Robert Walsh

Coffs Harbour, NSW | 0488 ROBERT | r*b@robmwalsh.net | bertlebee

Project Controller | Project Manager | Developer | Cost Schedule Analyst | EVM Practitioner | Data Analyst

Profile

I am a consultant with almost 20 years’ experience in project controls and adjacent fields across Defence and government, but that’s far from all I can do. I am driven by a deep fascination with how things work, and draw from my wide cross-domain knowledge base to develop novel solutions to interesting problems. I love teaching others and bridging the gap between technical and non-technical teams.

I moved to Coffs Harbour in 2018 and fell in love with it immediately. I want to apply my skills to work that is interesting and meaningful to me and ideally for the benefit of my community/region.

Skills

  • Learning: rapid absorption of new information and skills and being able to link concepts across domains, getting me to practical application as soon as possible; I consider this my most valuable skill.
  • Project controls and delivery: project management, planning, scheduling, earned value management, baseline management, risk and issue management, cost control, and reporting across the full project lifecycle.
  • Data analysis: building models, pipelines, validation tooling and automated reporting, reverse engineering.
  • Information Technology: software deployment and upgrades, database administration, software integration.
  • Software development: interested in graph theory, functional programming, algebraic data types/composition, version control, determinism, parsers and compilers.
  • Process and governance: process development, review, improvement and auditing; automating error prone, time consuming and/or boring processes; interpreting contractual and statutory requirements.
  • People and communication: leading small teams, training and mentoring, stakeholder coordination, clear written and verbal communication, explaining technical concepts to non-technical audiences.
  • IoT: electronics, MQTT, automation.
  • AI: responsible use of AI to improve productivity, playing to its advantages while being mindful of its challenges; mcp servers, context management.
  • Renovations/landscaping: moving doors/walls/windows, remediating rot, roofing, insulation, plastering, painting, hanging doors, installing architraves and skirting boards, cladding, concreting, paving, retaining walls, irrigation systems.

Experience

Software Engineer Intern, Ziverge (2022-2023)

I took a break from consulting to further develop my software development skills; built and integrated a vs code extension, compiler plugins, and presentation compiler plugins for an experimental language server.

Senior Consultant, Crown Management (2013-2018), Skeiny (2018-2025)

I have worked on a wide variety of contracts delivering project controls, data and software solutions to Defence Industry and Government clients across domains.

Some of my engagements:

  • EVM System Review, ASC (2025): assessed ASC’s compliance with the AS4817 earned value standard and the Defence Supplement as part of a review team.
  • Forensic Schedule Analysis, Siemens Mobility (2025): developed a PowerQuery pipeline supporting forensic analysis of a project schedule.
  • Project Controls Support, BAE Systems (2023-2024): developed escalation/de-escalation processes and provided training and support to the project controls teams.
  • EVM System Review, BAE Systems (2022): led the “tools and automation” aspect of the review and provided tool specific training to IT support staff.
  • OPP Upgrade Support PM, CASG (2021-2022): led a team supporting a major software version upgrade, including training, demonstrations, data cleanup, support to the IT team and handover.
  • End of Month Support, Safran (2021): Covered an unplanned departure, assisting with end of month reporting.
  • Power BI Support, CIVMEC (2020): reviewed and improved a Power BI comparison tool that checks the accuracy of exported project schedules.
  • Control Account Authorisation Workflow, Thales (2020): built a custom JIRA workflow that loaded data directly from Cobra, improving data accuracy and providing an auditable trail of changes.
  • OPP/Cobra Upgrade and EVMS, Luerssen Australia (2019-2020): configured OPP and Cobra to Luerssen’s EVMS processes, upgraded both, and delivered conversion training.
  • Status Update Automation, L3Harris (2019): automated generation of excel spreadsheets to support collection of status updates.
  • Data Extraction, Airbus (2019): wrote a custom script to extract calculated data from software as part of a month-end data pipeline.
  • OPP Database Cleanup, CASG (2019): extensive analysis to identify and then remove obsolete data from production databases.
  • Power BI Data Ingestion, Secora (2019): built a series of Power BI queries to ingest multiple excel spreadsheets into a fact table.
  • Project Controls Support, Lockheed Martin Australia (2018-2019): ongoing support including training, troubleshooting and system administration.
  • Cobra Setup & Migration, Thales (2018): configured and documented system setup and migrated project data.
  • Cost Schedule Analyst & Systems Support, Lockheed Martin Australia (2017-2018): improved the EVM plan, built a new OPP/Cobra environment, provided training and mentoring, and supported several smaller projects as CSA.
  • EUC Scheduling Lead, Leidos Australia (2016-2017): Covered an unplanned departure mid re-plan on the CIOG EUC program, provided training, mentoring and handover to my eventual replacement.
  • Cobra Pilot Program PM, CASG (2016): led a small team producing work instructions, reports and Cobra custom tooling for cost/schedule integration on a pilot project.
  • CP Cost Schedule Analyst, Lockheed Martin Australia (2015-2016): worked on the Project Controls team on the CIOG CP program; automated time consuming processes.
  • EUC Bid Development CSA, Lockheed Martin Australia (2015): worked as part of a team to develop the bid schedule and budget for the CIOG EUC program.
  • CAM Pack Development, Skeiny (2014): prepared a series of custom views and healthchecks to facilitate CAM onboarding and management.
  • Chinook Project Scheduler, DMO (2013-2015): Project scheduler for the Chinook replacement project from planning through to Initial Materiel Release, assisting with budget, contract management and an ASDEFCON tender.

Project Scheduler, Telstra (2012-2013)

Contributed to the replan of the DHS Transition and Transformation program at the end of its discovery phase under a tight timeframe through iterative stakeholder workshops; improved project reporting.

Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO) (2007-2012)

I started my project controls career with a DMO scheduling traineeship and rapidly progressed through to DMCP(N) Planning & Controls Director

Positions

  • Planning & Controls Director, DMCP(N) (2011-2012): directed the planning and controls team, trained schedulers and project managers, and led a risk-management overhaul to align with a Navy standard.
  • Project Scheduler, DMCP(N) (2009-2011): managed multiple schedules across the project lifecycle, automated time consuming processes.
  • Project Scheduler, SATCOM Systems Program Office (2007-2009): completed a scheduling traineeship, contributed to schedule management for a major program, minor projects and rapid acquisitions, with early EVM exposure through a Cobra trial.

Education and training

  • Diploma of Project Management, TAFE NSW
  • Leadership Training, Melbourne Business School
  • Complex Procurement, Australian Department of Defence
  • Certificate I in Information Technology
  • Certificate I in Automotive
  • Extensive training courses over my career
  • Ziverge software development internship
  • Extensive self directed learning
    • AI/Machine Learning (since early 2000s, not just using LLMs)
    • Data Analysis/Visualisation
    • Home Automation
    • Software Development
    • Electronics
    • Maths
    • Anything I need to get a job done!

Interests

  • Recreation: Surfing, beach walks, bouldering, mountain biking, snowboarding
  • Creating: Renovation, home automation, 3D printing, electronics, programming
  • Learning: As much as I can! I am driven by a desire to understand how things work
  • Volunteering:
    • The Rabbit Sanctuary (since 2023): maintenance, foster care, and transporting rescues to vets, foster carers and forever homes.
    • Officer - Coffs Harbour Chapter - TGBC (2022-2025): facilitated discussion at monthly chapter meets, attended monthly officer training, and took an interest in the wellbeing of chapter members.
    • Lismore Flood Recovery (2022): deliveries of fuel and donations, cleaning, salvage and restoration of tools and electronic equipment.
    • Open Source Software (since 2019): bug fixes, new features, refactoring, performance improvements across all sorts of projects. Most consistent contributions:

Referees

Available on request

Glossary

AS4817
Australian Standard for Earned Value Management (EVM)
ASC
ASC Pty Ltd (formerly Australian Submarine Corporation)
ASDEFCON
Australian Standard for Defence Contracting
CAM
Control Account Manager; effectively PM for part of a project
CASG
Capability Acquisition and Sustainment Group; formed from the DMO in 2015, merged into the Defence Delivery Group in 2026
CP
Centralised Processing; a CIOG Data Centre Consolidation program
CIOG
Chief Information Officer Group (Australian Defence; since renamed Defence Digital Group)
Cobra
Deltek Cobra; a cost processor for Earned Value Management
CSA
Cost Schedule Analyst
DHS
Department of Human Services
DMCP(N)
Directorate of Minor Capital Projects (Navy)
DMO
Defence Materiel Organisation; succeeded by the CASG in 2015
EUC
End User Computing; CIOG program upgrading Department of Defence from Windows XP to Windows 7 and then Windows 10
EVM
Earned Value Management
EVMS
Earned Value Management System
IoT
Internet of Things
JIRA
Atlassian’s issue and workflow tracking tool
LLM
Large Language Model
MQTT
a lightweight publish/subscribe messaging protocol commonly used for IoT
NSW
New South Wales
OPP
Deltek Open Plan Professional; an enterprise grade scheduling tool
Power BI
Microsoft Power BI; a business analytics and reporting tool
PowerQuery
Microsoft’s data transformation engine, used in Excel and Power BI
SATCOM
Satellite Communications
TAFE
Technical and Further Education
TGBC
Tough Guy Book Club; a men’s mental health organisation masquerading as a book club with the motto “read more, talk more, have more friends”