Of Audits and Reviews

Fourth quarter was a hectic time for the company.  There were 4 simultaneous operation start ups in remote locations around the world.  Our history of start ups in new country entries has been disappointing, so much focus was channelled to ensure safe execution.  The ultimate prize is zero incident for start ups.

One neat tool that our leader has introduced in the system was assurance reviews.  These reviews are meant to invite professionals from outside the business to review and assess the state of readiness for local team to execute the plan.  It normally happens about a month before spudding the first well or starting up the first rig in a new environment.  The team composition varies depending on local needs and challenges but purely Drilling & Completions and HSE professionals.

The business units see this as another "audit".  Audits are processes to ensure systems, measures and tools are in place in accordance to polices and standards set by the corporation.  The outcome of audits are typically made public with a set of mandatory action items and scoring.  Our assurance reviews are designed to be more "useful" in some sense.  Not only the assurance reviews assess gaps in delivering a business plan, the review team would most times provide the means or resource for gap closure.

Being involved in numerous start up reviews and engineering assurance reviews have given me a better insight of our business, the mechanics of our processes and have reinforced the things I need to do and avoid when I become a leader.  The best part of being involved is the increased visibility and opportunity to improve my communication as outcomes need to be relayed to the highest order - this is when your message needs to be sharp, concise and crisp.

Looking forward to another year of building D&C functional excellence.  Much rest needed before another busy year!

(pic taken at Company Annual Dinner)