I feel very pleased for being able to give this testimony and I cannot let this opportunity go to give my contribution to the project managers, particularly those of cost projects. In spite of my youth, I am sure that I can remark the importance of having a methodology, but mostly to follow it.  I think this is obvious for many experienced managers who have discovered the benefits of working by following a working line, but for the “first-time sailors” like me, it is not always very clear to see how a better planning way is constituted and how to execute a project.  To accept and follow a methodology requires much determination, but mostly discipline: scarce factors in many people.  To be more precise and summarize my contribution, I will use as an example the benefits of using a methodology in a real case that I myself lived during the construction of the second cost model of the Units of Businesses GOSC and FOODS from Cargill Brazil.  In such project, we elaborated a document that we named as cost flow and I would never imagine the amount of positive impact that such document would bring to the project.  For those who are thinking of a 500-page book, Forget about it! The cost flow has 1 page only.  In my first working week, I was a little nervous and anxious.  When we started the presentations about the objectives of the Project, the consultant asked me – ¿What is your actual cost flow estimate? I thought a little and answered – ¿What do you mean with a cost flow estimate? In that moment I perceived the counselor’s surprise of not having a cost flow estimate. I must admit that my question needed certain dose of humility, even more when I was unarmed before such question I had no other choice and from that moment I was willing to follow the orientation he would give me.   Then we started to construct the now famous “cost flow”.  For the conceptualization we used “n” number of resources and I lost account of how many drafts we made until we finally developed a flow, which covered all the operations of the enterprise and answered all the key questions of the business. When the flow was finished on the board, it looked like a child’s drawing, but for me, that was like a Picasso’s masterpiece.  I was amazed! Our effort was starting to live.  After that, we started to design a Power Point sheet and then the document, which played a primary role in the success of the project, was ready.  It was a conquest, but not only for me, but for Cargill.
During the entire project, the flow was always beside the computer.  When it was oriented to the other team members, the Flow was an important tool.  Then, they recognized the capacity of clarifying the concept, which such simple sheet was capable to provide.  Whenever we had a doubt or we were stuck, we turned around to see the cost flow and in a few minutes were enough to find out the answer.  And from that day until today, the more I see the flow; the more I perceive the importance of having invested those two days to develop it.
Even if the construction of the cost flow would have taken a week or two; it did not matter, because the cost of its construction has been compensated many more times.  For us, in this project, the cost flow  has been like a sailor’s compass.  It shows us where we are and where to go.
With this experience, I cannot imagine the execution of a cost project without elaborating first a cost flow.  And to close this contribution, I quote an extract of a book which came to my hands, and speaks about correct decisions, which I credit in a great way:   “The longer I live, the more important I realize the impact of attitude in life. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day of our lives regarding the attitude we embrace for that day. We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the string that we have, and that is attitude. I’m convinced that life is 10% what happens to me, and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you. We are in charge of our attitudes”.  Ford and the American Dream.  Clifton Lambreth. Executives Books  ISBN: 13: 978-1-933715-44-5.
Luiz Bezerra

Tags: Escrito por Luiz Bezerra. Cargill Brasil