A Crucial Mistake in the Flow of Your Deliverables

In this blog, I want to talk about a critical mistake in the flow of the Last Planner System that you cannot afford to make if you want your projects to succeed. This is something you likely have not heard before, so stay with me.

I recently received some feedback from one of our Foreman Bootcamp participants. They gave us what we call a secondary Ric Flair. For those who do not know, that is two claps followed by a big “whoo.” The message said they were impressed with the presentation, found it exciting, and wished us all the best moving forward. That type of encouragement is always amazing to hear.

Now let’s get into the heart of this topic. When we implement with clients, we ask a simple but powerful question. Is the project team using the weekly work plan to build, or are they relying on something else? If the answer is that they are still using CPM, the project will fail.

There are some non-negotiables when it comes to implementing the Last Planner System. We must have proper work package planning. We must host accurate pull plans. We must conduct look ahead planning with a six-week make ready approach. We need quality preconstruction meetings. We must track procurement with effective logs and material buffers. We must run strong trade partner weekly tacticals. We need afternoon huddles that remove roadblocks and morning huddles that align everyone. We must implement zone control and IDS, identify, discuss, and solve problems visually. Without these, the system collapses.

The real problem shows up when teams attempt to combine CPM with Last Planner in the wrong way. Here is what happens. They keep a master CPM schedule. They pull plans to milestones, but do not update the CPM with real inputs. Then they send filtered CPM reports to trade partners and ask for weekly work plans. The scheduling team takes these submissions and feeds them back into CPM.

This breaks everything. Trades cannot see what is happening. Weekly work planning becomes disconnected. Flow is lost. Alignment vanishes. And the original pull plan is rendered useless. At this point, the Last Planner System is just for show while CPM continues to dominate.

The right way is simple. You begin with a macro or normal level tact plan. From there, you create pull plans to milestones, which then update the tact plan. You build your six-week make ready plan directly from tact. You develop weekly work plans directly from tact. And the day plan comes directly from the weekly work plan.

If CPM must exist, it should only serve as secondary or passive information. It can be updated with status after the fact, but it must never drive the project. Builder schedules must always come from tact and Last Planner, not CPM.

When companies mix CPM and Last Planner incorrectly, they waste time, create confusion, and destroy flow. It becomes an empty exercise to keep certain stakeholders happy while real productivity suffers. We must reject this. Teams need clarity, visibility, and alignment. That only comes when the weekly work plan flows naturally from tact through the pull plan and into daily operations.

This is not negotiable. Doing it the wrong way will leave you stuck in the same broken system, no matter how hard you work. Doing it the right way will finally allow Last Planner to do what it was designed to do, which is create flow, collaboration, and predictable results.

I hope you enjoyed this blog. On we go, elevating the entire construction experience for workers, leaders, and companies coast to coast.

Key Takeaway

If the weekly work plan does not flow from tact and the pull plan, the Last Planner System fails. Success comes only when we stop letting CPM drive and start building from tact.