I was going to write a blog post on a classical project management concept, namely, the idea of up-front costs versus total cost of ownership (TCO). This is the idea that paying more for quality and the foundationals up front actually saves you more in the long run, because cutting those costs in the beginning simply results in cost and schedule overruns later (with delays and rework). But as I started to write this I realized this is a very well-researched and discussed concept. So instead I want to talk about something else, namely, why was this even on my mind?

I’ve been in the IT industry now for almost 30 years across a very wide variety of projects. A combination of experience and academic study has shown me that this concept I mentioned above is very true with regards to software development and IT projects. I was talking someone in a completely different industry, commercial and residential construction, and it was fascinating to see how so many of these project management and leadership concepts are fungible between our industries.

Here are some examples:

The Aforementioned Up-Front Costs vs TCO. By spending more time in the beginning of the project, not only with planning but also with quality and building out foundationals, this will save you time in the long run because you reduce your risk of schedule overruns and rework.

Trusting people. Your very best people, you can assign them tasks, then leave them alone and they will get those tasks done. But the reality is, there are other people that require more oversight and guidance to ensure that they are completing their tasks both on time, and to specification.

Client expectation management. As I have very frequently discussed in this blog, many customers need you expertise and guidance in construction business requirements and vision statements into actionable engineering requirements. Additionally, your experience is valuable with identifying risks and emergent requirements early, to ensure the proper mitigation and scoping is in place. This holds true whether you are building an IT system, or building a two-story house.

Now I would never assume that I have the industry depth to truly understand how to apply some of these concepts to fields other than IT or software. But there was enough overlap that we were able to share anecdotes and tactics that both of us could make use of in our respective areas.