Reliable Promising and Lean Approach Gets the Job Done
December 16th, 2002 by HalLast week I observed the Last Planner™ System in operation at a good-sized construction project by The Neenan Company. After touring the jobsite I was able to sit-in on their weekly work planning meeting. The team was doing quite well keeping the project on schedule and on budget.
The meeting took the usual form:
- Reviewing last week's performance,
- Exploring and recording the reasons for plan failure
- Examining the look-ahead plan for the readiness of up-coming work, and
- Committing to next week's weekly work plan.
I was particularly impressed with the conversation. Participants freely commented, questioned, and negotiated commitments. Tasks were clear and had due dates. These folks knew how to make reliable promises.
At the end of the meeting I made the following suggestions to the project manager:
- Post a graph of weekly PPC performance,
- Post a pareto chart of the reasons for plan variance, and
- Add visual cues to the milestone plan hanging on the wall.
I look forward to a return visit in the spring.
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December 17th, 2002 at 12:15 pm
Hal, this type of observation of effective practice is very helpful. Could you expand on your observations with further entries in the web log over the next few days??
Tks
Joe
December 17th, 2002 at 3:22 pm
I had forgotten all about the use of pareto charts. Tracking the reasons for plan variance seems to be an excellent way to determine where the project lacks the ability to stick to the plan, either due to execution problems, or planning problems.
December 17th, 2002 at 3:45 pm
Tracking reasons for plan failure has been a very useful practice for improving project reliability. The pareto chart offers the team the opportunity to focus on the big hitters or get help from management on issues more systemic in nature. Time and time again we find the principal reasons recorded to be in the control of the project team. Start recording plan failures on your project if for no other reason than to have the team discover they can take full charge of their projects.
p.s. Joe, I will make more observations and comments on effective practice. Thanks for the suggestion. :+: