'Tis complex, isn't it?

Selina Roskam shouted in the previous The Pen, "Cut it out! Start working together! That sounded so logical to our ears that we put our money where our mouth was for this column and climbed into the pen together. 

You, as a reader of Concrete & Steel Construction, have probably known for some time that things have to be done with less in the infrastructure sector: there are fewer people available for execution, as well as less knowledge and expertise, fewer raw materials, less energy, less nitrogen space and not enough money to address the maintenance challenge. What we don't have less of? Complexity, of which we have no shortage! Examples abound: complex laws and regulations, complex procedures and complex cooperation contracts we have organized with each other. Sometimes it is justifiable: the world of construction and infrastructure projects is also complex, but sometimes it could be simpler. We see people get bogged down in complexity and fuss. They then get no further than to sigh: "Well, it is complex isn't it? Freely translated, that means: "I don't know either!

The call to simplify is great. It sounds logical, but that this is not so simple either, we can see in the politics of The Hague. Many good ideas are raised, but unfortunately a good portion of them get stranded in today's complexity. 

Time is catching up with us. The infrastructure sector is the backbone of our economy and society. We need to get more work out of our hands with the same number of people in the construction and infrastructure sector in order to tackle all the tasks that lie ahead in the Netherlands. This can only succeed if we become more decisive. That applies to everyone in the infrastructure sector. From contractor to minister. Rijkswaterstaat has announced its intention to adapt the organization and transform it into a dedicated asset management organization. This will be a change but one that will help the organisation further: less complexity in-house will mean more attention to the task at hand outside and better links with the parties with which Rijkswaterstaat works. With the most important goal in mind: to carry out many more projects, programs and tasks! We have to push the limits of our own manufacturability.

This is noted industry-wide. Getting more work out of the hands means getting to know each other in a new way. Doing projects in the same combination more often, because you know each other and can rely on each other. All sorts of unexpected things can still happen and we have to deal with them together. If you know that and are willing to find solutions together when necessary, we will get there. It helps enormously to accept that everything will become less and to see this as a given. A sketch of the future that is getting closer and closer. Let's get started together. Let's start and really take a different approach. That seems a lot simpler, than solving today's complexity. 

The Pen - Astrid Ens and Ilja Werkhoven – Senior Advisors Administrative Staff Rijkswaterstaat.