About the Author
Manavasi K. Ramesh has spent more than four decades bringing power to communities, quite literally. A Project Management and Consulting Specialist in the power sector, he has devoted his career to one of the most demanding disciplines in modern infrastructure: the execution of high-voltage transmission lines and substations, the vast networks that carry electricity across landscapes and into everyday life.
His expertise runs the full length of that work. From the first cut of a tower foundation excavation to the final stringing of 400 kV and 220 kV lines, from gas-insulated substation (GIS) installation to the intricate choreography of end-to-end project delivery, he has commanded every stage of the transmission lifecycle. It is a rare fluency in both the ground and the boardroom: the engineer who understands the soil beneath a tower and the manager who understands the contract, the schedule, and the people who must be aligned to make the whole thing succeed.
Book Description
Which Cylinder Has Lost Power? Rethinking How We Diagnose Infrastructure Projects
After more than 40 years in the power sector, I have finally put my experience into a book: Managing Infrastructure Projects: A Practitioner's Guide.
I have worked on the execution of transmission systems, including EHV lines and GIS and AIS substations, across India, Dubai and Kenya. Throughout, I kept seeing the same pattern. Projects rarely fail for one reason. A delayed right of way, an idle contractor and an unrealistic schedule stack up together, and by the time the monthly report shows the overrun, three or four things have already gone wrong.
That is why I developed the Four-Cylinder Framework. A project is like an engine with four cylinders, and all four must fire together:
⚙️ Focus: What are we building?
⚙️ Planning Blueprint: Are we permitted to build?
⚙️ Perform: Can we build efficiently?
⚙️ Control: Are we in control?
Strength in one cylinder cannot make up for weakness in another. So when a project struggles, ask one question: which cylinder has lost power? A one-page scorecard and a weighted scoring model in the book help you answer it while the project is still running.
The book also looks ahead with an AI Analyser and Assistant. It remembers an organisation's own project history and scans DPRs, schedules, risk registers and site reports against the four cylinders. It acts like an engine warning light that never sleeps, flagging the weak cylinder before it becomes a missed milestone or a claim. People stay in command of every decision, and the organisation's data stays in-house.
The book also has 25+ real case studies and 9 ready-to-use templates.
I wrote it for the engineers and project managers who deliver infrastructure every day. I hope it helps you.