Olivier Destrebecq 📱’s Post

Three ways we "over-delivered" on a recent project (without adding scope creep): 1. 𝐔𝐩𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐄𝐱𝐜𝐞𝐥 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐨-𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧 Heavy formula work that most PM firms don't carry as a skill. Now their team can see 3 months ahead instead of scrambling week-to-week. 2. 𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐂𝐈𝐏 𝐋𝐎𝐈𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐙&𝐏 𝐀𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 A macro now saves their teams hours of manual document creation. What used to take 45 minutes now takes 3. 3. 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐮𝐩 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 Their files can now be restored if corrupted. (This actually saved them once during our engagement.) 👊 Here's what's interesting: None of this was in our original scope. But when you're embedded with a team, you see where they're bleeding time. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐬, 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐢𝐱 𝐢𝐭? We're project managers, yes. But we're also problem solvers who happen to know Excel, VBA, and Power Automate. Left this short-term engagement with their team in better shape than we found them. That's the goal every time. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 "𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐫𝐚" 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐝𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐬?

Here's why you feel you never accomplish anything. Most teams rush to close out a project without creating a record of how it actually came together. But logging is what keeps your hard-earned knowledge from vanishing. It builds continuity, alignment, and the kind of accountability that outlives deadlines and handovers. If you want scalable success, make documentation part of “done.” Ready to nail project completion benchmarks? Download the free New Project Blueprint and learn how to properly document your finish line. 👉 https://lnkd.in/gPqxQc6p #projectmanagement #worksmarter #pmcommunity #TLCStrategySesh #NotionWorkspace

Ever feel buried in mails and updates, while real work waits? Wondering why project momentum disappears before your eyes? After a decade in large-scale construction and my whole career in complex project, here’s what I keep seeing: It’s not poor planning or weak teams. It’s talented people burning hours on things like: ↳ Searching for emails ↳ Prepping for meetings ↳ Jumping from “status” session to “status” session Sound familiar? You’re not alone. A 2025 study found that 71% of meeting time is wasted—and project managers spend up to 21% of their week just switching between apps or chasing info. But I’ve seen the opposite when projects operate in real time—using an all-in-one digital project management hub. ✅ That’s when you see teams move from constant firefighting… to true control and momentum. 🛠️How To digitalize construction project management: 1. List every core project process 2. Identify just the essential KPIs 3. Delete no value-added requirements and steps 4. Simplify and digitalize all key process into one project hub 5. Automate with AI agents and Make Key Project Insight in Real Time That’s when the magic happens. → Everyone sees real-time data → No digging, no confusion, no “where’s the file?” → Decisions move fast → Projects stop overrunning → People start asking: “What should I work on next?” (because admin disappears!) If you’re still managing by email and meetings, you’re not alone—but there’s a simpler way. ✅The PMOs and construction teams digitizing the right way are seeing up to 20% better productivity, faster decisions, and a real shift in team mood. What’s the most time-wasting admin task in your current project? Drop it below—promise, you’re not the only one buried in admin. ♻️Repost for a colleague buried in status meetings. 📌Save if you’re stuck tracking 4 versions of the same report. #ConstructionManagement #ProjectManagement #DigitalTransformation #RealTime #DocumentManagement #RTPM Jesper Pedersen Shell Real Time Project Management IT Solutions HOFOR Ramboll Management Consulting DIS - CREADIS Engineering Solutions & Consulting

One simple, but very effective, workflow step that has eliminated costly project misalignments: documenting conversations in real-time, immediately reading them back, then putting it in writing. Here's what I mean- during client calls or meetings, I take quick bulleted notes on: ~What problem we're actually solving ~Scope inclusions (AND exclusions) ~Deliverables & file formats expected ~Hard deadlines and milestone dates ~Budget/resource constraints ~Any revisions or assumptions discussed ~Etc Then—this is the key part—I finish the call by saying: "Let me recap what I heard so we're on the same page..." and I read those bullet points back to them. The number of times a client has said, "Actually, I didn't mean that..." after hearing it back is remarkable. You catch it before investing eight hours in the wrong direction. Two minutes of recapping saves you from endless rework. Then lastly, when submitting the deliverables, I reiterate those same bullet points as confirmation. It becomes your project roadmap—and your protection.

Need a project plan in minutes? Use this to generate a clear framework you can refine and delegate. It surfaces phases, milestones, and risks so you start structured instead of from scratch. Paste this and add your specifics: "Create a high-level project plan for [Project Name]. Break it down into phases, key milestones, and potential risks. Context: objectives [X], scope boundaries [Y], deadline [date], budget [amount], team roles [names], dependencies [list], stakeholders [list], success criteria [list], assumptions [list], constraints [list]. Deliverables: 1) phase-by-phase plan with milestone dates and owners, 2) risk register with likelihood, impact, and mitigations, 3) 90-day timeline, 4) top decision points and open questions. Format as a concise table plus a short summary." If you have a charter or brief, paste it after the prompt. This sets a solid project framework in minutes and saves hours of planning time. #projectplanning #riskmanagement #promptengineering

🚨 Manager Minute (Topic #2): The Hidden Cost of “Just in Case” Padding Ever padded a task timeline 'just to be safe'? What if that safety net is quietly costing your project/task more than you think? Imagine this: Ravi, a seasoned project manager, is planning a product launch. He asks his team for task estimates. The UI designer says, “It’ll take 3 days… but let’s say 5, just in case.” The developer says, “This should be done in a week… but I’ll block 10 days.” Ravi, wanting to be cautious, adds a buffer to each task. The project timeline now stretches from 3 weeks to 6 weeks. Stakeholders are frustrated. The team feels less urgency. And ironically, tasks still slip. What went wrong? This is padding — adding extra time to task estimates to account for uncertainty. While it feels safe, excessive padding can lead to: 1. Parkinson’s Law: Work expands to fill the time available. 2. Reduced accountability: Teams feel less pressure to deliver on time. 3. Inefficient resource use: Idle time and delayed dependencies. PMI’s Recommendation: According to the PMBOK® Guide, instead of arbitrary padding, use contingency reserves and management reserves: Contingency Reserve: Time or cost buffer for known unknowns (e.g., risks identified in the risk register). Management Reserve: Buffer for unknown unknowns, controlled by senior management. Best Practice Tip: ✅ Use bottom-up estimating and apply risk-adjusted buffers at the project level — not task level. ✅ Communicate clearly with stakeholders about where buffers exist and why. Next time you're tempted to pad a task, ask: “Am I protecting the project — or just my comfort zone?” Let’s build trust through transparency, not timelines bloated with fear.

Ever missed a deadline?  Blown a budget? 𝐔𝐧𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐠𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐨𝐬! → 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞-𝐏𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐄𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: • You consider three values: optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic. • The average of these values provides a more realistic estimate. • This method effectively handles uncertainty. It acknowledges that things rarely go perfectly, or terribly. → 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐏𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐫: • Secret voting using numbered cards ensures unbiased opinions. • Team members discuss their estimates. • This iterative process leads to a shared understanding. • Consensus builds. Buy-in improves. → 𝐃𝐨𝐭 𝐕𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: • Simple and effective. Each team member assigns dots to tasks. • More dots mean higher effort. A visual representation of workload. • Ideal for quickly prioritizing tasks and identifying potential bottlenecks. → 𝐁𝐞𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐬: 𝐎𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐀𝐠𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐄𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐌𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐝𝐬 • T-Shirt Sizing: Simple categorization (XS, S, M, L, XL) for quick relative sizing. Perfect for early-stage estimations. • Bucketing: Grouping similar tasks together to simplify estimation. Reduces the number of individual estimations needed. • Large, Small, Uncertain: A straightforward approach that clearly communicates the known unknowns. • Affinity Grouping: Clustering similar tasks together based on their characteristics. Aids in more accurate estimations of related work. It’s less about precise time and more about relative effort. Follow Shraddha Sahu for more insights

Not all work is the same, nor should our way of estimating it be the same either. I appreciate the clear description of the 8 techniques; this will be a handy reference not only in planning but also in refinement.

Let’s be honest, PMs don’t really “manage projects.” We turn chaos into clarity, vague ideas into timelines, and somehow convince everyone it will all work out. Our real skills: 🧠 Reading between the Slack messages. 🗣️ Saying “let’s circle back” instead of “we’ve discussed this five times.” 📊 Creating spreadsheets so clean they could pass a health inspection. 💪 Staying calm while 47 tabs are open both on the screen and in the brain. It’s not glamorous, but it’s satisfying. When the dust settles and everything actually works, that’s our kind of magic. Tag a PM who quietly keeps everything (and everyone) from falling apart.

Projects don’t fail because of people. They fail because no one tracks why things get stuck. We’ve all seen it. A project runs late, and suddenly the blame game begins. “Dev team’s slow.” “Client didn’t approve in time.” “PM should’ve caught this.” Most teams aren’t failing because of bad people, they’re failing because of missing data. Every PM tool tells you what tasks are done. None tell you why tasks got delayed. That’s a data gap and it’s massive. You can’t improve what you can’t measure. And right now, most teams can’t measure where their projects lose time. - How long were we waiting on client feedback? - How many hours slipped between design and dev handoff? - Which dependencies caused cascading delays? Without that visibility, every project becomes guesswork. And guesswork is chaos. We built a PM tool to close that visibility gap. It doesn’t just track tasks, it tracks time lost, bottlenecks, and delay patterns across every project. So instead of pointing fingers, you can fix the system. Projects don’t fail because of people. They fail because no one’s looking at the right data.