Michael Andersen

Among other things in life, I am passionate about effective project delivery with a focus on the fundamental elements of scheduling, and cost and risk management. My goal is to promote the need for project managers to place greater reliance on scheduling as the primary means to forecast and ascertain cause(s) of delay; the efficient allocation of resources; and, for a better understanding of project cash flow.

Speed and accuracy are usually two element that don't fit well together. I have developed a toolkit of scheduling add-ins that enable fast and accurate updates to schedules, path analysis, and automated reporting.

My project management experience has spanned nearly 20 years, having managed a range of telecommunications, ICT, and business-to-business projects. These projects include, among many others, build of a Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) network interconnecting primary schools across Sydney; establishment of a Operations Centre for Telstra's first satellite broadband internet service (including implementation of provisioning and billing integration); implementation of a Network Management Centre for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test ban Treaty Office (CTBTO) and the continuous monitoring of their Global Communications Infrastructure; and build of an IP-based satellite service for the School of the Air in NSW and the Northern Territory (including 5 teaching studios, and infrastructure rollout to an initial 300 outback homesteads).

I have also established and work within Project Management Offices. I believe that the role of the PMO is to provide assistance to Project Managers rather than 'wielding a stick' enforcing strict compliance with various processes and the use of checklists.

Through my project management career I have developed extensive experience and knowledge in the practices of scheduling, cash control, and risk assessment; each of which are inherently integrated.

Another aspect of my experience is contract management. When delivering a project, it is important for a project manager to deliver the objective(s) of the project within the agreed time frame. Performing a contract has essentially the same focus; that is, delivering what was promised in the agreed time frame. I am a scholar-at-law and looking forward to graduating in 2014.