The monthly project review: schedule, cost and risk in one meeting
At the month-end meeting the cost report shows the job $20,000 under budget, the scheduler says the finish date holds, and the risk register has not changed. Three weeks later the slab cycle slips eight days: the second concrete crew the schedule assumed was never hired. Each report looked fine on its own; nobody had read them together.
Hold one internal review a month, a few days after the cost cut-off, where the project manager, the superintendent and a manager from outside the job look at the forecast, schedule, risks and changes together, and leave with decisions that each have an owner and a date. Looking at them together is the point. The forecast assumes the schedule's crews and durations, the schedule assumes labour and deliveries someone must arrange, and the risk register assumes someone is acting on it. The review tests those assumptions while there is still time to act.
A 90-minute agenda
- Send one pack two days before, every report cut off on the same date: the cost-to-complete forecast, the schedule update, the risk register and the change log.
- Open with last month's decisions: done, or why not.
- Question the forecast's movement, code by code; nobody rebuilds it in the room.
- Set the next six weeks of the schedule against resources: the crews, equipment and deliveries each activity needs, and whether they are booked.
- Cross-check the reports: a risk with no money in the forecast, a pending change whose time the schedule ignores, a crew nobody has priced.
- Look at the top risks and the oldest changes, and any notice or claim due this month.
- Close with decisions: what, who and by when, on one page sent the same day.
Common mistakes
- Reviewing cost in one meeting and the schedule in another.
- Showing the managers above the job only the codes that look good.
- Ending an item with "keep an eye on it" instead of an owner and a date.
- Cancelling the review in a good month, when acting is cheapest.
Checklist
Questions for the next review
- What did we decide last month, and did it happen?
- Which forecast lines moved, and why?
- Is the next six weeks' work crewed and booked?
- Which risk has no money or time in the forecast?
- Which pending change moves the finish date?
- Which notice or claim is due this month?
Check your understanding
The forecast shows $15,000 under budget, but next month's schedule needs a second crane day each week that nobody has booked or priced. Is the job under budget?
