Are You Going to the Drawings or Going to the Software?

You want to create a Takt plan. You open the software. Input activities. Add logic ties. Build work breakdown structure. Calculate critical path. Wonder why it doesn’t create flow. Here’s the problem: you went straight to the software. Wrong order. There’s a big difference between builders who go straight to the software versus builders who go straight to the drawings. The latter method is the only way to put things in their proper order. One of the geniuses of Takt is that it gives our builders back the time they need to carry out the basics of a builder, which means studying the drawings each day, forward planning in the schedule, and reflecting daily. For this to happen, we need to create a Takt plan that is reliable and effective and starts in an artful and strategic way with the creation of a plan by a builder from the drawings. As the builder studies the design and gets a feel for the flow, the sequence, and the general strategic approach for the project with others, he or she will immediately see and identify flow. Builders can get a feel for the general flow of the project after digging into the drawings. Constraints like staging, material flow, material access, adjacent structures, hoisting, and project access will begin to form a picture of how the project will need to generally flow. Does construction begin from east to west or west to east? Does interior run from top down or bottom up? This general idea of how project will flow as builder visualizes construction will allow identification of preliminary Takt zones.

Here’s what most teams miss. They think scheduling is software activity. Input data. Click buttons. Generate schedule. But that’s backwards. Scheduling is builder activity. Study drawings. Visualize construction. Identify flow. Identify constraints. See sequence emerging from how work actually happens on site. Then translate that understanding into plan. Software is tool for capturing plan, not creating plan. Plan comes from builder studying drawings seeing how project will actually flow, not from software calculating critical path. Going to software first creates schedule disconnected from reality. Going to drawings first creates schedule grounded in how work actually happens. Different starting point. Different result. Only one works.

The challenge is most teams never learned to study drawings for flow. They learned to input activities into software. They learned work breakdown structures. They learned logic ties. They learned critical path method. But they never learned to look at drawings and see: staging will be here creating this constraint, material flow will come from this direction creating this sequence, hoisting will be here creating this access pattern, adjacent structures create this limitation. When you study drawings for flow, preliminary Takt zones emerge naturally. In Phoenix, 10,000 square feet for hospital interiors. Eventually reduced to 3,000 to 7,000 square feet as batch sizes reduce. In Tucson, same 10,000 square feet zone but different throughput and Takt time based on market capacity. The zones come from understanding work, not from inputting activities.

Identify Your Start and End Date: Don’t Overburden the System

Some projects come with a stipulated start and end date. Some projects’ start and end dates need to be identified through your efforts of creating a Takt plan. Either way, it is all a game of turning the dials of crew size, worker counts, duration, geographical area and strategy and not adjusting the need for high levels of safety, quality and respect.

It all amounts to data, whether you begin top down by identifying your start and end dates and work through the components of the plan or work from the bottom up and make a plan that specifies an end date from your analysis.

There is only one real parameter: do not overburden the system. If more crews are needed, make sure the market has them. If additional people are needed on crews, make sure trained professionals are available. If materials are needed at the expedited rate, make sure the supply chain can accommodate.

You can adjust any dial with resources as long as those resources are available.

Research Your Drawings: Go to Drawings First, Software Second

This step may seem like a given, but it needs to be said. One of the geniuses of Takt is that it gives our builders back the time they need to carry out the basics of a builder, which means studying the drawings each day, forward planning in the schedule and reflecting daily.

For this to happen, we need to create a Takt plan that is reliable and effective and starts in an artful and strategic way with the creation of a plan by a builder from the drawings.

There is a big difference between builders who go straight to the software versus builders who go straight to the drawings. The latter method is the only way to put things in their proper order.

As the builder studies the design and gets a feel for the flow, the sequence and the general strategic approach for the project with others, he or she will immediately see and identify flow. Builders can get a feel for the general flow of the project after digging into the drawings.

Constraints like staging, material flow, material access, adjacent structures, hoisting, and project access will begin to form a picture of how the project will need to generally flow. Does the construction begin from east to west or west to east? Does the interior run from top down or bottom up?

This general idea of how the project will flow as the builder visualizes construction will allow the identification of preliminary Takt zones.

Identify Preliminary Takt Zones: Break Work Into Repeatable Areas

Takt zones, sometimes known as geographical areas, production areas, or more appropriately as Takt areas, are the areas defined within the construction to identify work that will be scheduled for the Takt wagons within the Takt time.

In order to get portions of the work broken down to fit within a drumbeat, we have to break the work up into zones that can be completed according to that drumbeat. This is fairly easy to do, especially if the first planners know the general direction of the flow and how much area can be completed within the Takt time.

For instance, in Phoenix, Arizona, the best starting standard Takt zone for a hospital, laboratory, or other complex program space at the macro level is 10,000 square feet. Eventually zones are typically reduced to 3,000 to 7,000 square feet as batch sizes are reduced, but you must start with a representative size.

The analysis with Little’s Law needs to be done from that starting point, and Takt zones may need to be reduced in size depending on the analysis. In Phoenix, depending on the availability of workers, a construction team can typically produce 10,000 square feet of interior space every 5 or 7 days with a total process time within the Takt train of 7.5 to 9 months from beginning to end.

In Tucson, if the 10,000 square feet number is used for Takt zones, the throughput is 10,000 square feet of finished space every 10 days and the Takt time is 5 days.

Identify Preliminary Takt Time: The Drumbeat of the Project

The Takt time is the drum beat at which a finished project needs to be completed in order to meet customer demand. The concept is easy to understand and use. The time scale of your Takt plan will essentially be your Takt time.

These rates are usually every 3 days, 5 days, 7 days, or 10 days. The most common starting point of these is 5 because it represents a work beat and allows the Saturday of that week to become a buffer day.

Think of Takt time like the drum beat of a project. Let’s take a Takt time of 5 as an example. The drum will beat or work will progress to another area in step every 5 days. Some Takt wagons only need a week and some need more, but the work moves forward every 5 days.

If the mechanical trades need 3 weeks in an area, the drum beat will hit twice while they are there, but on drum beat number 3 they will be in a forward location. For Takt wagons that only need a week or one time scale, they will move into different areas every drum beat.

Little’s Law: Smaller Zones Allow for Faster Throughput

Here is where we need to remember Little’s Law where smaller Takt zones allow for faster throughput. For instance, if there are 5 floors with the same 5 step process and the team selects a Takt time of 5 days per trade per floor, the first floor will be completed in 25 days and the entire project in 45 days.

However, if we modify our Takt time to 1 day, the first floor will now finish in 9 days and the entire project in 29 days. That is 53% of the time of a 1 week Takt. Somewhere in between those extremes is the optimal throughput.

Pull Plan a Typical Sequence to Start

Now that we have a preliminary Takt zone size and Takt time, we can outline the sequence of one representative Takt zone. The team will collaboratively pull the sequence inside the first representative Takt zone by following these steps:

• Ask trades to come prepared with their activities or sticky notes ahead of the meeting and to think about what each activity needs for them to begin.
• When opening the meeting, establish the following: the timescale, the trade colors, the sticky note format, the parking lot, the rules of the meeting.
• Begin building the sequence of the pull plan until there are no more predecessors or needed activities.
• When the sequence is done, the team can work the plan forward to ensure it fits within the target duration and also to introduce parallelization of activities.

Create the Takt Sequence: Organize Into Wagons and Work Packages

A Takt sequence or Takt train is a sequence of Takt wagons. Each Takt wagon includes one or more work packages, and each work package contains multiple work steps.

By this point, stickies from the pull plan sequence have become either a Takt wagon, a work package, or a work step depending on the size and how it is packaged.

Jason and Spencer Rules of Thumb

Here are fifteen rules of thumb to keep in mind:

• Remove roadblocks daily is the first priority.
• It is usually better to have fairly equal sized Takt zones to start your Takt plan.
• Sequences with long lead material procurement duration should not be first in the logistical sequence within the phase.
• Complex areas should not be last in the sequence.
• Deliveries are scheduled on time, arrive on time or they are turned away.
• Correctly sized material inventory buffers for all materials are created and coordinated daily for just-in-time deliveries and scheduled deliveries.
• No going faster or slower than the Takt, unless the team decides together and it is done as a part of the overall project flow.
• Trades within work packages work weekends if they are not done.
• Contractors control the Takt zones in which they are working.
• Everyone has a copy of the Takt plan in the field.
• Follow the Takt plan and pull contractors behind you at the right time.
• Nothing, materials, trash or other items hits the floor.
• Everything including racks and painted pallets is on wheels.
• All access ways are clear at all times.
• All workspaces are clean and organized with a place for everything and everything in its place.

The System Failed You

Let’s be clear. When teams go straight to software instead of drawings, it’s not entirely their fault. The system failed by teaching scheduling is software activity when actually scheduling is builder activity. Nobody showed that plan comes from builder studying drawings seeing flow, identifying constraints, visualizing how work actually happens on site. Nobody explained that software is tool for capturing plan, not creating plan. Going to software first creates schedule disconnected from reality. The system taught input activities when actually study drawings first.

The system also failed by not teaching how to identify preliminary Takt zones from drawings. If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow. As builder studies design getting feel for flow, constraints like staging, material flow, material access, adjacent structures, hoisting, project access begin forming picture of how project will flow. Does construction begin east to west or west to east? Does interior run top down or bottom up? This general idea allows identification of preliminary Takt zones. In Phoenix, 10,000 square feet for hospital interiors. In Tucson, same zone different throughput based on market capacity. The system taught zones are arbitrary when actually zones emerge from understanding work.

The system fails by not teaching the one real parameter: don’t overburden the system. If more crews needed, make sure market has them. If more people needed, make sure trained professionals available. If materials needed at expedited rate, make sure supply chain can accommodate. You can adjust any dial with resources as long as those resources are available. The system taught push schedule to meet end date when actually adjust dials within market capacity avoiding overburdening system.

The Challenge

Here’s your assignment. Stop going to software first. Start going to drawings first.

Research your drawings before opening software. Study design. Get feel for flow. Identify sequence. Identify general strategic approach. Immediately see and identify flow. Dig into drawings seeing constraints: staging, material flow, material access, adjacent structures, hoisting, project access. Form picture of how project will flow. Does construction begin east to west or west to east? Does interior run top down or bottom up? This visualization allows identification of preliminary Takt zones.

Identify preliminary Takt zones based on market capacity. Phoenix: 10,000 square feet for hospital interiors, eventually reduced to 3,000 to 7,000 square feet. Tucson: same zone, different throughput based on worker availability. Know general direction of flow and how much area can be completed within Takt time. Start with representative size. Analysis with Little’s Law done from that starting point. Zones may need to be reduced depending on analysis.

Identify preliminary Takt time as drumbeat. Usually every 3, 5, 7, or 10 days. Most common: 5 days representing work beat allowing Saturday to become buffer day. Drum will beat or work will progress to another area every Takt time. Think of it like drumbeat of project.

Remember Little’s Law. Smaller Takt zones allow for faster throughput. Five floors with 5-step process at 5-day Takt time: first floor completes in 25 days, entire project in 45 days. Modified to 1-day Takt time: first floor completes in 9 days, entire project in 29 days. That’s 53% of the time. Somewhere between extremes is optimal throughput.

Pull plan typical sequence collaboratively. Team pulls sequence inside first representative Takt zone. Trades come prepared with activities thinking about what each needs to begin. Establish timescale, trade colors, sticky note format, parking lot, rules. Build sequence until no more predecessors. Work plan forward ensuring fits within target duration introducing parallelization.

Follow the fifteen rules of thumb. Remove roadblocks daily as first priority. Equal sized zones to start. Long lead sequences not first. Complex areas not last. Deliveries on time or turned away. Material inventory buffers for JIT. No faster or slower than Takt unless team decides. Contractors control zones they’re working in. Everyone has copy of plan in field.

The difference: Takt is all downhill from here. CPM nightmare is just beginning. Start with drawings, not software.

On we go.

FAQ

Why go to drawings first instead of software?

Big difference between builders going straight to software versus straight to drawings. Latter method is only way to put things in proper order. As builder studies design getting feel for flow, sequence, general strategic approach, immediately see and identify flow. Constraints like staging, material flow, material access, adjacent structures, hoisting, project access form picture of how project will flow. Software is tool for capturing plan, not creating plan.

How do you identify preliminary Takt zones?

Study drawings visualizing how project will flow. In Phoenix: 10,000 square feet for hospital/lab interiors, eventually reduced to 3,000-7,000 square feet. In Tucson: same zone, different throughput based on market capacity. Break work into zones that can be completed according to drumbeat. Know general direction of flow and how much area can be completed within Takt time.

What is Takt time and how do you identify it?

Drum beat at which finished project needs to be completed to meet customer demand. Time scale of Takt plan is essentially Takt time. Usually every 3, 5, 7, or 10 days. Most common: 5 days representing work beat allowing Saturday to become buffer day. Work progresses to another area every Takt time like drumbeat of project.

How does Little’s Law affect Takt zones?

Smaller Takt zones allow for faster throughput. Five floors with 5-step process at 5-day Takt time: first floor 25 days, entire project 45 days. Modified to 1-day Takt time: first floor 9 days, entire project 29 days. That’s 53% of time of 1-week Takt. Somewhere between extremes is optimal throughput.

What’s the one real parameter when creating Takt plan?

Don’t overburden the system. If more crews needed, make sure market has them. If more people needed, make sure trained professionals available. If materials needed at expedited rate, make sure supply chain can accommodate. Can adjust any dial with resources as long as those resources are available.