Are Workers Seeing 50% or 75% of the Plan?

Current industry practice using CPM: workers see almost nothing. They’re told what to do by foreman who at best attempt to follow uncollaborative dictated schedule and at worst follow their own plan and ignore requests by general contractor and their schedule. Results in environment like firefighting. People run around in different directions with false sense of urgency just to find communicated deadlines were either unnecessary or chronically too late anyway. Chaos, lack of direction, and siloed thinking accompanied by waste and variation cause project to fall behind. Teams start throwing workers, money, materials, and maybe some cats at project hoping to finish on time. It’s crazy and yet actually pretty standard in construction. Better industry practice using Last Planner and Scrum: workers might receive 50% of planned information through foreman. Huge improvement but relies on single point of failure. If foreman doesn’t communicate plan effectively, workers don’t see it. Best practice using Takt with Integrated Production Control System: workers see 75% of planned information through multiple paths. Morning worker huddle for entire project site. Crew preparation huddle with 10 to 25 minutes discussing pre-task plan, preparing work, 3Sing, eight wastes, training from work steps created in Takt work packages. Information sent all the way to workers through Takt work steps and huddles. Transfers of information take multiple paths and don’t rely on single point. Bottom line: workers can see plan and have input.

Here’s what most teams miss. They implement Last Planner and Scrum thinking they’ve solved the problem. And they have made huge improvement from CPM chaos. Phase planning with pull planning creates collaborative sequence instead of dictated plan from contractor made in silo. Make ready schedules allow team to foresee roadblocks and plan accurate dates. Weekly work plans coordinate activities ahead of time. Daily huddles discuss plans for day. Percent Plan Complete tracks tasks completed properly and on time. That’s all better than CPM firefighting. But it still relies on foreman as single point of failure for information transfer to workers. If foreman doesn’t communicate effectively, workers don’t see plan. And workers only receive 50% of planned information. But with Takt and Integrated Production Control System, information travels multiple paths. Morning worker huddle connects everyone to overall plan. Crew preparation huddle trains workers from work steps. Workers see 75% of planned information. No single points of failure.

The challenge is most teams think 50% is good enough when actually 75% is achievable. They settled for Last Planner improvement over CPM chaos without realizing Takt takes it further. They accept foreman as single point of failure without creating multiple paths for information transfer. They think daily huddles are enough without implementing afternoon format huddles giving foreman 16 hours to plan, morning worker huddles for entire project site, and crew preparation huddles training from work steps. The difference between 50% and 75% is workers truly seeing plan and having input instead of hoping foreman communicated effectively. That 25% gap is what separates good from best.

Good: Current Industry Practice Using CPM

Currently, in our industry, a master schedule is built using CPM, usually in the proposal phase and detailed to a point that it can be used for short intervals and sometimes day-to-day production. The schedules are built by superintendents or professional schedulers and are updated either weekly or monthly to track progress and identify red flags.

The schedule is usually built with a work breakdown structure, completely logic tied, and lastly, with a finish on or before constraint to force the calculation of total float throughout the system. The schedule is designed for production tracking with a large amount of detail and functions primarily to provide milestones.

Milestones are arguably the main focus of CPM scheduling in addition to the identification of the critical activities within a given month. Project teams use milestones to rally the team and track progress.

Look-ahead schedules are used by the project team to orient subcontractors and plan materials, crew sizes, information, and equipment. Subcontractors are typically given this plan as a directive from the general contractor without much collaboration and subs are expected by culture and by contract to obey the schedule and meet their dates.

Work is carried out without asking: what do workers see? The workers do not see any of this planning. They are told what to do by their foreman who at best attempt to follow the uncollaborative and dictated schedule and at worst follow their own plan and ignore the requests by the general contractor and their schedule.

This results in an environment that is like firefighting in the office. People run around in different directions with a false sense of urgency just to find that the communicated deadlines were either unnecessary or chronically too late anyway. The chaos, lack of direction, and siloed thinking is accompanied by waste and variation which caused the project to fall behind.

Before long, project teams start throwing workers, money, materials, and maybe also some cats, at the project in hopes to finish on time, which is the metaphorical equivalent of putting out a fire with $100 bills. It’s crazy and yet actually pretty standard in construction.

Better: Last Planner System and Scrum

Thankfully, the problems the construction industry has been facing have not gone unnoticed and many are committed to providing solutions to remedy the situation. Systems like Last Planner and Scrum are being adopted without mincing words about the failures of CPM and they are making a difference.

The master scheduling remains largely the same with the adjustment that these schedules should be created at a higher level of detail so Last Planner and Scrum techniques can take over at the right level of detail. The master schedule is still used by the first planners throughout pre-construction and during construction as a long-term planning tool, mainly to identify and track progress towards milestones.

Milestones take on a different role in the new system. They used to be compared to actual progress and three or six-week look-aheads, but now they form the constrained end date for phase planning efforts with pull planning techniques.

Phase planning is a process where the project team, under the direction of the project superintendent and project manager, anticipates key milestones that represent a phase of work. This planning is usually facilitated with a process called pull planning.

Pull planning is a lean process where trade partners with the project management team identify the proper sequence of work according to project needs and the needs of each individual contractor. The practitioners usually identify a milestone on the pull planning backdrop and each contractor after proper preparation and onboarding activities place tags or stickies on the wall in a format that identifies the point in the sequence, the duration, company name, crew size, and needed predecessors.

The teams create the sequence together through practices and rules that should provide a final sequence that is more realistic than a dictated plan from the contractor that may have been made in a silo.

Make ready schedules are short interval schedules which have been coordinated with on-site constraints, other activities, and the capacity of resources on their project site. It is usually the first schedule that the team uses to foresee roadblocks. Its main purpose is to allow all members of the team to plan accurate dates to which trades plan the delivery of people, equipment, materials, and information.

The weekly work plan is the plan for the next week where detail is pulled from the make ready schedules in addition to any new detail. Contractors detail out their activities ahead of time and arrive at the meeting prepared to coordinate their work for the next week so that everyone has the space, materials, time, and information needed to complete the work.

The project team huddles every day to discuss plans for the day, safety, and to coordinate logistics as the crews mobilize into key areas. The daily huddle is where on location and daily planning is done to carry out the weekly work plan.

The team’s success in doing this is tracked with what is called percent plan complete. Percent plan complete (PPC) is a percentage of tasks completed properly and on time as committed in the weekly work plan. The percentage is tracked daily, weekly, and monthly to show the team their progress in making real commitments and producing as a collaborative team.

Best: Takt Planning with Integrated Production Control System

The making ready of work will always be more effective than adapting in the moment on a project site. Roadblocks need to be tracked in a manner that everyone on the project site can see and remove them and observe progress daily.

A visual board is suggested as well as visual maps and floor plans with roadblocks shown where they will affect work. Even if roadblocks are bulleted, as long as they are visual, the system will work. Then the team, including the director, makes the removal of roadblocks their primary responsibility.

Weekly work planning can happen with tags, tasks, or stickies on the board or planning tool, but with Takt it is most effectively done directly within the Takt plan by following the work packages and the work steps within them. For standard, repeatable, and typical work it is helpful to simply prepare work based on the Takt wagons within the time scale.

For more complex work, Takt plans utilize the detail of a day-to-day format within the weekly work plan and can be shown on Takt cards, tags, stickies, dry erase markers on the board, or on your planning application.

Takt control, also known as managing at the place of work, has the goal of placing control at the place of value creation. Short cycle daily meetings on site are considered particularly important. The meetings are moderated by the superintendent and all other supers and foremen all responsible to take part.

The site is managed through Takt control boards. These boards are also standardized and serve as a medium for visualization to achieve transparency. The key to motivating employees to take part in the meetings is to integrate them in the problem-solving process.

The following key points are recorded on the Takt boards:

• Number of workers per trade.
• Rate of compliance with the Takt plan.
• Defects in quality.
• Safety figures.
• Numbers of disruption.
• Information on cleanliness and tidiness.

The artifacts that show this information are:

• Takt plan.
• Weekly work plan.
• Takt zone map.
• Logistics plan.
• Day plan agenda.
• Production tracker.

The Three Huddles Creating 75% Information Transfer

The afternoon format huddle increases the ability of foreman to plan and arrange supportive elements with roughly 16 hours in between the meeting and when the next day begins. Work is planned for the next day in detail so all leaders see together, know together, and act together.

The morning worker huddle encompasses the entire project site. For large projects, major divisions of workers by functional area huddle together every morning to form a social group with a project management team in an exchange of communication regarding expectations and needs. Workers should leave the huddle with clarity and a greater understanding of how to succeed on site, how to be safe, and feeling connected to the overall plan.

The crew preparation huddle is not new but it needs more support and standard implementation. In this huddle the foremen spend 10 to 25 minutes with the workers discussing the pre-task plan, preparing work, 3Sing, discussing the eight wastes, and doing general training from the work steps created in the Takt work packages.

These work steps can individually have checklists or feature of work boards as standard work. Every worker should leave with a pre-task plan for safety and quality and be able to work in the right environment with the materials, tools, space, information, equipment, and clear expectations to succeed in a stable environment.

This truly answers, in the right way, the question: what do workers see? In this system, the workers see as much of the plan as possible.

The System Failed You

Let’s be clear. When teams settle for 50% information transfer to workers, it’s not entirely their fault. The system failed by teaching that Last Planner solves the problem when actually it’s improvement over CPM but still relies on foreman as single point of failure. Nobody showed that if foreman doesn’t communicate plan effectively, workers don’t see it even with pull planning, make ready schedules, and weekly work plans. Nobody explained that Takt with Integrated Production Control System achieves 75% information transfer through multiple paths. The system taught Last Planner is best when actually Takt takes it further.

The system also failed by not teaching the three huddles creating 75% transfer. If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow. Afternoon format huddle gives foreman 16 hours to plan next day in detail. Morning worker huddle connects entire project site to overall plan creating clarity and understanding. Crew preparation huddle trains workers from work steps created in Takt work packages discussing pre-task plan, 3Sing, eight wastes. These three huddles send information to workers through multiple paths instead of relying on single point. The system taught daily huddles are enough when actually three types of huddles create comprehensive information transfer.

The system fails by not teaching that workers can see plan and have input. With CPM, workers see almost nothing told what to do by foreman. With Last Planner, workers might receive 50% through foreman. With Takt, workers see 75% through multiple paths and have input into problem-solving process. Every worker should leave crew preparation huddle with pre-task plan for safety and quality able to work in right environment with materials, tools, space, information, equipment, clear expectations. The system taught workers are told what to do when actually workers should see plan and contribute to it.

The Challenge

Here’s your assignment. Stop settling for 50% information transfer. Start implementing the three huddles achieving 75%.

Implement afternoon format huddles. Give foreman roughly 16 hours between meeting and when next day begins. Plan work for next day in detail so all leaders see together, know together, act together. Increases ability of foreman to plan and arrange supportive elements.

Implement morning worker huddles. Encompass entire project site. For large projects, major divisions by functional area huddle together every morning forming social group with project management team. Workers should leave with clarity and greater understanding of how to succeed on site, how to be safe, feeling connected to overall plan.

Implement crew preparation huddles. Foremen spend 10 to 25 minutes with workers discussing pre-task plan, preparing work, 3Sing, discussing eight wastes, doing general training from work steps created in Takt work packages. Every worker should leave with pre-task plan for safety and quality able to work in right environment.

Create multiple paths for information transfer. Don’t rely on foreman as single point of failure. Send information to workers through Takt work steps and huddles. If foreman doesn’t communicate effectively, workers still see plan through other paths.

Use Takt control boards. Record number of workers per trade, rate of compliance with Takt plan, defects in quality, safety figures, numbers of disruption, information on cleanliness and tidiness. Artifacts: Takt plan, weekly work plan, Takt zone map, logistics plan, day plan agenda, production tracker.

Make roadblock removal visible to entire team. Visual boards, maps, floor plans with roadblocks shown where they affect work. Team including director makes removal of roadblocks primary responsibility.

Answer the question: what do workers see? With Takt and Integrated Production Control System, workers see 75% of planned information. Workers can see plan and have input. That’s the difference between good, better, and best.

On we go.

FAQ

What’s the difference between Good, Better, and Best?

Good (CPM): workers see almost nothing, told what to do by foreman, chaos and firefighting. Better (Last Planner/Scrum): workers receive 50% of planned information through foreman, improvement but single point of failure. Best (Takt with Integrated Production Control): workers see 75% through multiple paths, no single points of failure.

What are the three huddles creating 75% information transfer?

Afternoon format huddle: gives foreman 16 hours to plan next day in detail. Morning worker huddle: entire project site connects to overall plan, workers leave with clarity and understanding. Crew preparation huddle: 10-25 minutes discussing pre-task plan, 3Sing, eight wastes, training from work steps created in Takt work packages.

Why is 75% better than 50%?

Last Planner achieves 50% information transfer but relies on foreman as single point of failure. If foreman doesn’t communicate effectively, workers don’t see plan. Takt achieves 75% through multiple paths. Information sent to workers through Takt work steps and huddles. Workers can see plan and have input.

What is Takt control?

Managing at place of work, placing control at place of value creation. Short cycle daily meetings on site moderated by superintendent. Site managed through Takt control boards recording worker counts, compliance rate, defects, safety figures, disruptions, cleanliness. Artifacts: Takt plan, weekly work plan, Takt zone map, logistics plan, day plan agenda, production tracker.

How does Takt eliminate single points of failure?

Last Planner relies on foreman to communicate plan to workers. If foreman fails, information doesn’t transfer. Takt sends information through multiple paths: work steps in Takt work packages, afternoon format huddle, morning worker huddle, crew preparation huddle. Even if one path fails, others still transfer information.