. Embed a media reporting component in the project.