Month: February 2026

Field Engineer Habits In Construction (Daily Practices That Prevent Rework)

Posted on by Danny Jiménez⁩
Read 25 min

Field Engineer Habits in Construction (Daily Practices That Prevent Rework)

Field Engineer Habits in Construction: Daily Practices That Prevent Rework. In this video, I’m going to talk to you about habits that will literally make you as a field engineer. And the good part about that is it will make you for your future roles. Because that doesn’t mean that people are smarter, but the most successful, meaning the person has supported the most people in construction, have been through the field engineering role.

And people don’t like to hear that a lot because, you know, some people are like, “Well, I didn’t get there, and I’m still special.” You are still special. I think you’re A+. Like, you all know that I freaking love you. But that means that I want the best for you, and I want the best for everybody.

Let me give you the seven habits that will make you as a field engineer.

The Pain of Skipping Field Engineering Basics

Here’s what happens when you skip the field engineering basics. You don’t learn to figure things out. You rely on others to solve problems. You don’t ask questions. You assume you should already know. You don’t respect the craft. You look down on workers. You don’t wear your bags. You’re unprepared and slow. You don’t focus and drive. You jump around without mastering each skill. You don’t communicate. Problems don’t surface. And you don’t double-check your work. Rework happens. Mistakes compound. And your career suffers.

Field engineering is where you learn the fundamentals. It’s boots in the mud, shoulder to shoulder with the craft. It’s figuring things out when nobody’s there to hold your hand. And if you skip these habits, you’ll suboptimize and turn into a classical management business manager instead of a construction leader.

Let me give you a quick analogy. Let’s say you have beautiful teeth, right? And I’m like, “The people that go to the dentist often have the most healthy teeth.” And people are like, “Well, I don’t go to the dentist, and I still have beautiful teeth.” I know you have beautiful teeth. I love your teeth. I think they’re great. But going to a dentist and getting that deep cleaning and making sure that they’re straight is a jam. And we’ll take your A+ teeth with A+ care and get you an A+ experience.

Same thing. You’re an A+ human, but you’ve got to have A+ experiences. And if you’ve already passed the field engineer role and you’re on to bigger and better things, at least help me teach it to the folks that can go through it that this is the way. I’m telling you, if we want to take construction to 2.0, we will go back to the field engineering basics.

Habit One: Figure It Out

First thing: figure it out. This is how I visualize it in my brain. When you go to a project site, you can have a brown field, you can have a green field, or you can be demolishing a building and then building something new, or it could be a renovation. But I think of an open field. There’s nobody here anywhere, actually, except for you and the project delivery team for the general contractor and your trades.

There’s nobody that’s going to come tell you how to go build a building, right? You literally, when you start this, you might have two control points, a design benchmark which will provide your basis of bearings, and then you have this open field of land. The reason I’m explaining this is because figuring things out, although I do believe in shoulder-to-shoulder mentoring and guiding because that’s the ideal way to teach and mentor, figuring things out is a skill that everyone should adopt.

Because when it comes down to, okay, now we’re going to go ahead and build this building, you know, we’re going to do primary, secondary, working control. We’re going to get the materials jamming. We’re going to build roadways. We’re going to whatever the case may be. This right here, nobody’s going to come and hold our hand to get this where it’s got to be. You’re going to get an open piece of dirt. That’s what you got most of the time.

So figuring things out, the reason this is important is because new folks in the industry will be like, “Hey, I didn’t know that seal detail or I didn’t know that that color wouldn’t work with that type of brick. Jason, how do I get to know everything?” You don’t get to know everything. There’s nobody that knows everything. Even the most experienced people in construction will not know those things.

But what do we have? We have the ability to figure things out. That means you ask the question, you go do the research, you go drive to that office. You go with a go-getter, go-giver attitude, and you figure things out. That’s the only way you’re going to get from your basis of bearings to a vertical or horizontal building or whatever it is that you’re building is this ability to figure things out. And it’s going to take grit, determination, and the ability to ask questions and do research.

Habit Two: Ask Questions (100+ Daily)

Let’s go on to the next one. Ask questions. Let’s say in a day you’re asking 10 questions on average. And I’ve been there. I don’t want to sound stupid, like, “Oh my gosh, they know this. What is this acronym?” Let me tell you, I’m 44 years old. It’s not that old, but I’ve been in construction 30 years, and I am in meetings all the time where I’m like, “What does that mean? You did this new acronym. What does that mean?”

And I ask, and a bunch of other adult humans, some of them over 60, are like, “Oh, thank you for asking that, Jason. I didn’t know what that meant either.” Stop being embarrassed. This number is weak sauce. These are rookie numbers. I want you at least to get to 100. If you then took it to 250, I’d be even happier. Questions, questions, questions, questions.

There’s no such thing as a dumb question, but there are lazy questions. Meaning, if I’ve got ChatGPT or the Field Engineering Methods Manual or I’ve got Google here and I go interrupt somebody to ask them, that’s probably a lazy question. I can do this myself. But if I can’t figure this out myself, I’m going to ask it. And I’m telling you what, unless your supervisor is a dirt monkey, they will not mind answering the questions. They like it; it feeds their ego to answer those questions.

Habit Three: Respect for the Craft

Number three: respect for the craft. The reason I believe that field engineering is so crucial is because your boots in the mud, shoulder to shoulder with the craft. How can you disrespect somebody that you’ve worked next to? How can you be discriminatory? How can you look down on somebody? How can you not understand and see somebody that you’re working with shoulder to shoulder every day? I don’t think that you can.

So there’s a bond here where you and the craft are going to get super close. And I want you to know craft workers and foremen are the kings and queens of construction. They are our heroes. Everything we do supports them. It’s your job to enable them. And I want you to go develop that relationship so that throughout your career everybody can hear it from you, smell it on you, see it on you that you love the craft.

And this will change everything. Otherwise, you’ll suboptimize, and you’ll turn into a classical management business manager instead of a construction leader.

Habit Four: Wear Your Bags

Number four: wear your bags. These folks out here, they are wearing their tool bags, and they’re jamming out. There’s nothing like seeing a field engineer in the negative that won’t wear their bags and you’re waiting on them. They’re like, “Hey, let me walk 100 feet over there. Let me go all the way back to the office.” It’s nonsense.

Get your bags, get your tools, be out there with your total station, your automatic level, your legs, and be ready to go and show that you’re actually willing to do the do and gain their respect.

Habit Five: Focus and Drive

On to number five: focus and drive. Here’s what I want you to do. This is an analogy. If you have, let’s just take your tool bags, right? There’s lots of tools in your tool bags, whatever they are. This is analogous to your career.

I want you to focus in your field engineering career on learning every one of these one by one in a disciplined manner and don’t try and skip. Put that tool in your tool bag, and it will drive the rest of your career.

Here’s what focus and drive looks like:

  • Master one skill before moving to the next: Don’t jump around. Learn layout. Then learn surveying. Then learn concrete verification. One by one. Put each tool in your tool bag.
  • Don’t skip the basics: Every tool you put in your bag now becomes a foundation skill for the rest of your career. If you skip layout, you’ll struggle with everything else.
  • Be disciplined: Focus means saying no to distractions and yes to mastering the fundamentals. Drive means doing it even when it’s hard or boring.

Focus and drive means mastering the fundamentals one by one. That’s how you build a career.

Habit Six: Communicate, Communicate, Communicate

The last two that I want to talk about actually tie together. Communicate, communicate, communicate. And what I mean is when you’re in the office, communicate and speak up with the project delivery team. When you’re out in the field talking to the foreman, communicate clearly the plan. When you’re out there working as a field engineer with another field engineer or with a rodman or rod person, communicate. When there’s a problem, bring that back to the office. Communicate.

Here’s where communication matters:

In the office: Speak up with the project delivery team. Share problems. Ask questions. Don’t sit silent.

In the field with foremen: Communicate clearly the plan. What’s happening today? What’s the layout? What’s the schedule?

With other field engineers or rodmen: Communicate during the work. “Move left. Good. Mark it.” Clear, concise, constant communication.

When there’s a problem: Bring that back to the office. Don’t hide problems. Communicate them so the team can solve them. Communication prevents rework. It surfaces problems early. And it creates trust. If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow.

Habit Seven: Double-Check Your Work

And this brings me to my last point, and this is crucial. If you are doing anything, assume everything that you do the first time is wrong. And I’ll give you a fun analogy. None of us were really that good at kissing the first time. Did we give up? No, we kept trying.

And so what we got to do is make sure we keep going. And here’s the point. You check it with a different person, a different technology, a different approach. Do a visual check. Ask somebody else to come help you. Check, check, check, and recheck your work. You as a field engineer will not have the experience to get it right the first time. So double-check and communicate, and you will be solid.

Here’s how to double-check:

Different person: Have someone else check your work. Fresh eyes catch mistakes.

Different technology: If you laid out with a total station, check with a tape measure or GPS.

Different approach: If you calculated one way, calculate another way and compare.

Visual check: Does it look right? Does the building look square? Does the elevation look correct?

Ask for help: “Hey, can you verify this for me?” That’s not weakness. That’s professionalism.

Assume everything you do the first time is wrong. Check it. Recheck it. Communicate it. That prevents rework.

A Challenge for Field Engineers

Here’s what I want you to do this week. Pick one habit and focus on it. Ask 100 questions today. Wear your bags tomorrow. Double-check your layout. Communicate every problem. Master one skill this week.

And if you’re past the field engineer role, teach these habits to the next generation. Help them figure things out. Answer their questions. Show them respect for the craft. That’s how we take construction to 2.0. As we say at Elevate, field engineer habits prevent rework: figure it out, ask 100+ questions daily, respect the craft, wear your bags, focus and drive, communicate, and double-check work. Master these seven habits and you’ll build a career.

On we go.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is field engineering the most important role for career success?

Because it’s boots in the mud, shoulder to shoulder with the craft. You learn to figure things out, respect the craft, and master the fundamentals. Those who go through field engineering support the most people in construction.

How many questions should a field engineer ask daily?

At least 100. If you’re asking 10, that’s weak sauce. Ask 100 to 250 questions daily. There’s no such thing as a dumb question, but there are lazy questions you can Google yourself.

What does “respect for the craft” mean?

Craft workers and foremen are the kings and queens of construction. They’re our heroes. Everything we do supports them. Your job is to enable them. Work shoulder to shoulder and develop that bond.

Why should field engineers wear their bags?

Because waiting on a field engineer to walk 100 feet to get a tool is nonsense. Get your bags, get your tools, be ready to go, and show you’re willing to do the work. That gains respect.

How do you double-check field engineering work?

Check with a different person, different technology, different approach, visual check, and ask for help. Assume everything you do the first time is wrong. Check, recheck, communicate. That prevents rework.

If you want to learn more we have:

-Takt Virtual Training: (Click here)
-Check out our Youtube channel for more info: (Click here) 
-Listen to the Elevate Construction podcast: (Click here) 
-Check out our training programs and certifications: (Click here)
-The Takt Book: (Click here)

Discover Jason’s Expertise:

Meet Jason Schroeder, the driving force behind Elevate Construction IST. As the company’s owner and principal consultant, he’s dedicated to taking construction to new heights. With a wealth of industry experience, he’s crafted the Field Engineer Boot Camp and Superintendent Boot Camp – intensive training programs engineered to cultivate top-tier leaders capable of steering their teams towards success. Jason’s vision? To expand his training initiatives across the nation, empowering construction firms to soar to unprecedented levels of excellence.

On we go

Last Planner in Construction | Stop Making up Rules (Standardize for Reliability)

Posted on by Danny Jiménez⁩
Read 22 min

Stop Making Up Last Planner Rules (Standardize for Reliability)

Last Planner in Construction: Stop Making Up Rules. I’m excited about this video, and I really want it to come off in a non-offensive way, and I hope you can hear my sincerity. We’re paying for these videos to share out in the industry. This is a free gift, and I’m attempting to help, and we have got to steer in the right direction.

I want to be an advocate for consistency. We have got to stop making up rules when it comes to the Last Planner System because it’s only hurting us, and we’re focused on the wrong things.

Let me walk you through the made-up rules that are destroying the Last Planner System.

The Pain of Made-Up Rules

When we make up rules most of the time, and it’s normal and it’s understandable, it’s because the influencer or Last Planner practitioner, teacher, or consultant is wanting significance or fame or money. And I don’t like that. I already gave the example that pull planning boards and stickies and pull planning manuals are all behind this big old paywall for multiple thousands of dollars. That just makes me so sad.

We should be democratizing as much of this information as we can, getting it out there to people, and making sure that we’re not perverting it and hurting people.

Here’s what happens when people make up rules. They want to be known for something. They want to sell something. They want to be the expert. And so they create arbitrary rules that sound good but hurt the system. And then everyone follows those rules because “that’s how it’s done.” And the Last Planner System gets weaker instead of stronger.

And this is what we shouldn’t have happen. I would say most of the time Lean folks and Lean influencers, and I’m probably included and I need to repent every time I notice it, we are classical management wolves in Lean sheep’s clothing. We’re doing the same old fixed-minded nonsense in the name of Lean. And it’s just got to stop.

If we’re really Lean, we’ll improve the Last Planner System. We will not be fixed-minded. We will not hold to old outdated practices. And we will be willing to learn.

Made-Up Rule One: Don’t Do Too Much Advanced Planning

Here are some rules that are really weird that never should have been a part of the Last Planner System. I’ll just start listing them off the top of my head. Number one, the concept that you shouldn’t do too much advanced planning. That is one of the most misguided guidelines or rules I’ve ever heard. And I know where it came from. It’s because the CPM is so horrible.

But you can’t have a Last Planner System without a first planner system where you’re planning at the high macro level, queuing up your supply chains, and preparing work early on in pre-construction. If you really want to disrespect and fail the Last Planner System, don’t pre-plan out ahead. That’s one of the worst things I’ve ever heard.

Here’s the truth: Last Planner requires first planner. You need macro-level planning. You need supply chain queuing. You need pre-construction preparation. Without advanced planning, you’re reacting. With advanced planning, you’re preparing. The rule against advanced planning is destroying projects.

Made-Up Rule Two: You Can Do Short-Interval Pulls

Another one is taking phase planning and pull planning and saying you can take that and just do a 3-week or a 6-week or a short-interval pull. You can’t do it. It’s not a thing. You will not be vertically aligned to milestones, and you will not have trade flow.

Creating a 3-week pull is nothing more than adding more people to your 3-week lookahead planning cycle like we used to do 10, 20, 30, 40 years ago. It’s ineffective, and it’s not pull planning, and it does not follow the real science behind pull planning.

Here’s the truth: Pull planning must be phase-level or project-level. You must be vertically aligned to milestones. You must have trade flow. Short-interval pulls create local optimization without global optimization. They’re not pull planning. They’re just collaborative lookaheads. And that’s not the same thing.

Made-Up Rule Three: Pull Plans Must Be Physical Stickies

Here’s another one. Pull plans must be in person with physical stickies. That is an arbitrary rule that hurts us. Let me tell you why. Pull planning is best done day by day, not with batched stickies. It’s best done when you take one sequence and you compare it from zone to zone to zone, and you compare to your end milestone and see if you met the milestone and gain buffers.

And when you do it in person with stickies, it is very difficult to do. It is very difficult for the practitioners to actually get the zone comparisons, and it’s very difficult to see if you’re hitting your milestone. And so that rule people will say you can’t do it digitally. Well, where did that rule come from? Absolutely ridiculous.

Here’s the truth: Pull planning works better digitally. You can compare sequences zone by zone. You can check milestone alignment. You can see buffers. You can adjust in real time. Physical stickies fall off the wall. Handwriting is illegible. Zone comparisons are difficult. Digital is better. The physical-only rule is arbitrary and destructive.

Made-Up Rule Four: Trades Must Write Their Own Stickies

The other rule I’ve heard is a trade partner must write their own sticky. Why? Most people have horrible handwriting because they weren’t taught, which is a failure of our education system. You can’t read the stickies. It takes a bunch of time. And now you have a high-powered foreman doing administrative tasks.

The purpose isn’t to write your own sticky. The purpose is to declare your own sticky. That rule is hurting us. Again, it’s better done in a digital format.

Here’s the truth: The purpose of pull planning is for trades to declare their sequence and durations. Not to write stickies. Writing stickies is administrative overhead. Declaring the plan is value-adding. Let someone type while the foreman declares. That’s respect for the foreman’s time.

Made-Up Rule Five: Weekly Work Plans Must Be on the Wall with Stickies

Here’s another rule. Your weekly work plan has to be on the wall with stickies. There’s nothing more dangerous than that in the Last Planner System because you got stickies falling off the wall. You only have a certain amount of rows. You think small, and you’ve locked the information in the office.

That weekly work plan should be in a digital format to where everybody on the job site can access it with their phones real time.

Here’s the truth: Weekly work plans on physical walls with stickies are destructive. Stickies fall off. Limited rows constrain thinking. Information is locked in the office. Workers in the field can’t see it. Digital weekly work plans solve all of this. Workers access it on their phones. Real-time updates. No falling stickies. No locked-in-the-office information.

Made-Up Rule Six: Huddles Must Be in the Morning

There are a number of really, really weird rules that people are just making up with the Last Planner. Let me give you just one or two more. Huddles have to be in the morning. Why? That is so destructive. You’re either going to have milquetoast meetings that aren’t talking about anything, or you’re going to interrupt the plan of the crews and change things once you get out of the huddle.

It should be the day before. That is an arbitrary rule. And it would be fine if somebody said the morning of or the day before and left it open, but people are like, “No, I heard it once. It was the day of.”

Here’s the truth: Afternoon foreman huddles prepare for the next day. Morning huddles either interrupt the plan or become useless check-ins. The day-before huddle lets you solve roadblocks and prepare. The morning-only rule is arbitrary and destructive.

Made-Up Rule Seven: ELMO and Rude Behavior

And then like concepts like ELMO “Enough, Let’s Move On” I’m not trying to be too offensive, but that is so rude. And so, we are normalizing rude behavior and ineffective non-production-minded behavior for the sake of culture or fame or selling books or whatever or significance. And it’s just not right.

Here’s the truth: ELMO is rude. It shuts down conversation. It dismisses people. It creates fear of speaking up. That’s not Lean. That’s not respect for people. That’s classical management disguised as culture. We’ve got to stop normalizing rude behavior. If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow.

What We Do at Elevate Construction (Learning from Everyone)

This sounds like a lecture. I’m just getting passionate. I am a Lean Last Planner practitioner. “Oh, I don’t want anything. I don’t want to know anything about Takt.” What? We should be open and willing to adopt. And actually, I included myself in that wolf classical management, but actually I’m not.

At Elevate Construction, we learn from everybody and loop their work in. An example: Dr. Valegas introduced what I call the Valegas method where instead of leveling the entire Takt plan, he lets a lot of them create their own individual line of balance in a multi-train Takt plan. Instead of being like, “Oh, that’s not the way you do it,” I was like, “Oh, we’ll loop that in as another method.”

Elevate Construction, we learn from everybody. And if somebody was like, “There’s an actual legitimate reason to do something different,” we will adapt, and I will rewrite the books. But most people will lock their books in forever. They’ll keep the Last Planner System at 1.0 forever. They will keep their weird ideas forever, and they won’t adapt and improve.

Some of our books are on version four. Even Takt practitioners, they’re like, “Single-train Takt planning is the only way.” What? Single-train Takt planning is not the only way. Multi-train Takt planning is absolutely a thing.

Here’s what real Lean looks like:

  • Learn from everyone loop in their methods if they work
  • Adapt when someone shows a legitimate reason to do something different
  • Rewrite the books when you learn something better
  • Don’t lock ideas forever improve them, test them, evolve them
  • Be willing to admit you were wrong and change

That’s Lean. Fixed-minded rule-making is classical management disguised as Lean.

A Challenge for Last Planner Practitioners

Here’s what I want you to do this week. Question the rules. When someone says, “You have to do it this way,” ask, “Why? What’s the thoughtful reason? Can you prove it?” If they can’t, it’s probably a made-up rule.

And if you’re teaching Last Planner, stop making up rules. Teach the principles. Teach the science. And let people adapt to their context. That’s respect for people. That’s Lean. As we say at Elevate, stop making up Last Planner rules. Don’t limit advanced planning. Short-interval pulls don’t work. Physical stickies aren’t required. Huddles don’t have to be in the morning. Question the rules. Learn from everyone. Improve the system.

On we go.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is “don’t do too much advanced planning” a bad rule?

Because Last Planner requires first planner. You need macro-level planning, supply chain queuing, and pre-construction preparation. Without advanced planning, you’re reacting instead of preparing. The rule destroys projects.

Why don’t short-interval pulls work?

Because you won’t be vertically aligned to milestones and you won’t have trade flow. Short-interval pulls are just collaborative lookaheads. They’re not real pull planning. Pull planning must be phase-level or project-level.

Why are physical stickies not required for pull planning?

Because pull planning works better digitally. You can compare sequences zone by zone, check milestone alignment, see buffers, and adjust in real time. Physical stickies fall off, handwriting is illegible, and zone comparisons are difficult.

Why should huddles be the afternoon before instead of the morning of?

Because afternoon huddles prepare for the next day. You solve roadblocks and prepare. Morning huddles either interrupt the plan or become useless check-ins. The morning-only rule is arbitrary and destructive.

How do you know if a Last Planner rule is made-up?

Ask for the thoughtful reason and proof. If they can’t explain why beyond “I learned it in a training” or “That’s how it’s done,” it’s probably made-up. Real rules have scientific backing.

If you want to learn more we have:

-Takt Virtual Training: (Click here)
-Check out our Youtube channel for more info: (Click here) 
-Listen to the Elevate Construction podcast: (Click here) 
-Check out our training programs and certifications: (Click here)
-The Takt Book: (Click here)

Discover Jason’s Expertise:

Meet Jason Schroeder, the driving force behind Elevate Construction IST. As the company’s owner and principal consultant, he’s dedicated to taking construction to new heights. With a wealth of industry experience, he’s crafted the Field Engineer Boot Camp and Superintendent Boot Camp – intensive training programs engineered to cultivate top-tier leaders capable of steering their teams towards success. Jason’s vision? To expand his training initiatives across the nation, empowering construction firms to soar to unprecedented levels of excellence.

On we go

Takt Steering & Control

Posted on by Danny Jiménez⁩
Read 18 min

Takt Steering and Control: Constraints vs. Roadblocks

Here’s the difference most people get wrong: constraints are part of the system design. Roadblocks are temporary blockers. You steer around constraints. You remove roadblocks. And knowing the difference transforms how you manage the train of trades. Because when you confuse constraints and roadblocks, you waste time trying to remove something that’s permanent. Or you build systems around something temporary. And that creates chaos.

Let me show you the difference and how to manage both.

The Pain of Confusing Constraints and Roadblocks

Here’s what happens when you confuse constraints and roadblocks. You try to remove a constraint. You can’t. It’s permanent or semi-permanent. You waste time. You frustrate the team. And the problem doesn’t go away. Or you try to optimize a roadblock. You build a system around it. You create workarounds. And then the roadblock disappears. And now you’ve overbuilt the system. The key is knowing which is which. Because if you treat a constraint like a roadblock, you’ll waste time trying to remove something that’s permanent. And if you treat a roadblock like a constraint, you’ll optimize around something temporary instead of just removing it.

What Are Constraints?

Constraints are part of the system design. From the time you start planning all the way to the end of the pull plan is where you’ll mainly find and optimize constraints. You can’t remove them entirely because they’re permanent or semi-permanent.

Here are constraint examples:

  • Misjudged Takt Time or Packaging: The Takt time is too short or too long. The work packages aren’t sized right. You optimize it in the pull plan.
  • Uneven Train Speeds: Too many varying speeds among the trades. It’s becoming a bottleneck. You optimize by adjusting the sequence or the Takt time.
  • Resource Shortages or Missing Buffers: You don’t have enough crews. You don’t have buffers. You optimize by adding crews or creating buffers in the plan.
  • Poor Zone Configuration: The zones are too big or too small or oddly shaped. You optimize by re-zoning.
  • Things That Affect the Train of Trades: Anything structural to the system that you must work around.

The key insight most constraints should be figured out in pre-construction or at least by the end of the pull plan. Look at how many of these the root cause of why that constraint is not optimized in the first place is because of the pull plan. By the time the pull plan is done, we must have identified these and optimized them as much as we possibly can.

You can mark constraints with orange magnets on your visual boards. And this is important because every pace-setting train of trades in a phase will likely have a pace-setting trade bottleneck and a pace-setting zone bottleneck. Everything should subordinate to those bottlenecks to help them because those are your pace setters.

What Are Roadblocks?

Roadblocks are temporary. These are things in the way of the train of trades. These are things that can be removed. Weather maybe not, but you can remove the water or the rain or the snow from the weather. Changes to the plan, you can make sure that there’s stability through planning. Work area not ready, you can make it ready. Missing information, you can go get it. Defects, you can get rid of them.

So all of these are temporary. These are things that are in the way of the train of trades. And I want to make the point that last planners primarily focus on these. Everything after the pull plan is mainly roadblocks.

Here are roadblock examples:

  • Weather delays or plan changes: Temporary. You can mitigate weather impacts and stabilize the plan through better planning.
  • Incomplete site prep, permissions, or layout: Temporary. You can make the work area ready, get the permits, finish the layout.
  • Defects, inspection failures, or material shortages: Temporary. You can fix defects, pass inspections, expedite materials.
  • Labor or equipment issues: Temporary. You can bring in crews, rent equipment, solve the problem.
  • Things in the way of the train of trades: Temporary blockers. Remove them.

You can see how many of these depend on the foreman huddle and the trade partner weekly tactical and lookahead planning. This all comes down to preparation. We steer the train of trades around constraints, but we remove roadblocks out ahead.

How to Make Work Ready (How We Find Roadblocks)

How we find roadblocks is by making work ready. In order for a crew to go do their work properly, they need to have all of these things, especially the materials, the equipment, the tools, the toolkit, and the information, permissions, and layout. Especially that in the space. It’s typically when a trade partner is making work ready that we find constraints and roadblocks. The zone boundary that this current crew is in is literally the focus for production for that crew. So this crew is working in this zone for their work package. But what’s interesting is they have work that’s being completed behind them and work that needs to be completed out ahead.

So now we have this pattern of “let’s go ahead and finish as we go within that zone and let’s prepare out ahead.” And the zone managers can literally come out and help manage the handoff, make sure that that crew is going to finish that zone on time, not by pushing people, but by literally making sure that everything is clear out ahead and everything is being punched as we go. And literally focus on: Is the handoff on track? Are we going the right speed? Do you have enough prep? Are you finishing as you go? Are there any roadblocks in the way? And if there are, what are the root causes?

Delay Management Strategies (How to Solve Constraints and Roadblocks)

Here’s what you should do when delays happen. You need to know what to do about these in a production-minded way so that you don’t hurt production. Here’s what you shouldn’t do: Never just add labor. Never just start working overtime. Never just throw money at the problem. Never rush, push, and panic. Never bring out all the materials too soon.

Here’s what you should do delay management strategies:

  • Utilize buffers: If there’s a delay, you can eat into or utilize buffers and literally make sure that you maintain trade flow.
  • Sequence delay: If you’re green, blue, orange, purple, and if the materials are ready and it works, and they’re not dependent in some unique way, you can switch the blue and the orange to where it’s green, orange, blue, purple. This is available a lot more than you think.
  • Isolated delays: Where literally it’s just one boxcar, one area. So maybe you isolate the boxcar of the task or you isolate the area. At the bioscience research laboratory we had lab researchers that were changing the building at the end but we still had to finish. About 30% of the building was sustaining changes and this is the solution we used the most.
  • Employ workable backlog: You have trained and onboarded workers that can come in and help with a second crew. This does not work when it’s a random crew that’s not trained and onboarded, but if they’re on the project as workable backlog, trained and onboarded, it does increase your capacity.
  • Re-zone past the delay: Because we all know that going to smaller batch sizes will speed things up.

The bottom line is when you implement any of these, you need to consider the rules of flow triage: Are you prioritizing the work? Are we eliminating bad multitasking by focusing? Are you making sure that whatever you’re doing, you have full kit? Are you segregating work? Are you standardizing processes? Are you synchronizing to Takt time? And do you have buffers? If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow.

A Challenge for Project Teams

Here’s what I want you to do this week. When you see a problem on the job site, ask: Is this a constraint or a roadblock? If it’s permanent or semi-permanent, it’s a constraint. Optimize it. Work around it. If it’s temporary, it’s a roadblock. Remove it. Mark constraints with orange magnets. Mark roadblocks with red magnets. Use the problem-solving frameworks. Follow the delay management strategies. Follow the rules of flow. And steer around constraints while removing roadblocks. As we say at Elevate, constraints are system design issues you optimize. Roadblocks are temporary blockers you remove. Steer around constraints. Remove roadblocks. That’s how you maintain flow.

On we go.

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s the difference between constraints and roadblocks?

Constraints are permanent or semi-permanent system design issues you must optimize and work around. Roadblocks are temporary blockers you can remove. Constraints are found in pre-construction and pull planning. Roadblocks are found after the pull plan.

How do you find constraints?

By making work ready and by doing the pull plan. Most constraints are identified by the end of the pull plan. They’re your most limiting factors misjudged Takt time, uneven train speeds, resource shortages, poor zone configuration.

How do you find roadblocks?

By making work ready and asking daily trigger questions. Use red magnets on visual boards to mark roadblocks. The trades identify them when they’re preparing the work and discover something’s missing or in the way.

What are delay management strategies?

Utilize buffers, sequence delay (swap trade order), isolated delays (isolate one area), employ workable backlog (trained second crew), re-zone past the delay (smaller batches speed things up). Never just add labor, work overtime, or rush.

Why do you mark constraints orange and roadblocks red?

Because orange marks your pace-setting trade bottleneck and zone bottleneck. Everything should subordinate to help them. Red marks temporary roadblocks that must be removed. The color coding helps meetings focus on the right problems.

If you want to learn more we have:

-Takt Virtual Training: (Click here)
-Check out our Youtube channel for more info: (Click here) 
-Listen to the Elevate Construction podcast: (Click here) 
-Check out our training programs and certifications: (Click here)
-The Takt Book: (Click here)

Discover Jason’s Expertise:

Meet Jason Schroeder, the driving force behind Elevate Construction IST. As the company’s owner and principal consultant, he’s dedicated to taking construction to new heights. With a wealth of industry experience, he’s crafted the Field Engineer Boot Camp and Superintendent Boot Camp – intensive training programs engineered to cultivate top-tier leaders capable of steering their teams towards success. Jason’s vision? To expand his training initiatives across the nation, empowering construction firms to soar to unprecedented levels of excellence.

On we go

Thankful for You!

Posted on by Danny Jiménez⁩
Read 24 min

The Chess Board Analogy: Two Paths to Living With Purpose

Every once in a while, a conversation comes along that changes the way you see your entire life. For me, the chess board analogy did exactly that. When I first heard it from a trusted mentor, I realized something profound. Most of us are either planning five moves ahead or reacting to the chaos in front of us. But neither approach is complete. We need both vision and presence. We need long-term clarity and daily trust. We need to know where we are going and we need to trust that we are being led to the right place at the right time.

That realization is freeing for many people. We spend so much energy trying to control everything. We plan. We strategize. We stress about the future. And when things do not go according to plan, we panic. But what if the plan is not about controlling every outcome? What if the plan is about showing up fully in the moment you are in and trusting that the moment you are in is exactly where you are supposed to be?

The Pain Point We All Experience

You wake up and you feel pulled in a thousand directions. Work is demanding. Family needs you. Your health is slipping. Your purpose feels unclear. You wonder if you are on the right path. You wonder if you are wasting your time. You wonder if you are missing something important. And the stress of not knowing creates paralysis. You are so busy worrying about whether you are doing the right thing that you are not fully present in anything you are doing.

It is a painful pattern. And if you have lived long enough, you have probably experienced it more times than you wanted. I have too. I have watched people who were brilliant and capable completely burn out because they could not find peace in the moment. They were always chasing the next thing. They were always second-guessing their decisions. They were always wondering if they were on the right path. And that constant questioning drained them. Not because they were weak. But because they never learned to trust that where they are is exactly where they are supposed to be.

The Two Approaches to Purpose

Here is the question that started the conversation with my friend. What is your core purpose? Why were you put on this earth? Where do you want to head? And his answer surprised me. He said he plays it one day at a time. He tries to be really present. He follows inspiration. He goes where he is supposed to be. And he handles things in the moment.

That got me thinking. There are really two ways to approach purpose. The first way is to have long-term clarity. You figure out your why. You identify your mission. You set your goals. You create a guidepost. And then every decision you make, every action you take, every opportunity you evaluate, you run it through that filter. Does this lead me toward my purpose? Does this use my talents? Does this help me fulfill my mission? If yes, you move forward. If no, you say no. That clarity creates focus. It creates alignment. It creates confidence.

The second way is to play it one day at a time. You wake up. You listen. You follow inspiration. You trust your intuition. You show up fully in the moment. And you trust that you are being led to the right place. You do not have a five-year plan. You do not have a detailed roadmap. You have presence. You have openness. You have trust. And that trust creates peace. It creates flexibility. It creates freedom.

Both approaches are valid. Both approaches work. And the truth is, most of us need both. We need vision. And we need presence. We need clarity. And we need trust. We need to know where we are going. And we need to be fully where we are.

The Chess Board Analogy

My mentor gave me an analogy that changed the way I see everything. He said life is like a number of chess boards stacked on top of each other. Almost like 3D chess. And you have the most important boards at the bottom. Your spirituality. Your relationship with God or the universe or whatever you believe in. Your family. Your marriage. Your kids. Then as it works up, you have your health. Your mission. Your work. Your callings. Your volunteer time. Basically, you have all these chess boards stacked on top of each other.

And here is the key. Trust fate to guide you to the chess board you should be playing in the moment. But when you are playing, play that chess board. Be there. Be present. Give it everything you have. If you are on your family chess board, play that game to win with your family. If you are on your work chess board, play that game to win at work. If you are on your health chess board, play that game to win with your health. Do not be on your family chess board thinking about work. Do not be on your work chess board thinking about family. Be where you are. Play the game. Win the moment.

And trust fate to bring you to the right chess board at the right time. Fate is not predestination. Fate is the unknown timing of any event. You do not control when opportunities show up. You do not control when challenges arrive. You do not control when the right person walks into your life. But you can trust that when they do, it is for a reason. And when you are on that board, you play it with everything you have.

What This Looks Like in Real Life

Here is what this looks like practically. You are at work. You are focused. You are solving problems. You are leading your team. You are playing the work chess board. And you play it well. You do not check your phone every five minutes. You do not stress about home. You are present. You are focused. You are winning.

Then you go home. You walk through that door. And you shift. You are on the family chess board now. You are present with your spouse. You are engaged with your kids. You are not thinking about tomorrow’s meeting. You are not replaying today’s problems. You are there. You are playing that board. And you are winning.

The same applies to health. When you are at the gym, be at the gym. When you are running, be running. When you are resting, be resting. Do not be half-present in everything. Be fully present in the moment you are in. Trust that the moment you are in is exactly where you are supposed to be. And play that chess board to win.

The Spiritual Foundation

The bottom chess board is spirituality. Your relationship with God. Your relationship with the universe. Your relationship with whatever you believe gives life meaning. That board is the foundation. When that board is strong, every other board stacks on top of it with stability. When that board is weak, every other board wobbles.

I have watched people who were brilliant professionally completely collapse personally because they had no spiritual foundation. They had no anchor. They had no peace. They had no trust. And when life threw them a curveball, they had nothing to hold onto. The spiritual board is not optional. It is foundational. It is what allows you to trust fate. It is what allows you to be present. It is what allows you to believe that where you are is exactly where you are supposed to be.

Why Nothing Happens By Accident

Here is my message. Nothing ever happens to us by accident. Everything happens for a reason. The book you were given. The information you received. The text from a friend. The person you met. The opportunity that showed up. The challenge that arrived. All of it happened for a reason. We do not always see the reason in the moment. But looking back, we always see it. That person you met five years ago led to the job you have now. That book you read three years ago gave you the idea that changed your career. That challenge you faced last year taught you the lesson you needed to grow.

We have to play the game in a way that we can progress. We have to help others along in their journey. We have to win at life. And winning at life is not about titles or money or achievements. Winning at life is doing your best. Heading in the direction you are supposed to be going. Being open to hear and listen and feel what that is supposed to be. And fitting uniquely within your role and position in this world so you can do remarkable things.

If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow.

Two Truths That Cannot Be Ignored

There are two truths I want to leave you with. First, everyone is unique. Everyone is needed. There is no truth to the idea that people would be better off without us or that the situation is hopeless. You are uniquely needed for your talents, your abilities, your personality, and your presence. No one else can play your chess board the way you can. No one else can fill your role the way you can. You are not replaceable. You are irreplaceable. And the world needs you to show up fully where you are.

Second, it always gets better. Always. That is not toxic positivity. That is reality. Things always progress. Things always move forward. Things always improve. Even when it feels darkest, even when it feels hopeless, even when you cannot see the path forward, it always gets better. Trust that. Believe that. Hold onto that.

The Boards You Play Every Day

Here are the chess boards most of us are playing:

  • Spirituality: Your foundation, your peace, your connection to something greater than yourself • Family: Your spouse, your kids, your parents, the people who depend on you and love you unconditionally • Health: Your physical well-being, your mental health, your energy, your capacity to show up • Work: Your mission, your contribution, your leadership, your production • Community: Your service, your volunteerism, your impact beyond your immediate circle

You cannot play all of them at once. But you can trust that fate will guide you to the right board at the right time. And when you are on that board, be there. Play it. Win it.

A Challenge for You

This week, ask yourself which chess board you are on in every moment. When you are at work, are you fully at work? When you are with your family, are you fully with your family? When you are taking care of your health, are you fully present? Or are you half-present in everything, never fully winning anywhere?

Stop trying to play every board at once. Trust fate to guide you to the right board. And when you are there, be there. Play the game. Give it everything you have. That is how you win at life. That is how you fulfill your purpose. That is how you live with peace and presence and power.

As Lao Tzu said, “If you are depressed, you are living in the past. If you are anxious, you are living in the future. If you are at peace, you are living in the present.” Trust fate. Be present. Play the board you are on. And win.

On we go.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the chess board analogy for life? The chess board analogy describes life as multiple chess boards stacked on top of each other, with spirituality and family at the bottom, followed by health, work, and community. The key is to trust fate to guide you to the right board in the moment, then play that board fully instead of being half-present everywhere.

How do I know which chess board I should be playing? Trust your intuition, inspiration, and the circumstances you find yourself in. If you are at work, play the work board. If you are home with family, play the family board. The board you are on is the board you should be playing. Be fully present where you are instead of worrying about the other boards.

What does it mean that nothing happens by accident? It means every book you read, person you meet, opportunity that shows up, and challenge you face happens for a reason. You may not see the reason in the moment, but looking back, you always see how it prepared you, connected you, or taught you something essential for where you are now.

How do I balance long-term purpose with daily presence? You need both. Long-term clarity gives you direction and helps you make decisions that align with your mission. Daily presence allows you to show up fully in the moment and trust you are being led to the right place. Use your purpose as a filter for decisions, then be fully present in executing those decisions.

Why is spirituality the bottom chess board? Spirituality is the foundation because it provides peace, trust, and meaning. When your spiritual board is strong, every other board stacks on top with stability. When it is weak, every other board wobbles. Spirituality is what allows you to trust fate and be present in each moment.

 

If you want to learn more we have:

-Takt Virtual Training: (Click here)
-Check out our Youtube channel for more info: (Click here) 
-Listen to the Elevate Construction podcast: (Click here) 
-Check out our training programs and certifications: (Click here)
-The Takt Book: (Click here)

Discover Jason’s Expertise:

Meet Jason Schroeder, the driving force behind Elevate Construction IST. As the company’s owner and principal consultant, he’s dedicated to taking construction to new heights. With a wealth of industry experience, he’s crafted the Field Engineer Boot Camp and Superintendent Boot Camp – intensive training programs engineered to cultivate top-tier leaders capable of steering their teams towards success. Jason’s vision? To expand his training initiatives across the nation, empowering construction firms to soar to unprecedented levels of excellence.

Calumet “K” – Chapter 2 – BONUS

Posted on by Danny Jiménez⁩
Read 25 min

When Superintendents Run to Their Comfort Zone Instead of Leading

Every once in a while, a story cuts so close to the bone that it forces you to look in the mirror. Chapter 2 of Calumet K did exactly that for me. When I first read how Charlie Peterson told the story of his rope drive job with pride and then watched him struggle with basic superintendent responsibilities, I recognized something uncomfortable. Peterson was running away. He was staying busy. He was doing laborer’s work. And he thought that made him valuable. But Bannon saw through it immediately. Peterson was not leading. He was hiding in his comfort zone.

That realization is painful for many superintendents. We have all been there. We have all had moments where we gravitated toward what we knew instead of stepping into what we should be doing. We grabbed a tool instead of planning the work. We ran to Home Depot instead of solving the supply chain problem. We made excuses about the railroad or the weather or the office instead of taking ownership. And in those moments, we were not superintendents. We were just busy.

The Pain Point Every Project Team Knows

You walk onto a jobsite and the superintendent is everywhere. Running between trades. Fixing problems in real time. On the phone constantly. Operating the forklift. Moving materials. Looking exhausted. And everyone on the team thinks, “Man, that super is working so hard.” But the project is behind. The schedule is a mess. The trades are frustrated. Materials show up late. Coordination does not happen. And nobody knows what is coming next because the superintendent is too busy firefighting to plan anything.

It is a painful pattern. And if you have been in the field long enough, you have probably seen it dozens of times. I have too. I have watched superintendents who were brilliant craftsmen completely fail as leaders because they could not let go of the work they knew and step into the work they were hired to do. They ran to their comfort zone instead of running toward the hard things that nobody else wanted to tackle.

The Failure Pattern: Hiding in Busyness

Here is the pattern that destroys project teams everywhere. A superintendent gets promoted from the trades. They were the best carpenter, the best electrician, the best finisher. They knew their craft inside and out. And then they get handed a clipboard and told to run the project. And suddenly, everything feels uncomfortable. Scheduling feels foreign. Coordination feels overwhelming. Supply chain management feels impossible. And so they retreat. They go back to what they know. They do laborer’s work. They fix things. They move materials. They stay busy. And they call that leadership.

But it is not leadership. It is avoidance. And the project suffers because nobody is doing the real work of a superintendent. Nobody is planning. Nobody is preparing. Nobody is solving the supply chain issues. Nobody is coordinating the trades. Nobody is steering the project toward the deadline. The system failed them. They did not fail the system. They were never trained to be a superintendent. They were trained to be a craftsman. And when the project started falling apart, they did the only thing they knew how to do. They worked harder. They stayed busy. They ran faster. And the project kept falling behind.

A Field Story From Calumet K

The story of Charlie Peterson in Chapter 2 is a masterclass in what not to do. Peterson tells Bannon about the rope drive job with pride. He worked through brutal conditions. He wheeled two 500-foot coils of rope over a mile of cross ties in the mud. He completed the job alone in the middle of the night. He caught the freight train at the last second. And when Brown woke him up the next morning to send him back to Stillwater, Peterson had already finished the job. He was a hero. He was tough. He was relentless.

And yet, when Bannon arrives at the Calumet K site, Peterson is two weeks behind on cribbing and has no plan to catch up. He is out on the jobsite doing laborer’s work. He is laying corbels. He is checking lumber. He is staying busy. And when Bannon asks him about the cribbing, Peterson says he has been waiting on the railroad. He makes excuses. He plays victim. He does not take ownership. And Bannon sees it immediately. Peterson is not a superintendent. He is a carpenter pretending to be a superintendent.

That moment in the book left a mark on me. It reminded me that being tough and being effective are not the same thing. Peterson was tough. But he was not effective. He could complete a rope drive job in the middle of the night, but he could not manage a supply chain. He could work harder than anyone, but he could not lead a project. And the painful truth is that many superintendents fall into the same trap. They confuse busyness with leadership. They confuse effort with effectiveness. And the project suffers.

Why This Matters for Superintendents and Project Teams

This matters because projects depend on superintendents to lead, not to stay busy. When a superintendent is doing laborer’s work, nobody is planning the next phase. Nobody is tracking materials. Nobody is coordinating the trades. Nobody is solving problems upstream. Nobody is steering the project. And when nobody is doing those things, the project falls behind. Deadlines get missed. Penalties stack up. Stress increases. And everyone suffers.

Behind every failed project is a crew depending on leadership that never showed up. When superintendents run to their comfort zone, they abandon their real job. And their real job is not to work harder than everyone else. Their real job is to prepare the work so everyone else can work effectively. Their real job is to remove roadblocks. Their real job is to track the supply chain. Their real job is to coordinate the trades. Their real job is to plan aggressively and steer the project toward the deadline.

This is not just about efficiency. This is about respect for people. When a superintendent fails to lead, the trades suffer. They show up to unprepared work. They wait for materials. They deal with coordination failures. They work in chaos. And they go home frustrated. That chaos follows them. It affects their families. It affects their health. It affects their ability to show up the next day with energy and focus. When superintendents lead well, projects stabilize. When projects stabilize, people win. And when people win, families are protected.

What Real Superintendent Leadership Looks Like

Real superintendent leadership is not complicated. It is uncomfortable. It requires stepping out of the comfort zone and doing the hard things that nobody else wants to do. Here is what it looks like in practice:

  • Stop doing laborer’s work and start planning the work
  • Track the supply chain aggressively instead of waiting and hoping
  • Coordinate trades daily instead of letting them figure it out themselves
  • Hold hard conversations instead of avoiding conflict
  • Solve roadblocks upstream instead of reacting downstream
  • Visit suppliers and track materials personally instead of trusting someone else to do it
  • Prepare the work so crews can execute smoothly instead of throwing them into chaos

Real leadership means getting uncomfortable. It means making phone calls you do not want to make. It means having conversations that feel awkward. It means visiting suppliers in other cities to track down materials. It means holding people accountable when they fall short. It means planning aggressively even when you would rather just work. These are the hard things. And leaders get to do the hard things. Not because they are fun. But because they are what the project needs.

Bannon’s Response: Attack, Attack, Attack

When Bannon realizes Peterson is two weeks behind on cribbing, he does not accept excuses. He does not blame the railroad. He does not play victim. He immediately starts problem-solving. He tells Peterson to wire the site for arc lamps so they can run night shifts the minute the cribbing arrives. He tells Peterson to stop doing laborer’s work and start managing the project. And then Bannon does what Peterson should have done weeks ago. He goes to Ledyard to track down the cribbing personally.

That is leadership. That is ownership. That is what separates proficient superintendents from inexperienced ones. Bannon does not wait. He does not hope. He does not wishfully think it will all work out at the end. He attacks the problem immediately. He goes upstream. He takes control. And he does it with urgency because he knows that every day matters. The project has penalties. The deadline is fixed. There is no such thing as “I can’t do it.” There is only problem-solving.

As General Patton said, “A good plan violently executed today is better than a perfect plan next week.” Bannon understands that. Peterson does not. Peterson is still waiting. Still hoping. Still doing laborer’s work. And the project is falling behind because nobody is leading.

The Victim Mentality Trap

One of the most painful moments in Chapter 2 is when Peterson pushes back on Bannon. He says, “Perhaps you think it’s easy.” That sentence reveals everything. Peterson is playing victim. He is defending his excuses. He is resisting accountability. And Bannon shuts it down immediately. Bannon does not think it is easy. But he expects Peterson to figure it out anyway. That is the job. That is what the office is paying him to do.

The victim mentality is a trap that destroys superintendents. When things go wrong, victim mentality says, “It is not my fault. The railroad didn’t deliver. The weather was bad. The office didn’t help me. The trades didn’t show up.” And all of those things might be true. But none of them matter. The project still has a deadline. The owner still expects completion. The penalties still apply. And the superintendent’s job is to figure it out anyway.

Leaders do not play victim. Leaders take ownership. Leaders solve problems. Leaders attack roadblocks. Leaders go upstream. Leaders hold the line. And when leaders do those things, projects win. When leaders play victim, projects fail. It is that simple.

Productively Paranoid Leadership

Bannon is productively paranoid. He does not trust that things will work out. He does not assume the cribbing will arrive on time. He does not hope for the best. He tracks it down personally. He visits the supplier. He goes to Ledyard to see where the materials are and solve the problem at the source. That is what great superintendents do. They are productively paranoid. They assume nothing. They verify everything. They go upstream. They solve problems before they become crises.

Peterson is the opposite. He is wishfully optimistic. He assumes the cribbing will arrive eventually. He waits. He hopes. He stays busy doing other things. And when the cribbing does not arrive, he is shocked. He makes excuses. He blames the railroad. And the project falls behind because nobody was tracking it.

If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow.

A Challenge for Superintendents

Walk your project this week and ask yourself whether you are leading or hiding. Ask yourself whether you are doing laborer’s work because it feels comfortable or doing superintendent work because it is what the project needs. Ask yourself whether you are tracking the supply chain or hoping it works out. Ask yourself whether you are solving problems upstream or reacting downstream. If the answer makes you uncomfortable, that is good. That discomfort is the first step toward better leadership.

Conclusion

Stop running to your comfort zone. Stop doing other people’s work. Stop playing victim. Start leading. Start planning. Start tracking. Start solving. Start attacking problems with urgency. That is what great superintendents do. And that is what your project needs.

As Bannon shows in Calumet K, leadership is not about being the toughest person on site. It is about being the most effective. It is about stepping out of your comfort zone and doing the hard things that nobody else wants to do. That is how projects win. That is how teams stabilize. And that is how leaders grow.

As General George S. Patton said, “A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.” Stop waiting. Stop making excuses. Start attacking the problems in front of you with urgency and ownership.

 

On we go.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does it mean when a superintendent is doing laborer’s work? 

When a superintendent is doing laborer’s work, it means they are performing tasks that should be delegated to the crew instead of focusing on their real job of planning, coordinating, tracking materials, and solving problems upstream. This is often a sign they are avoiding the uncomfortable work of leadership by retreating to tasks they already know how to do.

How can superintendents avoid the victim mentality trap? 

Superintendents avoid victim mentality by taking ownership of outcomes regardless of circumstances. Instead of blaming the railroad, the weather, or the office, they attack problems with urgency, go upstream to solve supply chain issues, and refuse to accept excuses. Ownership means figuring it out even when conditions are difficult.

What is productively paranoid leadership in construction? 

Productively paranoid leadership means assuming nothing will work out automatically and verifying everything personally. Instead of hoping materials arrive on time, productively paranoid leaders track the supply chain aggressively, visit suppliers, and solve problems before they become crises. This approach prevents delays and protects the project schedule.

Why do experienced craftsmen struggle when promoted to superintendent? 

Experienced craftsmen struggle as superintendents because the skills that made them great in the trades do not automatically transfer to leadership. Scheduling, coordination, supply chain management, and planning require different skills. Without proper training, they retreat to what they know—doing the physical work—instead of stepping into the uncomfortable work of leading.

What should a superintendent focus on instead of doing laborer’s work? 

Superintendents should focus on planning the next phase, tracking materials through the supply chain, coordinating trades daily, removing roadblocks upstream, holding accountability conversations, and steering the project toward deadlines. Their job is to prepare the work so the crew can execute smoothly, not to execute the work themselves.

 

If you want to learn more we have:

-Takt Virtual Training: (Click here)
-Check out our Youtube channel for more info: (Click here) 
-Listen to the Elevate Construction podcast: (Click here) 
-Check out our training programs and certifications: (Click here)
-The Takt Book: (Click here)

Discover Jason’s Expertise:

Meet Jason Schroeder, the driving force behind Elevate Construction IST. As the company’s owner and principal consultant, he’s dedicated to taking construction to new heights. With a wealth of industry experience, he’s crafted the Field Engineer Boot Camp and Superintendent Boot Camp – intensive training programs engineered to cultivate top-tier leaders capable of steering their teams towards success. Jason’s vision? To expand his training initiatives across the nation, empowering construction firms to soar to unprecedented levels of excellence.

SCRUM!

Posted on by Danny Jiménez⁩
Read 29 min

Why No Scheduling System Is One-Size-Fits-All—And Why Scrum Might Be the Closest

Every once in a while, a topic comes along that challenges the way we think about the entire construction planning experience. For me, Scrum did exactly that. When I first encountered it, I realized something that made me uncomfortable. We have spent decades building scheduling systems that require specialized knowledge, technical training, and constant oversight. CPM requires schedulers. Takt requires planning. Last Planner requires discipline. And yet Scrum, in its simplest form, requires almost none of that. It just requires a team, a milestone, and a board with four columns. That simplicity is what makes it powerful. And that simplicity is what makes it dangerous to ignore.

No scheduling system in construction is truly one-size-fits-all. CPM doesn’t do it. Microsoft Project doesn’t do it. The Last Planner doesn’t do it. Takt doesn’t do it. They are all valuable. They all serve a purpose. But none of them work universally across every project type, every milestone, every team dynamic. Scrum gets closer than anything I have encountered because it doesn’t require you to be an expert in scheduling theory. It requires you to be clear about what needs to be done and committed to working together to get it done.

The Pain We All Know Too Well

You begin a project with energy. You build the schedule. You mobilize the trades. You walk the site. And then slowly, almost invisibly, the rhythm begins to slip. Work starts stacking. Milestones fall behind. Teams move unpredictably. Foremen make decisions in reaction to yesterday’s problems instead of preparing for tomorrow’s work. The superintendent throws more hours at the issue, hoping it fixes the hurt. Owners add changes that get absorbed without structure. And suddenly, the job begins spiraling, not because people don’t care, but because the planning system never created true collaboration in the first place.

It is a painful pattern. And if you have been in the field long enough, you have probably lived it more times than you wanted. I have too. I remember standing on a research laboratory project watching trades collide in zones with no clear rhythm. The team was frustrated. The schedule was behind schedule. Someone suggested we implement Last Planner across the entire project. I remember thinking, “That’s not going to solve this.” The problem wasn’t that we lacked a scheduling system. The problem was that we lacked true collaboration. We were dictating. We were pushing. We were not planning together.

The Failure Pattern: We Try to Plan Without True Collaboration

Here is the pattern that breaks schedules everywhere. We create a schedule. We present it to the team. We tell them when they need to start and when they need to finish. We call that planning. But it is not planning, it is dictating. And dictation does not create ownership. It does not create alignment. It does not create a team that feels responsible for the outcome. It creates compliance at best and resistance at worst.

The system failed them. They didn’t fail the system. When trades show up and the work isn’t ready, that is a planning failure. When foremen cannot get clarity on what to prepare next, that is a leadership failure. When superintendents are managing chaos instead of engineering flow, that is a system design failure. The people are not the problem. The planning process is the problem. And Scrum fixes that by making collaboration the center of the entire system.

A Field Story That Opened My Eyes

I remember the research lab project vividly. Lean practitioners came down and said, “Jason, you need to implement Last Planner throughout the entire system.” They wanted my assistant superintendent to use the BIM 360 Plan for Last Planner with concrete crews. I watched him try to make it work. He was frustrated. The crew was frustrated. It wasn’t that Last Planner was bad. It is fantastic. But in that specific context, with that specific scope, it didn’t fit. It required too much overhead. It required too much structure. The crew just needed clarity on what to do next and when to do it. They didn’t need a six-week lookahead. They needed a simple visual board that showed the next sprint.

That moment taught me something critical. Scheduling systems are tools, not mandates. They work when they fit the context. They fail when they don’t. And Scrum fits more contexts than almost any other system I have encountered because it doesn’t require you to be a scheduling expert. It requires you to be clear about your milestone and committed to working together to get there.

Why Scrum Matters for Construction

Scrum matters because it protects the team from chaos. It matters because it creates clarity. It matters because it builds ownership. And it matters because it respects people by giving them visibility, voice, and control over their own work. When teams can see what needs to be done, when they can pull work into sprints based on what they can realistically accomplish, and when they can meet daily to adjust and collaborate, they win. They don’t just survive. They win. And that is what we are after.

Scrum also matters because it exposes problems early. When you run a sprint and the team cannot complete the tasks they committed to, that is not a failure. That is feedback. That is the system telling you something is wrong. Maybe the backlog wasn’t realistic. Maybe the tasks weren’t broken down correctly. Maybe a roadblock appeared that the team couldn’t solve. Whatever it is, you learn it fast. You adjust. You improve. And you move forward. That is lean thinking. That is respect for people. That is how teams get better.

Understanding Scrum: The Framework

Scrum is an agile planning framework built on transparency, collaboration, and constant feedback. It works by breaking work into time-boxed periods called sprints. Each sprint has a clear goal, a defined list of tasks, and a team committed to completing those tasks together. At the end of the sprint, the team reviews what they accomplished, reflects on what they can improve, and moves into the next sprint with better clarity and better systems.

There are four key roles in Scrum. The product owner defines the milestone and prioritizes the work. The Scrum master facilitates the process and removes roadblocks. The team does the work. And the stakeholders provide input and feedback. In construction, the product owner might be the superintendent or the project manager. The Scrum master might be the assistant superintendent or a foreman. The team is the crew. And the stakeholders are the owner, the trades, and the design team. Everyone has a role. Everyone has visibility. Everyone is working toward the same goal.

The backlog is the master list of everything that needs to be done to reach the milestone. It includes every task, every material order, every inspection, every coordination meeting. The team scores the backlog based on what is most important and most achievable. Then, in the sprint planning meeting, the team pulls tasks from the backlog into the sprint backlog. That is the list of tasks the team commits to completing during the sprint. Every day, the team meets for a quick standup to share progress, identify roadblocks, and adjust the plan. At the end of the sprint, the team reviews what they accomplished and holds a retrospective to identify what they can improve for the next sprint.

That is it. That is the entire framework. Four columns on a board. A clear milestone. A committed team. Daily standups. Sprint reviews. Retrospectives. Simple. Visible. Collaborative. And incredibly effective.

The Signs Your Team Needs Scrum

Here are the symptoms that indicate your project would benefit from Scrum:

  • Your team struggles with alignment and everyone seems to be working on different priorities • Foremen and superintendents spend more time reacting to yesterday’s problems than preparing for tomorrow’s work • Trade coordination happens through texts and phone calls instead of structured daily meetings • The schedule exists but nobody uses it because it doesn’t reflect reality • Milestones keep slipping and nobody knows why until it’s too late

These are not moral failings. These are system design failures. And Scrum fixes them by creating visibility, ownership, and daily collaboration.

How to Implement Scrum on Your Project

Here is the practical sequence for implementing Scrum in construction. Start by identifying a clear milestone. It could be a substantial completion date, a phase handoff, a commissioning deadline, or a trade coordination milestone. Whatever it is, it needs to be specific and achievable within a reasonable timeframe. Write that milestone at the top of your board.

Next, create the backlog. Gather the team and list every task that needs to be done to reach the milestone. Break big tasks into smaller tasks. Be specific. Include make-ready work, material orders, inspections, coordination meetings, and punch list items. Score each task based on importance and ease of completion. The team should agree on the scoring system together. Tasks that are high-value and easy to complete get prioritized first.

Once the backlog is built, hold your first sprint planning meeting. Decide how long the sprint will be. One week is typical for fast-moving projects. Two weeks works for most construction milestones. Pull tasks from the backlog into the sprint backlog based on what the team can realistically accomplish during the sprint. Do not overload the sprint. Be honest about capacity. This is where collaboration happens. The team decides together what they can commit to.

Create a visual Scrum board with four columns: backlog, sprint backlog, in progress, and completed. Use sticky notes. Use a whiteboard. Use a digital tool if that works better for your team. The key is visibility. Everyone should be able to see the board and understand where the work stands.

Hold daily standups. Keep them short. Five to ten minutes maximum. Each person answers three questions: What did I accomplish yesterday? What will I accomplish today? What roadblocks are in my way? The Scrum master writes down the roadblocks and works to remove them immediately. This is where flow is protected. This is where the team stays aligned.

At the end of the sprint, hold a sprint review. Show what the team accomplished. Celebrate the completed tasks. Tally the score. Then hold a retrospective. Ask three questions: What went well? What didn’t go well? What can we improve for the next sprint? Write down the improvements and implement them in the next sprint. That is continuous improvement. That is how teams get faster, smarter, and more effective over time.

Why Traditional Systems Fall Short

CPM is fantastic for large-scale coordination and milestone sequencing. But it requires schedulers. It requires software. It requires expertise. And most importantly, it doesn’t create collaboration. It creates a schedule that gets presented to the team, not a plan that the team builds together. Last Planner is fantastic for commitment-based planning and weekly coordination. But it requires discipline, structure, and buy-in from every trade. It works when the system is mature. It struggles when the team is new or the project is chaotic. Takt is fantastic for rhythmic, zone-based production. But it requires detailed planning, trade coordination, and stable conditions. It works beautifully when those conditions exist. It struggles when they don’t.

Scrum doesn’t require any of that. It requires a milestone, a backlog, a committed team, and a willingness to collaborate daily. That is it. That is why it is so powerful. That is why it fits so many contexts. And that is why every superintendent, foreman, and project manager should learn how it works.

If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow.

The Vision: Winning Instead of Worrying

Imagine a project where the team isn’t worrying about being behind. Imagine a project where the team is gaining on the schedule instead of barely meeting it. Imagine a project where daily standups create alignment, sprint reviews create accountability, and retrospectives create continuous improvement. That is what Scrum makes possible. That is the vision. And that is what we are after.

The current condition is that we aren’t truly collaborative in construction. We use the CPM mentality and pull it into the Last Planner. We dictate schedules and call it planning. We add labor when we fall behind and call it problem-solving. But if we want true collaboration, we need to embrace the Scrum mentality. We need to build plans together, not present plans to people. We need to protect flow, not react to chaos. And we need to create systems where teams win, not systems where teams barely survive.

What Breaks Scrum in Construction

Even though Scrum is simple, it can still fail if you violate a few key principles:

  • The product owner isn’t clear about the milestone or keeps changing priorities mid-sprint • The Scrum master doesn’t remove roadblocks quickly and the team gets stuck • Daily standups turn into long problem-solving sessions instead of quick coordination check-ins • The team overloads the sprint backlog and sets themselves up for failure • Sprint retrospectives don’t happen or the team doesn’t implement the improvements they identify

Avoid these pitfalls and Scrum will work. Protect the simplicity. Protect the collaboration. Protect the rhythm. That is how teams win.

Read the book Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time by Jeff Sutherland. Learn the system. Implement it on your next milestone. See what happens. See how the team responds. See how clarity increases. See how ownership grows. See how the rhythm stabilizes. This is one of the four books I am actually asking you to read. Not suggesting. Asking. Because this system can change the way your projects flow. And flow is what protects people, schedules, quality, and families.

A Challenge for Leaders

Walk your project this week and ask yourself whether your planning system creates true collaboration. Ask yourself whether your team feels ownership over the plan or compliance with the plan. Ask yourself whether your daily coordination creates alignment or just checks a box. If the answer makes you uncomfortable, that is good. That discomfort is the first step toward better systems. Scrum can help you get there. Start small. Pick one milestone. Build the backlog. Run one sprint. See what you learn. Then do it again. That is how teams improve. That is how leaders grow. That is how projects win.

As Jeff Sutherland said, “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” Scrum gives you the framework to create a future where your team wins instead of worries. Where your schedules stabilize instead of spiral. Where your people thrive instead of burn out. That future is possible. And it starts with one sprint.

On we go.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Scrum and how does it work in construction? Scrum is an agile planning framework that breaks work into time-boxed sprints. Teams create a backlog of tasks, pull tasks into sprints based on what they can realistically accomplish, hold daily standups to coordinate, and review their progress at the end of each sprint. It creates collaboration, visibility, and continuous improvement.

How is Scrum different from CPM or Last Planner? CPM focuses on milestone sequencing and requires schedulers and software. Last Planner focuses on commitment-based planning and requires structure and trade buy-in. Scrum focuses on collaboration and visibility and requires only a milestone, a backlog, a team, and daily standups. It is simpler to implement and fits more contexts.

What is a sprint and how long should it be in construction? A sprint is a time-boxed period where the team commits to completing a defined set of tasks. In construction, sprints typically last one to two weeks depending on the pace of the project and the complexity of the milestone. The team decides the sprint length together based on what makes sense for their work.

How does Scrum help teams gain on schedules instead of falling behind? Scrum creates visibility, ownership, and daily alignment. Teams know what needs to be done, commit to realistic workloads, coordinate daily to remove roadblocks, and improve continuously through sprint retrospectives. This creates flow instead of chaos and allows teams to gain momentum over time.

Can Scrum work alongside Takt or Last Planner? Yes. Scrum, Takt, and Last Planner are all rooted in Lean principles and complement each other. Scrum can be used for milestone-based coordination, Takt can be used for zone-based production, and Last Planner can be used for weekly commitment planning. The key is using the right tool for the right context.

 

If you want to learn more we have:

-Takt Virtual Training: (Click here)
-Check out our Youtube channel for more info: (Click here) 
-Listen to the Elevate Construction podcast: (Click here) 
-Check out our training programs and certifications: (Click here)
-The Takt Book: (Click here)

Discover Jason’s Expertise:

Meet Jason Schroeder, the driving force behind Elevate Construction IST. As the company’s owner and principal consultant, he’s dedicated to taking construction to new heights. With a wealth of industry experience, he’s crafted the Field Engineer Boot Camp and Superintendent Boot Camp – intensive training programs engineered to cultivate top-tier leaders capable of steering their teams towards success. Jason’s vision? To expand his training initiatives across the nation, empowering construction firms to soar to unprecedented levels of excellence.

Positive Intent

Posted on by Danny Jiménez⁩
Read 24 min

Skill, Not Will: How Assuming Positive Intent Transforms Leadership

Every once in a while, a concept comes along that changes the way you lead people. For me, the idea of “skill, not will” did exactly that. When I first encountered it in the book Changeable, I hated it. I argued with it. I yelled at my radio listening to it. I thought it was victim talk. I thought it was an excuse for poor behavior. I thought it was soft leadership. But over time, as I tested it in the field, as I watched it work in real situations, I realized something uncomfortable. I was wrong. The concept works. And it works because it is true. Most people are not failing because they do not care. They are failing because they lack the skill to do what they are trying to do.

That realization is freeing for many leaders. We spend so much energy assuming the worst about people. We assume they are lazy. We assume they are careless. We assume they do not care. And when we make those assumptions, we react emotionally. We get frustrated. We get angry. We make poor decisions. And we lose control. But when we shift our mindset to assume positive intent, when we ask ourselves what they are trying to accomplish and why they lack the skill to do it well, we stay in control. We stay calm. We find solutions. And we build stronger teams.

The Pain Point Every Leader Experiences

You walk onto a jobsite and someone is causing chaos. Maybe it is a trade partner who keeps falling behind. Maybe it is a foreman who cannot communicate clearly. Maybe it is an inspector who seems to enjoy making your life miserable. And your first reaction is frustration. You think they are difficult. You think they are incompetent. You think they are doing it on purpose. And you react accordingly. You get defensive. You push back. You avoid them. You complain about them. And nothing improves.

It is a painful pattern. And if you have been in leadership long enough, you have probably lived it more times than you wanted. I have too. I have watched leaders who were brilliant technically completely burn out because they could not stop assuming the worst about people. They took every difficult interaction personally. They fought every battle emotionally. They drained their energy reacting to behavior instead of diagnosing the root cause. And eventually, they broke. Not because they were weak. But because they never learned to separate behavior from intent.

The Failure Pattern: We Assume Negative Intent

Here is the pattern that destroys leaders everywhere. Someone does something that frustrates you. Maybe they miss a deadline. Maybe they communicate poorly. Maybe they push back on your plan. And instead of asking why, you assume the worst. You assume they do not care. You assume they are lazy. You assume they are difficult. And that assumption drives your response. You react emotionally. You get defensive. You escalate the conflict. And the situation gets worse.

The system failed them. They did not fail the system. They were never trained properly. They were never coached effectively. They were never given the clarity they needed. And when they failed, we blamed their character instead of their skill. That is the pattern. And that pattern creates toxic relationships, broken teams, and burned-out leaders.

But the truth is different. Research from Brené Brown shows that most people are doing their best. That does not mean their best is good enough. It does not mean their behavior is acceptable. But it means their intent is positive. They are trying. They just lack the skill to do it well. And when we understand that, everything changes.

A Field Story That Changed My Perspective

I remember a project where I had a team member who was causing chaos in every meeting. He was argumentative. He was defensive. He pushed back on everything. And I was ready to kick him out. I was ready to remove him from the team. I assumed he was difficult. I assumed he was trying to sabotage the project. I assumed his intent was negative.

But then I stopped. I asked myself the question: What is his positive intent? What is he trying to accomplish? And when I thought about it, I realized something. He was not trying to sabotage the project. He was trying to feel significant. He was trying to protect his trade. He was trying to make sure his concerns were heard. And he lacked the skill to do it professionally. He lacked the skill to communicate without being defensive. He lacked the skill to collaborate without arguing.

Once I understood that, everything changed. Instead of reacting emotionally, I stayed calm. Instead of fighting with him, I acknowledged his concerns. Instead of dismissing him, I gave him significance. I asked for his input. I validated his expertise. I coached him on how to communicate more effectively. And the behavior changed. He stopped being argumentative. He started collaborating. He became one of the most valuable members of the team. Not because I fixed him. But because I understood his positive intent and helped him develop the skill to accomplish it the right way.

The Framework: Skill, Not Will

The concept is simple. When someone does something that frustrates you, assume it is a skill problem, not a will problem. Assume they want to do the right thing. Assume their intent is positive. But assume they lack the skill to do it well. That assumption changes everything. It keeps you calm. It keeps you in control. It allows you to diagnose the real problem instead of reacting emotionally.

Here is how it works practically. Someone misses a deadline. Instead of assuming they do not care, ask yourself: Do they understand the deadline? Do they know how to prioritize? Do they have the resources they need? Do they know how to communicate when they are falling behind? Most of the time, the answer is no. They care. But they lack the skill. And once you understand that, you can coach them. You can train them. You can give them the clarity they need. And the behavior changes.

The same applies to difficult owners, cantankerous inspectors, argumentative trade partners, and defensive team members. They are not trying to make your life miserable. They are trying to accomplish something. And they lack the skill to do it well. Your job is not to fight them. Your job is to identify their positive intent, understand what they are trying to accomplish, and help them develop the skill to do it the right way.

Tony Robbins’ Six Human Needs

Tony Robbins teaches that every human being is driven by six core needs: certainty, variety, significance, connection, growth, and contribution. When someone is behaving poorly, they are trying to meet one of those needs. And they are doing it in a way that lacks skill. The inspector who seems difficult is trying to feel significant. The owner who creates chaos is trying to feel certain. The team member who argues in meetings is trying to feel connection or significance. The trade partner who falls behind is trying to meet their need for certainty or growth.

Once you understand what need they are trying to meet, you can help them meet it in a way that works for both of you. You can give the inspector significance by valuing their expertise. You can give the owner certainty by communicating proactively. You can give the team member connection by including them in decisions. You can give the trade partner growth by coaching them through challenges. This is not manipulation. This is leadership. This is understanding human behavior and helping people win.

The Technique: Identify the Positive Intent

Here is the practical technique. When someone frustrates you, pause. Do not react. Instead, ask yourself three questions:

  • What are they trying to accomplish? • What need are they trying to meet? • What skill do they lack to do it well?

Once you answer those questions, you have clarity. You understand their positive intent. You understand what they are trying to do. And you can help them develop the skill to do it the right way. That keeps you in control. That keeps you calm. That allows you to lead instead of react.

Example one: A trade partner keeps falling behind. What are they trying to accomplish? They are trying to complete the work. What need are they trying to meet? Certainty. They want to know they can finish on time. What skill do they lack? Planning. They do not know how to sequence the work. They do not know how to communicate when they are falling behind. Coach them. Train them. Give them the skill. The behavior changes.

Example two: An inspector seems difficult. What are they trying to accomplish? They are trying to feel significant. What need are they trying to meet? Significance. They want to feel important. What skill do they lack? Professional communication. They do not know how to assert authority without being difficult. Give them significance. Value their expertise. Respect their role. The behavior changes.

This technique works every time. It keeps you in control. It keeps you out of the mud. It allows you to lead from a place of calm confidence instead of reactive frustration.

If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow.

Why This Matters for Leaders and Teams

This matters because leaders who assume positive intent stay in control. They do not get dragged into emotional battles. They do not take behavior personally. They do not burn out fighting every difficult person they encounter. They stay calm. They diagnose. They coach. And they build stronger teams.

Behind every difficult person is someone trying to meet a need and lacking the skill to do it well. When leaders understand that, they stop reacting and start leading. They stop fighting and start coaching. They stop assuming the worst and start finding win-win solutions. And that changes everything. It changes the culture. It changes the relationships. It changes the outcomes.

This also protects families. When leaders burn out reacting emotionally to every difficult situation, they go home drained. They have nothing left for their spouse. They have nothing left for their kids. But when leaders stay in control, when they lead from a place of calm confidence, they go home with energy. They go home knowing they handled every situation well. And that stability protects families.

A Challenge for Leaders

Walk your project this week and identify one person who frustrates you. Do not react. Do not avoid them. Instead, ask yourself: What is their positive intent? What are they trying to accomplish? What need are they trying to meet? What skill do they lack? Once you answer those questions, approach them with clarity. Coach them. Help them. Give them the skill they need. And watch the behavior change.

Stop assuming the worst. Stop reacting emotionally. Start assuming positive intent. Start identifying the skill gap. Start coaching instead of fighting. That is what great leaders do. And that is what your team needs.

As Brené Brown said, “People are doing the best they can.” That does not excuse poor behavior. But it changes how you respond. It keeps you in control. It keeps you leading. And it creates teams that win.

On we go.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does “skill, not will” mean? 

Skill, not will, means most people want to do the right thing but lack the skill to do it well. When someone’s behavior is frustrating, it is usually not because they do not care but because they do not know how to accomplish their goal professionally. Identifying the skill gap allows you to coach instead of react.

How do I assume positive intent when someone seems obviously difficult? 

Assume they are trying to meet a basic human need like significance, certainty, or connection. Ask yourself what they are trying to accomplish and what skill they lack to do it well. This keeps you calm and allows you to lead instead of react emotionally.

What if someone really does have bad intent? 

Very few people truly have malicious intent. Most behavior that seems difficult is driven by fear, insecurity, or lack of skill. Focus on the vast majority of situations where positive intent exists, and handle the rare exceptions with clear boundaries and accountability.

How does this approach keep me in control? 

When you assume positive intent and identify the skill gap, you stay calm. You do not take behavior personally. You do not react emotionally. You diagnose the problem and coach the solution. This keeps you leading from a place of control instead of reacting from a place of frustration.

Can this approach work with difficult owners, inspectors, and trade partners? 

Yes. Owners who create chaos usually lack planning skills. Inspectors who seem difficult usually need significance. Trade partners who fall behind usually lack coordination or communication skills. Identify their positive intent, understand what they are trying to accomplish, and help them develop the skill to do it well.


If you want to learn more we have:

-Takt Virtual Training: (Click here)
-Check out our Youtube channel for more info: (Click here) 
-Listen to the Elevate Construction podcast: (Click here) 
-Check out our training programs and certifications: (Click here)
-The Takt Book: (Click here)

Discover Jason’s Expertise:

Meet Jason Schroeder, the driving force behind Elevate Construction IST. As the company’s owner and principal consultant, he’s dedicated to taking construction to new heights. With a wealth of industry experience, he’s crafted the Field Engineer Boot Camp and Superintendent Boot Camp – intensive training programs engineered to cultivate top-tier leaders capable of steering their teams towards success. Jason’s vision? To expand his training initiatives across the nation, empowering construction firms to soar to unprecedented levels of excellence.

How to Deal with Complaints

Posted on by Danny Jiménez⁩
Read 26 min

Stop Playing Savior: How to Handle Complaints and Build Real Teams

Every once in a while, a topic comes along that changes the way you lead people. For me, understanding how to handle complaints did exactly that. When I first encountered the pattern of leaders playing savior, I realized something uncomfortable. Most of what we call leadership in construction is actually dependency management. We create systems where people run to us instead of running to each other. We drain our own emotional currency solving problems that should be solved between team members. And we call that being helpful. But it is not helpful. It is exhausting. And it prevents teams from building the trust, conflict, and accountability they need to win.

That realization is painful for many leaders. We want to be needed. We want to solve problems. We want to be the hero. But the moment we step into that role, we stop building a team and start building a dependency on ourselves. And that dependency becomes a bottleneck. It drains us. It weakens the team. And it prevents the very thing we are trying to create, which is a high-performing group of people who can solve problems together.

The Pain Point Every Leader Knows

You walk onto a jobsite and your phone is ringing constantly. Trade partner A is calling to complain about trade partner B. A foreman is texting you about another foreman. A project manager is venting about a superintendent. Everyone is coming to you. Everyone wants you to fix their problem. Everyone wants you to be the middleman. And you feel important. You feel needed. You feel like a leader. But the project is not improving. The relationships are not getting stronger. The team is not coming together. And you are exhausted because your entire day is spent managing complaints instead of leading the work.

It is a painful pattern. And if you have been in leadership long enough, you have probably lived it more times than you wanted. I have too. I have watched leaders who were brilliant technically completely burn out because they could not stop playing savior. They took every complaint personally. They solved every problem themselves. They became the emotional center of the entire project. And eventually, they broke. Not because they were weak. But because they were carrying weight that the team should have been carrying together.

The Failure Pattern: Leaders Play Savior

Here is the pattern that destroys teams everywhere. Someone comes to you with a complaint about another team member. Maybe it is a personality conflict. Maybe it is a miscommunication. Maybe it is frustration about how work is being done. And you listen. And you want to help. So you step in. You talk to the other person. You solve the problem. You smooth it over. And everyone feels better. For about a day. And then it happens again. And again. And again. Because you never connected those two people together. You never coached them to have the conversation themselves. You never built the trust and conflict skills they need to work it out.

The system failed them. They did not fail the system. They were never taught how to engage in healthy conflict. They were never shown what it looks like to have a hard conversation professionally. They were never given permission to disagree and work through it together. And so they default to what feels safe. They run to you. They backdoor the situation. They avoid conflict. And you enable it by solving it for them.

But the cost is real. Your emotional currency drains. The relationships between those two people never improve. The team never learns to function without you. And you become the bottleneck. Every problem flows through you. Every conflict waits for you. And when you are not available, nothing gets resolved. The team is not a team. It is a group of individuals who depend on you to function.

A Field Story About Building Trust

I remember working with a project team where the superintendent and the lead trade partner could not stand each other. Every day, one of them was calling me to complain. The superintendent said the trade was behind and not communicating. The trade said the superintendent was changing the plan constantly and not giving them clarity. And both of them wanted me to fix it. They wanted me to be the referee. They wanted me to step in and solve their problem.

And I almost did. I almost played savior. But then I stopped and asked myself a question. Is this bringing the team closer together? And the answer was no. If I stepped in and solved it, they would never learn to work together. They would never build trust. They would never engage in the healthy conflict they needed to align. So instead, I said, “Have you spoken to each other about this?” And they both said no. So I said, “Let’s do it right now. Let’s get in a room and work this out.”

And it was uncomfortable. They were frustrated. They were defensive. But we worked through it. We clarified expectations. We identified where the miscommunication was happening. We agreed on a coordination system. And by the end of the conversation, they had solved the problem themselves. I did not solve it. I facilitated it. And from that day forward, they stopped running to me. They started running to each other. That is what real team building looks like.

Why This Matters for Teams and Families

This matters because teams depend on trust to function. When leaders play savior, they prevent trust from forming. When leaders connect people together and coach healthy conflict, they build teams that can solve their own problems. And when teams can solve their own problems, they win. They move faster. They communicate better. They support each other. And they do not drain the leader’s emotional currency.

Behind every dysfunctional team is a leader who never taught them how to engage in healthy conflict. And behind every high-performing team is a leader who refused to play savior. This is not just about efficiency. This is about respect for people. When we solve every problem for people, we treat them like children. When we coach them to solve problems together, we treat them like professionals. And professionals deserve that respect.

This also protects families. When leaders burn out playing savior, they go home exhausted. They have nothing left for their spouse. They have nothing left for their kids. They are drained. And that drain follows them everywhere. But when leaders build teams that function without them, they go home with energy. They go home knowing the team is strong. They go home knowing the project is stable. And that stability protects families.

The Signs You Are Playing Savior

Here are the warning signs that indicate you have become the emotional middleman instead of a team builder:

  • Your phone is constantly ringing with complaints about other team members
  • People wait for you to solve conflicts instead of talking to each other directly 
  • The same personality conflicts keep resurfacing week after week 
  • You feel drained at the end of every day from managing interpersonal issues
  • Team members avoid each other and communicate only through you

These are not signs of a team that trusts you. These are signs of a team that depends on you. And dependency is not leadership. It is exhaustion.

The Four-Step Response System for Handling Complaints

Here is the practical sequence for handling complaints without playing savior. When someone comes to you with a complaint about another team member, follow these four steps:

Step one: Ask if this involves harassment or discrimination. If yes, handle it immediately yourself. Do not delegate harassment or discrimination complaints. Ever. Those must be dealt with directly, confidentially, and seriously. You handle it. You involve HR. You involve legal if necessary. You protect the innocent. You deal with the offender. And you do it right. This is non-negotiable.

Step two: If it does not involve harassment or discrimination, ask: “Have you spoken to that person?” If the answer is no, stop. Do not solve the problem for them. Instead, coach them to have the conversation themselves. Say, “I think the best path forward is for you to talk to them directly. Would you be comfortable doing that?” Most of the time, they will say yes once you give them permission.

Step three: If they are not comfortable talking directly, offer to facilitate. Say, “Can we all sit down together and work this out?” Bring both people into a room. Let them air the issue. Coach them to listen to each other. Help them find alignment. But do not solve it yourself. Your role is to facilitate, not to fix.

Step four: If they still refuse to engage, question whether they are a cultural fit. If someone consistently refuses to engage in healthy conflict, refuses to talk to people directly, and insists on running every issue through you, they are not building trust. They are building dependency. And that is not sustainable. High-performing teams engage in conflict. They do not avoid it.

How Healthy Teams Function

Healthy teams function like Navy SEAL teams, Olympic teams, and professional sports teams. Coaching happens in the open. Feedback happens in real time. Conflict is expected and encouraged. And accountability is shared. Imagine a Navy SEAL telling their instructor, “Hey, don’t coach me in front of my team. I would rather you pull me aside.” That would never happen. It is absurd. Professional teams accept coaching in the open because they trust each other.

The same applies to construction teams. When a superintendent gives feedback to a foreman in a coordination meeting, that is not disrespectful. That is coaching. When a project manager corrects a plan in front of the team, that is not embarrassing. That is accountability. And when team members challenge each other in planning meetings, that is not conflict for the sake of conflict. That is healthy disagreement that leads to better decisions.

If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow.

The Guiding Principle: Is This Bringing the Team Closer Together?

Here is the guiding principle that works in every situation. Before you decide how to handle a complaint, ask yourself: Is this bringing the team closer together? If the answer is yes, proceed. If the answer is no, stop and reconsider.

Example one: Someone reports harassment. You handle it directly, confidentially, and appropriately. You protect the innocent. You deal with the offender. Did you bring the team closer together? Yes. You removed a problem that was destroying trust.

Example two: Someone complains about a personality conflict. You ask if they have spoken to the person. They say no. You coach them to talk directly or offer to facilitate a conversation. Did you bring the team closer together? Yes. You connected them and coached healthy conflict.

Example three: Someone complains and you immediately solve it without connecting them to the other person. Did you bring the team closer together? No. You reinforced dependency and prevented trust from forming.

This principle works every single time. Use it. Trust it. Let it guide your decisions.

What Healthy Conflict Actually Looks Like

Many leaders avoid connecting people together because they fear conflict will explode. But healthy conflict is not yelling or personal attacks. Here is what it actually looks like:

  • Both people express their perspective without blaming • The leader facilitates by asking clarifying questions and keeping the conversation productive • Agreement is reached on clear next steps and expectations • Both people leave with better understanding and alignment

Healthy conflict builds trust. Avoiding conflict destroys it. And playing savior prevents your team from ever learning the difference.

A Challenge for Leaders

Walk your project this week and ask yourself whether you are building a team or managing dependencies. Ask yourself whether you are coaching people to engage in healthy conflict or solving every problem yourself. Ask yourself whether your team is coming closer together or staying fragmented because they run to you instead of each other. If the answer makes you uncomfortable, that is good. That discomfort is the first step toward building a real team.

Stop playing savior. Stop draining your emotional currency. Start connecting people together. Start coaching healthy conflict. Start building teams that trust each other and solve their own problems. That is what great leaders do. And that is what your team needs.

As Patrick Lencioni said, “If you could get all the people in an organization rowing in the same direction, you could dominate any industry, in any market, against any competition, at any time.” Building trust and coaching healthy conflict is how you get everyone rowing in the same direction.

On we go.

Frequently Asked Questions

What should I do if someone comes to me with a complaint about another team member? First, ask if it involves harassment or discrimination. If yes, handle it directly. If no, ask if they have spoken to the other person. If they have not, coach them to have the conversation themselves or offer to facilitate a meeting where both people can work it out together. Do not solve it for them.

When should I handle complaints directly versus connecting people together? Handle complaints directly only when they involve harassment, discrimination, or safety violations. For all other complaints, including personality conflicts, miscommunication, or work disagreements, connect the people together and coach them to resolve it themselves. This builds trust and prevents dependency.

How do I coach someone to have a difficult conversation they are avoiding? Start by asking what they are afraid will happen. Address their concerns. Remind them that healthy teams engage in conflict professionally. Offer to facilitate the conversation if they need support. Give them specific language they can use to start the conversation respectfully. Then follow up to ensure it happens.

What if someone refuses to talk directly to the person they are complaining about? If someone consistently refuses to engage in healthy conflict after coaching, question whether they are a cultural fit for your team. High-performing teams require people who can have hard conversations professionally. Dependence on you to solve every conflict is not sustainable and prevents the team from functioning.

How does handling complaints this way protect my emotional currency? When you solve every problem yourself, you drain your emotional energy and become the bottleneck for every conflict. When you connect people together and coach them to resolve issues themselves, you preserve your energy for strategic leadership and build a team that functions without constant intervention.

 

If you want to learn more we have:

-Takt Virtual Training: (Click here)
-Check out our Youtube channel for more info: (Click here) 
-Listen to the Elevate Construction podcast: (Click here) 
-Check out our training programs and certifications: (Click here)
-The Takt Book: (Click here)

Discover Jason’s Expertise:

Meet Jason Schroeder, the driving force behind Elevate Construction IST. As the company’s owner and principal consultant, he’s dedicated to taking construction to new heights. With a wealth of industry experience, he’s crafted the Field Engineer Boot Camp and Superintendent Boot Camp – intensive training programs engineered to cultivate top-tier leaders capable of steering their teams towards success. Jason’s vision? To expand his training initiatives across the nation, empowering construction firms to soar to unprecedented levels of excellence.

On We Go 

Pre-Construction Planning: The Five Must-Do Items to Leave Precon Right

Posted on by Danny Jiménez⁩
Read 33 min

Pre-Construction Planning: The Five Must-Do Items to Leave Precon Right

We’re going to talk about planning and design of precon. Now, there’s a lot more to this than what I’m going to cover now, but let’s go ahead and do one small segment and see where we end up. I want to talk about the question directly: If you had to pick something, what are the key things that you would pick? What are the most impactful things in pre-construction that we have to remember?

And I’ll close with this statement: I think it’s immoral and unethical to hold a project team accountable for a project they didn’t plan. I think it’s immoral and unethical to hold a project team accountable for a project they didn’t plan. And so these are the minimum items.

Let me walk you through the five must-do items.

The Pain of Starting Without a Plan

Here’s what happens when you don’t do proper pre-construction planning. You start the project. You mobilize. And then you discover problems. The crane is too small. The switchgear won’t be here for six months. The zones are too big. The trade partners can’t hit the schedule. And now you’re reacting. You’re fighting fires. You’re stressed. And the team didn’t plan this project together.

And here’s the problem: you’re holding the team accountable for a project they didn’t plan. That’s immoral and unethical. The team needs to plan the project together. They need to see the plan. They need to tear it apart. They need to make it right. And then they own it.

Without proper pre-construction planning, you’re guessing. With proper pre-construction planning, you’re prepared. And there are five must-do items that separate guessing from preparation.

Must-Do One: Create the Macro-Level Takt Plan

One of the most important things you can do on your project is create a macro-level Takt plan. And I’m going to put that in a timeline. I think that your macro-level Takt plan is best anywhere between the proposal I would actually do one for a proposal all the way up to schematic design, between those frameworks.

I want to take you to a really neat board here and explain why we would want a macro-level Takt plan. And even if you use CPM, I would always do a macro-level Takt plan at a high level and make sure that you have what you need. This is a macro-level Takt plan. I remember an executive one time telling me, “Jason, if you can’t see the plan in one to five minutes, you don’t have a plan.”

You might be curious why we’re showing a schedule that is running past substantial completion. This project is actually on track. This is basically their baseline strategy. And when the team was able to see this, they were like, “Hey, can we optimize how fast we’re able to get in here in the interior space? Hey, the structural upgrade phase is a little bit disconnected. Is there any way that can narrow by adjusting zone sizes? Hey, for the interiors, instead of 10 zones at 10,000 square feet, can we do 15 zones at 7,500 square feet?”

And that is actually what the team ended up doing. And this phase actually ended up hitting the milestone because everybody knows the smaller your zone size, the faster you go. So they were able to look at this from a strategic standpoint and say, “Okay, this is how I’m going to optimize move-in. We’ll really line out the occupants.” The demolition phase, that’s probably already optimized, but we have one little gap here. Can we add a second crew way early on so they’re trained and onboarded?

We have this schedule is correct. This baseline strategy is correct because it has trade flow. The trades can actually move from area to area to area. Anytime you see a schedule where they’re stacked into one zone with too many people or one trade is supposed to be in 18 different areas on the CPM schedule, no. No. No. And some more, no.

So what happens on these baseline schedules is that we actually map out what’s realistic and then we have realistic opportunities to accelerate. We can re-zone to accelerate. We can optimize a bottleneck, meaning like let’s say that there’s like an underground electrical room or something like that and we can actually prefabricate that underground electrical. We can look at the sequence. We can optimize the start of phases with great sequencing.

My point here is that seeing a macro-level Takt plan is actually key and we can do so much with it. Macro-level Takt plans are amazing. The other thing that I like them for is that this is what they should look like before you come out of pre-construction: torn apart, commented on, questioned, criticized. Just like you’re making a good movie at DreamWorks. We’ve got to have the plan on one page to where everybody understands it and just redline the crap out of it so that you can get to a solid plan that will work for you out in the field.

So here’s a quote if you want to write it down: I don’t care if your first plan is right. I care that the team can see it so the team can make it right together.

Must-Do Two: Manage Long-Lead Procurement Weekly

If Jeff came and said, “Hey, J Money, I need you to run a project for me,” and I was a superintendent, I would literally be like, “Jeff, can you hold on one second?” And Jeff would be like, “What the hell? Does he have to go to the bathroom?” And I would literally come out of my office with a piece of paper and say, “Jeff, what kind of building is it? And what things do we need to order right now for long-lead procurement?” And he’d be like, “Jason, I didn’t even tell you what the job is.” I’d be like, “I don’t care. We need to get we’re already late for switchgear. We’re already late for curtain wall.” And Jeff would be like, “Jason, are you high?” And I’d be like, “Jeff, for the love of God, we’re already late. We have to get our long-lead procurement on. What if the owner won’t pay for it? Jeff, I’ll pay for it myself.”

Like one of the biggest problems that we have in the industry is that we don’t start soon enough. I promise I won’t be too long with all of this. But there’s a great book and it’s written way back in the day. It’s called Calum K. It’s a book about a builder, a superintendent literally back in the day that recovered a project. And this is like at this point like 150 years ago in the United States. And guess what? He’s dealing with unions, railroad lines, politics, labor shortages, procurement issues. So when we’re like, “Oh, COVID-19 and supply chains,” we’ve had this problem for hundreds and hundreds of years. Every book I read says the same thing.

It literally comes down to two things. If you want to take notes, you have to start early enough. I’ve learned this from master builders. We have to start sooner and we have to monitor weekly.

This is just a little bit of a tease to my construction homies that I love. I’ll go to job sites and 98% of them, this is what happens. I’m like, “Hey, what are the biggest problems you’re dealing with?” “Okay, labor shortages and material procurement.” “Okay, let me see your procurement log.” “What’s a procurement log?” “Okay, you don’t use a log. That’s super fine. Just show it to me in Procore.” “Well, I don’t have it in there.” “Okay. Well, all right. It’s probably in the schedule. Can you show me your procurement in the ” “No, we don’t have it in the schedule.” “Okay. Who manages their procurement?” “Well, our trades do.”

And then I’m like, “Oh.” Like, have you ever seen that scene in The Naked Gun where they’re trading guns back and forth in a hostage scene and everybody in the audience slaps their head? I’m like, “No, we can’t. That is not the right answer.” We as the general contractor have to work with the trades, monitor it weekly so that we see real-time if there’s a mistake.

Here’s the key components of a procurement log:

  • Required on-job date: When do you need it on site? Work backwards from there with buffers.
  • Conditional formatting on each step: Shop drawings submitted, reviewed, approved, ordered, manufactured, shipped, received. If any step goes red, you immediately know to recover the supply chain.
  • Weekly monitoring: Track it every single week. Don’t wait for the trade to call you and say, “Sorry, it’s going to be three more weeks.” You should already know the problem and be recovering it.

A lot of times people are like, “Oh, I ordered this a year ago and I got a call yesterday from the trade saying it’s going to be three more weeks. Sorry owner, we have a delay.” Well, why are we surprised? Why were we not tracking it weekly? Why when we were looking at these, didn’t we see a problem in each of these steps real-time and recover it? Because we weren’t paying attention. We weren’t taught this.

And so, one of the most impactful things you can do to get out of pre-construction is to make sure you are managing your long-lead procurement as fast as possible.

Must-Do Three: Create Norm-Level Takt Plans (Post-Pull-Plan)

This is one of the critical ones. Create norm-level Takt plans. If you start your project with a macro-level Takt plan and you can do this with CPM or Takt so if you’re mainly CPM, that’s super fine, not a problem then you create your macro-level Takt plan. Tear it apart with the team. Make it a team plan. Make sure everybody owns it. Then you can build your work breakdown structure and CPM. But you need to see your entire plan on one page.

And one of the things that I really like as I zoom into this is that your macro-level Takt plan should be your slowest speed plus your risk analysis plus a reference class. Meaning if you’re building a laboratory, your reference class is historical data on the last 15 laboratories you’ve built. And if the last 15 projects you’ve built took 18 months and you’re promising 15 for this new one, that’s probably not smart.

So your macro-level Takt plan is your slowest speed plus your risk analysis plus your reference class. Then when we re-zone, meaning we do our pull plan, when we do our pull plan that helps us to create the sequence. And in the pull plan you actually work with the trade partners to find out the smallest zone size that’s reasonable.

Now when you do your norm-level Takt plan, which is post-pull-plan, that’s your optimized speed plus risk mitigation strategies plus your reference class mitigation strategies plus buffers. The way we do that is in a calculator. You plug in how many packages of work you have for trades, how many zones you have, and what your Takt time is. And the calculator will basically say, “Okay, you’ve got five zones planned right now. Well, if you go to nine zones, you’ll go from 95 days on your phase to 69 days. Or if you go to 11 zones, you go to 75 days and the trade partners have eight additional days for each of their scopes.”

So this calculator allows you to know how you should zone a project. And that’s important because then and only then you pull plan with the trades and you pull plan one representative zone. And when you pull plan that, that is the base of everything that we do.

All a pull plan is is one sequence in a zone of a Takt plan. And all a Takt plan is is multiple pull plans zone by zone. That’s it. So Last Planner 2.0 is Takt 100%. Last Planner 1.0 is simply one area. If you all love the Last Planner System, then the next step is to love the Takt Production System. That’s what creates your base and that’s what creates your norm-level production plan. If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow.

Must-Do Four: Create a Risk and Opportunity Register

The other most important thing is you should as the PM or the project executive create a risk and opportunity register. That risk and opportunity register is going to be created from those fresh eyes meetings. Every risk that we know or opportunity to gain more money should be mentioned on that register.

Let me give you two examples. Let’s say that one risk is the crane will be there too long and the size of crane is a $300,000 risk to your budget. Well, now you start looking into it and you find out that you could actually do two smaller ballast cranes, save the 300 grand and still have the capacity for the formwork. That’s an example of a risk.

Let’s look at an opportunity. This is kind of silly, but if you have good financial projections, let’s say that you have a guaranteed maximum price as a CM at risk, but your concrete budget is lump sum, and you realize that on the project you could actually hire two more field engineers because your budget looks strong and that would help your self-perform lump-sum budget, and that you could rent yourself your own equipment for the project, at least the forklift, as a part of your overall budget and gain $30,000 to $40,000 additionally on equipment rental gains. That’s something you would put in your opportunities column.

The bottom line is having a risk and opportunity register will set the team up for success to get rid of their risks and to realize their financial opportunities. And that happens once you do a little bit of research on your reference class. Basically what it is is don’t build a building unless you’ve done research on previous buildings. And you can even if you don’t have research, you can use AI to get some pretty good information. If you’re building a building, understand what the 10 to 15 types of those buildings look like, how long they took, how much they cost before, and make sure that you’re not undercutting that by a lot.

Must-Do Five: Host a Fresh Eyes Meeting

That brings us to the fresh eyes meeting. That means every job that goes out the door gets reviewed and the project team gets to stand and deliver. And what happens is you have something like this. It has the overall summary, the overall production plan, the first 90 days, every sequence to look at, all of the procurement items, overall work density areas, budget categories, how the team is organized. Like everything is on here. And we should just rip this thing a new one, just tear it apart and be mean because we don’t have a plan until the entire project team has reviewed it, torn it apart, and had a fresh set of eyes for it.

And guess what? If some of you are like, “I’m not letting Jeff touch my project and look at it,” no, no, no, no, no. Do you want to go home every day and be stressed about it by yourself or do you want to share the burden of this project with the team? I promise you, your mental health will be better if you share it. So the fresh eyes meeting is absolutely crucial. So that’s the fifth major thing that I would do.

A Challenge for Project Teams

Here’s what I want you to do this week. If you want to know, according to my research and opinion, what are the most impactful things that you must do in order to leave precon the right way, here are the five:

  1. Macro-level Takt plan – See the entire project on one page, tear it apart, make it right together
  2. Long-lead procurement – Start early, monitor weekly, recover problems in real time
  3. Norm-level Takt plans – Pull plan with trades, optimize zones, gain buffers
  4. Risk and opportunity register – Document risks, identify opportunities, prepare the team
  5. Fresh eyes meeting – Peer review, stand and deliver, share the burden

And this is not done very often. You can’t come to most projects and find a great master plan, procurement, pull plans starting to be done, the risk and opportunity register, and the fresh eyes meeting happening. And ideally, it’s not one fresh eyes meeting, but hopefully you get enough reviews. I’d rather there be three. One of these days when we’re really good at this, we will have reviewed that project three different times before we go out into the field.

As we say at Elevate, it’s immoral and unethical to hold a project team accountable for a project they didn’t plan. Do the five must-do precon items. Plan together. Own the plan together. Execute together.

On we go.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is the macro-level Takt plan the first must-do?

Because you can’t see the plan in one to five minutes without it. The team needs to see the entire project on one page, tear it apart, and make it right together. That’s how you build ownership.

Why monitor long-lead procurement weekly instead of monthly?

Because if something goes red, you need to know immediately and recover. If you wait a month, you’ve lost four weeks of recovery time. Weekly monitoring catches problems in real time when you can still fix them.

What’s the difference between macro and norm-level Takt plans?

Macro-level is slowest speed plus risk plus reference class. Norm-level is optimized speed plus risk mitigation plus reference class plus buffers. Macro happens at proposal to schematic. Norm happens post-pull-plan with trades.

Why do you need a risk and opportunity register?

To document known risks and identify financial opportunities before mobilization. The team can eliminate risks and realize opportunities instead of reacting to problems after they’ve already hurt the project.

What happens in a fresh eyes meeting?

The project team stands and delivers. Peers review the entire plan production, procurement, budget, team organization, everything. They tear it apart. They make it better. You don’t have a plan until it’s been peer-reviewed.

If you want to learn more we have:

-Takt Virtual Training: (Click here)
-Check out our Youtube channel for more info: (Click here) 
-Listen to the Elevate Construction podcast: (Click here) 
-Check out our training programs and certifications: (Click here)
-The Takt Book: (Click here)

Discover Jason’s Expertise:

Meet Jason Schroeder, the driving force behind Elevate Construction IST. As the company’s owner and principal consultant, he’s dedicated to taking construction to new heights. With a wealth of industry experience, he’s crafted the Field Engineer Boot Camp and Superintendent Boot Camp – intensive training programs engineered to cultivate top-tier leaders capable of steering their teams towards success. Jason’s vision? To expand his training initiatives across the nation, empowering construction firms to soar to unprecedented levels of excellence.

 

On we go

What Operational Excellence Really Means (It’s Not Just “Finished on Time”)

Posted on by Danny Jiménez⁩
Read 25 min

What Operational Excellence Really Means (It’s Not Just “Finished on Time”)

So let’s go ahead and talk about what it means to be operationally excellent. I’ve heard in the past superintendents say, “I finished on time. I pulled it through the knothole.” And let me say this with passion: I don’t care at all if somebody finishes on time if they had to burn through trade partners, stay away from their families, crash-land the project, or hurt somebody to do it. I don’t care at all.

And I am tired of people saying, “Well, it finished on time.” That’s not operational excellence. That’s not success. Let me explain the true definition.

The Pain of the “Finished on Time” Mentality

Here’s what happens when “finished on time” is the only metric. You burn through trade partners. They lose money. They don’t want to work with you again. You stay away from your families. Your marriage suffers. Your kids suffer. You crash-land the project. You rush. You cut corners. Quality suffers. Safety suffers. And you hurt somebody. Someone gets injured. Someone goes home in pain. Someone doesn’t go home at all.

And then the superintendent says, “But we finished on time.” That’s not success. That’s tragedy.

Here’s the problem with the “finished on time” mentality. It treats people as disposable. It treats trade partners as expenses. It treats families as acceptable collateral damage. And it treats safety as optional. That’s not Lean. That’s not respect for people. That’s classical management. And it’s evil.

I will sit in an office gathering of superintendents in a company and everybody’s like this, almost making fun of each other and joking and giggling, and their ego, their exterior, their false sense of self, their John Wayne persona is out in the open and there’s very little collaboration. Everything is, “Oh, I already knew that. I know. I know. I know.” And it’s just very disappointing to me.

And then I go into a group of PMs and they’re joking with each other in a positive way and they’re sharing and they’re like, “Yeah, I messed this up the other day.” And I’m like, “Okay, we as superintendents have got to step up as an industry.” We can no longer be proud of banana peels falling out of our trucks. We can’t be saying, “Oh, I don’t use computers.” We can’t have voicemail boxes that are full and cannot take any messages. We can’t have screen desktops with icons everywhere with no organization. And my favorite is the superintendent walking the job with nothing in his or her hands, not taking notes, and they’re like, “I got it right here.” We have got to stop this.

And I say that with love. My mission is to help create an image where superintendents can run with PMs and use technology with PMs and do just as good of a job as anyone else on the project site.

The True Definition of Operational Excellence

So let me explain what operational excellence really means. The true definition of operational excellence and success is: I finished on time with great quality. That means that we didn’t have to rush. So we had a three-month punch list with beautiful safety—because people have all kinds of different words and they get tied up in knots about how you talk about safety, but with amazing safety. Where we met our gross profit or net profit targets. And these are the important ones.

Here’s the complete definition:

Quality: Great quality means we didn’t rush. We had time for checks and gates. We finished as we go. We had a short punch list. Not a three-month crash-land disaster.

Safety: Beautiful safety means nobody got hurt. Zero injuries. Everyone went home every day. Safe environment. Safe culture. Safe systems.

Profit: Met our gross profit or net profit targets. We made money. The company made money. The budget worked. Cash flow worked.

Trades Win Financially: All trades won financially. Not just the GC. Every trade partner made money. They want to work with us again. They trust us. That’s a win-win.

Owner Is a Raving Fan: The owner is a raving fan. Unless they’re complete jerk monkeys—if they’re reasonable human beings, the owner is a raving fan. They love the project. They love the team. They tell their friends.

Career Goals Met: Each team member met their career goals. The assistant super got promoted. The field engineer learned surveying. The PM got their next big project. People grew. People advanced. People won.

Team Had Fun: The team had fun. This is the most important one. The job site was a place people wanted to be. Positive culture. Respect. Pride. Fun. Not misery. Not chaos. Not burnout. Fun.

Now, most people would look at me and be like, “Jason, you’re smoking something.” And I’ve actually had people on YouTube be like, “Jason, this proves that you’ve never had field experience.” The funny thing is I actually didn’t go to college. I did not come out as a consultant. I’ve been in the field for 30 years running work. And all of these are possible.

The Lean Lens: Cost, Quality, and Schedule Rise Together

And one thing that I want to talk about to change the mindset: you’ve ever heard of the holy trinity of construction where you have cost, quality, and schedule? And you’ve heard somebody say, “Pick two.” Actually, that only works in classical management systems. In Lean management systems, you can’t have one without all three.

And let me explain that real quick with you. The better you focus on quality in a Lean system, the faster you go and the less money you spend on rework. The more stable your schedule is, the faster you go, the better you’re able to take care of quality, and the more money you make.

There is no such thing as a win-lose in Lean thinking. There’s only win-win or lose-lose. There is no such thing as a win-lose. Let me explain what I mean. Let’s take your marriage for example. Let’s say that you are winning in your marriage and have what you want, but your spouse doesn’t. How long is that going to last? How long until that becomes a lose-lose?

Let’s say you’re getting everything you need as a contractor—change orders, money—but your owner isn’t getting what they want. How long is that going to stay a win-lose? How long until it becomes a lose-lose? There are no win-lose situations. So there’s only win-wins.

And so when it comes to operational excellence, there’s only in Lean such a thing as a win-win-win. When we do well with quality, we go fast and make money. When we flow in our schedule, we do good quality and we make money. The real way to make money is the Lean way, even though it looks counterintuitive.

So that is the definition of a project well done.

What Operational Excellence Looks Like on the Job Site

Now let me show you something more specific. If a project is running safe, then:

  • Everyone on the job site knows how to be safe in their tasks because they had great pre-task planning meetings
  • Everyone knows what they are installing because they had a great quality pre-construction meeting with visuals and work packages
  • Everyone makes improvements daily to their work because the environment is clean, safe, and organized
  • The bathrooms are clean, which sets the culture for the project site—if bathrooms are clean, everything else is clean
  • The job site team are good neighbors to the community and surrounding properties
  • Nothing hits the floor because we finish as we go—no trash, no debris, no waste sitting around
  • Materials are not in people’s way because they come just-in-time, not early, not stacked everywhere
  • Cords are off the floor and managed so that you have good access through your access ways, and everything’s on wheels so things move properly
  • All access ways are clear—you don’t stage in them, and contractors instead of being pushed on top of each other are pulled behind each other in sequence

This is what operational excellence looks like in the field. Clean. Safe. Organized. Flowing. Respectful.

The Pre-Construction Essentials Checklist

And the way that we get this done is by making sure that we start with a good pre-construction plan. And so we need the following at a minimum to run a project in an operationally excellent way:

Macro-Level Takt Plan: A full macro-level and normal-level or at least the beginnings of a normal Takt plan which is created by a pull plan.

Accountability Chart: A complete accountability chart for the team, having the right staff in the right roles.

Procurement Log: An amazingly operational procurement log that was created early on to queue up the supply chain and prevent material delays.

Risk and Opportunity Register: To make sure that you know your risks and you have a plan to overcome them before they become problems.

Active Logistics Plan: So you can maintain and operate the site—laydown, access, deliveries, cranes, hoists, all planned.

Well-Established Budget: That considers your general conditions and general requirements durations according to the Takt plan, not just guessing.

Trailer and Signage Design: You might think that’s funny, but we have to have the right visuals in order for this to work. People talk about what they can see.

Team with Experience: A team that has experience and loves working together—chemistry matters, culture matters, respect matters.

This is the pre-construction foundation for operational excellence. Without these, you’re guessing. With these, you’re planning. If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow.

Visual Management: People Talk About What They Can See

When you hear the term “set up your trailers,” I want you to know this quote: People talk about what they can see. Let me say it one more time. People talk about what they can see. Just in case it didn’t land, one more time. People talk about what they see.

And so if you have a baby-poop-brown, nasty, dusty trailer with corners filled and no organization that nobody enjoys being in, then you will not have good interaction systems. And here’s the key: You can’t manage what you can’t measure. Everybody’s heard that quote. But you can’t measure what you can’t see. Let me say that again. You can’t manage what you can’t measure. And that’s what people typically know. But the rest of the quote goes like this: But you can’t measure what you can’t see.

And so we have got to have beautiful interaction spaces where you can build your team with the right team boards, and then beautiful visuals so that you and your trade partners can mark roadblocks on the boards. Screens that are on the front of the trailer. And then solving boards where you can put things visually on the board. And then obviously areas where you can do pull planning and lookahead planning.

And then, not now, but one of these days in the field, we will have worker huddle boards, area boards on every floor, and each crew will have the information to know exactly where they’re supposed to be so that we can get improvement at that level.

Everything Points to the Foremen

But before I go, where do all of these systems point? There’s arrows that point from each system. Where do they point? They all point to the trade partners and the foreman. That is where value is received. Everything—all of us on this call—are necessary but non-value-added overhead or indirect costs. We’re needed to build a project, but we’re actually not putting up drywall. We are not finishing concrete. We are not drilling caissons.

These people, the foremen, are the heroes. These are the ones that we should optimize. And so the planning should get everything that the foreman needs when they need it. The production system should get the trade partners what they need when they need it. The collaboration should get the trade partners what they need when they need it. Every last single thing in this system points to the foreman.

So operational excellence means that foremen can do their work in their work package in a zone successfully and plan, build, finish, move on. That’s operational excellence.

A Challenge for Leaders

Here’s what I want you to do this week. Stop measuring success by “finished on time” alone. Start measuring success by the complete definition: quality, safety, profit, trades winning, owner as raving fan, career goals met, and team having fun. If you’re missing any of these, you don’t have operational excellence. You have partial success at best. And tragedy at worst.

As we say at Elevate, operational excellence means finishing on time with quality, safety, profit, trades winning, owner as fan, career goals met, and team having fun. That’s the complete definition. That’s win-win-win. That’s Lean.

On we go.

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s wrong with just “finished on time” as the success metric?

Because you can finish on time by burning through trade partners, staying away from families, crash-landing the project, and hurting people. That’s not success. That’s tragedy. Operational excellence requires all seven metrics.

What are the seven metrics of operational excellence?

Quality, safety, profit, trades winning financially, owner as raving fan, career goals met, and team having fun. All seven. Not just one or two. All seven together.

Why can’t you “pick two” from cost, quality, and schedule?

That only works in classical management. In Lean, you can’t have one without all three. Better quality = faster speed and less rework cost. Stable schedule = better quality and more profit. They rise together.

What does “people talk about what they can see” mean?

You can’t manage what you can’t measure. And you can’t measure what you can’t see. Visual management—boards, screens, maps, solving boards—lets people see the plan, see roadblocks, see progress. That creates conversation and improvement.

Why does everything point to the foremen?

Because foremen are where value is received. Everyone else—PMs, supers, engineers—are necessary but non-value-added overhead. Foremen put up drywall, finish concrete, drill caissons. They’re the heroes. Everything should optimize for them.

If you want to learn more we have:

-Takt Virtual Training: (Click here)
-Check out our Youtube channel for more info: (Click here) 
-Listen to the Elevate Construction podcast: (Click here) 
-Check out our training programs and certifications: (Click here)
-The Takt Book: (Click here)

Discover Jason’s Expertise:

Meet Jason Schroeder, the driving force behind Elevate Construction IST. As the company’s owner and principal consultant, he’s dedicated to taking construction to new heights. With a wealth of industry experience, he’s crafted the Field Engineer Boot Camp and Superintendent Boot Camp – intensive training programs engineered to cultivate top-tier leaders capable of steering their teams towards success. Jason’s vision? To expand his training initiatives across the nation, empowering construction firms to soar to unprecedented levels of excellence.

 

On we go

    faq

    General Training Overview

    What construction leadership training programs does LeanTakt offer?
    LeanTakt offers Superintendent/PM Boot Camps, Virtual Takt Production System® Training, Onsite Takt Simulations, and Foreman & Field Engineer Training. Each program is tailored to different leadership levels in construction.
    Who should attend LeanTakt’s training programs?
    Superintendents, Project Managers, Foremen, Field Engineers, and trade partners who want to improve planning, communication, and execution on projects.
    How do these training programs improve project performance?
    They provide proven Lean and Takt systems that reduce chaos, improve reliability, strengthen collaboration, and accelerate project delivery.
    What makes LeanTakt’s training different from other construction courses?
    Our programs are hands-on, field-tested, and focused on practical application—not just classroom theory.
    Do I need prior Lean or takt planning experience to attend?
    No. Our programs cover foundational principles before moving into advanced applications.
    How quickly can I apply what I learn on real projects?
    Most participants begin applying new skills immediately, often the same week they complete the program.
    Are these trainings designed for both office and field leaders?
    Yes. We equip both project managers and superintendents with tools that connect field and office operations.
    What industries benefit most from LeanTakt training?
    Commercial, multifamily, residential, industrial, and infrastructure projects all benefit from flow-based planning.
    Do participants receive certificates after completing training?
    Yes. Every participant receives a LeanTakt Certificate of Completion.
    Is LeanTakt training recognized in the construction industry?
    Yes. Our programs are widely respected among leading GCs, subcontractors, and construction professionals.

    Superintendent / PM Boot Camp

    What is the Superintendent & Project Manager Boot Camp?
    It’s a 5-day immersive training for superintendents and PMs to master Lean leadership, takt planning, and project flow.
    How long does the Superintendent/PM Boot Camp last?
    Five full days of hands-on training.
    What topics are covered in the Boot Camp curriculum?
    Lean leadership, Takt Planning, logistics, daily planning, field-office communication, and team health.
    How does the Boot Camp improve leadership and scheduling skills?
    Yes. You’ll learn how to run day huddles, team meetings, worker huddles, and Lean coordination processes.
    Who is the Boot Camp best suited for?
    Construction leaders responsible for delivering projects, including Superintendents, PMs, and Field Leaders.
    What real-world challenges are simulated during the Boot Camp?
    Schedule breakdowns, trade conflicts, logistics issues, and communication gaps.
    Will I learn Takt Planning at the Boot Camp?
    Yes. Takt Planning is a core focus of the Boot Camp.
    How does this Boot Camp compare to traditional PM certification?
    It’s practical and execution-based rather than exam-based. You learn by doing, not just studying theory.
    Can my entire project team attend the Boot Camp together?
    Yes. Teams attending together often see the greatest results.
    What kind of real-world challenges do we simulate?
    Improved project flow, fewer delays, better team communication, and stronger leadership confidence.

    Takt Production System® Virtual Training

    What is the Virtual Takt Production System® Training?
    It’s an expert-led online program that teaches Lean construction teams how to implement takt planning.
    How does virtual takt training work?
    Delivered online via live sessions, interactive discussions, and digital tools.
    What are the benefits of online takt planning training?
    Convenience, global accessibility, real-time learning, and immediate application.
    Can I access the virtual training from anywhere?
    Yes. It’s fully web-based and accessible worldwide.
    Can I access the virtual training from anywhere?
    Yes. It’s fully web-based and accessible worldwide.
    What skills will I gain from the Virtual TPS® Training?
    Macro and micro Takt planning, weekly updates, flow management, and CPM integration.
    How long does the virtual training program take?
    The program is typically completed in multiple live sessions across several days.
    Can I watch recordings if I miss a session?
    Yes. Recordings are available to all participants.
    Do you offer group access or company licenses for the virtual training?
    Yes. Teams and companies can enroll together at discounted rates.
    How does the Virtual TPS® Training integrate with CPM tools?
    We show how to align Takt with CPM schedules like Primavera P6 or MS Project.

    Onsite Takt Simulation

    What is a Takt Simulation in construction training?
    It’s a live, interactive workshop that demonstrates takt planning on-site.
    How does the Takt Simulation workshop work?
    Teams participate in hands-on exercises to learn the flow and rhythm of a Takt-based project.
    Can I choose between a 1-day or 2-day Takt Simulation?
    Yes. We offer flexible formats to fit your team’s schedule and needs.
    Who should participate in the Takt Simulation workshop?
    Superintendents, PMs, site supervisors, contractors, and engineers.
    How does a Takt Simulation improve project planning?
    It shows teams how to structure zones, manage flow, and coordinate trades in real time.
    What will my team learn from the onsite simulation?
    How to build and maintain takt plans, manage buffers, and align trade partners.
    Is the simulation tailored to my specific project type?
    Yes. Scenarios can be customized to match your project.
    How do Takt Simulations improve trade partner coordination?
    They strengthen collaboration by making handoffs visible and predictable.
    What results can I expect from an onsite Takt Simulation?
    Improved schedule reliability, better trade collaboration, and reduced rework.
    How many people can join a Takt Simulation session?
    Group sizes are flexible, but typically 15–30 participants per session.

    Foreman & Field Engineer Training

    What is Foreman & Field Engineer Training?
    It’s an on-demand, practical program that equips foremen and engineers with leadership and planning skills.
    How does this training prepare emerging leaders?
    By teaching communication, crew management, and execution strategies.
    Is the training on-demand or scheduled?
    On-demand, tailored to your team’s timing and needs.
    What skills do foremen and engineers gain from this training?
    Planning, safety leadership, coordination, and communication.
    How does the training improve communication between field and office?
    It builds shared systems that align superintendents, engineers, and managers.
    Can the training be customized for my team’s needs?
    Yes. Programs are tailored for your project or company.
    What makes this program different from generic leadership courses?
    It’s construction-specific, field-tested, and focused on real project application.
    How do foremen and field engineers apply this training immediately?
    They can use new systems for planning, coordination, and daily crew management right away.
    Is the training suitable for small construction companies?
    Yes. Small and large teams alike benefit from building flow-based leadership skills.

    Testimonials

    Testimonials

    "The bootcamp I was apart of was amazing. Its was great while it was happening but also had a very profound long-term motivation that is still pushing me to do more, be more. It sounds a little strange to say that a construction bootcamp changed my life, but it has. It has opened my eyes to many possibilities on how a project can be successfully run. It’s also provided some very positive ideas on how people can and should be treated in construction.

    I am a hungry person by nature, so it doesn’t take a lot to get to participate. I loved the way it was not just about participating, it was also about doing it with conviction, passion, humility and if it wasn’t portrayed that way you had to do it again."

    "It's great to be a part of a company that has similar values to my own, especially regarding how we treat our trade partners. The idea of "you gotta make them feel worse to make them do better" has been preached at me for years. I struggled with this as you will not find a single psychology textbook stating these beliefs. In fact it is quite the opposite, and causing conflict is a recipe for disaster. I'm still honestly in shock I have found a company that has based its values on scientific facts based on human nature. That along with the Takt scheduling system makes everything even better. I am happy to be a part of a change that has been long overdue in our industry!"

    "Wicked team building, so valuable for the forehumans of the sub trades to know the how and why. Great tools and resources. Even though I am involved and use the tools every day, I feel like everything is fresh and at the forefront to use"

    "Jason and his team did an incredible job passing on the overall theory of what they do. After 3 days of running through the course I cannot see any holes in their concept. It works. it's proven to work and I am on board!"

    "Loved the pull planning, Takt planning, and logistic model planning. Well thought out and professional"

    "The Super/PM Boot Camp was an excellent experience that furthered my understanding of Lean Practices. The collaboration, group involvement, passion about real project site experiences, and POSITIVE ENERGY. There are no dull moments when you head into this training. Jason and Mr. Montero were always on point and available to help in the break outs sessions. Easily approachable to talk too during breaks and YES, it was fun. I recommend this training for any PM or Superintendent that wants to further their career."

    agenda

    Day 1

    Foundations & Macro Planning

    • Introduction to Takt Production System® principles
    • CPM vs TAKT comparison
    • Macro planning, zoning, and density analysis
    • Quantities and production rates
    • Hands-on application to participants’ projects with LeanTakt PM experts

    day2

    Norm Planning & Flow Optimization

    • Review and refinement of Day 1 work
    • Pull planning and sequence optimization
    • Work packaging for balanced flow
    • Project integration session with LeanTakt PM coaching

    day3

    Advanced Tools & Comparisons

    • Macro work packaging and example walkthrough
    • Calculator Norm for production optimization
    • Stacking comparison to avoid trade conflicts
    • Hands-on application to participants’ own schedules

    day4

    Buffers, Controls & Finalization

    • Review of Day 3 implementation
    • Buffer management strategies and placement
    • Takt control principles and steering methods
    • Project plan finalization with expert guidance

    day5

    Control Systems & Presentations

    • Takt steering, control systems, and real project examples
    • Participant project presentations with LeanTakt PM feedback
    • Wrap-up, feedback, and action planning for post-training implementation

    faq

    UNDERSTANDING THE TRAINING

    What is the Virtual Takt Production System® Training by LeanTakt?
    It’s an expert-led online program designed to teach construction professionals how to implement Takt Planning to create flow, eliminate chaos, and align teams across the project lifecycle.
    Who should take the LeanTakt virtual training?
    This training is ideal for Superintendents, Project Managers, Engineers, Schedulers, Trade Partners, and Lean Champions looking to improve planning and execution.
    What topics are covered in the online Takt Production System® course?
    The course covers macro and micro Takt planning, zone creation, buffers, weekly updates, flow management, trade coordination, and integration with CPM tools.
    What makes LeanTakt’s virtual training different from other Lean construction courses?
    Unlike theory-based courses, this training is hands-on, practical, field-tested, and includes live coaching tailored to your actual projects.
    Do I get a certificate after completing the online training?
    Yes. Upon successful completion, participants receive a LeanTakt Certificate of Completion, which validates your knowledge and readiness to implement Takt.

    VALUE AND RESULTS

    What are the benefits of Takt Production System® training for my team?
    It helps teams eliminate bottlenecks, improve planning reliability, align trades, and reduce the chaos typically seen in traditional construction schedules.
    How much time and money can I save with Takt Planning?
    Many projects using Takt see 15–30% reductions in time and cost due to better coordination, fewer delays, and increased team accountability.
    What’s the ROI of virtual Takt training for construction teams?
    The ROI comes from faster project delivery, reduced rework, improved communication, and better resource utilization — often 10x the investment.
    Will this training reduce project delays or rework?
    Yes. By visualizing flow and aligning trades, Takt Planning reduces miscommunication and late handoffs — major causes of delay and rework.
    How soon can I expect to see results on my projects?
    Most teams report seeing improvement in coordination and productivity within the first 2–4 weeks of implementation.

    PLANNING AND SCHEDULING TOPICS

    What is Takt Planning and how is it used in construction?
    Takt Planning is a Lean scheduling method that creates flow by aligning work with time and space, using rhythm-based planning to coordinate teams and reduce waste.
    What’s the difference between macro and micro Takt plans?
    Macro Takt plans focus on the overall project flow and phase durations, while micro Takt plans break down detailed weekly tasks by zone and crew.
    Will I learn how to build a complete Takt plan from scratch?
    Yes. The training teaches you how to build both macro and micro Takt plans tailored to your project, including workflows, buffers, and sequencing.
    How do I update and maintain a Takt schedule each week?
    You’ll learn how to conduct weekly updates using lookaheads, trade feedback, zone progress, and digital tools to maintain schedule reliability.
    Can I integrate Takt Planning with CPM or Primavera P6?
    Yes. The training includes guidance on aligning Takt plans with CPM logic, showing how both systems can work together effectively.
    Will I have access to the instructors during the training?
    Yes. You’ll have opportunities to ask questions, share challenges, and get real-time feedback from LeanTakt coaches.
    Can I ask questions specific to my current project?
    Absolutely. In fact, we encourage it — the training is designed to help you apply Takt to your active jobs.
    Is support available after the training ends?
    Yes. You can access follow-up support, coaching, and community forums to help reinforce implementation.
    Can your tools be customized to my project or team?
    Yes. We offer customizable templates and implementation options to fit different project types, teams, and tech stacks.
    When is the best time in a project lifecycle to take this training?
    Ideally before or during preconstruction, but teams have seen success implementing it mid-project as well.

    APPLICATION & TEAM ADOPTION

    What changes does my team need to adopt Takt Planning?
    Teams must shift from reactive scheduling to proactive, flow-based planning with clear commitments, reliable handoffs, and a visual management mindset.
    Do I need any prior Lean or scheduling experience?
    No prior Lean experience is required. The course is structured to take you from foundational principles to advanced application.
    How long does it take for teams to adapt to Takt Planning?
    Most teams adapt within 2–6 weeks, depending on project size and how fully the system is adopted across roles.
    Can this training work for smaller companies or projects?
    Absolutely. Takt is scalable and especially powerful for small teams seeking better structure and predictability.
    What role do trade partners play in using Takt successfully?
    Trade partners are key collaborators. They help shape realistic flow, manage buffers, and provide feedback during weekly updates.

    VIRTUAL FORMAT & ACCESSIBILITY

    Can I access the virtual training from anywhere?
    Yes. The training is fully accessible online, making it ideal for distributed teams across regions or countries.
    Is this training available internationally?
    Yes. LeanTakt trains teams around the world and supports global implementations.
    Can I watch recordings if I miss a session?
    Yes. All sessions are recorded and made available for later viewing through your training portal.
    Do you offer group access or company licenses?
    Yes. Teams can enroll together at discounted rates, and we offer licenses for enterprise rollouts.
    What technology or setup do I need to join the virtual training?
    A reliable internet connection, webcam, Miro, Spreadsheets, and access to Zoom.

    faq

    GENERAL FAQS

    What is the Superintendent / PM Boot Camp?
    It’s a hands-on leadership training for Superintendents and Project Managers in the construction industry focused on Lean systems, planning, and communication.
    Who is this Boot Camp for?
    Construction professionals including Superintendents, Project Managers, Field Engineers, and Foremen looking to improve planning, leadership, and project flow.
    What makes this construction boot camp different?
    Real-world project simulations, expert coaching, Lean principles, team-based learning, and post-camp support — all built for field leaders.
    Is this just a seminar or classroom training?
    No. It’s a hands-on, immersive experience. You’ll plan, simulate, collaborate, and get feedback — not sit through lectures.
    What is the focus of the training?
    Leadership, project planning, communication, Lean systems, and integrating office-field coordination.

    CURRICULUM & OUTCOMES

    What topics are covered in the Boot Camp?
    Takt planning, day planning, logistics, pre-construction, team health, communication systems, and more.
    What is Takt Planning and why is it taught?
    Takt is a Lean planning method that creates flow and removes chaos. It helps teams deliver projects on time with less stress.
    Will I learn how to lead field teams more effectively?
    Yes. This boot camp focuses on real leadership challenges and gives you systems and strategies to lead high-performing teams.
    Do you cover daily huddles and meeting systems?
    Yes. You’ll learn how to run day huddles, team meetings, worker huddles, and Lean coordination processes.
    What kind of real-world challenges do we simulate?
    You’ll work through real project schedules, logistical constraints, leadership decisions, and field-office communication breakdowns.

    LOGISTICS & FORMAT

    Is the training in-person or virtual?
    It’s 100% in-person to maximize learning, feedback, and team-based interaction.
    How long is the Boot Camp?
    It runs for 5 full days.
    Where is the Boot Camp held?
    Locations vary — typically hosted in a professional training center or project setting. Contact us for the next available city/date.
    Do you offer follow-up coaching after the Boot Camp?
    Yes. Post-camp support is included so you can apply what you’ve learned on your projects.
    Can I ask questions about my actual project?
    Absolutely. That’s encouraged — bring your current challenges.

    PRICING & VALUE

    How much does the Boot Camp cost?
    $5,000 per person.
    Are there any group discounts?
    Yes — get 10% off when 4 or more people from the same company attend.
    What’s the ROI for sending my team?
    Better planning = fewer delays, smoother coordination, and higher team morale — all of which boost productivity and reduce costs.
    Will I see results immediately?
    Most participants apply what they’ve learned as soon as they return to the jobsite — especially with follow-up support.
    Can this replace other leadership training?
    In many cases, yes. This Boot Camp is tailored to construction professionals, unlike generic leadership seminars.

    SEO-BASED / HIGH-INTENT SEARCH QUESTIONS

    What is the best leadership training for construction Superintendents?
    Our Boot Camp offers real-world, field-focused leadership training tailored for construction leaders.
    What’s included in a Superintendent Boot Camp?
    Takt planning, day planning, logistics, pre-construction systems, huddles, simulations, and more.
    Where can I find Lean construction training near me?
    Check our upcoming in-person sessions or request a private boot camp in your city.
    How can I improve field and office communication on a project?
    This Boot Camp teaches you tools and systems to connect field and office workflows seamlessly.
    Is there a training to help reduce chaos on construction sites?
    Yes — this program is built specifically to turn project chaos into flow through structured leadership.

    agenda

    Day 1

    Agenda

    • Intro to Camp
    • Set Expectations
    • Morning Routine
    • Plan Day
    • Explain "Why"
    • Teams Intros + Yells + Expectation
    • Focus, Physiology, Words + Yells
    • Blocks to Leadership
    • 50 Million
    • Biggest Thing
    • Choose Your Word
    • Marketing Exercise
    • Interview for the Project
    • PO Homework and Close the Day

    Outcomes

    • Understand how to get into a proper state to lead
    • Understand how to dig deep to find the confidence to lead
    • Team work and collaboration
    • Understand marketing
    • Understand how to interview for and win a project

    Day 2

    Agenda

    • Morning Routine
    • Day Planner
    • Plus & Delta
    • Macro Takt planning
    • Setup jobs + Signs + Logistics
    • Explain the IPCS™
    • Detailed logistics training
    • Team balance & health training

    Outcomes

    • Learn the IPCS™ understand how to integrate the entire project from start to finish with First Planners™ and Last Planners® through the Takt Production System®
    • Learn how to review a project
    • Learn advanced logistics
    • Learn team balance and health

    Day 3

    Agenda

    • Morning Routine
    • Day Planner
    • Plus & Delta
    • Review How Big Things Get Done
    • Review IPCSTM
    • Fix (Schedule, zone, logistics, trailer, org & procurement)
    • Fresh Eyes Meeting
    • Pre-Con Overview
    • TAKT SIMULATION
    • Recap and Review

    Outcomes

    • Understand why and how to plan
    • Understand the benefits of using a Takt production plan
    • Learn the steps to proper pre-con that sets the project up for success
    • Learn how to review a project in a Fresh Eyes Meeting
    • Learn flow from Takt planning

    Day 4

    Agenda

    • Morning Routine
    • Day Planner
    • Plus & Delta
    • Opposing Squares
    • Pull Plan
    • Takt Remaining
    • Norm Update
    • Re Zoning
    • Risks & Pre-Con Align
    • Meeting System
    • Problems
    • Recap

    Outcomes

    • Understand the Norm level Takt plan for weekly/daily planning
    • Benefits and outcomes of rezoning strategies
    • Using meetings to feed information through the system and to the Foremen

    Day 5

    Agenda

    • Morning Routine
    • Day Planner
    • Plus & Delta
    • Huddle I.D.S
    • Day Plan
    • Worker Huddle
    • Norm Update
    • Team Huddle
    • Lean Systems Recap
    • Feedback Exercise
    • Final & Close

    Outcomes

    • Know what information is needed and how to get it to the Workers
    • Better understand how to give feedback and why it’s crucial for everyone
    • How to problem solve as a team
    • Understand how all systems tie together
    • Know how the information gets all the way to the worker
    • Have perfect clarity on the individual’s personal organization planner