I’ve seen the worst of the worst…
…and How it can be better

My name is Matthew Oleniuk, and I’ve spent the past 15+ years studying billions of dollars’ worth of government projects: picking them apart, talking to project teams, trying to figure out how they can be better.

While I eventually became a senior audit executive in multiple government departments – as well as a Project Management Professional (PMP) and Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) – when I began my career I was on the other side of the project fence.

I spent the first half of my career working in a half-dozen countries, focusing mostly on project management and client services. I’d never really heard anything about “risk management,” except maybe in Seinfeld references or in passing references to some pain in the rear that “they” (whoever “they” were) made us do from time to time.

Funny how the biggest risks never got managed…

The biggest splash of cold water came when I was on a massive overseas project – a project that was going to take the company to new levels. We’d won a HUGE contract to establish the first-ever national lottery in an African country. The scope was international, the scale was bigger than anything we’d worked on, and the revenue would carry us into the wealthy sunsets of many years to come.

And so we dove in, ploughed in tons of resources (and blood and sweat) over the course of many months…

And then the client government decided not only to cancel the project, but to withhold payment as well.

It was all for naught.

My first introduction to risk rearing its ugly head

Of all the logistical issues we thought we’d planned for, “not getting paid” somehow didn’t make it onto the list.

But I moved on in my career, popping in and out of a few countries before settling back in Canada, this time in the capital: Ottawa. After working on a couple of pretty unique projects (military communications and setting up mobile nuclear emergency detection vans!), I found myself helping to build a government-wide learning and development curriculum for internal auditors.

After researching what the heck “internal audit” actually was, we developed training programs and classification systems and networking events and performance management guidance and a whole suite of tools that management absolutely loved.

And then the funding got cut.

Notice a theme, here?

Before the ship had well and fully sunk, I decided to jump onto the other side of the tracks (mixing my metaphors) and give the internal audit world a go.

And go it went, as I quickly became manager and executive over the departments of Treasury, Immigration, Industry, Border Services, and finally the federal banking regulator as Chief Audit Executive.

Not only were all of these roles challenging and interesting, but they exposed me to all of the inner workings of every organization.

And, boy: did I see a lot.

I performed deep dives on everything from multi-billion-dollar infrastructure projects to funding for English-language lessons for new immigrants, and everything in between. I’ve seen national programs and community programs, splashy programs that were designed to make politicians popular, and failed programs that led to politicians’ downfalls… Car factory red ribbon ceremonies, economy changers, and “future-proofing” programs…

I’ve seen them all, and I’ve studied them all to pieces.

Unfortunately, most of those projects fell to pieces, too.

But you can learn from them.

the easiest way to learn is from other peoples’ mistakes

The most frustrating part of auditing all of these projects is that I knew the leaders really wanted to deliver impactful programs. I knew that they really cared about doing good for their communities and their country.

They just weren’t equipped to deal with all of the hurdles they faced.

But I know how to spot those hurdles and manage them in advance. I know how to sift through all of the details and flare a spotlight on only the issues that really need managing. I’ve got a veritable library full of mistakes that you can access.

I know to help leaders tackle their risks and deliver successful projects.

Just get in touch and we’ll talk about how I can help make your project a success.