From project drawings to the obligations of ownership

Mandate

Build a portfolio whose investment commitments reflect site readiness and continuing operating obligations.

Outcomes

• Secured approval for fourteen ready roofs and US$12.6m planned capital expenditure.
• Funded a US$240,000 monitoring-diagnosis programme across ninety-two sites.
• Resized a factory package from 24 to 16 MWp before committing capital.

Decisions in context

The CEO appointment changed the unit of responsibility from a project programme to the whole business. I now had to explain how development choices would affect operating capability, the balance sheet and the relationships attached to our assets. Six executive colleagues bring the specialist views into that discussion. I expect disagreements about readiness or demand to be resolved while the proposal can still change, rather than after a capacity number has become a commitment. Joining the board as an executive director made the investment argument more direct: I could not treat an unresolved site condition as a detail outside the company’s decision. My remit is to recommend coherent choices and resource their delivery, while qualified specialists retain the technical and professional authorities that belong to their roles. The fourteen-roof approval illustrates that division of responsibility.

Reason for the move

Appointed CEO as the founders introduced growth capital; remains in post.

Mandate

Connect development promises with site preparation, construction and operating handover.

Outcomes

• Coordinated a US$28m approved delivery programme in 2019.
• Established a named operating recipient for each project handover.
• Led five project managers across a sixty-four-person delivery group.

Decisions in context

Moving into solar changed the length of the relationship I had to consider. The company would remain responsible for assets after construction, on roofs that belonged to other organisations. I worked with project managers to make the receiving operating team visible before commissioning. A handover pack was useful only if someone could use it to maintain the site and understand the outstanding obligations. I also learnt how a building owner’s refurbishment plans could affect an otherwise attractive project. My responsibility covered the approved delivery programme, not independent authority to commit the company to every development opportunity. I presented project and readiness reviews when invited to board discussions, but did not hold a director appointment during this period. The role prepared me for the CEO position by exposing the continuing costs and relationships behind a completed installation.

Reason for the move

Selected to lead the company when growth investment expanded its operating ambitions.

Mandate

Make scope, dependencies and change responsibilities clear in industrial project proposals.

Outcomes

• Managed a US$18m annual contract portfolio by 2014.
• Led twelve estimating and commercial colleagues.
• Introduced separate proposal schedules for agreed scope and unresolved survey conditions.

Decisions in context

Commercial responsibility required me to translate technical uncertainty into a proposal a customer could actually decide on. I worked with estimators and engineers to distinguish an agreed scope from work dependent on a later survey or production decision. That sometimes reduced the apparent size of an opportunity, but it made the commitment more intelligible. The twelve-person team supported a defined contract portfolio; its value was not my personal spending authority or the whole company’s revenue. I remained accountable to the managing director and involved the appropriate specialists in contractual and technical questions. The experience also changed how I listened to customers. A request for a lower price could conceal a different concern about timing, disruption or who would accept a change. Understanding that concern often produced a better proposal than defending the original scope unchanged.

Reason for the move

Recruited into distributed solar to combine commercial and project experience over an asset’s operating life.

Mandate

Align engineering dependencies, procurement and customer access windows.

Outcomes

• Coordinated planning for a US$11m annual project portfolio.
• Led nine planners and project coordinators.
• Introduced a weekly review of customer-controlled access dependencies.

Decisions in context

Planning put me between the engineering sequence and the customer’s working day. An installation could be ready on paper while the required shutdown belonged to another contractor or depended on a production decision. I organised a weekly review of those dependencies with the project managers and customer contacts. The purpose was to identify whose commitment was still missing, rather than repeatedly moving a date without explaining why. I led nine colleagues and coordinated a delivery portfolio, but did not control the customer’s operating calendar or hold independent authority to approve new investment. The role taught me to distinguish a plan from an agreement. It also gave me more exposure to the commercial consequences of changes, which led to the later appointment in estimating and contract discussions. I learnt to preserve uncertainty in a schedule until there was a responsible basis for removing it.

Reason for the move

Promoted to commercial management after taking a larger role in proposal and customer discussions.

Mandate

Support accurate design records and controlled changes during industrial installations.

Outcomes

• Supported a six-person engineering team.
• Maintained equipment schedules for four concurrent work packages.
• Recorded approved drawing changes for operating handover.

Decisions in context

My first appointment was deliberately narrower than the projects around me. I prepared drawings, checked equipment schedules and recorded approved changes under a senior engineer’s supervision. Four concurrent work packages gave me enough exposure to see how a small inconsistency could travel from a document into a later decision. I learnt to ask before assuming that an old drawing still represented the installation, and to preserve the reason for a change rather than only its final version. I was an individual contributor within a six-person team, with no authority to approve the company’s capital commitments. Coordination gradually became a larger part of my work because I wanted to understand which answer another team needed before it could proceed. That interest led to project planning and, eventually, to a broader view of how technical work becomes an operating commitment.

Reason for the move

Promoted into project planning after developing coordination responsibilities.