Driver Trett Digest Issue 25 - Flipbook - Page 22
Some cynicism can be
a healthy thing.
THE
GIGA
CYNIC
Mark Wheeler
Chief Executive Officer, giga cynic
Bristol, Driver Trett UK
An acquaintance of mine once told
me of his frustrations with his former
company’s HR department, whose
guidelines restricted his ability to
phrase job adverts as he wished. A new
law regarding ageism meant he could
not give a minimum age for the role
of commercial manager. Some editing
and creative licence was required, and
he managed to get away with “… it is
unlikely that anyone below 35 will have
reached the required level of cynicism
for this role…”.
Some cynicism can be a healthy thing.
It comes with experience. It makes you
want to test things, not take them at face
value. Qualifications in cynicism are
freely available from both the school of
hard knocks and the University of Life. I
have been fortunate enough to work on
some of the world’s largest projects in
recent years, and I have seen all kinds
of new technologies deployed and a
wide range of management styles and
techniques employed. When I have
seen these projects as an independent
expert, in the context of a dispute, I
almost always find very significant,
often shocking, deficiencies in the
records and documents.
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It is not uncommon to find a 3D or
4D model that contains missing
data, BIM that has not been set up
correctly and has gaps in its data,
and progress records on file that
contradict the Primavera programmes
in significant ways. I have seen both
drawings extracted from models that
are undated and without a revision
reference, and drawings dated later
than earlier drawings, but with far less
detail on them and no record of any
change. Data often conflicts between
systems and sometimes even within
the same system. The projects that
have these issues are not being run
by small companies, or those without
good reputations. These issues exist
on major projects run by some of
the world’s leading contractors and
consultancies.
So what makes keeping
construction data complete,
accurate, and up to date
such a challenge; and what
can we do about it?
The first thing to do, is to accept that
the data will come in many different
formats, and that there will always be
compatibility issues.
This is where there is a need for
experienced construction professionals
to work with top IT experts, to ensure
that the requirements are clear and the
integration requirements are identified
for the IT team to assess and derive a
solution.
There also needs to be a robust end-toend test of the systems that have been
installed, to ensure that they work, and
an ongoing audit to ensure they will
continue to work as intended. This is
where cynicism comes into play - as the
quality check. Cynicism will assume
that the systems don't work, and aren't
complete, until proven otherwise. Then
you should check again, and again once
more. If you change the systems, you
need to do the checking again.
HOW?
I have advised on record keeping and
software a few times and I usually
suggest a four-stage approach:
