Learn from the LPS® Innovators
September 6th, 2004 by HalThe Last Planner System® is routinely delivering projects on time and on budget. Want to know how? That will have to wait for another posting. But for today, I'll introduce you to Glenn Ballard and Greg Howell, the creators of the Last Planner System. They authored a 13-page paper for IGLC-11 sharing the current state of the approach and the open issues, An Update on the Last Planner.
- Work structuring: linking scheduling and production control
- Phase scheduling: providing goals for Last Planner
- A list of improvements and recommendations that have emerged from theory and practice.
Emphasize learning (changes in PPC) rather than absolute values of PPC.
Throughout the years the authors and innovators have made numerous distinctions about projects that orient us to a new paradigm of project management. One important set of distinctions is how they view work structuring and project schedules.
"(S)chedules are products of work structuring that specify goals and the handoffs between specialists required to achieve those goals. Production control has the job of achieving those handoffs or initiating replanning should that prove infeasible."
Glenn and Greg are not speaking about structuring projects through the contracting process. They are pointing to answering the question, "How will we do this work with each other?"
The authors made five recommendations:
- Identify tasks and assignments that are either handoffs to someone else or that
have implications for coordinating the use of shared resources. - Make customer acceptance explicitly the measure of release.
- Emphasize learning (changes in PPC) rather than absolute values of PPC.
- Incorporate linguistic action and reliable promising.
- Measure PPC against planned day (versus week) for release.
LPS addresses the question "How will we do this work with each other?"
And they posed five questions:
- Should work groups (squads, gangs, crews) meet daily to align assignments,
identify make ready actions needed within the day, and identify problems
requiring replanning? - How far in advance should commitments be made?
- Should multiple levels of commitment be recognized?
- How to better assure that (the) Last Planner (System) is used within a distributed control system?
- Does application of the Last Planner system reduce the variability in duration of
construction activities?
I am someone who helps teams adopt the LPS on their projects. So often people want to just use the six-week look-ahead plan and the weekly work plan. They think they are just using a different set of planning forms. The authors use this paper to show how the whole of the project planning and control approach changes. They also do something more important. They invite each of us to join them in research from the field as you use the Last Planner System on your projects. Want to learn from those who are already using the LPS? Join Glenn, Greg, and a group of practitioners in Park City, UT, September 14- 17, for the Sixth Annual Lean Construction Congress.
The Last Planner System™ (LPS) is a trademark of the Lean Construction Institute. The LPS is free for use. Join other users of the LPS at Planner2Planner.
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