A healthy dose of communication helps PMI 2010 PROJECT OF THE YEAR FINALIST

a team bring in a hospital construction

project right on time and
US$2.9 million
under budget.

HEALING A COMMUNITY BY B.G. YOVOVICH // PHOTO BY NATHAN WEBER

38
from left, Stephen A. Williams; Janet Yackey, PMP;
PM NETWORK
Doug Winkelhake; Teresa DECEMBER
Stroud; 2010 WWW.PMI.ORG
Janice Weaver, PMP
 T
The eastern part of Jefferson County in tional designs, programs, job descrip- On the technology front, the facility >>Healing Regime
the Louisville, Kentucky, USA metro tions or work processes to the job,” he was being equipped with IT systems
December 2005................ Funding approved
area had experienced rapid growth, and explains. used in other parts of the Norton net-
it became clear that the community One such innovation is the emphasis work, as well as 12 new systems, says September 2006............... Program manager assigned
needed a new medical facility. A home- on peace and quiet. There’s no tradi- Ms. Weaver, associate vice president of
December 2006................ Construction contract awarded
town healthcare giant offered a remedy: tional overhead paging system; instead, Norton Healthcare’s enterprise program
the city’s first new hospital in 25 years. staff communicate via wireless devices. management office (PMO). February 2007.................. Subject matter experts solicited
Norton Healthcare has a network of In addition, carpeted hallways help The staffing, training and IT sub- Design planned
five hospitals and 11 immediate-care reduce noise. projects proceeded along their own July 2007.......................... Groundbreaking ceremony
centers. But executives at the not-for- Like any project sponsors, though, trajectories and timetables. Still, they
profit organization were determined to the Norton executive team also wanted needed to come together and “go August 2007...................... Interior design approved
make this project unlike anything that the project delivered on time and within through integrated testing to make sure
November 2007................ IT requirements discussed
came before. budget. With funding approved in that everything would work when the
“In the past, hospitals were designed 2005, the team set to work combining hospital opened its doors,” she says. February 2008.................. Hospital processes defined
primarily around the healthcare pro- construction, IT and training expertise. “And that really kept me awake at
April 2008......................... IT subprojects launched
cesses and the convenience of the hos- night.”
pital staff and physicians. The design In Sync Given how tightly the subprojects June 2008......................... Staff training and education planned
frequently is not the most conducive Messer/TMG, a local firm, began con- were interwoven, the team realized it
September 2008............... Construction and operational
to the patients, families and guests they struction on the 298,000-square-foot didn’t do any good to finish ahead of schedules integrated
serve,” says Stephen A. Williams, presi- (27,685-square-meter) Norton Browns- schedule.
dent and CEO of Norton Healthcare. boro Hospital in July 2007. “When you are opening a healthcare December 2008................ Medical equipment begins arriving
“We wanted an entirely new-concept A construction project of this nature facility, and the marketing department
April 2009......................... Employee training starts
hospital that was designed and built on usually takes 30 months to complete, is putting up billboards that say it is
new thinking—from what the patients says John Megibben, senior project exec- going to open on August 26, it does May 2009........................... Monthly departmental readiness
and guests optimally wanted in a health- utive at Messer/TMG. The hospital’s no good to open on August 20,” Ms. assessments begin
care experience, to what the physicians schedule was accelerated to 23 months. Weaver says. “It has to be on schedule, Nursing units placed on IT system
and staff desired in functionality and “At the same time that the construc- and it is important for everyone to fin- July 2009.......................... Construction complete
maximally efficient work processes. tion was heading down its path, we also ish together.” IT integration testing
“The entire initiative was a tremen- had the staffing of the hospital heading
August 2009..................... IT infrastructure and staff training
dous challenge in that we would not down its path,” says Janice Weaver, PMP, A Matter of Trust
complete
allow the planners to bring any tradi- who led the US$146.3 million project. For all the pieces to come together,
effective communications and trust had 26 August 2009............... Norton Brownsboro Hospital opens
to be established right from the start.
>>Cost Cutters “From our very first meeting, we
talked about how we work together as tionship is fuller in an in-person meet-
Norton Healthcare went in with a bold vision of a cutting-edge hospital—but it a team,” Ms. Weaver says. “We had to ing. You can read body language and
make sure that when issues came up, we find out about concerns that you might
had to do so with a fixed budget of US$146.3 million. would nip those things in the bud. Any not learn on a phone call. It makes it
“The first construction cost iteration was over-budget,” says John Megibben, type of issue, if left on its own, could easier to ward off a problem.”
become a major roadblock. And we When trust is established, project
Messer/TMG, the Louisville, Kentucky, USA commercial construction company
could not allow that. We did not have leaders don’t have to micro-manage
working on the hospital project. time for it.” and can let project managers and team
The team scrutinized all major aspects of the building, taking out the “nice-to- Ms. Weaver implemented manda- members work autonomously.
tory, weekly project-integration meet- “I had a wonderful person who was >> The Search Is On
haves”—such as a clear cover over the rooftop garden and Italian wall tiles—and
ings for all 15-plus members of the responsible for the technology infra- Know of a particularly
downsizing other features to keep the price down. project leadership team. structure,” she says. “I had total confi-
If someone couldn’t attend, he or she dence in that project manager, so I did
impressive project?
“For example, the parapet was originally designed to be 36 inches (0.9
would be teleconferenced in—but “the not go and look after her work. The Nominate it for the
meters). To reduce costs, the parapet was changed to 18 inches (0.5 meters),
strong preference was that they physi- same thing with construction. I felt PMI 2011 Project of
with the understanding that workers would need to take special precautions cally attend in person,” Ms. Weaver totally comfortable with our construc-
says. “Yes, you can hear people on a tion company. I literally trusted my life
the Year Award. Learn
when working on the roof for safety,” Mr. Megibben says.
conference call, but the personal rela- to those people.” more at PMI.org.

40 PM NETWORK december 2010 WWW.PMI.ORG december 2010 PM NETWORK 41

 >> Watch our video for an inside look at this project.
Only on PMI.org/PMNetwork
This is the largest, most
complicated project with
which I have been involved.
It all came together when
everyone walked across
the finish line and
we opened our doors. It
was just awesome.
—Janice Weaver, PMP
Ms. Weaver didn’t rule with an iron
fist. Instead, she offered support and
made herself available to the team.
“Project managers knew that they
could come to me to be a resource in case
they hit a roadblock that they could not
resolve on their own,” Ms. Weaver says.
Part of the trust she had in her team
was based on prior work together.
“Most of the team had already been on
a project that we had managed, so they
42 PM NETWORK december 2010 WWW.PMI.ORG
came into the project knowing what to
expect,” she says.
One of Ms. Weaver’s most impor-
tant relationships was with Janet
Yackey, PMP, director of enterprise
project management at Norton
Healthcare.
“Janet was a lifesaver,” says Ms.
Weaver, who cast Ms. Yackey as her
personal “backup.” When Ms. Weaver
required back surgery less than three
weeks before the project was slated to
close, for example, Ms. Yackey stepped
in to wrap up everything.
In the earlier stages of the project,
Ms. Yackey also proved her mettle,
leading a group walk-through of the
entire facility every Tuesday morning.
“The walk-throughs enabled us to
make little corrections as they were
happening, when it was less expensive
to make the change,” Ms. Yackey says.
They also helped avoid major prob-
lems that easily could have caused
significant costs and project delays. In
one instance, Ms. Yackey recalls try-
ing to schedule the vendors to install
the patient-monitoring equipment in
the nursing stations. She realized she’d
need a new plan when the walk-
through revealed that the station coun-
ters weren’t in place—which obviously
meant the monitoring equipment
would have to wait.
Working in a sector rife with regu-
lations also added some wrinkles. For
example, the team had to obtain certifi-
cates of need to make many of the numer-
ous adjustments and scope changes that
are common in a project of this size. The
Cabinet for Health and Family Services,
a state government agency that adminis-
ters programs to promote the mental and
physical health of Kentuckians, requires
these certificates to manage services and
costs of healthcare.
“You would not believe all of the
agencies—dozens and dozens of
agencies—from whom you have to get
approvals for changes,” Ms. Weaver says.
Putting in Face Time
Once staff training began in Janu-
ary 2009, the team’s weekly meet-
ings evolved to include stakeholders
such as new directors and managers.
Stakeholder participation in meetings
helped ensure a smooth transition
from the project close to operations.
In too many projects, Ms. Weaver
says, “if you get the business owners
involved at all, it usually is at the end.”
Three months before launch, she
had the hospital’s new managers fill
out a readiness assessment. Based on
their answers, she could gauge how
comfortable they were with all of the
deliverables, including staffing and IT
issues. The form asked for one of three
easily identifiable responses:
n A sad face: “I am totally unhappy.”
n A neutral face: “It’s getting there.”
n 
A smiley face: “I am ecstatic—it’s
done, and we are ready to go.”
“I knew that 90 days out, I would see
a lot of unhappy faces, but it was a great
way to get the business owners involved,
and when they had an issue, it was docu-
mented and could be addressed,” Ms.
Weaver says.
She also knew she had to keep gov-
ernment officials in the loop, which
meant flagging monthly project reports
as high priority for her team.
“I explained to my team that it is
not just a matter of me wanting the
700
report,” Ms. Weaver says. “I need it
to create the overall program progress
report that goes to all the key stake-
holders, which includes our vice presi-
dent of strategic planning, who has to
report to the state every six months.” The number of
The combination of monthly employees to be hired
project reports and weekly integra-
tion meetings “provided the sufficient and trained before the
amount of communication structure hospital opened
that I needed to feel comfortable that
things were under control,” she says.
US$146.3
Crossing the
Finish Line Together
million
The Norton Brownsboro Hospital
project was delivered on time and
US$2.9 million under budget. The
acute-care facility, with 127 beds and The project budget
eight operating rooms, opened at 6 a.m.
on 26 August 2009.
“This is the largest, most compli-
cated project with which I have been
involved,” Ms. Weaver says. “It all
came together when everyone walked
US$2.9
across the finish line and we opened
our doors. It was just awesome.”
The goal was to have 85 percent
million
The amount the
of the nursing and ancillary positions
filled by the time the hospital opened project was delivered
its doors. The project team surpassed
this benchmark, with 98.5 percent of
under budget
the nursing staff and 98 percent of the
ancillary employee slots filled.
The medical center wasted no time
proving its value to the community:
The first surgery patient showed up for
a bilateral total hip replacement, and an
emergency patient arrived at 11:48 a.m.
And Norton’s CEO, for one, knows
it couldn’t have happened without
project management.
“Simply put, the project would
have been impossible to have been
achieved without our project manage-
ment staff,” Mr. Williams says. “They
achieved a result which exceeded
everyone’s expectations.” PM
december 2010 PM NETWORK 43