Omer Iqbal returns for a bonus episode focused on career advice for project controls professionals - from how to actually get noticed in an organization, to why doing everything by the book might be holding you back. He shares his go-to books, the two habits he says can transform any career, and why staying curious is more than just good advice. If you're early in your career or feeling stuck, this one's for you.

Most project teams are exceptionally good at delivering a project the wrong way. Omer Iqbal has spent 20 years learning to fix that - from the portfolio level.

Omer Iqbal is Senior Portfolio Manager in the Investment PMO at Sydney Water, where he oversees a $30 billion capital program serving 6 million people. His career has run from site engineering on a $20M oil and gas job to board service, MBA, and portfolio leadership across some of Australia's most complex infrastructure. In this episode, he shares the frameworks he developed to help executives actually understand what's happening inside a billion-dollar portfolio - and make better decisions because of it.

Guest Bio

Omer Iqbal is Senior Portfolio Manager in the Investment PMO at Sydney Water, managing a $30 billion capital portfolio serving 6 million people. With 20 years across oil and gas, mining, defense, and major infrastructure - and former president of PMI Sydney chapter - Omer bridges project delivery and board-level investment strategy.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/moigoheer/

What You'll Learn

1. The shift from "are we delivering right" to "are we delivering the right thing"

At the project level, success means managing scope, schedule, and budget. At the portfolio level, those metrics don't tell you whether the project should exist at all. Omer describes the moment this clicked - simultaneously managing a complex COVID-era project at Transport for NSW, earning an MBA, and serving on a board. The canvas of thinking, as he puts it, completely expanded. Zooming out that far is disorienting at first. Eventually, it's the only view that makes sense.

2. "The most expensive meeting is where everybody agrees"

When everyone in a room nods along, no one is doing their job. Omer's counter is psychological safety - which he calls 100% a leadership responsibility, non-negotiable. His personal rule with his team: "Your failure is mine, 100%. If we succeed, that success is your title, 100%." That one principle removes the fear that keeps people quiet in rooms where silence is expensive.

3. The difference between a dashboard and executive intelligence: What, So What, Now What

Dashboards tell you what is happening. Executive intelligence goes further: So what does this mean for our regulatory exposure, our asset condition, our risk appetite? And then: Now what action is required - and from whom? Omer's team built custom portfolio indicators (including a portfolio cost index that flags hidden cost blowouts before they surface) specifically to make what's invisible visible - and to frame it in a way that triggers decisions, not just awareness.

4. You cannot outsource accountability - including to AI

AI can run Monte Carlo simulations in minutes. It can draft schedules, surface trends, and produce beautifully formatted reports. What it cannot do is be held accountable when a decision goes wrong. Omer's governance rule for his team: whenever you use AI to produce an artifact, save the prompt too. The prompt is the scope of work for the AI - and tracing it back is how you keep humans in the loop where they belong.

Episode Timestamps

00:00 — Introduction

02:00 — From a $20M oil and gas job to billion-dollar infrastructure

05:00 — The portfolio mindset shift: board service, MBA, and COVID

08:00 — Full circle: what it actually means to be the project sponsor

13:00 — Sydney Water: 1.5 billion liters/day, $30B in the pipeline, 80 investment drivers

19:00 — Why earned value management breaks down at portfolio scale

25:00 — What executives should actually be asking before signing a business case

32:00 — "The most expensive meeting is where everybody agrees" — building psychological safety

40:00 — Portfolio Cost Index: the single number that surfaces hidden cost blowouts

49:00 — Dashboard vs. executive intelligence: What, So What, Now What

1:04:00 — Governance and AI: why you cannot outsource accountability

Resources Mentioned

In this bonus segment, Iwona Wilson shares her advice for the next generation of project leaders. She makes the case for developing critical thinking above all else, explains how AI is reshaping the skills students need to stay relevant, and offers practical guidance on where to find the right experiences early in your career. Iwona also walks through her book, her decision gate training program, and where to connect with her online.

Every major capital project team will tell you they have a decision gate process. According to Iwona Wilson, having the process and having the capability to use it are two completely different things - and the gap between them is costing the industry hundreds of millions per project.

Iwona Wilson is co-founder and CEO of Wilson Biz Consulting and author of Where Projects Are Won or Lost: A Practical Guide to Early Decision Framing and Governance. With 20 years across oil and gas, mining, and capital projects in Australia, the UK, and the US - including over a decade teaching decision gate process at one of Australia's largest energy producers, she's built her career around the question most organizations don't ask until it's too late: are we making good decisions, or just passing gates?

Iwona Wilson is co-founder and CEO of Wolfson Peace Consulting and author of Where Projects Are Won or Lost: A Practical Guide to Early Decision Framing and Governance. With 20 years across oil and gas, mining, and capital projects in Australia, the UK, and the US, she specializes in decision gate process, opportunity framing, and building the organizational capabilities that separate projects that deliver from those that overrun.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/iwona-wilson/

What You'll Learn

1. Having a decision gate process is not the same as having decision-making capability Most organizations have phases, templates, and mandatory gate checklists. What they're missing is the ability to frame opportunities, challenge assumptions, align stakeholders across functions, and measure decision quality. When companies call Iwona for help, it's almost always after a major overrun or project cancellation - not before. The process without the capability is an approval system, not a governance system.

2. Projects are won or lost before the FID - and most organizations ignore this The final investment decision gets all the attention. But by the time it arrives, the team is emotionally, politically, and financially committed. Real leverage lives in the assess and concept phases, when assumptions are still negotiable and changes are cheapest. Iwona's rule: all decisions are equally important, but not all carry the same consequences. The early ones carry the most — because no one's watching yet.

3. Six dimensions of decision quality - and why commitment is always the weakest Iwona teaches the decision quality wheel: appropriate frame, creative alternatives, relevant information, values and trade-offs, sound logic, and commitment to action. The quality of your decision is only as good as its weakest dimension. Teams can produce brilliant analysis and clear options — and still have no one willing to own the outcome. Commitment is where good decisions die.

4. Opportunity framing workshops work because they're designed to be uncomfortable

Traditional meetings self-censor. When real disagreement surfaces — what researcher Sam Kaner calls the "groan zone" - most leaders schedule a follow-up and call it progress. Opportunity framing workshops use a neutral facilitator to carry teams through that discomfort intentionally. Teams that do the hard work early execute faster and encounter fewer surprises. "An opportunity framing workshop can be really messy," Iwona says. "But this is the cost of alignment."

Episode Timestamps

00:00 — Introduction

44:00 — Opportunity framing workshops: the groan zone and the cost of alignment

Resources Mentioned

Most major projects manage risk in Excel. Matt Mitchell spent a decade managing it differently - including as risk lead on a $3.9 billion offshore gas platform in the Mediterranean.

In this episode, Orion sits down with Matt Mitchell — a certified risk management professional with over a decade of experience across energy and industrial megaprojects — to go deep on one of the most underinvested disciplines in capital project delivery: risk management. Drawing on his time as risk lead for the Leviathan Project, a $3.9 billion offshore gas platform off the coast of Israel, Matt explains how risk management actually works at scale — from structuring workshops to running Monte Carlo simulations to navigating the political dynamics that keep real risks hidden. Whether you're a risk professional, a project manager, or an executive who's wondered what risk management is actually supposed to deliver, this is the most practical conversation on the subject we've had on the show.

Matt Mitchell is a certified risk management professional with over a decade of experience in risk and project controls across energy and industrial sectors. He served as risk lead at Noble Energy on the Leviathan Project — a $3.9 billion offshore gas platform in the Mediterranean — managing risk from FID through execution. He is currently building Electrical Grid Monitoring, a venture focused on innovative power line sensors, and is a member of Mints International. 🔗

LinkedIn

What You'll Learn

1. Split risk registers aren't a workaround — they're best practice On Leviathan, Matt maintained separate registers for different project levels and stakeholder groups. A single monolithic register collapses under the weight of a megaproject. Splitting by owner, contractor, and discipline keeps risk ownership clear and review meetings productive.

2. Risk workshops only work if contractors feel safe to speak The most dangerous risks on a megaproject live inside your contractors' heads — and they won't share them in a room full of owners unless you create the right conditions. Matt's approach: structured workshops with pre-work, clear ground rules, and a facilitator who knows when to push and when to hold back.

3. Monte Carlo isn't just for statisticians P50 means you have a 50% chance of finishing on time or on budget. P75 means 75%. Matt explains how to have that conversation with an executive who's never seen a probability distribution — and why choosing the wrong confidence level can sink your contingency strategy before the project starts.

4. Risk culture is built one conversation at a time

"One is greater than zero" — Matt's philosophy for getting risk identification started when a team is stuck. The risk champions program he describes is a practical model for distributing risk ownership across a large, multi-contractor project without creating bureaucracy.

Episode Timestamps

00:00 — Introduction

Resources Mentioned:

If this episode gave you new frameworks for managing risk on complex projects, subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And if you're building a risk culture in your organization, we'd love to hear what's working — drop a comment below or connect with Matt directly.

Before the panel started, the moderator was warned: "Good luck controlling this bunch." Four AACE presidents. 150+ combined years. They lived up to it. Recorded live at the 2026 AACE Houston Gulf Coast Symposium, host Orion Matthews sits down with four current and former AACE International Presidents for an unfiltered conversation on leadership, AI, remote work, and the future of project controls - drawing on decades of experience across megaproject delivery, cost engineering, claims, and global capital programs.

The megaproject industry hits cost, schedule, and production targets just 1% of the time. Martin Darley dropped this number mid-conversation and the panel barely flinched - because they've all seen it. The question isn't whether there's a problem. It's why, after 150+ combined years of experience, the same mistakes keep repeating. The panel's answer points to a gap that has nothing to do with technical skill.

The gap between a strong technical contributor and a trusted advisor isn't technical - it's soft skills. Martin put it directly: "The differentiator between doing the work and advising a GM at Chevron is soft skills. Cost engineers aren't wired that way." Chris Caddell echoed it with a paper he wrote on the "so what?" problem: too many project controls reports lay out numbers without making a recommendation. Learning to influence, communicate, and own a call is the career unlock most technical professionals never fully make.

Remote work works better for experienced practitioners than for people just starting out. The panel wasn't anti-remote, but the sharpest line came from Martin, quoting IPA's Ed Mirro: "If you're in your bedroom on a laptop, how do you manage your career?" Michael Bennick added a specific concern: new professionals starting out fully remote miss the informal learning, mentorship, and calibration that only comes from proximity to experienced practitioners. The consensus was clear - site presence builds instincts that can't be replicated through a screen.

AI won't replace project controls professionals - but it will change what the job looks like. As sitting AACE president overseeing 6,000+ members, Michael Bennick framed it as an opportunity, not a threat - and argued the association has an obligation to help members get out front on it. Martin's enthusiasm was the strongest in the room: "I've been waiting all my career for an enabler like this." Mike Nosbisch held the line on what won't change: someone still has to interpret the output, make the recommendation, and own the decision. The judgment-makers aren't going anywhere.

00:00 – Intro & Welcome to the LIVE AACE Panel

01:30 – How the Panelists Found Their Way into Project Controls

05:00 – Early Career Lessons & Megaproject Experiences

08:30 – Technical Skills vs Leadership Skills

12:00 – Why Communication Is Critical in Project Controls

16:00 – AI in Project Controls: Opportunity vs Hype

22:00 – How AI Could Change Reporting & Decision-Making

26:30 – Remote Work vs In-Person Collaboration

31:30 – International Projects & Cultural Differences

35:00 – Why Megaprojects Keep Repeating the Same Mistakes

38:30 – Advice for Young Professionals Entering the Industry

41:30 – Final Leadership Lessons & Closing Thoughts

The project controls industry has a looming problem—and it's not technical.

In this episode, Orion sits down with Christina Robinson — founder of Henry Porter LLC and project controls advisor with 14 years across energy, utilities, and infrastructure — to diagnose a crisis that most industry leaders are misreading. The problem isn't a skills shortage: it's a culture and systems problem that's causing younger professionals to actively choose other paths. Christina makes the case that if organizations don't redesign how they work, how they lead, and how they treat people, no amount of recruiting will fix the pipeline.

Christina Robinson is a project controls advisor and founder of Henry Porter LLC, a consultancy helping organizations build stronger project controls functions across energy, utilities, and infrastructure. With 14 years of industry experience, Christina is a vocal advocate for modernizing workplace culture and building more inclusive, human-centered project environments — and she brings both the professional track record and the personal candor to make this conversation one of the most honest in the series. https://www.linkedin.com/in/christina-robinson-128960383/

Key Takeaways:

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 – Intro & Episode Setup

Resources Mentioned:

Most project failures aren’t caused by a single issue - they’re the result of broken integration.

In this episode, Orion sits down with Ellie Moradinezhad, founder of tactHive Consulting and former Global Discipline Director at Hatch, where she oversaw project management development across 4,000+ projects in 70 countries - to unpack the most misunderstood concept in major project delivery: integration. Ellie introduces a practical three-part framework that separates vertical, horizontal, and cross-functional integration across three domains - systems, procedures, and people - and explains why organizations consistently misread integration failures as personality conflicts. If you've ever watched a project fall apart despite having all the right tools and talent in the room, this episode explains what was actually missing.

Ellie Moradinezhad is the President and Founder of tactHive Consulting, a Canadian advisory firm focused on business-driven PMOs, project governance, and performance improvement for complex capital programs. With 24 years of experience across infrastructure, energy, transportation, and industrial sectors — including Canada's Eglinton Crosstown LRT and GO Expansion — she most recently served as Global Discipline Director for Project Management Development at Hatch (70 offices, 150 countries). 🔗 LinkedIn | tactHive Consulting

Key Takeaways

Timestamps:

Resources Mentioned:

Most project teams don’t fail because they lack a plan, they fail because they believe it.

In this episode, Orion sits down with Travis Arlitt, Senior Planning & Field Execution Specialist and co-founder of Day One Model, to unpack a fundamental gap in capital project delivery: the disconnect between planned schedules and field reality.

With over 25 years of experience across global megaprojects, from LNG facilities in Angola and Australia to refinery rebuilds and offshore platforms - Travis shares how traditional planning approaches often mask real risk instead of revealing it.

The conversation centers on two powerful ideas: execution realism and progress truth, a way of measuring performance based on actual production rates rather than static plans. Travis explains how focusing on real pace, rather than variance to plan, enables earlier decisions, clearer accountability, and dramatically better outcomes.

Through real-world examples, including decisions that saved hundreds of millions of dollars, Travis introduces the concept of “bow waves” (hidden schedule compression) and how his Day One Model reframes project forecasting into a forward-looking, action-driven system.

They also explore why incentives drive misalignment across projects, how reporting structures distort reality, and where AI is beginning to genuinely help project teams, particularly in reducing manual workload and improving planning speed.

If you’ve ever felt that schedules don’t reflect what’s actually happening in the field, this episode will fundamentally change how you think about progress, forecasting, and decision-making.

Capital projects generate enormous amounts of data, yet many important project decisions are still made without timely access to the information teams need. When plans inevitably break and conditions change, leaders often lack the transparency required to respond quickly and confidently. The issue is not a lack of data, but a gap between the systems collecting information and the tools teams use to make decisions. This presentation explores why traditional reporting approaches fail to support real-time decision-making and how organizations can close the gap by building stronger data foundations, clearer reporting layers, and AI-driven insights that deliver the right information to the right people at the moment decisions happen.