Advancing Asset Management …a coordinated effort Introduction: A little about me Over the next 28 minutes or so I’m going to share with you how a group of AM practitioners from different divisions with different systems are working together to advance AM in our department. I’ll talk about how we got started, some of the challenges we had to overcome, and the benefits we’ve seen as a result of this coordinated effort.

Getting Started When the team first started meeting, the purpose was “make AM better” Too vague to be unifying Team wanted meaningful work Decided on documenting what we mean by AM Started with policy Added guidebook to give more detail and “how to” Was the effort of months, many revisions Collaborated between people who did the work, but did it differently Had to unify, keep at a high enough level to work for all May 9, 2017 APWA Brown Bag

Pitch a Project Self directed but endorsed by the sponsor committee After policy and guidebook were done, we wanted to turn the team loose to work on something they felt excited about Changed the structure of the meetings to be working sessions Allowed members of the team to step up to team leader role Everyone came up with possible project ideas, then voted on which project they wanted to work on May 9, 2017 APWA Brown Bag

Project Teams Each team prepared an action plan to scope their project Teams selected their own project managers They broke into teams and worked on completing it both in the meetings and out of them After projects were completed, they prepared a 1 page project recap so we could easily recount what was done May 9, 2017 APWA Brown Bag

Clear Direction After the first round of projects, we kept what worked and revised the format more Needed clear documentation of the role the sponsors wanted to play, and the authority they were granting the team Drafted team charters to cover the next 2 year period Identified more clearly what the sponsors wanted the team to accomplish Identified the areas the team wanted the sponsors to provide more guidance May 9, 2017 APWA Brown Bag

Generates new knowledge Benefits Builds buy-in Leverages resources Builds relationships Generates new knowledge Buy-in: AM had developed separately in different parts of the organization, working on the team helped identify where there were differences and similarities Leverage: When the team is together, it represents diverse and deep subject matter expertise, brain power is enormous and ready to be tapped, able to learn from the collective wisdom of the group. Relationships: Easy to develop silos when your AM systems don’t overlap, but more and more there is the potential for interaction. Team allowed them to know each other better, find people who can help them work through challenges, and find like minded allies to support ideas New knowledge: not your way or my way—a third alternative that is better May 9, 2017 APWA Brown Bag

Wrap Up “Tell me, and I forget. Teach me, and I may remember. Involve me, and I learn.” -Chinese Proverb May 9, 2017 APWA Brown Bag