I have had the great privilege of working in Project Management and Project Controls in Canada, the Middle East, South America, and in both the DJ Basin (Colorado) and the Delaware Basin (Texas). My experiences have included engineering firms, industrial construction, and pipeline installation companies as well as with an Oil & Gas operator. One thing I have learned, sometimes the hard way, is that good Project Management requires good Project Controls. One coupled without the other is a potential for poor project execution, cost and schedule overruns, and the development of a project without an understanding of what risks could occur and how best to mitigate them.

I spent a good part of my childhood growing up on a farm in West Virginia, both on our farm and my grandparents’ farms.  We had friends down the road who had a small herd of Guernsey cattle that they would milk, by hand, twice a day (this was the late 50’s and early 60’s).  Milking was quite an interesting process for the outsider (me) to watch as, in this case, the farmer, his older children, and a helper worked diligently to milk all the cattle as quickly as possible.  Cattle were brought into the barn, milked, and then lead out like clockwork.  One of the simplest (but essential) tools used in the milking process was a three-legged stool.