Director’s judgement
The Director’s 10-Minute Review
Before accepting any reported position, an experienced Project Controls Director runs the same short interrogation. Not a checklist to complete — a way of thinking: what is claimed, what the programme actually shows, and the one question that decides it. Here is that review across the six situations that matter most.
Baseline
Run the Baseline Check →An accepted baseline, presented as the programme of record.
Contract acceptance, the logic network, the constraint log, the basis of durations.
That acceptance means the baseline is sound enough to control against.
Whether there are open ends, hard constraints driving dates, and a critical path that reflects how the job will be built.
Whether the dates are held by logic or by constraints.
A logic-driven critical path that makes engineering sense would settle it; its absence undermines everything measured against it.
Score it against the 100-point framework — logic, constraints, float, critical path.
Whether to accept the baseline as the control reference, or require correction first.
“If I measure delay against this baseline tomorrow, will the answer be defensible?”
Progress
Run the Schedule Health Check →A percentage complete and a set of actual dates.
Site records, quantities, and the contemporaneous programme.
That the reported percentage reflects physical progress on the work that matters.
Whether actuals reconcile, and whether progress is on the critical work or the easy scope.
The progress method, and whether it is applied consistently each cycle.
Unevidenced progress, or progress concentrated off the critical path.
Reconcile reported actuals against the record; test progress on the high-risk scope.
Whether reported progress can be trusted to drive the forecast and any claim.
“Is this progress, or is it just activity?”
Forecast
Check forecast integrity →A forecast completion date.
Remaining durations, the longest path, float distribution, the logic.
That the forecast date is calculated, not chosen.
Whether the date is held by logic and remaining duration, or by a constraint.
The critical path and the remaining-duration assumptions.
A constraint holding the date; remaining durations untouched while the job slips.
Trace the driving path; test remaining durations against actual productivity.
Whether the completion date can be planned and committed against.
“Is this date a calculation, or a hope?”
Recovery Programme
Run the Recovery Programme Check →A recovery programme showing the job back on the contractual date.
The method behind shortened durations, the secured resources, the logic changes.
That the recovery is achievable, not just drawn.
Whether logic was relaxed, durations compressed without basis, or float stripped.
The assumed productivity and resource levels.
A rate the job has never achieved; a date held by a constraint.
Test the mechanics — logic, durations, resources, critical path, achievability.
Whether to accept the recovery as credible, or reject it and escalate.
“Is this actually a recovery programme, or simply a different forecast?”
EOT / Delay
Run the EOT Triage →An extension-of-time claim of a given number of days.
The baseline, the updates, the instruction and notice record, the delay-event particulars.
That the claimed delay equals demonstrable programme impact.
Whether each event sits on the critical path to the affected milestone, in its window.
Cause, criticality and contractual validity — together.
Events off the driving path; the contractor’s own delay; no valid notice.
Screen each event for validity, then test cause and criticality in the contemporaneous programme.
What extension is actually demonstrable — and whether time and money are kept separate.
“Is this a claimed delay, or a demonstrable programme impact?”
Programme Governance
Run the Setup Check →A consolidated programme status across contracts.
Coding and calendar consistency, roll-up capability, the escalation record.
That the consolidated picture is actually comparable across contracts.
Whether the contracts share a standard, or the roll-up hides inconsistency.
Whether one common controls standard exists across the packages.
Divergent coding and methods that make the roll-up meaningless.
Test whether status can be compared and exposure rolled up; check the escalation path.
What to standardise across contracts, and what to escalate now.
“Am I governing one programme, or several that happen to share a cover page?”
Read → Apply → See
The method behind these reviews: 100-Point Framework · Director’s Playbook · Case Studies · Controls Red Flags