102 Floors in 14 Months

Newspapers in Bangalore had a breaking news on 26th May, 2014.  "Bharata Ratna" Prof. C N R Rao underpass, near Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore was inaugurated by the Chief Minister of Karnataka and was ready for use by the public. On the next day, my taxi driver took this route to reach Bangalore International Airport.  We entered the underpass with the hope of turning towards Mekhri Circle. The entry towards Mekhri Circle was blocked with barricades and we had to drive around an extra four or five kilometers to get to the airport road!  For the record, the underpass was completed, inaugurated and in use.

The work on this underpass was scheduled to begin in 2008.  Estimated project cost was 300 million rupees.  The estimated time for completion was 18 months.  Work actually started in 2010. Commencement of the work itself was six months after it was expected to be completed.  As soon as the construction work started, the connecting roads were partially blocked  to enable construction work to progress smoothly.  Blocking progressed quite fast but not the construction.  The general public suffered silently, but they truly believed that this is a way of life.  Two Chief Ministers changed and third Chief Minister inspected the progress(?) of the work in October, 2013.  He set a new deadline of December 2013 for completion.  Since the work was not complete by that time, naturally a new deadline of March, 2014 was set.  The work continued even after this date. Fortunately, the work was reported as completed before another deadline was given. After 52 months from commencement of the work, it was declared completed.  Time overrun was only a very low 289% and not allowing it to cross 300% was no mean achievement.  Labor problems and conflict between two contractors were cited as the reasons for the short delay.  Cost overrun is not disclosed, but interest costs alone would be a significant amount.

Bangalore's cricket stadium, known as KSCA's Chinnaswamy stadium was constructed in the mid 70s.  Mumbai's Wankhade stadium was also constructed around the same time.  Construction of KSCA stadium progressed at a snail's pace due to shortage of cement in those days.  S K Wankhade was Education Minister in the Maharashtra government at that time and the Mumbai stadium, though started afterwards, was completed much before the Bangalore stadium.  Wankhade stadium has since been renovated as well and its seating capacity has also been increased. KSCA stadium stands today as if it is a relic from the past and despite the entry fee for matches going up steeply, spectator amenities are woefully inadequate.  Clubhouse and corporate stands are no doubt maintained luxuriously.   

Last month (17th April 2014), another interesting news item was flashed across many newspapers.  A new  Ford Mustang was placed on the 85th floor observation deck of the Empire State Building in New York, USA.(Picture given alongside is taken from the internet).  This was to commemorate the 50th anniversary of a similar event that took place in 1964.  As the elevators in the building were not big enough to hold the car, it was broken into six individual assemblies and carried to the 85th floor observation deck.  The deck is open to public to view the Manhattan skyline and the New York city buildings from 8AM till midnight 2 AM (18 hours).  The six assemblies were assembled on the observatory during the six hour interval!

In the background of inordinate delays in completion of projects and ever extending deadlines, the story of construction of the Empire State Building makes a very interesting reading.  This building with 102 floors and standing 1250 feet tall was constructed in only 16 months time.  Construction was done in the year 1930-31 and the technology support in construction industry and civil engineering was nowhere near what is available today.  The building was constructed during the period of "Great Depression", a period of severe worldwide economic distress that started in 1930 and lasted for nearly a decade.  Second World War started in 1939 and "Great Depression" was forgotten in its pressures and fury.

The Empire State building stands on a site area of 83,860 square feet and was constructed after demolishing the Waldorf-Astoria hotel that stood there before construction of this building.  Demolition of the hotel building was  done in 9 days, during the end of January 1930.  Construction of the Empire State Building took only 16 months from that time.  Actual period of construction from foundation laying to 102 floors and inauguration of the building was only 14 months! Construction speed was 4 to 5 stories per week and 3,400 workers were used at the peak construction time.  The building was completed four months ahead of schedule. Actual cost of construction was 25 million dollars against an estimate of 41 million dollars.  Thus there was neither cost overrun or time overrun.  The depression helped in reducing construction costs.  There are 1,860 steps from the ground level to the 102nd floor.  But the 73 elevators in the building moving at the astonishing speed of 600 feet to 1400 feet per minute carry occupants of the building and over four million visitors each year in a flash, to the observatory on 85th floor and beyond.

Time and cost overruns can be curtailed only if there is strong resistance and expression of public sentiment against them.  Otherwise, delays and escalating costs coupled with untold misery to the general public will continue to be an accepted part of life.         

Of meeting or extending deadlines

The earlier definition of the word "deadline" was in relation to a prison.  In that context, a deadline was a boundary around a military prison beyond which a prisoner could not venture without risk of being shot by the guards.  Crossing the deadline was an invitation to death and the prisoner was well advised to stay within that boundary line to stay alive.  Death could not be prevented by staying within that boundary; death is a certainty of life.  Though death could not defeated by staying within the deadline, its coming could be ensured in due course without an invitation for early arrival.

Modern definition of deadline has entirely changed.  It is the time by which something must be finished or submitted.  It is the latest time for finishing something, usually an assigned task.  Not finishing the task before the deadline is considered as an indication of inefficiency or of being not serious about achieving the assigned task.  When life was proceeding at its own leisurely pace, things were done as and when they were actually completed and not when they were expected to be completed. In individual-centric tasks deadlines may not assume as much importance as work to be accomplished by teams.  This becomes all the more critical when the achievement of deadlines is linked to performance of organizations, like meeting customer expectations or reaching a sales target.  Unless all members of the team work with single-minded dedication, meeting the prescribed deadline may not be possible.

There are people who question the very rationale of having deadlines.  They may argue in favor of "natural way" of doing things and allowing issues to take their own course.  They may suggest that deadlines are not always necessary and it brings more mental pressure and blood pressure than working with pleasure.  But experience has taught us that adopting an attitude of "allowing natural way of doing things" often results in matters drifting and reaching nowhere.  However, there is a need to fix a deadline after evaluating the resources and reasonable possibilities.  Excellent teamwork can do wonders and the sum total of team's capabilities may exceed the arithmetic aggregate of individual capacities.  Fixing a realistic deadline provides a better chance of achieving it.  A reasonable deadline provides energy and enthusiasm to start the assigned work with the confidence of achieving it before the expected date.  Artificial deadlines tend to make the very effort of traveling the path laborious and painful.  A deadline arrived at after free exchange of views of the members of the team has a higher chance of being met than those imposed from above. Organizations have to often fix a deadline first and work backwards to plan and mobilize resources.  This is the reality of the given situation at times and finding additional resources to meet deadlines in the circumstances becomes necessary.

Attitude of different members in a given group to achieve deadlines makes an interesting study.  Some always believe that deadlines are there only to be extended automatically. They neither contribute their share of efforts nor allow others to proceed systematically. They act as an impediment in the progress of others as overall progress is impacted by individual lethargy.  Periodical review of the progress of the task becomes necessary in such situations and blocks have to be ironed out firmly in the interest of the team.  There are bound to be some weak members in the team.  The issue is not whether they are weak, but one of whether they are willing.  It then becomes the responsibility of the leadership to provide support to the weak but willing and carry them along.

There is also an issue about relevance of deadlines in creative assignments.  Creativity does not yield to deadlines.  There is a certain minimum time before creativity incubates and emerges.  But a very creative production which arrives after the time limit for its utility is past is also a waste.  Thus there is a need for achieving a golden mean between creative brilliance and practical schedule for delivery.

There are some who always achieve the deadline and there are others who never achieve it.  For the achievers, it is a sacred duty.  For the non-achievers, well, it is a way of life.  They often stay that way because they are able to get away with such attitude.  What should be done with such weak links in the chain?  Their continuance in the team is to be evaluated and suitable decision taken without hesitation.  Just as rewarding performance is important, punishing non-performance is also necessary.  Never leave out the failing man and do not put unnecessary extra burden on the efficient horse! Teams drift because performers are disheartened by watching non-performers get away easily. Leadership should also dispassionately watch individual performance in team tasks and ensure that true performers do not go unrewarded just because they are shy of blowing their own trumpets.

What should a member of the team do when he feels that he cannot deliver his share of output before the deadline?  It is advisable to frankly say so, with valid reasons, before accepting the assigned task.  This will provide the team leader to choose an alternate player or press additional resources to reach the goal.

Not meeting deadlines lead to time overruns.  Time overruns lead to cost overruns.  Cost overruns threaten viability of the projects and very survival of organizations.  There was an excellent cartoon by R K Laxman in which a senior officer is explaining about a project to a minister in a dilapidated project site.  The explanation goes something like this: "Finishing this project costs a big sum of money.  Abandoning the project will result in wastage of even bigger sum of money already invested.  We are, therefore, implementing it at a slow pace to keep the losses at a minimum".  Projects that do not meet deadlines probably belong to this category!