Charting Critical Paths: Abayomi Ologun’s Vision for Transparent, Tech-Driven Infrastructure Planning

By Judith Carbo

In the high-stakes world of infrastructure delivery—where cost overruns, schedule slippages, and stakeholder fatigue can derail even the most promising projects—clarity is king. And few professionals are providing more of it than Abayomi Ologun, a UK-based project planner whose data-first, transparency-driven approach is reshaping how major infrastructure programs are scoped, tracked, and delivered.

From Birmingham’s water utilities to offshore energy terminals, Ologun is not just managing Gantt charts—he is engineering trust across the entire project lifecycle. With more than five years of experience and a robust toolkit that includes Oracle Primavera Cloud, Earned Value Management (EVM), Power BI, and Agile methodologies, Ologun has emerged as a quiet force in the planning rooms of capital-intensive infrastructure projects.

Currently a Project Planner at Severn Trent PLC, one of the UK’s largest water service providers, Ologun oversees the intricate choreography of schedules, risk profiles, and performance metrics across highly regulated environments. His mandate goes beyond plotting tasks—it involves orchestrating alignment among technical teams, executives, contractors, and regulators. At Severn Trent, his mastery of schedule logic and earned value metrics has played a crucial role in keeping multi-million-pound infrastructure programs on time and on budget.

“Transparency in planning isn’t just about communication—it’s about accountability,” says Ologun. “When you give stakeholders clear visibility into project health, you empower smarter decisions.”

This belief in data-backed coordination has followed Ologun throughout his career. At RSK Group (Proeon Systems Ltd), he led planning efforts for safety automation and control system upgrades, including the Borwin 6 HVDC project and terminal unit control replacements. His use of stakeholder-driven dashboards and detailed look-ahead reports reduced delay risk by 25% and earned him the Outstanding Planning Contribution Award in 2024.

But his professional success is rooted in deep academic and technical rigor. Ologun holds a Master’s in Project Management from the University of the West of England and a BEng in Civil Engineering from Osun State University. He is certified in PRINCE2®, Power BI, Agile Business Analysis, and Oracle Primavera Cloud, a rare combination that allows him to sit comfortably at the nexus of engineering, data science, and organizational strategy.

Across roles in Nigeria and the UK, Ologun has built a career around one principle: visibility breeds velocity. Whether managing 113 kilometers of drainage construction in Nigeria or digitizing planning systems for UK utilities, his focus remains the same—equip project leaders with the tools, metrics, and foresight they need to deliver effectively.

Beyond project delivery, Ologun is also shaping the intellectual discourse in his field. He sits on the editorial boards of multiple peer-reviewed journals, including the Engineering Science & Technology Journal and the Gulf Journal of Engineering & Technology. His research reviews and editorial contributions span project controls, risk management, sustainable architecture, and digital infrastructure—making him not only a practitioner but a thought leader in the space.

His planning philosophy is rooted in the integration of critical path visibility, real-time performance tracking, and collaborative scheduling practices. “A project schedule shouldn’t be a static document—it should be a live operating system for decision-making,” Ologun emphasizes. And with tools like Primavera Cloud and Power BI at his disposal, he is helping organizations transition from reactive oversight to proactive insight.

Looking ahead, Ologun is keen to continue driving planning innovation at the intersection of sustainability, automation, and digital transformation. He sees a future where infrastructure planning is predictive, not just descriptive—where earned value forecasts, machine learning models, and scenario-based planning become standard practice across sectors.