Saidah Tower Project Recovery: Applying Project Management Principles

This essay examines the challenges faced by the Saidah Tower project, which involved renovating an old building into a modern high-rise. The project encountered significant issues due to the lack of effective project management approaches and tools, particularly in scope, stakeholder, and risk management. The paper argues that implementing a recovery scope statement, involving key stakeholders like the building owner, and developing a comprehensive risk management plan could have prevented the project's current state. The recovery scope statement would define necessary changes, desired results, and acceptance criteria, while a stakeholder communication plan would keep stakeholders informed. Ultimately, the essay emphasizes the importance of proactive project management strategies in ensuring project success and preventing failure, providing valuable insights for similar projects.

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The project faced several challenges because basic project management approaches and
tools were not used, or were not fully implemented. The Saidah Tower project entailed the
renovation of an old building to make it a modern high rise building located in a prime location.
The building had been used as a civic center, until the tenant abandoned it in 2001. the new tenants
that took over the building also abandoned it in 2007 due to structural risks as its foundation was
uneven. The building owner has been unwilling to engage new stakeholders because of the
structural deficiencies of the building. This paper discusses what could have been done, in the
context of project management, to forestall the present status of Saidah Tower.
The project would have been recovered easily through an effective management of the
scope, starting with an evaluation of the causes for failure and developing a recovery scope
statement with estimates (Beer, 2017). An effective recovery scope statement and estimation first of
all ensures a project is rescued from total failure. It would, with the help of a project progress
analysis, define exactly what works need to be done to met the original objectives and help
determine what the cost of such changes would be. Estimation, used with a cost benefit analysis can
help the project manager sell the scope recovery statement to all stakeholders, with a greater chance
of being accepted and approved. The recovery scope statement will justify the need for changing
project scope, describe the desired result, define the criteria for its acceptance, and state the
deliverables after realizing there was problems (Stepanov, 2017). The recovery scope statement and
estimates will also explain the project constraints and any assumptions made; this way, an elaborate
map on recovery and delivering a successful project is created. The recovery scope statement and
estimates are in effect the beginning of a new project with its unique deliverables that will help
meet the objectives of the original project objectives and deliverables (Williams, 2011)
Change is inevitable in a project and so should not be avoided; whet is important is having a
suitable scope and change management plan that ensures structural and defined change management
process.
Invariably, all projects have stakeholders of varying influence and importance to the
achievement of the project goals. In this case, the most important stakeholder was the building
owner, who becomes the executive sponsor of the project. Stakeholder management in projects
entails determining the important stakeholders and knowing what their roles in the project is, along
with the level of influence they command in relation to the project, as well as the impact they have
on the project. The building owner, who is the main stakeholder as an executive sponsor, should
have been more involved in the project, including its design; the executive sponsor should also have
been told the existing situation and be made to understand what works needed to be undertaken and
their approval for the changes sought (Smith, Merna, Jobling & Thompson, 2014). The stakeholders

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require management using an elaborate stakeholder communication plan that will keep stakeholders
such as the executive sponsor of the project fully informed of the project progress and what has to
be done. All projects face risks; an elaborate risk management plan goes a long way identifying
possible risks to a project, defining its outcomes, and generating actions and measures that can
reduce, limit, or eliminate the occurrence and impact of the risk. An elaborate risk management plan
would have identified one of the buildings’ major failures (structural) and take mitigation measures
to stop its effects and impact (Smith, Merna, Jobling & Thompson, 2014).

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References
Beer, B. (2017). How to Avoid Project Failure Through Project Planning and Effective Project
Recovery. Project Smart. Retrieved 2 December 2017, from
https://www.projectsmart.co.uk/how-to-avoid-project-failure-through-project-planning-and-
effective-project-recovery.php
Smith, N. J., Merna, T., Jobling, P., & Thompson, S. (2014). Managing risk in construction projects.
Chichester, England: Wiley-Blackwell.
Stepanov, A. (2017). Project Scope Statement as the Key to Successful Project Management. Gantt
Chart GanttPRO Blog. Retrieved 2 December 2017, from
https://blog.ganttpro.com/en/project-scope-management-with-all-techniques-and-examples/
Williams, T. C. (2011). Rescue the problem project: A complete guide to identifying, preventing,
and recovering from project failure. New York, NY [u.a.: AMACOM, American
Management Association.