Taking Big Risks and Building Agile Teams

The Mount Apo Geothermal Plant in Cotabato, is owned by the Energy Development Corporation. It sits in the middle of a lush rain forest, on the highest mountain in the Philippines, providing over a hundred megawatts of clean and sustainable energy.

I was there in 2005 to execute a really cool project. I didn't know it then but it was to be my last one as an automation engineer.

It was a very risky endeavor - we ripped and replaced a faulty control system while the power plant was live, and we had to do it in two weeks.

This involved replacing panels, wiring and installing new redundant controllers and servers, and programming all the software on two remote outstations on the #Edge, plus one central control room.

I learned a lot from this project -

Lesson number 1: Swing for the fences - Take big measured risks for bigger payback.

In this case, payback meant providing continuous clean electricity to the 25 million people who live in the island of Mindanao.

There's also a valuable lesson in how to build an agile multi-discipline project team:

Lesson number 2: Find skilled people who are able to adapt and improvise, and doesn't panic when things don't go as planned.

You know that Mike Tyson quote - "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth” - it's so true when it comes to project execution, especially in very remote locations.

So here I am 20 years later, looking back at all of what I've learned. What do I say to my younger self? I guess, it's "Thank you so much - you taught me lessons that have served me well and that I still use to this day."