I recently had the good fortune of presenting at an Asset Management Community of Practice. My session focused on my organisation’s current journey, but one specific concept resonated above all others: our belief in Pragmatic Asset Management.
The Cambridge Dictionary defines Pragmatic as:
“Solving problems in a sensible way that suits the conditions that really exist now, rather than obeying fixed theories, ideas, or rules.”
“Pragmatic Asset Management” isn’t an official term found in an ISO standard; it is an approach forged through experience. In short, it’s about keeping your eyes on the long-term horizon while delivering incremental gains that solve real-world problems today.
Moving Beyond the “Theoreticaly Perfect”
Let’s be honest: we’ve all sat through presentations and debates focused on the SAMP, the AMP, or ISO 19650. While these are the cornerstones of our profession, many of these sessions fail to focus on what can actually be achieved now. They miss the tangible “things” that improve the lives of the people within the organisation.
Most professionals recognise that it isn’t usually technical constraints that prevent a successful transition to “true” asset management, it’s the people. In my experience, it’s not that people are inherently against change; it’s that they don’t understand the “Why”. We can extol the virtues of “better decision-making” or “strategic stability” all day, but many stakeholders simply aren’t interested in high-level jargon. We need to demonstrate how the “little things” solve their tangible pain points, whether that is a reliable supply of parts to prevent a maintenance backlog or the ability to retrieve information quickly to make an informed choice on-site.
Top-Down Support vs. Bottom-Up Delivery
I am not suggesting that SAMPs and other foundational documents aren’t required, they absolutely are. But organisations often get so paralyzed by theory and priority debates that they miss the chance to make Asset Management “real” for the workforce.
Senior Leadership Team (SLT) support is essential for providing the “air cover” to act, but there must be a line between leadership setting objectives and the tactical delivery of outcomes.
For instance, I recently drove the use of Government UPRNs (Unique Property Reference Numbers) to establish data feeds from national registers. This gave our users instant confidence in data quality and timeliness. I didn’t seek a boardroom mandate for this; it was a pragmatic decision I was empowered to make to solve a data gap. I acted as the link between the tactical and the strategic, ensuring both worked in harmony.
Augmenting the “Holy Trinity”
We are currently exploring how to get asset information into the hands of our workforce in a more efficient way. While some believe the answer is a suite of complex Power BI reports, that isn’t the whole story.
Consider the “Holy Trinity” of Asset Management: Cost, Risk, and Performance. Imagine a technician dealing with a non-critical asset. They need to decide whether to delay a repair. They don’t have the time or the specialised skillset to run a full Net Present Value (NPV), Net Present Cost (NPC), or Internal Rate of Return (IRR) calculation.
So, what do we do?
We look to produce models that handle plain-language questions, such as: “Is this building at risk if I delay this work?” . The system handles the background complexity of the “Trinity” and returns a simple, data-led answer to aid their decision. We get the workforce engaged with Asset Management principles without burying them in the jargon that usually turns them off.
The Bottom Line
Pragmatic Asset Management is about recognising the “here and now”. It means working within your existing technological and cultural constraints to deliver real improvements that matter to the majority, rather than just ticking a theoretical box for the minority.
How are you making Asset Management “real” for your workforce? Are you stuck in the SAMP, or are you delivering on the ground?
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