Foresight for the people accountable for the date.
Practitioner perspectives on scheduling, controls, forecasting, delay and capital delivery. Candid, practical and written by people who read critical paths for a living.
Recent insights
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Owners do not need more reports. They need command of the critical path.
Most capital programs are over-reported and under-controlled. The difference is whether anyone can say, with evidence, what will happen next.
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Gigawatt campuses and the new map of schedule risk
On the largest data center programs, the critical path no longer runs through the building. It runs through the utility queue and the transformer factory.
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Beyond DCMA: what a schedule worth defending looks like
The DCMA 14-Point Assessment is a necessary test of structure. It says very little about whether the dates are true.
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P50, P80 and the date you announce
A single-date forecast is a coin toss presented as a commitment. Boards and lenders deserve to know the odds.
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TIA, windows or collapsed as-built? Choosing a delay method that survives scrutiny
The method chosen can decide a claim before the analysis begins. Here is how to choose it, and how to apply it so it stands up.
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Earned value that tells the truth
Most organizations that say earned value did not work for them never measured anything real. The method was fine. The inputs were not.
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The skilled-labor critical path
In many regions the scarcest input on a capital program is no longer steel or equipment. It is the electricians, fitters and commissioning technicians the schedule quietly assumes will appear.
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Executive reporting that earns a decision
The test of a monthly report is not how complete it is. It is whether the meeting that uses it ends with someone deciding something.
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Who owns the float? Decide before you need to.
Float is the most valuable and least governed asset on a capital program. Most contracts leave its ownership to be argued about after it is gone.
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Every piece is written to help someone make a better decision this period.
Industry Research
Field-grounded study of what is actually moving capital programs: power, long-lead equipment, labor and the quality of the plans that are meant to control them.
Browse 7.2White Papers
Decision-grade guidance on baselines, forecasting, earned value and forensic delay analysis, written for the people who have to sign off on the answer.
Browse 7.3Case Studies
Representative engagements, anonymized by design, showing what changes when a program gains command of its critical path.
Browse 7.4Perspectives
Principal-level thinking on how capital programs should be governed, measured and reported, and where the profession too often falls short.
Browse 7.5Forecasting & Analytics
Probabilistic forecasting, schedule risk analysis and reporting design: how to turn project data into foresight a board can act on.
Browse 7.6Commentary
Short, opinionated notes on the contract terms, market shifts and practice questions that decide who carries the risk of time.
Browse 7.7Webinars
Live and on-demand sessions led by RichardBarkley principals: candid, technical where it needs to be, and never a pitch.
Browse 7.8Downloads
Checklists, templates and question sets you can put to work on your own program this month.
BrowseOne letter a month. Decision-grade thinking.
Subscribe to The Data Date, our monthly letter for owners and builders, or ask a principal to brief your leadership team on any topic in this library.