The Psychology of Major Programmes With Dr. Diana Nada | S1 EP 14

“Projects get delivered by people and how we do things in our day to day life and how we make big decisions around our day to day life, whether it’s small or big, are actually very relatable on how we make decisions in the business world when funding, approving and delivering projects.”– Dr. Diana Nada

Dr. Diana brings over 20 years of experience advising public and private sector clients on strategies and toolkits for best practices in improved capital project delivery and informed decision making. She is a regular industry contributor, a published scholar educator with over 25 speaking engagements. She is the current AAC Canada Region One director, and is a member of the ULI Public Development and Infrastructure Council and the UK APM Project Assurance SIG. Diana is one of the contributing authors to the 2023 first edition for A Guide to Auditing Programmes and Projects, published by APM. She was shortlisted as one of the 2020 A Woman Infrastructure Network, emerging leaders in Canada.

Key Takeaways:

• The importance of qualitative research in major projects, where social sciences intersect with major programmes
• Basing major project success on a rocky foundation, the deflation of estimates and unrealistic expectations
• How PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge) and PMP (Project Management Professional) certification can evolve to encompass broader strategic considerations and better prepare major programme implementers
• Collaborative contracting and identifying collaboration (regardless of delivery method) as a key component for success in major programmes
• Performance measurement and how not aligning incentives can influences decision-making and team relationships
  

Links Mentioned:

• Dr. Diane Nada’s Project Approval Decisions: Exploring Success Factors
• Curbing Optimism Bias and Strategic Misrepresentation in Planning: Reference Class Forecasting in Practice by Bent Flyvbjerg
• Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
  

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The conversation doesn’t stop here—connect and converse with our community via LinkedIn:

• Navigating Major Programmes on LinkedIn
• Follow Riccardo Cosentino on LinkedIn
• Follow Dr. Diana Nada, PhD on LinkedIn

Transcript:

Riccardo Cosentino 00:05

You're listening to navigate major problems, the podcast that aims to elevate the conversations happening in the infrastructure industry and inspire you to have a more efficient approach within it. I'm your host, Riccardo Cosentino brings over 20 years of major product management experience. Most recently, I graduated from Oxford University's day business school, which shook my belief when it comes to navigating major problems. Now it's time to shake yours. Join me in each episode, as I pressed the industry experts about the complexity of major program management, emerging digital trends and the critical leadership required to approach these multibillion dollar projects. Let's see where the conversation takes us. Dr. Diana nada is a project management expert and advisory mega capital projects, a civil engineer by background with a PhD in project management from the University of Calgary. She brings over 20 years of experience advising public and private sector clients on strategies and toolkits for best practices in improved capital project delivery and informed decision making. She is a regular industry contributor, a published scholar educator with over 25 speaking engagement. She is the current AAC Canada region one director, and is a member of the ULI public development and infrastructure Council and the UK APM project assurance SIG. Diana is one of the contributing over to the 2023 first edition for a guide to auditing problems and project published by APM. She will show listed as one of the 2020 A woman infrastructure network, ...