How to win a glamorous role (and pick up a prestigious APM award along the way)

Michael Rusbridge reveals how he got to work with opulent superyachts when he couldn’t even tell his port from his starboard.

The Vijonara is a thing of beauty. It’s a white-hulled, 42m-long yacht, with sleek lines that evoke memories of the clipper ships that raced to bring tea and spices from China. Built bespoke for a fabulously wealthy couple based in Switzerland, there is room inside for six guests to live in luxury, including a library and a gym. The opulence surprised even the yachting world. On launch, the Vijonara won a shelf of awards for design, including a 2019 World Superyacht Award.

And the man managing the construction of this marvel at the Pendennis shipyard in Falmouth? Step forward 29-year-old Michael Rusbridge. His work won him an award of his own – APM’s 2018 Young Project Professional of the Year award.

“I’ll be honest,” says Rusbridge. “When I started in the yacht business five years ago, I didn’t know port from starboard. I had to go home each day and look things up. I still do!”

When Rusbridge explains the nitty-gritty of building a yacht like the Vijonara, it becomes clear why he won recognition. It was a brutal job. “We had a team of 100 working on the yacht for 15 months. My job, as project manager, was to oversee everything from timelines to the readiness of the subcontractors.”

It’s all in the detail

The logistics were a nightmare. The hull came from the Netherlands, the mast from New Zealand and the fittings from the US. “The mast came to us by lorry. There’s quite a good video of it causing traffic chaos,” Rusbridge says.

It is the job of the project manager to ensure all the work is done in the right sequence. Getting the timings right can be hard when a slip-up can affect work months ahead. A single error on the factory floor can set the process back by weeks.

“You need to think of the smallest thing. Take painting the hull. If we build a large hull, it can take 16 people to spray the paint at the same time. It has got to be perfect. If one person knocks the gun or hits an airline, you have to start all over again. This means waiting for the paint to dry, sanding it off and then cleaning the location so it’s dust free. That’s a three-week delay, which can affect the delivery date. Fortunately, we have an in-house team and they get it right about 80 per cent of the time.”

The reliance on subcontractors multiplied the complexity. Not everyone shared Rusbridge’s outlook on rigorous project management.

“We had a subcontractor who did the interior, and their planning was not always forthcoming,” he recalls. “We had to visit their managing director, who said he didn’t need to plan. We had to work out how to deal with this situation. In the end, we worked out who to talk to when we visited, and worked out the plan for them ourselves.”

He learned a lot from this particular issue. The solution, he says, is to get every detail in writing. “If you want to put pressure on a contractor, it is really important to do it in contractual terms. Now we have big contracts, 40 pages long. We specify due dates and late delivery charges. If we have a disagreement, we have a legal document to fall back on. We are using the same contractor again for a new project, and we can contractually ask for a monthly detailed plan. It’s so much better than just making threats about non-payment.”

Being friendly pays off

Rusbridge comes across as calm and unflappable. He talks with enthusiasm and passion about his work at the Pendennis shipyard. He admits that he has learned to cultivate this cheerful demeanour partly as a project management strategy: “I found it helpful to concentrate on building personal relationships with colleagues. Go out for a few meals and drinks together. Get to the point where you are friends. Then everything becomes easier. You can de-escalate arguments so much more easily. If you chat with people while on a job, it may not seem like much, but that social interaction can make a huge difference.”

In terms of software, while the engineering work relies on the latest in 3D modelling, the project management tools are pretty basic: “We use Microsoft Project for the overall project plan, then an Excel spreadsheet for detailed planning. Within the company, we have a central system called Atlas that has the details of jobs, hours and budgets. Those are our three main planning tools.”

getting it across the line

In the end, the boat was delivered on time and on budget. “I enjoyed it so much,” says Rusbridge. “I’ve got friends in banking and at the end of a project they have nothing to show for it. Apart from maybe a new car! We are producing a physical end product that we can be proud of.”

To ensure all lessons were learned, Rusbridge set up peer reviews for his team at the end of the project: “As a team, we are keen to improve and work together again, so doing this will not only hypothetically improve efficiency, quality and profitability, but also improve us as individuals working together.”

The Vijonara is now in the hands of its owners. It has been to the Caribbean and the Mediterranean, and it is now making its way up the east coast of the US.

And the future for Rusbridge? “I will stay at Pendennis. It’s a great place to be. But we’ll see where it goes. I could do my own thing and open my own shipyard. I think running my own business wouldn’t be a massive difference. After all, as a project manager, you already do it all.”

Michael’s top 10 tips for career success

1. Never overreact. As a project manager, any issues along the way always end up back with you. A lot of the time, these can be stressful situations that you could easily overreact to. I’ve learned to stop and assess the situation. Think about it logically before you react.

2. Lead by example. Being a leader as a project manager is even more important than being a good manager. Being a good leader has a never-ending list of benefits: you’ll build, motivate and influence a team more easily and create stronger relationships with the team, clients and stakeholders.

3. Find an industry that you are enthusiastic about. Your enthusiasm can easily rub off on people, which can motivate your team and get the most out of them. The main benefit personally is that working those extra hours or putting in that extra effort becomes very easy.

4. Use your team. Within boat building, there are a wide range of trades, and the direct team I manage is made up of specialists. Make sure you use your team’s knowledge – and don’t think you can make all the decisions on your own.

5. Be the hardest worker. Having a competitive streak also helps, as you will always endeavour to stand out against others.

6. Make the most of every opportunity you are given. I guarantee you will learn something from it, even if you don’t enjoy it initially. You will benefit from it at another point in your career.

7. Constantly develop yourself. This might mean extending your technical knowledge, learning about people and how they work, or even learning more about leadership. It will all benefit you and help you get ahead.

8. Be in the right place at the right time. To achieve this, you have to make sure you are in lots of places a lot of the time. By putting in that extra effort and working hard, you will inevitably be in plenty of places a lot of the time. From there, the chance of getting a lucky break becomes more likely.

9. Build a strong relationship with the project team and contractors. It makes everything easier. This includes motivating people, de-escalating stressful events and getting people to listen to you. Treat the people in your team like you would your friends (while maintaining that professional relationship, of course).

10. Take risks. I studied mechanical engineering at university, and I spent my whole degree working with numbers and problem-solving using numbers. This has given me an analytical way of reviewing things. In project management and particularly within the superyacht industry, I review risks against time, quality and cost. Every risk has an impact on each of these three key tools, so weigh the risk up against each one before you jump in.

Michael Rusbridge

Education: Mechanical engineering, Loughborough University; Associate member, Institution of Mechanical Engineers; RYA Day Skipper Shorebased course
Early work: Project manager at Corrosion Technology Services, Bahrain and Qatar
Current role: Project manager at Pendennis Shipyard, Falmouth
Hobbies: Rugby, football, golf (with a handicap of six)