Organization of complex diving projects with uncertain planning reliability
We are often asked how we organize such complex diving projects. As everyone can imagine, the most important thing is a meticulous preparation. Research on the exploration project, ideal project time due to weather conditions, safety concept, overnight stay and everything that goes with it. And of course, how could it be otherwise, the perfectly thought-out plan. Departure time, arrival, transport, preparation, push TG, video documentation, etc. Even before we leave there is a plan for this or we have a rough idea of when what should take place.
Allerdings hat sich im Laufe der Jahre gezeigt, dass wir es selten schaffen den perfekten Plan umzusetzen, so wie wir uns das im Vorfeld überlegt haben. Mal dauert der Transport länger oder die Seilbahn will nicht so schnell wie wir usw. Dass Änderungen im Plan nicht zum kompletten Chaos führen, sind wir deswegen über gegangen unsere Pläne für die Explorationsprojekte nicht mehr bis ins letzte Detail durchzuplanen. So hat sich bei uns in den letzten Projekten folgendes Arbeitsmodell etabliert.
- We define goals (material transport, depots, photos and videos, line mending, ...) which have to be reached during the course of the project.
- To have an approximate direction of march, the goals are linked to days when they should be achieved.
- In addition to the goals, there are smaller teams that pursue individual goals. In our case, for example, the teams Support, Video/Photo, Documentation/Measurement and Push have emerged.
- Each participant is assigned to a team in which he or she primarily assists.
- If support is needed in a team, individual participants switch teams for a short time to ensure that the set goal is achieved.
- Each evening before the project, the teams sit together and plan the following day for themselves. The progress of the project and the achievement of the goals of the previous day are taken into account and the goals are adjusted if necessary.
- Afterwards, the entire exploration team meets and goes through the plans for the following day of the individual teams and coordinates them with each other. This results in the dive planning for the following day and takes into account the length of the dives and, for example, the wishes of the video team to be able to make missing recordings, want to dive in a certain order.
- On the day itself, a short briefing takes place after breakfast, where the daily plan is discussed and confirmed.
- At the dive site we have a person responsible for the coordination of the divers. On the one hand, this person documents descent and ascent times. On the other hand, he has the overview of all divers and can, if it is necessary because of unforeseen events, in coordination with the dive teams, the order of the dives adjusted.
For us, this dynamic planning (with goals/milestones in the background) has proven itself. On the one hand we can react quickly to imponderables and on the other hand we never lose sight of the big picture and manage to get many divers in the water at the same time, so that everyone can have fun.
In this sense
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