So small batch planning we saw earlier in the conversation about fast tracking.
Let's just look at a couple of examples here, structure, simple,
easy less envision structure.
In terms of different batches, the foundations, base plates,
the super structure and middle deck.
Each of those can be tackled as a separate
schedule of themselves within the overall project schedule.
That's been done for some time.
With lean tools we can get a little more complex, so right now there's
casinos being build where the Fit-Out is being divided into different venues.
The high stakes poker area, an exclusive dinning area,
each venue, all trades, electrical lighting,
air conditioning, fire protection, carpentry, finishes.
All trades are working together to say,
here's how we can holistically deliver this venue ready for its use.
Lean thinking enables that, and that's the conversation that comes up
in the big room during the poll planning session when someone asks what if?
And you begin to explore make-ready and small batch solutions
that are about the system not just about an individual trade.
The second part of can, the second can, is the rolling forecast,
so that what gets documented the yeses, that are agreed to in
the pull planning session, get documented in as typically a six week look ahead.
It's got activities and their handoffs.
It's a very granular overview, new parameters that have maybe
then explored of conditional question, what if or yes if.
All of that is captured in the six week look ahead, and
that's reviewed every week to see how progress is being made.
But the specific way of looking at progress is the will.
Great quotation by one of the founders of the Lean Construction Institute Greg
Howell, that a project is a network of commitments.
And the way you know that a commitment is working is you first make the commitment.
You ask yourselves, did we do what we said we're going to do last week?
What have we promised to do this week?
By the way, in our daily huddle, how are we doing?
There's a very detailed one week plan that is the promise of what's happening right
now on the project site, and we trust but verify.
It's important to see are we keeping our promises,
not because we are conducting a hunt to see who has integrity and who has not,
but we want to see how good is the system we created to deliver this project.
Are there some tweaks we need to make?
And it's very simple, the did.
Divide the number of promises that have been kept by the number of promises made
and then evaluate.
If you get to 75 to 85% of your promises being kept,
you have a very smooth running project.
And then you communicate what you measure visually.
A lean work site is covered, covered with big, bold information that people can see.
The schedules cover the walls,
they are not tiny little icons on a dashboard on a computer desktop.
They are big,
they are there for everyone to see because these are mutual commitments.
They tell us how good the system is that we've designed to deliver the project.
So the cycle, typically monthly meetings, where the master schedule is reviewed
along with the six week look-ahead and the identify roadblocks and enablers.
What's been making it go well, what's been problematic?
Every week, the six week look ahead is updated, you create new
commitments in a one week plan, you review your percent promises completed your PPC.
What's your current and what's your trends trending upward, trending downward?
Are people in line of balance thinking becoming
more productive overtime as they repeat the repetitive elements of a project?
You review the productivity.
And everyday there's a huddle typically on a construction site by superintendents to
see what promises are we making and how are we doing so far.
Some lessons learned.
Recent pull planners have determined that it's a good idea to
compress your schedule, compress it so
that you reach the end date sooner than required to create some flow so
you have some contingency for bad weather or other things that can go wrong.
An understanding that the people in the big room cannot say yes if
they cannot say no, that's true authority.
There's a very big difference in any organization between the people who are in
power to say yes and the people who are in power to say no.
The big room has to be populated by people who have the authority to say both, and
you are not allowed to say yes, if your company does not allow you to say no.
You start every session with a PPC review.
It can take one minute in a daily huddle, it can take five minutes in a weekly
review to develop the next six weeks' schedule.
Where are we, how are we trending, how are we doing?
You focus on workflow, hand offs and durations in that order.
Are we creating the hand offs,
have we built a system to deliver this project that is achieving the hand offs so
that we're meeting the durations we said we needed.
You use small batch planning,
because small batch planning will reveal detailed variation.
Lien is about predictability and variation, peaks and
valleys are not good things.
You want to get to a steady state.
And small batch planning helps us see the details in variation.
We may find a certain trait is consistently having difficulty.
Let's find out why.
Is it the crew, or is it the parameters, or is it something else?
And finally, reliable workflows where flow comes together,
we're finding that where flow is happening as a value add step by step.
Then flow is also happening as a pleasurable mental state and
we are seeing stressless superintendents.
There's still challenge, the challenge level is high.
But, pull planning, lean scheduling has increased their skill set so
that the challenge is something they can meet.
And I will say that stressless superintendents, stressless executives,
stressless people of any type who have an important responsibility over project,
who will do a better job.
They'll make better decisions.
One of the things that I particular like about Lean Planning is that it
understands that we can see just so far.
There's just so much that we can predict into the future.
So, in Lean, you begin with a Master Schedule, but
you're essentially taking slices.
First, the 6 Week Look-Ahead.
And then the 1 Week Planner.
These are slices in time where we're getting more and more granular.
The slice in time is a very good way to stay within the master parameters,
but not try to predict more than we really can.
Contrast that with the far horizon thinking that we often see,
where the master schedule is the only schedule.
And it's done in great detail on a CPM chart that goes on for
page after page after page.
Can we really tell years in advance what's going to happen during a specific week?
Or is that CPM schedule that attempts to look at the far horizon
really just setting up the stage for damages for delay claim?
What I really really like about lean is it's realistic.
We don't know what's going to happen years from now during a given week.
You have a pretty good idea what's going to happen six weeks from now, and
we're sure know what's going to happen next week if we're
good at what we're doing.
Lean recognizes that we can see just so far.
Let's recap by comparing Pull-Planning, lean scheduling,
against the industry standard.
Both begin with a master schedule,
that master schedule is typically formatted as a CPM, critical path method.
And both have an interactive session on a wall where people talk about
in detail how the project will be done and that's where things begin to change.
Pull-planning limits its detail to the near horizon.
The industry standard projects to a far horizon.
Pull-Planning builds this logic from bottom-up.
The Industry Standard is to dictate that logic from the top-down.
Pull-Planning is structured to encourage truth telling whereas
the Industry Standard is structured to encourage hedging.
Pull-Planning is measured by promises kept as opposed to delay claims,
as is the industry standard.
In pull-planning, allowable responses include yes, no, and yes if.
Industry standard, well, you can say maybe, sure, but
those are not measurable responses.
And pull-planning is proactive, industry standing is reactive,
pull-planning encourages batch thinking where as the industry standard
is mirrored in jurisdictional thinking trade by trade by trade.
Very different than thinking of a venue with all trades in a small batch.
And finally, pull-planning is about pull.
How do I pull hand-offs as opposed to push which is all about
dictating here's when you will be done.
Now were this an interactive session, we would go straight into the feedback.
But I'm going to spend a moment on this, because this is a good lean habit,
I practice it every time I make a presentation, or give a speech,
or give a talk, or teach a class.
And there are two steps to it, the first is, the take away and intent, and
it begins with you telling me what did you take away, what was it that you heard?
And then we ask well what did I intend, did the message I intend get across?
Did you hear what I wanted you to hear?
And that's really great feedback because what I've learned by doing this
is sometimes what I think people understood to be an important point,
they didn't quite get but they got something else.
And then it allows me step by step every time to continuously improve
the message I send.
The second bit of feedback is an old friend the plus delta.
It's another form of continuous improvement where we ask the audience,
what was helpful so far and should continue to be included?
And that can run everything from the speaker's quality, to the content,
to the quality of the room in which you're listening to the speaker.
And the delta, what would you add or subtract to make this more helpful?
And I encourage those of you who are taking this course to
please feel free to send feedback.
Send your take aways.
Tell me your deltas, tell me your pluses.
And, I hope you've enjoyed this, and I want to thank you all for
your attention today.
And, please try lean scheduling.
You will like it.