Getting to the $100K Mark and Beyond

February 26, 2023

What are the routes from starting to $100K, and how do you get from the $100K to $250K+?

We’ve drawn the answer out below:

The names may be quite confusing, but with a little explanation they are actually quite simple.

Here’s the secret: they only vary by

  • Who you work for (client, contractor or consultant)

  • What bit of planning you do (planning, delivery, analysis, controls)

  • How senior you are (entry, mid, senior)

Today we’ll cover who you work for, and next time we’ll cover what bit of planning you do. If you want a high-level view of how senior you are, check out our last newsletter.

Who you work for

Across the $trillions spent per year on projects there are fundamentally 3 main actors.

The first are the people paying for the project to be done. These are known as clients, and they focus on:

  • Getting the project started

  • Appointing the contractors and consultants

  • Managing their performance

  • Making sure they work nicely together

  • Integrating all their plans, and analyzing them for opportunities and risks

  • The overall delivery of the business case

For a Client Scheduler, you will spend most of your time analyzing the schedules of the contractors and consultants that work for you.

Clients include organizations like High Speed Two, Intel, Microsoft, Google, NEOM and Inland Rail.

Contractors

Once a client has decided on a project they need a contractor to make it happen. This is the second main actor in the projects world, and they focus on:

  • Planning the detail

  • Executing with the delivery teams

  • Updating the plan

  • Running the numbers every day / week / month

  • Managing stakeholders from all areas

  • Working with the Project Management Office (PMO) to improve the project

For a Construction Scheduler, you will spend most of your time working the plan with others from around the project.

Contractors include organizations like Bechtel, DPR, BAM Nuttall, Vinci, Balfour Beatty and Skanska.

Consultants

Finally, projects are delivered by people, and not all people exist as clients or contractors. For this, we need consultants to come in and either put “bums on seats” (provide permanent people), or we need them to come in for a short time to help with a particular challenge.

For “bums on seats” consultants, you will be doing exactly the same as the clients and contractor schedulers do, with the addition of keeping them extra happy.

For a “short time” consultant, you will be targeting a specific challenge, such as:

  • Creating or improving a plan

  • Setting up systems and processes to make scheduling easier, better and/or quicker

  • Analyzing a plan

  • Providing recommendations

  • Integrating many plans together

Consultants include organizations like PSP, AECOM, SNC Lavalin, Jacobs, Turner & Townsend, BlueVisions and Laminar.

Action!

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Until next time