Reforming Project Management » systems

Time to Re-Th!nk Improvement

Hal — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 20:10:50 +0000

So much of our attention in the lean community is on continuous improvement. Normally that is interpreted as "process improvement". In the project world processes are often incidental to the work we are doing to fulfill the promise of the project. In other words, the value stream goes through a series of tasks like writing software code, documenting a feature, refactoring, etc., none of which follow a repeatable step-by-step process. Architecture and construction projects are similar. The process stuff is supporting the value stream. When we make so-called improvements to process we are dealing with "the how" some outcome is accomplished. Rarely are improvements focused on "the what" of the outcome. Ric Merrifield tells us to shift from the how to the what to get innovation and to really cut costs.

Shift from "the how" to "the what" to boost innovation and to really cut costs.Ric's book, RETHINK: A Business Manifesto for Cutting Costs and Boosting Innovation, does a good job of getting our attention off the how and onto the what. He offers story after story of companies that stay clear about what makes them distinctive to their customers. While the process for delivering on results is always important, getting the outcome right makes or breaks our projects. My colleagues and clients have heard me say over and over Don't improve on something that we shouldn't be doing in the first place. Ric says it more forcefully,

Never has there been a more important time to continually improve your company's efficiency and productivity. (F)or that to happen, they are going to have to avoid the "how" trap, rethink and focus on their "whats," and become a collection of plug-and-play operations.

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Read the rest of Time to Re-Th!nk Improvement (314 words)

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Simulations Can Be Learning Tools for Contractors

Hal — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 03:50:35 +0000

There is never enough time to design the production system for construction, yet there is more than enough time for making do. Simulations offer promise for changing that.

Simulation as a Tool for Production System Design

Thais da C.L. Alves, et al (presented by Prof. Iris Tommelein)

Using the design and fabrication of ductwork and ductwork fittings to They used Stroboscope¹ to model the process. They modelled the process on both deterministic and stochastic basis. The results produced large inventories on the construction site. By adding a "supermarket" rule² to initiate new work orders. Inventory dropped. They then ran the model by allowing variation. As anticipated when they ran the model they eventually got a stockout of ready work (in the 76th period). Based on this they reset their supermarket level.

The simulation models can be wonderful learning tools. Teams can experiment with production system designs before actually doing the work. The effects of variation on production system performance is highlighted.

Discreet event simulation environment developed by Julio Martinez, Ph.D. for the construction market. [ ⇑ back ]
The simplest form is to replenish stock when a certain level is achieved. [ ⇑ back ]

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Slow Down to Take Advantage of Building Modeling

Hal — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 03:48:32 +0000

Residential home construction suffers from the same non-standard designs of commercial construction. But in residential construction there has been far too little time to do operations engineering to take the waste out. 3D (and 4D) design tools are changing that.

Concurrent Design for Production

James Folkstad¹

James recognized that design is a social process. As players change, the house will change. 3D CAD tools can enable that social process. Learning happens for individuals and may only reside in one person's head. Finding ways to share that learning across a subdivision is critical to driving the waste out of construction.

"There were so many slap-in-the-face problems to solve that we never got to the root causes."

James created a team of researchers-as-detailers to do the work of modeling design elements. As the team learned with the subcontractors they began to see they needed different tools for detailing and conveying construction documents. They couldn't build the models fast enough to keep up with framers and other trades. The company would not slow down to learn and avoid errors.

Early modeling took tremendous time. They have now learned to use methods to dramatically cut the time for creating objects and models. This is resulting in far more reliance on good details by the craft labor.

Associate Professor, Colorado State University, Industrial Engineering and Construction Management [ ⇑ back ]

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Combining Lean and Agile in Construction

Hal — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 19:35:29 +0000

Agile and Lean theories were used to design the mechanical and electrical construction processes. The success of a lean/agile design is to improve safety and productivity. The design incorporates automotive approaches for modular assembly with pulse-driven (paced) production. Has a goal to drive labor off the construction site to improve productivity and quality.

Design of a Lean and Agile Construction System

Peter Court, et al

"(Local) improvisations occur naturally unless you bring design intentions."

The system has three planning and coordination components:

Modules (sub-assemblies)
Components
Consumables

Each has different work release and replenishment. Peter has learned to keep the implementation simple. He says, "Avoid explaining the theory."

Peter's lean/agile design will get tested next year when mechanical and electrical work begins. He promises to report on the results.

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Question Uniqueness of Materials in Design

Hal — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 14:49:24 +0000

Complexity in construction stems in part from a willingness to accept unique materials throughout the design.

Process Benefits from Use of Standard Products

Iris Tommelein

The study is based on a refinery project in Houston, TX involving pipe spools. Iris used the Stroboscope discrete event simulator to model the process.

"Architects like to architect. The result can be complexity."

Iris is an outstanding teacher and lecturer. She made this subject captivating. After taking us through the logic of her simulation, Iris showed the effects from simulation of adding standard pipe spools. The surprising result was that project duration increased at an increasing rate as standard product is introduced. When product variety was nearly eliminated the project duration was cut by a 1/3.

Builders take note: there are tremendous benefits to increasing the use of standard products. Share Iris' paper with your clients and their designers. And if you get the opportunity, spend some time with Iris. It will be a memorable learning experience.

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Buffering Construction Operations Decreases Cycle Times

Hal — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 14:48:00 +0000

Buffers in production/construction operations protect down-stream operations from up-stream variation. That idea is well understood. The practice of setting and placing buffers is generally understood. This paper describes a simulation approach for capturing the nature of the project environment to establish buffers.

Design of Work in Process Buffers in Repetitive Building and Electrical Project

Vicente Gonzales, et al

The simulation was based on the lean construction simulation "The Parade of Trades". The simulation was applied to a case study for building homes.

Actual cycle times exceeded plan results for the unbuffered base case. This was compared to a buffered case. The buffer sizes varied for each of the operations in the sequence. Total cycle time was cut from 64 days to 55 days.

This looks promising. It looks to me that some simple tools are needed for project participants to design buffers on their project.

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REBAR Production at Heathrow Expansion Demonstrates Power of Lean Construction

Hal — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 14:24:48 +0000

Application of Pull and CONWIP in Construction Production Systems

Roberto Arbula (Presented by Glenn Ballard)

"The intent to manage construction projects with detailed schedules long into the future is destined to fail."

Push, pull, and CONWIP¹ were described. The concepts were explained using the REBAR Production System for Heathrow Terminal 5 Expansion.

Operating from a central mind to distributed specialists will be very wasteful.
High variation and uncertainty makes long term detailed schedules useless for managing work.
Installers worked with detailers to design the production system.

PPC improved dramatically over the life of the REBAR detailing and production.

The story of lean construction at Heathrow is incredible. The project is way ahead of schedule and saving $ millions.

CONWIP stands for Constant Work in Process to produce continuous flow. [ ⇑ back ]

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People, Process, and Tools

Hal — Sun, 12 Feb 2006 18:38:04 +0000

Projects @ Work ¹ just finished a three-part series on People, Process, and Tools written by Alan S Koch. (You need a no-charge subscription to read the articles.) While Koch writes from the perspective of information technology projects his points apply equally well to other projects. These three articles offer a context for building your project organization including the systems you'll use on your project.

Koch says what all good project managers know but too often forget,

"People are indispensable, but not perfect…Effective processes enable our most precious resource — our people — to work their magic…Tools are the key to making our people more efficient and effective at executing the processes that support them"

One of my favorite lines from the third article is,

"We do not need a tool for every job."

Koch could have said the same for process. What we do need is to select people, process, and tools that match the challenges of our projects. We certainly don't want more processes or tools than our capable people need. And if you are going to err on having more or fewer people than the project needs, then err on the side of more. Why? You can't improve anything without some slack capacity. Whether or not you plan to do your projects on a lean basis, you'll need enough extra capacity for people to respond to the inevitable surprises and to participate in continuous improvement activities.

Have a look at the articles then take a look at your current project. Do you have the people, process, and tools you need to succeed? If not, then make changes.

Hal is on the Editorial Board of ProjectsAtWork. [ ⇑ back ]

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Good Ol’ Project Days

Hal — Tue, 27 Sep 2005 10:59:37 +0000

"I'll be happy if I never see another Gantt Chart."

Jim Rapoza writing in eWeek, Sept 12, 2005, seems to miss the old good days of project management, when project management software was just project management — Gantt charts and PERT diagrams. Project management features and functions have been grafted onto more general purpose applications from MS Office to wikis and portals. Jim acknowledges that the differences in project characteristics keeps us from using a one-size-fits-all approach of the ol' days — pick your system wisely. But it appears Jim doesn't miss much about the old systems. He finishes his editorial, "I'll be happy if I never see another Gantt Chart." Hear, hear!

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Skanska Profiled for Outstanding Information Technology Innovation

Hal — Tue, 27 Sep 2005 00:20:10 +0000

Skanska Unleashes Work Crews using tablet PCs and Blackberries. Information Week, Sept 19, 2005, reports that Skanska is rolling out a "walking office", a construction site wireless network so construction supervision and project management can get anytime-anywhere access to electronic documentation and communication. This contrasts with the usual practice of needing to visit a jobsite office or trailer to refer to paper documentation, use fax machines, or request information from off site. Skanska is reporting a 20% productivity improvement. Skanska has adopted Constructware as their platform for a project management and collaboration environment.

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Project Basecamp

Hal — Thu, 27 Jan 2005 06:01:05 +0000

I've been testing new software for managing projects. Basecamp™ is great! Go visit the site. Trials are free. The interface couldn't be easier to use. It's the right solution for small design projects. It's also good for consulting engagements. Get an idea of how different this is by reading their manifesto. It starts with

We believe project management is communication.

I could have written that first line. Have a look. Better yet, try it on your project.

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Earned Value Management Systems Will Keep Us Out of Trouble…Don’t Count on It!

Hal — Wed, 10 Nov 2004 07:17:41 +0000

Are you a project executive? Consider the lead to this article, Is Project Management a Crime?, published yesterday:

Is poor project management a crime? The answer could be 'yes' now that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act makes senior executives criminally liable for misrepresenting financial information.

Pay attention. If the following is true then we all better get in action.

What can project-based organizations do to help ensure compliancy with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act? If they do not already have a properly defined internal process for project management, then — according to Section 404 — they will need to implement one.

So what are we to do? Of course the author is ready with a recommendation: adopt an Earned Value Management System (EVMS). Huh? She cites Boeing and BAE Systems as two companies that endorse EVMS as best practice.

I've read the article three times. I'm beginning to think that the author actually believes what she is saying. So let's put her advice in perspective. The vast majority of projects involve just a few people. That's right, just a few people working for a short time. The last thing any of those people need is a highly structured reporting system for managing their projects. For the bulk of the projects EVMS will just add time and expense to the project without improving project performance. On the other end, let's consider the large projects. EVMS is a system designed for authorizing payments from the customer to the performing organization based on a baselined project plan usually created 90 or more days ahead of time. Large projects need a steering mechanism that adjusts to unexpected conditions. I've not seen an EVMS that will do that.

I doubt EVMS will satisfy SOX. Companies need more than a formal approach. Project and company executives will sleep at night when they know their project teams are managing their projects in the midst of the uncertainty of today's world. No over-the-shoulder tool will help them do that. They need an approach and skills that produces a coherent set of commitments to satisfy the promise(s) to the customer.

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