Outage season - Festive for the rest of us
For decades, I've called large, planned outages the “most festive time of the year.” Many operators and employees I have worked with over the years snarl at this phrase because they hate the uncertainty that comes with them. Meanwhile, the pipe fitters, planners, reliability engineers, and other asset management professionals know this is their time to shine.
I am not exactly sure where the phrase originated. I know I have been saying it for a while. Maybe it is a play on Festivus from Seinfeld, or perhaps it is simply a reflection of the seasonality of these outages and how they happen at specific times each year.
Regardless, the operator in me embraces this time because it is when you are truly encapsulating the intent of “profit protection.” You have been planning this outage for more than a year, simulating war games, and preparing to deploy an executable plan that is perfect only if you cannot sleep the night before it starts. From an anxiety perspective, you have been postponing certain jobs and functional failures, hoping the asset(s) will last until the outage starts. Praying and using a bottle of holy water isn’t beneath me prolong bearing knock or a leak to last just a few more weeks. I know that making it from one outage to the next is sometimes a matter of luck or a professional version of gambling. Yet getting to that start day, it requires a relentless devotion to planning, knowing that once the outage starts, there is a darn good chance that something could go awry quickly.
Reflecting on the word “festive” and how it mates up with “outage” encouraged me to dig a little deeper into why I enjoy outage season so much. I don’t think it's a sickness. Yes, maybe it is an obsession. But it is more like a validation of how strong your planning skills and patience are. Organized and prescriptive chaos. An upset condition for an outside, but a fine tuned plan for us on the inside.
Properly planned and executed outages are hard, and they are rarer than common. They are not for the faint of heart. I have seen them break people. I have seen them decouple teams, setting a team’s culture back for quarters. They are a feast of effort, challenges, and heartbreak. Within these festive emotions, there will be tension, long hours, and tough decisions that must be made immediately. Some would even say that “outage season fucking sucks.”
But not me.
I even share the outage weeks with my family a year in advance to forewarn them of my priorities. Others do the same, knowing that outage season is a sacrifice made not only by those who participate in the outages but also by the families who support us as we execute them. The teams and their families know that these are times of giving. A time when you say to someone, “You go home. I have the helm.” Or vice versa, you get told to go home only long enough to take a shower, have a two-finger shot of bourbon, and then wake up to an alarm that came too early.
It is a time to show how willing you are to give and collaborate. It is a time that tests team members and their ability to find continuity in the overarching mission rather than getting caught up in just a local skirmish. It challenges individuals to recognize when they are only beginning the fourth quarter, knowing they need to have the stamina to go into overtime if necessary.
This is what outage season means to me. It is, and will remain, the most festive time of the year. It is a time to give it your all, work together, and then get the assets back up and running.
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