Experience is a precious commodity, though as Jimmy Connors pointed out, by the time you get it you are usually too old to do anything about it. Fortunately for most of us, that experience comes across a longer career than most professional tennis players enjoy.

The application of Advanced Work Packaging (AWP) is not an overnight process, either at a personal level or a corporate one. Experience will play an important role in the success of an AWP program. Unfortunately, you often can’t often jump straight from novice to expert without doing the hard work in the middle.

In AWP circles, the experience of an individual or company relating to AWP implementation is often described as “AWP Maturity”.

So why does this matter?

Simply put, you won’t get AWP right first time. AWP is not a box-checking process that you can just say you are doing and move on. It is a project delivery system that requires the collaboration and integration of almost every department involved in project execution. Its implementation will impact people, process and technology, which can lead to a substantial change management effort within any company.

So, why do it at all?

Because the benefits will outweigh the costs and the hard work, even on your first project. AWP has proven time and time again that, when applied properly, it can save significant cost for a project, as well as bringing advantages in schedule, safety, quality, predictability, and other key delivery metrics.

Companies who are choosing to implement AWP need to recognize that the effort put in up front will reap rewards in the short term, and that these rewards will continue to grow in the long term as their AWP maturity improves.

Consider AWP as part of a continuous improvement effort:

Processes will be refined. It is unlikely that the first version of your AWP procedure or plan will be used for the next ten years. Incorporate lessons learned. Keep your process agile. Find out what works for you and adapt as you go. There is no prize for stubbornly sticking to your first idea.

People will make or break your AWP implementation. If you can’t get your people trained up and bought into the process, they will find ways to ensure that it doesn’t work. But once they understand and realize the value, and how it can help them be more effective at their job, their personal AWP Maturity will increase and their experience of executing AWP projects will pay dividends for the company.

Technology is rapidly changing, and your AWP software needs to be as agile as the processes it is looking to support. Find AWP software that can meet you where you are with your AWP Maturity, but also has the capability to grow with and expand your AWP experience.

So, view AWP as a journey. Understand the destination and the goal. Plot a path for reaching that goal. And then get started. The only way to make it to AWP Maturity, and realize all the benefits that AWP can bring, is to start.

Fortunately, there are ways that your AWP journey can be accelerated. You don’t have to do this alone.

Firstly, O3 is in the process of developing an AWP Implementation Toolkit, which will give you all of the procedures, templates and real-world examples that you need to understand the full AWP process and make it relatable to your project teams. The deliverables are being produced and released throughout 2022. They can be found on our website and will be updated regularly with new content. This includes a recent offering of a free AWP procedure in native Word format you can use as the basis for your own company process.

Secondly, O3’s market-leading AWP software incorporates AWP best practices, so all of the key elements of AWP implementation are already baked in. It also includes all the lessons learned and developments from being used on hundreds of projects throughout the world, so you can leverage this experience and get on the path to maturity sooner, with a solid foundation provided by the best AWP software on the market.

AWP will bring benefits, right from the start, and these will continue to grow as you mature.
That AWP maturity can only be achieved by getting started, and O3 can help you reach your goals faster.