AWWA JTMGT69640

East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) is a public water and wastewater utility providing water to approximately 1,300,000 residents and wastewater treatment to approximately 750,000 residents of the San Francisco Bay Area. Each year, EBMUD project managers design and build capital and operating projects with a value of up to $200 million. This experience has helped build the organization's skills at project management. Projects are often complex, with many technical issues and challenges. Yet despite their complexity, the causes of failure are usually due to remarkably basic oversights. This paper discusses seven oversights, or "sins", including: not designating and supporting a single person as Project Manager; not defining project expectations up front; not developing a schedule and work plan; not assigning specific people to tasks; not assessing progress on the tasks; not revising the project plan as circumstances change; and, not continuing to assess and revise the plan as time goes on.