Papers and Publications by Barry Tuckwood
The following articles have all been published elsewhere and many also appear separately within this website. If you would like to commission an article please ask.
Consultancy Use of Advertising and Publicity
In July/August 2014 I conducted surveys to two separate groups of independent consultants to find out how they used advertising, publicity and other forms of PR. You can download the report here: Tuckwood Consulting Marketing Survey 2014 08
Any questions or views? Please click here to ask.
Becoming Independent: Pathfinder Magazine December 2011
This article explores some of the issues involved in moving into self-employment as an independent consultant or interim manager.
Change Management
The following series of 14 short articles by Barry Tuckwood were all published when he was Programme Manager for a national data management programme funded by central government. They are all designed to be quick reads, and cover a range of issues that are faced when dealing with change in all environments:
1. Synergies
2. Finding a common goal
3. A path to success
4. From resistance to adoption
5. Importance of feedback
6. Using feedback
7. A structure for change management
8. Comfort Zone
9. Working flexibly
10. Innovation within change management
11. Rolling Buy-in
12. Change is Management
13. Creating Change
14. Managing Expectations
Procurement
“A model to manage the water industry supply chain effectively”, by Neil MacKenzie and Barry Tuckwood is in the August edition of Management, Procurement and Law, published by The Institution of Civil Engineers is available at
The authors propose a model for best practice procurement in the utilities industries and a step-by-step set of actions for improving performance. The proposed model begins with a strategic appraisal of procurement activity across an organisation focusing on overall objectives and desired outcomes leading to an effective operating model including the end-to-end management of the supply chain and the policy, resources and enabling technology required for successful delivery.
Process Mapping
Relocation as an Agent of Change
Long term change:
Lessons from Overcoming Geotechnical Problems on Brownfield Sites
Published in 11th International Conference Geotechnical Challenges in Urban Regeneration London, May 2010
This work considers the regeneration of an extensive group of brownfield sites concentrating on the period 1975 to 2009. Crucial lessons are the importance of enabling clients to understand the issues that they face; researching, identifying and resolving problems; and the risks, costs and timescales involved. For success there needs to be the political and financial will to enable long term development to suit society’s changing needs and ensure sustainable economic development.
The pdf is available here.
Overcoming obstacles to data sharing: Barry Tuckwood (March 2011) Published by the Evaluation Centre
Here’s what we know about data. Data should be simple but the purposes for which we use it are complicated. Data needs to be useful to specific customers for their given purposes – but we cannot know what the customer will want to use data for, so we need to trust them to use the raw data in whatever way they choose. This use of data is made even more difficult because of the obstacles to sharing data successfully. The good news is there are common obstacles to data management, regardless of industry or market, and there are ways to improve data and its management for all users. To illustrate this, let’s look at six examples of data sharing problems drawn from different areas of business and domestic life. Originally published by The Evaluation Centre, it is now available here:
Project Success
What is success? Barry Tuckwood (October 2009) Published by the Evaluation Centre
There are hundreds of articles and papers that discuss project success – yet there is no real consensus on what it is. What do we mean by project success? People often refer to the time-cost-quality aspects alone, with some consideration given to the project’s outputs. But while time, cost and quality are easily measured, the real appreciation among stakeholders, by which success might more reasonably be judged, is more difficult to assess. Nor is it sufficient to measure success through return on investment, especially when there are diverse users involved which makes the measurement of benefits complex. The context has to be simple: project success should be clear to everyone involved and the expectations match what can realistically be achieved. In my view, then, project success combines the products and the management of the project. Originally published by The Evaluation Centre it is now available here.
The Use of Information Technology in Construction-related Consultancies:
Building Information Modelling is now recognised as being vitally important to the built environment - not only buildings, but railways, roads, airports, all infrastructure. We foresaw this need many years ago.
In 1989 while working for Ernst and Young I provided a paper with for The Fourth International Conference on Civil & Structural Engineering Computing. It can be found here.
With more detail here
The paper advocated the increased use of the electronic exchange of information – data, drawings, documents – between the various parties engaged in construction, to reduce errors in understanding between architect, engineering consultancies, property consultants, clients and contractors, to save both effort and time. The core message, that sharing information can save time and money, is at least as important today. With significant waste through misunderstandings, better use of standard communication tools can greatly enhance the availability of accurate, up to date information for client, designer, contractor, sub-contractor and materials suppliers. The ultimate benefits are for everyone: a better job for the client, lower costs, and better relationships for all. Implemented successfully, BIM provides benefits financially and environmentally over the whole life of the built environment.