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Bertrand GUERARD

CEO at PROPRISM

Waterloo, Belgium

With 20+ years leading project controls, PMO, and predictive scheduling across complex CAPEX portfolios in life sciences, energy, infrastructure, nuclear, and offshore industries, I help organisations transform how they plan, govern, and deliver major projects.

Founder of PROPRISM, I advise project leaders, engineering directors, and PMO heads on turning project controls into a strategic advantage — integrating schedule, cost, risk, change, and contracts into true decision intelligence.

My work sits at the intersection of data, behaviour, and strategy: building systems where visibility drives trust, trust drives predictability, and predictability accelerates CAPEX delivery.

I’ve supported multinational organisations (GSK, UCB, Takeda, MSD, Jan De Nul, Sweco, DPS Group…) and mentored PMO leaders globally. I teach Project Management at Université Paris-Saclay, speak on schedule-risk integration and high-maturity controls, and publish daily insights to 20,000+ project professionals on LinkedIn.

Creator of the Strategic Controls Framework™, I specialise in:
• Predictive & AI-enabled scheduling
• Portfolio governance & decision velocity
• Schedule–cost convergence
• Integrated risk & Monte Carlo analysis
• Controlled change & scope governance
• PMO design for large CAPEX environments

My mission: help 100 million managers build reliable, confident, data-driven projects, and reduce the €2T lost every year due to poor project controls.

Areas of Influence: Project Management, Project Controls, PMO, Portfolio Governance, Predictive Analytics, AI in Projects, Schedule Risk Analysis, Project Leadership, Planning & Scheduling, CAPEX Strategy.

Available For: Advising, Authoring, Consulting, Influencing, Speaking
Travels From: Brussels
Speaking Topics: AI Governance, Strategic Project Controls & Decision Intelligence, Predictive Scheduling & AI-Driven Risk Analysis, PMO Excellence & CAPEX Delivery Pe

Speaking Fee $1 (In-Person), $1 (Virtual)

Bertrand GUERARD Points
Academic 40
Author 31
Influencer 143
Speaker 0
Entrepreneur 20
Total 234

Points based upon Thinkers360 patent-pending algorithm.

Thought Leader Profile

Portfolio Mix

Company Information

Company Type: Company
Minimum Project Size: $100,000+
Average Hourly Rate: $150-$199
Number of Employees: 1-10
Company Founded Date: 2015
Media Experience: 10

Areas of Expertise

AI
AI Governance
Change Management
Coaching
Construction
Data Center
Energy
Engineering
Healthcare
Leadership 31.01
Management 32.87
Procurement
Project Management 33.95
Risk Management
Transformation

Industry Experience

Chemicals
Cross Industry
Engineering & Construction
Healthcare
Manufacturing
Oil & Gas
Pharmaceuticals
Professional Services
Real Estate
Utilities

Publications & Experience

26 Article/Blogs
The schedule is not there to make people comfortable. It is there to make reality visible.
LinkedIn
May 16, 2026
The most dangerous schedule is not the one showing delay.
It is the one everyone has quietly stopped trusting.

That moment is subtle.

The milestone still looks achievable.
The dashboard is still mostly green.
The recovery narrative still sounds reasonable.

But something changes in the room.

...

See publication

Tags: Leadership, Management, Project Management

How to Think Though a Project Change
LinkedIn
May 11, 2026
A change log can be perfectly updated… and still tell leadership the truth too late.
PMI once reported that 52% of projects experienced scope creep or uncontrolled scope changes.

Most projects do not ignore change.

They record it.
They classify it.
They price it.
They approve it.
They close it.

But the real question is not:
“Do we have a change log?”


The real question is:
Do we understand the logic of what each change is doing to the project?


...

See publication

Tags: Leadership, Management, Project Management

From Schedule Detail to Executive Consequence
LinkedIn
May 07, 2026
Only 8.5% of large projects are delivered on time and on budget.
That figure from Bent Flyvbjerg’s research should make every sponsor pause.
Yet in many executive reviews, the reflex is still the same:
“Can we see more schedule detail?”

More activities.
More milestones.
More dashboards.
More Primavera screenshots.

But I have rarely seen a sponsor fail because they did not understand activity 4327.

I have seen sponsors struggle because no one translated a slipping interface, disappearing float, or compressed commissioning window into executive consequence.

That is not a schedule detail problem.
It is a schedule literacy problem.

See publication

Tags: Leadership, Management, Project Management

The Golden Rules of Scheduling
LinkedIn
May 06, 2026
8.5% of major projects are delivered on time and on budget.
That number should make every project leader uncomfortable.
But the real question is not:

“Why are projects late?”

The real question is:

Why do we keep approving schedules that were never realistic to begin with?

See publication

Tags: Project Management

Your project controls problem may be an operating model problem
LinkedIn
May 05, 2026
Only 22% of projects fully meet their original objectives.
That should make us uncomfortable.
Because most projects I see are not short of reports.

See publication

Tags: Leadership, Management, Project Management

Can I see your decision log?
Linkedin
May 04, 2026
A reflection on why decision logs are a powerful indicator of project governance maturity, exposing whether teams truly convert signals into decisions, ownership, trade-offs, and action.

See publication

Tags: Leadership, Management, Project Management

When the data was correct... but useless
LinkedIn
May 02, 2026
A strategic project controls reflection on why accurate data is not always useful data.
The post explores how dashboards, reports, and metrics only create value when they translate variance into consequence, decision pressure, and timely intervention.
It argues that the next maturity leap in project controls is not better reporting, but decision-grade intelligence.

See publication

Tags: Leadership, Management, Project Management

A recovery plan without trade-offs is just hope in PowerPoint
Linkedin
May 01, 2026
Recovery plans often look reassuring on slides. But without explicit trade-offs on scope, cost, risk, governance, and decision rights, they are not recovery plans; they are optimism in PowerPoint.

See publication

Tags: Leadership, Management, Project Management

The moment a project stops telling the truth
LinkedIn
April 30, 2026
98% of megaprojects suffer cost overruns of more than 30%.
77% are at least 40% late.
And still, the most dangerous moment in a project is not when the dashboard turns red.

It is when the dashboard stays green
because the truth has already been edited.

See publication

Tags: Leadership, Management, Project Management

Your critical path may not be in construction. It may be sitting in procurement.
Linkedin
April 27, 2026
The discussion sounded like a construction problem

See publication

Tags: Leadership, Management, Project Management

Project Controls is not Overhead. It is margin defense.
LinkedIn
April 25, 2026
A strategic reflection on why Project Controls should not be seen as administrative overhead, but as a margin protection system that helps prevent forecast drift, uncontrolled change, late decisions, contingency leakage, and financial loss.

See publication

Tags: Leadership, Management, Project Management

The scebhdule exists. But nobody uses it for decisions.
LinkedIn
April 24, 2026
A schedule is not a reporting document. It is a decision tool that should help leaders act before delay becomes visible.

This post highlights a common project failure: the schedule exists, but it no longer influences decisions.
Real schedule maturity is not about detail. It is about whether the plan is trusted enough to guide executive decisions.

When decisions are made outside the schedule, projects lose visibility on consequence, path risk, and recovery options.

See publication

Tags: Leadership, Management, Project Management

The real test of schedule maturity
LinkedIn
April 23, 2026
Schedule maturity is not a planning metric. It is an executive capability.
This post argues that the real test of maturity is whether the schedule helps leadership see pressure early, evaluate trade-offs, and make better decisions before delay becomes visible.

See publication

Tags: Leadership, Management, Project Management

Float doesn't disappear randomly? Decisions consume it
LinkedIn
April 22, 2026
Float rarely disappears by accident. It is usually consumed by delayed decisions, unmanaged change, unresolved interfaces, and risks that never make it into the schedule.
By the time the finish date moves, much of the recovery space is often already gone.

See publication

Tags: Leadership, Management, Project Management

Can I see your risk-to-schedule link?
LinkedIn
April 20, 2026
That is one of the fastest ways to test whether a project is truly under control.

Because almost every project can show you:
a risk register,
a schedule,
and a status report.

Far fewer can show you the link between them.

And that is where false confidence starts.

See publication

Tags: Leadership, Management, Project Management

Baseline Approved ≠ Baseline Adopted.
LinkedIn
April 17, 2026
Baseline Approved ≠ Baseline Adopted.

One of the biggest governance mistakes in projects is this:

We confuse baseline approval with baseline adoption.

A schedule gets approved.
A cost baseline gets frozen.
The governance pack says: baseline established.

And everyone assumes control is now in place.

See publication

Tags: Leadership, Management, Project Management

The quiet phase before claims start
LinkedIn
April 16, 2026
By the time the first formal claim is written, the project has often been rehearsing it for months.

Most people think claims begin with a letter.
They do not.

They usually begin earlier.
In a quiet phase.
When control is weakening, but the project still looks manageable.

See publication

Tags: Leadership, Management, Project Management

79% cost overrun. 52% schedule delay.
LinkedIn
April 15, 2026
79% cost overrun. 52% schedule delay.
That was the average in a study of more than 500 major projects.
Which means most projects do not fail suddenly.

They drift out of control long before the dashboard admits it.

Most projects do not fail when the milestone slips.

They fail earlier.

See publication

Tags: Leadership, Management, Project Management

Can I see your float strategy?
LinkedIn
April 13, 2026
Can I see your float strategy?

Not your schedule.
Not your milestone slide.
Not your dashboard.

Your float strategy.

Because that is where project maturity often reveals itself first.

See publication

Tags: Leadership, Management, Project Management

The schedule everyone trusted... Until it failed silently
LinkedIn
April 11, 2026
The Schedule Everyone Trusted… Until It Failed Silently
I learned this the hard way.

The most dangerous schedule is not the one people challenge.

It is the one everyone trusts.

I have seen schedules that looked solid in every meeting.

See publication

Tags: Leadership, Management, Project Management

Your schedule isn't late. It's ignored
LinkedIn
April 10, 2026
Schedules get ignored for 4 reasons.
I have seen this on more projects than I would like.

Not failed projects.
Important projects.
Well-funded projects.
Projects with smart teams and weekly updates.

And still, the schedule was ignored.

See publication

Tags: Leadership, Management, Project Management

Who approved your baseline and when?
Linkedin
April 09, 2026
One of the most revealing questions in project controls is not:
Do you have a baseline?
It is:
Who approved your baseline, and when?

Because a baseline is not just a planning file.
It is a governance commitment.

See publication

Tags: Leadership, Management, Project Management

The Schedule Adoption Matrix
Linkedin
February 12, 2026
Approval is not adoption.
A schedule becomes real the moment it starts influencing decisions.

See publication

Tags: Leadership, Management, Project Management

The WBS.
Linkedin
January 26, 2026
Most project failures start with a document everyone thinks they understand.

See publication

Tags: Leadership, Management, Project Management

Project Controllers don't just wear one hat
Linkedin
December 05, 2025
This model can help you assess, develop & elevate project control capability.

See publication

Tags: Project Management

5 Author Newsletters
When Truth Decomes Unsafe: Why Project Controls Fails First
LinkedIn
May 12, 2026
Project controls often fails before the dashboard turns red, when technical truth becomes politically unsafe.

This article explores how forecasts, schedules, risks, and governance processes can shift from control mechanisms to reassurance tools when organizations delay uncomfortable decisions.

It introduces a practical framework for mature controls: protecting the path from signal to visibility, escalation, decision, and action.

See publication

Tags: Leadership, Management, Project Management

Reporting Is Not Control: From Visibility to Intervention
LinkedIn
May 05, 2026
Reporting Is Not Control: From Visibility to Intervention challenges the common misconception that better dashboards create better control.

The article reframes PMO and project controls maturity around decision intelligence, forecast credibility, decision debt, and earlier intervention, showing how AI can help only when it strengthens governance and accelerates decisions, not just reporting.

See publication

Tags: Leadership, Management, Project Management

Float is not spare time. It is the project's remaining decision capacity
LinkedIn
April 28, 2026
Most projects do not lose control on the day the critical path turns red.
They lose control earlier.
Quietly.

Through slow decisions.
Late approvals.
Procurement drift.
Unresolved interfaces.
Optimistic assumptions.
Changes discussed commercially but not integrated logically.

The schedule often contains the warning.

But the warning is hidden in a signal many leaders still treat as technical:
Float.

In many projects, float is still seen as spare time.

A planning calculation.
A buffer.
A number buried in the schedule until the critical path finally turns red.

But that is a dangerous simplification.

Float is not a discretionary contingency pool.

It is evidence of remaining schedule resilience.

More importantly, it is the project’s remaining decision capacity.

The critical path shows where the project is already exposed.

Float erosion shows where the project is becoming exposed.

That distinction matters.

Because by the time an activity becomes critical, the project has often been losing control for weeks or months.


I wrote this article to explain why float may be one of the most misunderstood signals in project management, and why project leaders, PMOs, sponsors, and project controls teams should treat float erosion as a governance warning, not just a scheduling metric.

Read the full article

Float is the project’s remaining ability to decide before delay decides for you.

Where do you see float being silently consumed most often?
Procurement, approvals, interfaces, change, or slow decisions?

See publication

Tags: Leadership, Management, Project Management

The 7 governance blind spots that make complex projects present as controlled until it is too late
LinkedIn
April 21, 2026
A project can be reviewed regularly, reported professionally, and still be poorly governed.

That is the uncomfortable truth.

In complex projects, governance rarely fails in one visible moment.

It fails earlier.

It fails when signals stop becoming decisions.
When decisions stop becoming interventions.
And when dashboards continue to present control that no longer truly exists.

That is the theme of my latest article:

The 7 governance blind spots that make complex projects present as controlled until it is too late

In it, I explore why governance should be understood not as a reporting ritual, but as a decision system.

Because projects are not saved by visibility alone.

They are saved by the ability to detect drift early, escalate meaningfully, and intervene before recoverability disappears.

The article introduces a lens I believe matters more than most governance frameworks admit:

The Governance Conversion Chain
signal → decision → intervention → outcome

When that chain breaks, governance may still look active.
But it is no longer protecting the outcome.

If you lead projects, PMOs, controls, portfolios, or capital delivery, this article was written for you.

I would value your perspective:
Where do you think governance usually fails first in real life?

See publication

Tags: Leadership, Management, Project Management

Why project controls fail long before the dashboard turns red
LinkedIn
April 14, 2026
Most projects do not lose control when the dashboard turns red.

They lose it earlier.

When the schedule is still updated, but no longer trusted.
When risks are still documented, but no longer converted into forecast or action.
When cost and schedule still exist, but no longer tell the same delivery story.
When governance keeps reviewing tension, but decisions arrive too late to protect the outcome.

That is the pattern I explored in my latest LinkedIn article:

Why project controls fail long before the dashboard turns red

It is a strategic view on the hidden breakdowns that weaken predictability before visible KPI deterioration appears.

If you work in project controls, PMO, CAPEX delivery, or executive governance, this is the question worth asking:


Is your control system still helping leaders act early, or only helping them explain problems later?


Read the article here. And if this is your world, follow my work for deeper thinking on project controls, governance, and delivery predictability.

See publication

Tags: Leadership, Management, Project Management

1 Founder
Founder | Head of Project Management | Project Planning & Controls
PROPRISM
January 01, 2015
Founded a project planning niche consultancy business and run and manage all day-to-day matters of the business. Spearhead clients’ project management, strategic business planning, and performance against customers’ projects implementing systems and processes. Orchestrate delivery of high-quality lifecycle projects for clients such as Jan De Nul, GlaxoSmithKline, MSD, and Sanofi.

See publication

Tags: Project Management

1 Professor
M2 Protection and Management of Innovation in Health
Universite Paris Saclay
January 01, 2020
The Master 2 PIMS provides a unique professional program at the crossroads of science, law, and economics. It prepares graduates to manage health innovation projects by combining expertise in R&D, regulatory affairs, intellectual property, and business strategy. The curriculum integrates lectures, case studies, and internships, fostering strong connections with industry and research

See publication

Tags: Leadership, Management, Project Management

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