Cross-border projects

Remote teams often bring added complexity. Here, Ben Hargreaves speaks to several project managers who have achieved lift-off on cross-border projects

The first flight of the Comac C919 narrow-body, twin-jet airliner in 2017 marked a major step forward for the Chinese aerospace industry. The aluminium-bodied passenger aircraft is representative of not only the growing capabilities of China’s aerospace industry, but also the superpower’s desire to compete on the global stage with Boeing and Airbus, especially with the 737 MAX and A320neo, respectively.

But much of the engineering know-how that allowed that first flight to take place relied on technology from Western companies. The C919 is powered by LEAP turbofan engines made by CFM International, the collaboration between France’s Safran and General Electric of the US. International giant Honeywell provided the C919’s wheels, brakes, and communication and navigation systems. Despite its obvious importance to China as an emerging power in global aerospace, the development of the aircraft was a truly international project, from the launch of the programme in 2008 to the production of a prototype in December 2011 and its first flight in May 2017.

Navigating turbulence
Many project managers, whatever their sector, are used to collaborating across borders to get new schemes off the ground. This means dealing with differences in time zone, language and culture, and considerable logistical challenges. Ian Cribbes, a project manager formerly at BAE Systems, and now an independent consultant, is a prime example. Cribbes first went to Saudi Arabia in May 1984 and held a number of positions there for BAE, including senior aeronautical instructor, with responsibility for some 1,200 students and 34 staff. There, Cribbes implemented a multimedia presentation system within the academy. His time at BAE culminated in his working as programme manager on a multimillion-pound programme to upgrade the Royal Saudi Air Force’s (RSAF’s) Tornado jets. He also worked on a range of training and other projects with the RSAF, Royal Saudi Navy and Bahrain Defence Force. Cribbes left Saudi Arabia in 2012 at the conclusion of phase two of the Tornado upgrade programme.

The challenges of working in the Middle East included what amounted to a 12-hour overlap in working days and hours with counterparts in Britain, Cribbes says.

“My formal working week in Saudi was Saturday to Wednesday. To alleviate this, I often worked both Thursday and Friday to ensure I had an answer for the late request – late Wednesday afternoon – from the customer by the start of the working week, which was Saturday.”

To the RSAF technicians Cribbes was working with, English was a second language.

“The younger Tornado technicians read quite slowly, meaning that if instructions were split across a page, there could be an issue with timings in carrying out the maintenance procedure or test. Additional care was required in the compilation of the technical manuals to ensure they were suitable for the RSAF technicians to read without the risk of a misunderstanding.”

Adeline Daly, programme director at Marshall Aerospace and Defence Group, also has extensive experience of working on international aerospace projects, including the Airbus A350 programme. She says she alters her project management style to suit the culture she is working in.

“I think how you lead depends on the culture. I have worked in Tunisia, where people are switched on and go-getters, and also the Philippines, which is more family-oriented, and where the level of project maturity is lower. For the project professional, you have to be able to get under the skin of that, and figure out how to motivate people in different countries to get the end result.

“For those who are well educated, you must think about what you can do for them career-wise. If they are less educated, and family-oriented, it is about what you can do for their family.”

Derek Wright, senior project manager at Roke, has just completed a project with suppliers in the UK and South Africa to develop an armoured vehicle with integrated electronic systems for a customer in the Middle East. This involved the design team at Roke interacting with the South African engineering team remotely and, on several occasions, in person. From an engineering point of view, not being able to just pop down to the factory presented challenges, and some cultural differences, he says.

“We are used to European and British engineering practice, where every step is thought through very methodically. On this project, it was more about working your way through and firefighting.”

Language wasn’t a barrier: “All the engineers spoke excellent English as well as Afrikaans.” However, due to the infrequency of meetings, Roke experienced delays in obtaining an export licence from the South African government. “Shipping the vehicles resulted in an additional two-month delay, but there was nothing you could do about it.” Derek adds: “There is also an element of negotiation before final sign-off in the Middle East.”

The armoured vehicles are due to be shipped to the customer at the end of this year.

Methodology: the international language
Project manager Andrew Wright, director of Dynamic Technologies, is currently working on an EU-funded project that is building a new factory in Norway to produce microfibrillated cellulose, known as ‘Exilva’. The team includes project professionals, academics, production engineers, new product development experts and scientists in Scandinavia, Brazil and India.

The micro-cellulose – essentially “very finely shredded tree” – will be used in place of oil-based materials to produce sustainable products with a lower carbon footprint, Andrew explains.

“The length of our communications chain and the distances between us have been an issue at times. We don’t have the opportunity to all sit down face to face, so the majority is done remotely. Sometimes there is no substitute for seeing people face to face – especially when you are asking them to do something more than they really want to do.”

Andrew adds: “The international language of project management is methodology. For instance, PRINCE2® has global reach. If you know PRINCE2®, you can talk to anyone else who knows it. There are more flavours to agile, so communication can be more complicated.”

Change manager Ravi Joshi of Desire2Learn agrees: “There are different styles of project and programme management, and different understandings of them – and that is more important than any international boundary.”

He says the most challenging aspect of international project management is the connection with the team: “For me, it is all about the connection between the project teams. I also think that even locally the connection with the teams can be a problem. It doesn’t just apply to international work.”

Difficulties in the project can also occur even with a common language and culture. Cribbes notes that, during his time at BAE Systems working on the Tornado upgrade programme, he had to address the issue of late delivery from the UK supply chain: “For UK-based organisations, there was an element of education with regard to the impact a late delivery would have. A late delivery of equipment would result in training being cancelled or delayed, which, in turn, delayed the return to operational status of the aircraft.”

On the back foot
The first flight of the Comac C919 demonstrates the power of successful international collaboration. But aerospace programmes remain formidably complicated to execute, says Daly. She adds that the Airbus A350 programme was “massively challenging” to bring to fruition: “Every day was different, and you were on the back foot a lot of the time. The stuff you come up against ranges from the bizarre to the ridiculous on international programmes. Someone can sneeze in China and you catch a cold in the UK, because the supply chains are so complicated.”

Despite this, Daly says she loves working internationally: “It is so diverse, and you can learn a lot from the ways in which people in other countries do things. You have to learn fast, but that is where I get my buzz from. Working internationally as a project manager adds to your skill set.

“If people get the opportunity to do it, they should. We have quite a few different nationalities here. I have a different appreciation for them now, and where they have come from and their style, because I’ve worked there.

“The more international exposure you have, the more you open your eyes.”

Ben Hargreaves is editor of Project