The Risky Planner™

Send us Fan Mail Albert Brier will be at the AACE International Conference and Expo at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. He'll be recording interviews live on the show floor. If you want to join him on The Risky Planner or share what you're seeing in project management right now, find Albert at the conference.  Presented by Dokainish & Company www.dokainish.com The Risky Planner podcast de...

Send us Fan Mail If your program sets contingency by summing project P80s, your confidence interval is lower than you approved. No AACE standard addresses this. Albert Brier, Roger Bradfield, and Rachel Fleming present the only framework that does, June 30 in Las Vegas. Every organization running a multi-project program is making the same mathematical error when they set their contingency budget....

Send us Fan Mail Alberta and Ottawa signed a memorandum of understanding on a west coast crude pipeline. No private proponent has stepped forward, no scope has been defined, and the two provinces the pipeline must cross have not agreed to it. Nate Habermeyer and Albert Brier break down why the MOU matters and why it does not yet constitute a project. They examine the two structural barriers blocki...

Send us Fan Mail Canada has committed a trillion dollars in capital investments across nuclear, mining, infrastructure, and LNG. Research on 16,000+ projects says 91.5% of megaprojects exceed budget, schedule, or both — and the overrun pattern in nuclear routinely reaches 100%. Nate and Albert break down why Darlington Unit 4's success does not automatically transfer to Pickering, the Darling...

Send us Fan Mail The Strait of Hormuz lost 95% of its traffic in a single week. Oil prices hit $120. Aluminium, urea, LNG, and petrochemical feedstocks are all disrupted simultaneously. Force majeure declarations are cascading from Gulf producers. Nate and Albert break down what the Iran war means for capital project portfolios. They cover the 90 to 180 day procurement lag before repriced commodit...

Send us Fan Mail A year ago on The Risky Planner, Albert Brier and Nate Habermeyer made a series of predictions about where capital projects were headed. Mining electrification. AI adoption in project controls. Autonomous equipment risk. Data center energy. Nuclear deals. Mega project cost performance. This episode puts each prediction on trial against sourced data from 2025 and early 2026. What y...

Send us Fan Mail HELP PICK FUTURE TOPICS, TAKE OUR SURVEY. Most capital projects do not fail during execution. They fail when early approvals accept uncertainty that later becomes unmanageable. In this long-cut episode of The Risky Planner Podcast, Nate Habermeyer and Albert Brier revisit well-known megaprojects to examine what information was available at the start, what risks were visible, and w...

Send us Fan Mail Hosts Nate Habermeyer and Albert Brier recorded this finale in person — a first for the show — to reflect on what shaped the world of capital projects in 2025, which episodes hit hardest, and where they're headed in 2026. Season 1 covered ground: AI tools and their real-world limits in project controls. SMs, BIM, climate risk. Tariffs and political uncertainty rippling throug...

Send us Fan Mail Your next billion-dollar capital project faces a single point of failure: the people required to plan and execute it just do not exist. The industry faces a severe labor deficit. Data confirms that 94% of construction contractors cannot fill open project controls positions Additionally, 41% of the current workforce will retire by 2031. You cannot hire your way out of this shortage...

Send us Fan Mail Offshoring project management works for software development. It fails for capital construction. The difference: the feedback loop between physical site conditions and project control decisions. Albert Brier and Nate Habermeyer examine why remote project management models that succeed in IT create invisible risks on construction sites—risks that surface when projects run months be...

Send us Fan Mail Your portfolio hits 98% of its spending target. Leadership celebrates. But individual projects tell a different story: delayed scope, panic Q4 purchases, work pushed to next year. Albert Brier and Nate Habermeyer dissect why annualized capital budgets consistently fail to deliver planned value despite meeting spending goals. The data is clear: 20% of projects run behind schedule a...

Send us Fan Mail Hear extended interviews from the AACE conference floor with 13 project controls professionals from Hess Corporation, Pattern Energy, and more, and software companies including Safran, Smart PM Technologies, and TurboChart. Direct insights from the interviews: The future of capital projects varies by perspective. Answers ranged from "AI enabled management" (Frank Pangalo...

Send us Fan Mail Albert and Nate talk through a quiet shift happening on capital projects: climate adaptation is no longer a long-term planning exercise — it’s a short-term delivery problem. Schedules that used to anchor around stable permitting windows, predictable summer outages, and long-established build seasons are now under pressure. What project leaders are starting to see: Wildfire season...

Send us Fan Mail Albert Brier returns from the AACE conference in Anaheim with insights from 13 industry professionals on the future of capital projects. From the dominance of Excel to the rise of AI-enabled scheduling tools, this episode explores how project controls professionals are navigating digital transformation while facing unprecedented uncertainty. Hear firsthand perspectives on whether...

Send us Fan Mail Learn how digital twins and BIM technology revolutionize capital project management. Discover implementation strategies, cost benefits, and change management tips for project success.  Join Albert and Nate as they explore the cutting-edge world of Building Information Modeling (BIM) and digital twins in capital project management. This episode breaks down complex technologies into...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of "The Risky Planner" podcast, hosts Nate Habermeyer and Albert Brier tackle the pressing issue of uncertainty in capital investments during 2025's volatile economic climate. The hosts discuss how inflation, interest rates, supply chain problems, and trade tensions are creating unprecedented challenges for capital project planning. Albert shares his...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of The Risky Planner , Nate Habermeyer talks to Albert Brier, who is live from Dubai, where he's leading the setup of a PMO for one of the most ambitious real estate developments in the world. ThSey explore how digital transformation is redefining project management in MENA, with a strong focus on project controls, budgeting, scheduling, and risk management. A...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the Risky Planner Podcast, hosts Nate and Albert reunite after Albert's travels to Dubai to discuss the impact of Trump's recently announced tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. They explore how these tariffs affect capital projects across various industries, particularly construction and energy infrastructure. Albert provides context about the evolu...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the Risky Planner Podcast , hosts Nate and Albert kick off the new year with reflections on the post-holidays and how AI is reshaping careers in project management and risk analysis. Key Discussion Points: AI as a Force Multiplier : Albert shares his experience using AI tools over the break, discussing how AI is transforming professionals from single-discipline...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of The Risky Planner Podcast , we dive into the explosive growth of data centers, the energy demands of AI, and how project managers can navigate the complexities of cost control, risk mitigation, and scalability. We explore the "Design One, Build Many" model, investor perspectives on infrastructure risk, and the evolving landscape of AI-powered automatio...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Albert and Nate dive into the world of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) —what they are, why they matter, and how they could reshape the nuclear energy landscape. They unpack the latest headlines, from Trump's energy policy and SaskNuclear’s ambitious plans to the delays and hurdles facing SMR projects worldwide . Listeners will learn: ✅ What makes SMRs a game-c...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of The Risky Planner Podcast , Albert and Nate take you inside MINExpo , the largest mining technology expo in the world, where massive, cutting-edge machinery meets the future of electrification and automation . They share their firsthand experiences with autonomous haul trucks, electric shovels, and mining's shift towards sustainability —all while injecting...

Send us Fan Mail We’re excited to launch The Risky Planner , a podcast for people who work in capital projects and know how chaotic and high-stakes it can be. This show is for project managers, project controls professionals, risk leaders, and executives. It's for the professionals tired of seeing the same failures repeat on projects with unrealistic budgets, impossible schedules, no real ris...