Getting the full view on how engineers and clients deliver complex infrastructure projects
What underpins success in the end-to-end delivery of a complex infrastructure project? Is it tools, processes, knowledge management, skills, relationships, or a complex mix of all these?
With a well-known, Australian based, but global engineering and advisory company, we took a multi-year adventure through the entire lifecyle of large-scale engineering and infrastructure projects. Through the trials and tribulations of Covid-19, we talked privately over the phone with more than 40 engineers, business leaders, clients and partners, in order to understand all sides of the deep person-to-person relationships that are built over the course of projects that might last decades.
Our interviews generated thousands of quotes, and we synthesised these, using one of the largest affinity mapping exercises we’d ever carried out. This formed a set of foundational insights situated across the organisation’s entire project lifecycle.
Due to the scale and importance of the project, we presented our work across the company, including several presentations to the Chief Executive Officer and their leadership team. The insights led to a handful of new exploratory experience improvement projects and pilot studies across the company.
Along with our detailed research report focused on the global insights, we carefully documented the experiences of each of the several key client relationships that we’d explored. These client-specific case studies were incredibly valuable for improving relationships with large clients that were using upwards of hundreds of employees. Due to the insight generated we were asked to present our work directly to several of the organisation’s key clients, kicking of program improvement projects that would go on to make client relationships even stronger.
Ultimately, our work helped the organisation figure out what was most important to delivering the best engineering and advisory services in a dynamic world.
“You two are the king and queen of design research. It’s not just about the insights, it’s about how you raise them up into the business ... You never fail to astound me.”
