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In our book we talk about the Cost of Greenality.
Like the Cost of Quality, with which Project Managers should be familiar, it speaks to the idea that money spent up front to prevent problems and to be sure to meet stakeholder requirements will outweigh the savings in the medium and long run. Below is a chart – one which will appear in our upcoming book – that actually we were lucky enough to present at PMI MassBay’s Professional Development Day in Waltham, Massachusetts.
BP and TransOcean are now seeing this first hand.
Have a look at these two videos from Fox News. You can tell from watching these videos that the costs we’re talking about are not all tangible, and even if intangible are definitely not small.
- Environmental effects of the spill – video from Fox.
- Cost of External Failure – angry fishermen sue BP – from Fox.
Do you think BP may have been better off investing in the technology which could have prevented this incident, or are they better off dealing with the external (VERY external) failure that they’re experiencing now? And in this case, it’s not just BP, nor TransOcean. It’s the entire Gulf region, already hit hard by Katrina, and this may now start to affect people along the rest of the Atlantic and elsewhere.
We’re now beginning to see numbers associated with the Cost of Greenality for this event – in the high single to double digits, in BILLIONS of dollars, and $34 BILLION in stock value losses, not to speak of the horrific reputation setback and lawsuits BP faces.
So consider these costs at the point where you have the time, sense of reason, and foresight to do so – at the beginning, planning stages of your project – you’ll be glad you did.
Copyright © 2010 www.Earthpm.com
Why is this so easy to understand but seemingly so hard to put into practice? It is just common sense!