The November 2022 meeting speaker was David Ericksen, Partner at Collins + Collins focused on Construction, Professional Liability, Environmental, and Real Estate practices. Mr. Ericksen was joined by Moya Henderson, Vice President at Assured Partners who provides a full line of professional liability and business insurance to the professional engineering sector.
David presented several case studies of projects that went well and some that did not from a professional liability perspective. A few lessons learned by the attendees include the following.
Management of change during projects is a key responsibility of Project Managers and Principals. This often includes:
- Thoroughly planning the project before beginning.
o This often include client selection, project selection, team selection, scope for success, risk assessment vs. economic/strategic benefits, etc.
- Understanding that the project we live with is often not the project we planned.
o Attempt to contain change by contract. This may include definitions of the client/consultant relationship, defining roles on the project including assignment of risks in case the client reduces scope mid-project, and defining responsibilities for risk in cases where changes and substitutions are made during construction.
- Proactively identifying, managing, and leading change throughout the project.
o Typical flags for change often include: unforeseen site conditions, contractor performance issues, weather, codes & regulations, requests for substitutions during construction, change in key team members mid-project.
- Sometimes, changes proposed by others must be rejected in the name of risk management.
David suggested the acronym IROPE as a tool for managing changes throughout a project lifecycle.
- Issue – identify the issue with a potential to be a project or business risk.
- Risks – identify the risks that arise from the issue.
- Options – inventory the options for addressing the issue and mitigating the risk.
- Plan – determine the best course of action and clearly communicate to all parties how the change is to be managed. Be certain to communicate internally so that our own people are well-aware of changed conditions and new expectations.
The presentation was an excellent opportunity to reflect on good business practices and identify internal changes that we may want to consider so that our teams identify and avoid unnecessary risk for our firms and for our clients.
