1,909 research outputs found
Marian Bantjes, graphic artist and author
No full textMarian Bantjes provided the keynote address at the BC Library Conference on April 1st, 2014. She is a graphic artist and the author of I Wonder and Pretty Pictures
Fit-for-purpose project management: An exploratory research into the practice of project management for infrastructure at three Dutch waterboards
No full textThe construction of infrastructure in the Netherlands is initiated by the Dutch government and performed in the form of projects. Yearly about €8 billion is spent on infrastructure and in the construction sector 50% of the projects are initiated by public clients. Project management methodologies are the working methods of these public clients. Literature until now only focussed on whether or not adjustments to PM methodologies (customization of methodologies to a single project) are needed or not.This research aims to explore the fit-for-purpose use of these PM methodologies, to investigate on the level of projects what adjustment occur, what the underlying reasons are and what the contribution to project success is. The main research question is: “How do the fit-for-purpose adjustments to the project management methodologies used by the public clients in the Netherlands contribute to project success of infrastructure projects?” The research methodology is qualitative, with 13 interviews in a practical orientation (national-, regional-, local governments and waterboards), followed by 6 case studies (13 interviews with project managers and internal clients) at 3 different waterboards (PMC, PRINCE2 and an in-house PM methodology) and the findings were evaluated by 7 experts in the expert panel interviews. Adjustments to PM methodologies occur in two ways: organisation-specific adjustments (between official theory and the organisation) and project-specific adjustments (between the organisation and the project). Organisation-specific adjustments were made for all waterboards in this research and in total 16 project-specific adjustments were found. These adjustments range from e.g. additional financial mandate to shared risk registers and skipping phases or documentation. Adjustments can be specified to be deviations or additions, roughly occurring fifty-fifty.The overall majority of these adjustments was said to contribute to project success positively. Project success is in general perceived by the interviewed project managers as mostly a focus on time and budget and from the underlying reasons time was the most prominent aspect.Recommendations for future research include a closer look at the relation between the adjustments and project success, a framework for the measurement of the impact of adjustments and quantitative research into which methodologies need more adjustments.Keywords: Fit-for-purpose, project management, PM methodologies, adjustments, project success, infrastructure, Dutch public clients.<br/
Towards Information Integrated Design Management: A study on the effects of inter-disciplinary information dependency on design in construction design projects
No full textThis M.Sc. thesis is related to the use of Design Structure Matrix (DSM), a design process modeling technique, to model, analyze and improve design processes in Oil and Gas Construction Projects. DSM was used to model the design process of an engineering design section at an Oil and Gas Engineering Company using the information dependencies in the design process. The key effects of the information dependencies that were studied in this thesis include rework due to iterations, change propagation in the design process and need of design team collaboration. Further, the current design process was improved in terms of design schedule by proposing a new design process with reduced rework risk. Finally, ecommendations have been provided to improve the design process on the three aspects related to information dependencies in design process as mentioned above
Extending the View on Project Performance
No full textThe main aim of this study is to gain insights into project management professionals’ perception of how project success can be achieved. The Q-methodology was followed in this research. Based on an extensive literature review and validation through expert judgment, a framework consisting of 33 factors increasing the likelihood of success was developed. A total of 34 practitioners in three different sectors (real estate, urban development, and infrastructure) in the Netherlands were asked to rank the statements contributing to the success of their projects. Four different perspectives of how project success can be achieved were distinguished in this study: “seeking the best match”, “being adaptive and open”, “keeping the team focused”, and “preparing for opportunities”. The perception of different practitioners of how success can be obtained may stem from factors of project context rather than sector and complexity. This highlights further research opportunities in taking a contingent approach when investigating project performance. The study helps to grasp the subjectivity of practitioners’ viewpoints regarding the potential ways to enhance project performance by understanding the similarity and differences of these viewpoints.Integral Design & Managemen
Four stages of making project management flexible: Insight, importance, implementation and improvement
No full textIncreased project complexity, project dynamics and changes in clients’ requirements are a few examples that suggest the necessity for flexibility in project management in order to deliver successful projects. Despite the fact that literature suggests adding flexibility to project management, there is no existing framework that provides a practical method for adding flexibility into the practice of project management in the construction industry. Therefore, this research is aimed at proposing a practical framework that helps practitioners in embedding project management flexibility into their project management practice. The research question is as follows: how to embed flexibility in the practice of project management in the early project phases? To answer the research question, four sub-questions have been formulated, which have been separately researched. The main question is answered by proposing a flexibility framework. This framework comprises four stages: understanding the current situation, practitioners’ perspectives on flexible project management, choosing enablers to become flexible and applying selected enablers to improve project performance. The framework is validated using the examples given by practitioners from 24 cases. Considering the movements towards flexibility and adaptability concepts, this research fills the gap in literature by providing a practical framework for project management flexibility. Moreover, it provides a step-by-step guideline for practitioners to embed flexibility in practice.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Integral Design & Managemen
Measuring Project’s Team Culture In Projects Using The Last Planner® System
No full textAt this stage, construction industry is known for bad project performances and a culture characterized by adversarial behaviours. The Last Planner System (LPS) is designed to improve these circumstances through the enhancement of workflow reliability by involving various disciplines in joint planning processes and a culture of collaboration. How to actually measure related project team culture (PTC) is unknown at this stage. This paper tries to close this gap and compares two defined versions of the Ideal Lean Culture for organizations with the actual PTC in projects using the LPS. It first presents the two Ideal Lean Cultures for organizations, based on a framework developed for organizations (the Competing Values Framework - CVF). Next, it examines on the basis of three case studies the applicability of the CVF for measuring the actual culture in project teams using the LPS and compares it with the named Ideal Lean Culture conditions. The paper concludes that the CVF is a suitable tool to take a snapshot of the PTC and that the comparison to the Ideal Lean Culture can give conclusions about the current project team’s maturity in projects using the LPS.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Integral Design & Managemen
Marinas in Argentina: A feasability study for a network of marinas in the Buenos Aires Province coast
No full textAccording to themselves, Argentinians are living with their backs towards the sea. In order to turn this around, a feasability study has been done to find out how a network of marinas along the coast of the province would look like, based on a MCDA including all urban areas along the coast and a fleet analysis. A final network has been proposed and a conceptual design of such a marina has been made
Saskatchewan\u27s Marian Shrines
No full textA pamphlet reprint of an article in the Prairie Messenger by a Benedictine author only credited by their initials, outlining sites of Marian devotion and pilgrimage in Saskatchewan
Moving goals and governance in megaprojects
No full textProject management is known for its tools and techniques that are used to plan and deliver projects in a controlled context. Megaprojects don&apos;t always fit well into this paradigm due to their size, complexity and longevity. Megaprojects often start without precisely defined goals and without a detailed knowledge of how the project will progress or the outcomes will be delivered. We examine the requirements for governance of megaprojects by reviewing the literature and reflecting on practice. We use the analytical model of where, how and what to illustrate different units of analysis (i.e., context, governance and goals) in megaprojects in three countries and to illustrate how goals and governance move. Building upon the governance and performance management literature, the paper contributes to the understanding of moving goals and governance for ensuring performance. We propose a framework for diagnosing goals and we list six systemic errors that result in a misfit.Validerad;2023;Nivå 2;2023-08-07 (joosat);Licens fulltext: CC BY License</p
Multidisciplinary assessment of engineered dunes for West End, Galveston Island, Texas
No full textThe United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is scheduled to present their solution for a storm surge barrier on Galveston Island in 2021 to congress for approval. A solution for an engineered dune system on the Galveston Island West End has been proposed, but storm surge models have shown that protection from this engineered dune only goes so far, moreover the search for a proper alternative that fulfills technical requirements and social political influences have proven to be challenging. This study aimsto assess different dune alternatives, proposed in different reports, with a range of multi disciplinary criteria. The assessment of dune alternatives will also result in guidelines that should be considered for design, maintenance and governance aspects for an engineered dune barrier on Galveston Island, TX. Using a multi disciplinary approach for the evaluation of the different dune alternatives, the following research question was formulated: To what extent do the various dune alternatives fit the requirements for a land barrier at the West End of Galveston Island, looking at both technical and sociopolitical aspects? In this context, technical requirements are defined as the storm surge-and rainfall coping capacities of the dune, i.e. against what kind of storm is the dune resistant. Social political influences are a combination of the perception by local residents that are directly influenced by the construction of a dune system, governmental forms of collaboration, and in provide an analysis of the maintainability of the dune alternatives using the storm surge capacities. The different dune alternatives that have been assessed consist of the dune system proposed by the USACE and GLO (2018), the big dune system proposed by Galvez (2019) and the hybrid dune system as proposed by Muller (2017) and will hereafter be called alternative 1, 2 and 3 respectively. In this report a fourth alternative was introduced which is based on the hybrid dune system by Muller (2017) and consists of a clay core instead of a concrete core. Alternative 4 was chosen in order to simulate the difference between a concrete core and a clay core. Based on XBeach calculations, the storm surge coping capability of each dune was determined by projecting 10 year-, 50 year- and 100 year storms onto the dune alternatives. ArcGIS maps from the Galveston Island allowed for projection of flow patterns on the island in order to determine the rainfall coping capacity. An evaluation of sociopolitical aspects was based on a review of the literature on dune systems, forms of collaboration between governmental and private entities, and interviews with various respondents consisting of private individuals and companies, as well as governmental agencies involved in the process. Analysis of the various dune alternatives, based on multi disciplinary criteria, demonstrated that alternative 1 is completely flattened in 50 year storm events, whereas alternatives 2, 3 and 4 show a good storm surge capacity. All alternatives aggravate the current rainfall capacity at Galveston Island West End, because each dune system poses an obstruction that is not there currently. Alternatives 2 through 4 show a good enough storm resilience, requiring post-storm recovery maintenance while still providing a reduced but fair storm surge capacity. The sociopolitical results indicate that Galveston Island West End residents wishes are only safeguarded for alternative 1. On this basis, the main recommendations are to perform tests upon the dune system alternatives regarding storm events occurring in succession, which is not unusual in the Gulf of Mexico. A combination of alongshore erosion rates from the Galveston Island and the effect of dune vegetation should be determined for the dune alternatives, since these aspects were not considered in this research. Further research is needed to identify the combined effects of rainfall and storm surge in order to get insights into the performances of a certain alternatives. Furthermore, the exact role including the desired storm surge capability should be well defined in order to determine which stakeholder wishes and influences are to be fully considered for the dune system design.Coastal Texas Stud
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