Naomi Enav is always working on educating up and coming estimators either through workshops she hosts, the ACCE Houston User’s Group (HUG), or the Optimize conference. She will be speaking at the AACE Project Controls Symposium in November. You’ll want to attend that to hear what she has to say about the future of estimating technology as well as the 21 other technical presenters and the cutting edge topics. See the show notes for a link or go to www.projectcontrolssymposium.comto register for this amazing event in Houston Texas. I had a lot of fun talking with Naomi, she is a wonderful personality, truly passionate about her work, and doing things that will provide value to our community for years to come.

The Aspen Capital Cost Estimator (ACCE) has been known by a few names in its storied history – K-base being the most common one still used by the old school.  It is a powerful estimating software that I use in my project cost estimating practice and for good reasons. It makes estimating easy and thorough. I’m not getting anything for saying this, this is no sales pitch. There is a reason it is considered an industry standard and it is the tool that I know best and use the most to estimate project costs with. It is used by companies all over the world and on many of the largest projects in history. 

Speaking of the ACCE Houston HUG meeting, I am scheduled to be the next presenter in October. So, come out to the AspenTech’s Houston office, check out my presentation, and say hi to me! I’d love to meet some of my listeners in person. I don’t have a link for that, so email me at [email protected] and I’ll send you the info.

Find out more about AspenTech and ACCE at https://www.aspentech.com/ and connect with Naomi on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/naomienav/

You can support IiPM at www.patreon.com/innovateipm.com- and we appreciate you for your support!

Mounir Ajam is the co-founder and CEO of the award-winning SUKAD Group that works all over the world providing project management expertise, training, and is busy coming up with a ton of solutions that, I believe, will positively affect our industry in the years to come. He is an entrepreneur, speaker, and author who is very passionate about project management in capital projects as you will hear throughout this interview. We discuss everything from front end engineering, to joint ventures in the Middle East, to what it takes to be an entrepreneur in the business. 

Links to some of the things we discuss in this episode:

http://www.sukad.com/

https://jasarapmc.com/

http://www.mounirajam.com/

https://www.blueoceanstrategy.com/

Visit www.innovateipm.com to get on the email list, follow us on social media, and see more content. You can support IiPM at www.patreon.com/innovateipm.com - we appreciate you for your support!

Music Credits:

"Bass Walker" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

"Hard Boiled" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

What is the biggest risk in all projects? What are the consequences of 'fast-tracking'? What separates successful project managers from the rest? How are we doing as a project management community? 

Ed Merrow, Founder and President of Independent Project Analysis, Inc. (IPA), breaks it all down in this episode. You'll love listening to Ed's decades worth of insight and wisdom that comes from analyzing projects around the world across multiple industries. 

Ed is sought out by Fortune 500 company executives and project professionals worldwide. He is the author of  Industrial Megaprojects (John Wiley & Sons, April 2011), and Leading Complex Projects (John Wiley & Sons, April 2018). He's sought out as a keynote speaker around the world and has been awarded the highest honors from AACE and CII's highest awards. He has testified the before the U.S. Congress and is a member on the topic of cost overruns. This is just a snippet of Ed's long and impressive career. You can read his full bio here. 

You'll find the IPA website, Independent Project Analysis (IPA), to be full of great blogs, webinars, tools, and events.

Credits:

"Bass Walker" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

"Hard Boiled" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

https://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/music.html

Great talk this episode Matt Devitt is a Director of Operations for BWF Envirotech. His background is in the steel mills and concrete lime plants of the midwest. He talks about adapting to unexpected outage schedules, how to start your career on the best foot, and podcasting for fun. 

Find us on the following sites and help us build this community:

And of course www.innovateipm.com

Harvey Welker is an independent Aspen Economic Evaluator consultant with over thirty years of Aspen Capital Cost Estimator experience as a user and trainer. Harvey has a Masters Degree in Mechanical engineering and has lengthy experience in construction and engineering. He has worked as an estimator for Sun Oil, FMC and Kvaerner Engineering. His clients include DuPont Engineering, Arkema Chemicals, British Petroleum, Mosaic Agricultural Chemicals, Phillips Refining, Orbital Engineering and Jacobs Engineering.

Interesting thing about Harvey:

His daughter Kristen Welker is the White House correspondent for NBC news!

Resources mentioned in this episode:

National Estimator - https://www.craftsman-book.com/national-construction-estimator-estimating-software-download

RS Means Labor Rates - https://www.rsmeans.com/

Proliferation of Information has created the biggest changes in estimating – the internet is the most impressive thing I have seen in the things that have changed. “Many things have enhanced our industry, but (the internet) is the most impressive thing.”

Standardization of estimating

AspentTech - https://www.aspentech.com/en/products/engineering/aspen-capital-cost-estimator

Planning, Estimating, and Control of Chemical Construction Projects by Pablo F. Navarrete and William C. Cole - https://www.amazon.com/Planning-Estimating-Chemical-Construction-Engineering/dp/0824705165 

Compass International – John McConville - https://compassinternational.net/

AACEI Recommended Practices - https://web.aacei.org/

Music by:

"Bass Walker" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

"Hard Boiled" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

https://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/music.html

In this episode We talk about how Cesar went from a West Texas oil hand to a West Houston consultant. He has been in the business for more than 20 years is the owner of Advanced Project Analytics, an Oracle Gold Partner P6 trainer, and has true entrepreneurial spirit. In this episode we talk about Training, Data dashboarding, the future of project controls, and the 2019 Houston Gulf Coast Section AACE Project Controls Symposium. 

Cesar's Website https://www.advancedplanninganalytics.com/ 

AACE Houston Gulf Coast Section Project Controls Symposium November 1-2, 2019  https://www.projectcontrolssymposium.com/ 

Music credits:

"Bass Walker" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

"Hard Boiled" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

https://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/music.html

How do you deal with a lack of basis material for your project cost estimates? Happens all the time – you are requested to provide a cost to your management for a project in the early FEED stages of project development and are not given enough information to feel confident you have the right number. 

How do you know you don’t have what you need? What does the ‘right number’ mean? What is the industry standard say? What is the norm? Why is the norm so damn bad? How do you overcome this? Who is responsible for compiling this information? Why is it important? Can’t you just throw down a number? Rob explores these questions and more in this episode of the podcast. 

Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a comment. Shares on LinkedIn and other social media is greatly appreciated as well. 

Finally, go to www.innovateipm.com to learn more about what we are doing to contribute to the growth and progress of the industrial PM community. Or just email us at [email protected].

Follow us at:  

https://www.linkedin.com/company/innovate-ipm/

https://www.instagram.com/innovate_ipm/

This episode is the kickoff to what will be the Innovate iPM podcast. We discuss who your host (Rob Williams) is, what we mean by 'Industrial Project Management', future topics, guests who will be on the show, and more. 6. As the listener, I want this show to provide you with enough fresh content and insight to plan your careers or businesses for a successful future. Whether you are a student trying to figure out where you are headed or the CEO of a service provider or owner organization keeping your finger on the pulse of the industry. 

You can reach Rob at [email protected] and visit www.innovateipm.com for more information. 

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