A MINDSET. NOT A TOOL.

Performance drives compliance.
Not the other way around.

Ubiquitous EV is woven so naturally into how a team plans and works that it feels nearly invisible.

Where does your program sit? → See the five tenets
In fairness to treadmills

Maybe it was always a game.
And we killed it.

Ask a Control Account Manager (CAM) what Earned Value feels like and you'll hear treadmill before you hear rhythm. But let's be fair to the treadmill first — because the metaphor only works if we're honest about it.

What a treadmill actually is

Exercise equipment. It keeps you healthy and fit. It's genuinely good for you, and it's flexible — you can use it on the road, in a hotel, in the dark, in the rain. There is nothing wrong with a treadmill.

Nothing close

To the joy of running outdoors in perfect weather.

Simple is not the same as easy. Some of this work is complex and always will be. The discipline is in constantly looking for what can be made simpler — and rewarding whoever does it.
The Five Tenets

What if we never had to say the words "earned value" at all?

Not a requirement. Not a regulation. Not a policy. Just the way we do things — the air we breathe. Five tenets to use as a decision-making lens or internal filter to help you and your team move your EV along the Ubiquitous EV continuum.

Make performance the driver. Everyone wants to succeed and execute — build the system around that instinct instead of against it.
THE TREADMILLThe monthly review opens with what's behind and what's overrun. We rarely ask what we accomplished, completed, or started.
THE UEV WAYLead with accomplishments and let people brag a little. Reward early alerts instead of scrutinizing them. Watch leading indicators, not lagging ones.
Fun, interesting, provocative, interactive — anything but passive. People participate in what engages them and endure what doesn't.
THE TREADMILLTraining is an online test that proves you're worthy of being a CAM. A variance review is where you hear how your write-up failed the checklist.
THE UEV WAYWorking sessions where CAMs work on status, forecasts, and variances — together. Variance reviews that ask what happened, so what, now what? And the project team is there to ask how can we help you?
A natural flow and rhythm. Where it doesn't flow, something needs to change — we're always looking for where the water isn't running right.
THE TREADMILLFive minutes here, fifteen there. It's not that much to ask — until you multiply it by every account, every CAM, every month, every project.
THE UEV WAYMeasure the friction, then remove it. Track performance when it happens rather than waiting for emails and cutoffs.
Open about status, progress, forecast, and estimate at completion — in both directions, because it only works if imperfect data is received gracefully.
THE TREADMILLNothing leaves until it's polished. Review prep means months of artifacts, sanitizing, screenshots, and slides — and then the CAM gets interrogated.
THE UEV WAYPreliminary data goes out early, and both sides accept the deal: it's imperfect, that's okay, we'll improve it.
Perhaps the most essential of the 5 tenets.
THE TREADMILLWe built the system to satisfy the requirement, then handed it over: here, CAM — go do your CAM stuff. Then we score them in stoplight colors and call it non-graded.
THE UEV WAYThe Control Account is where the baseline, performance, actuals, and forecast all intersect. Build processes and tools around the CAM — with respect for what it takes to constantly have to place bets on outcomes.
The Power of Yet, Applied
"I don't know. I don't know yet. But I know who to ask."

Our industry has turnover. Baby boomers are retiring, new CAMs are arriving from industries with little to no Earned Value experience at all. CAMs inherit someone else's Control Account and are expected to speak to it fluently — usually right when an Integrated Baseline Review (IBR) is coming. When we use the power of "I don't know that…yet!", we start answering the meaningful questions: do I understand the work, do I know what "done" means, and will I know whether I've executed to plan?

Nobody was ever supposed to carry it alone.

To get a baseline change moving
→
The Scheduler
A before-and-after schedule analysis
→
The Finance / EV Analyst / Project Controls
Whether the baseline change is even valid
→
The PM
Whether budget comes from MR or UB
→
The PM or Finance / EV Analyst / Project Controls

There's always someone who has the answer. CAMs shouldn't have to know all the answers.

The Untapped Potential

Every element that makes games addictive,
Earned Value already has.

Points. Scores. Progress bars. A projected final score.

Earned Value is inherently built like a game—designed to give teams clear ownership, celebrate real progress, and build confidence in betting on project outcomes.

Points earned
=
BCWP
Your score
=
Performance Metrics
Progress bar
=
% Complete
Projected final score
=
EAC, Projected Finish

A great game keeps rules simple, feedback fast, and every player in the action. EV becomes a burden when it gets wrapped in friction and complexity. Ubiquitous EV puts the scoreboard back where it belongs: in the hands of the team.

The UEV Diagnostic

Compliance-first, or performance-first?

Ten questions — two for each tenet. Two minutes. Find out where your team, your organization, or your agency actually sits, and which tenet would move you furthest.

No name. No email. No address. No mother's maiden name. No password. Just ten questions, and your answers never leave your browser.
Start the diagnostic →
WHERE TO HEAR THIS NEXT
NASA Cost and Schedule Symposium
August 25–27, 2026 · NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, OH
"Performance Drives Compliance — Not the Other Way Around: Introducing the Ubiquitous EV Mindset"
Bring this to your team →