The Takt Production System – Part 1

Why Takt Planning Is the System That Will Save Construction

Jason Schroeder didn’t write a book about Takt planning because he thought it was interesting. He wrote it because most construction projects don’t finish on time. Because there’s a better way of running projects. Because the success of cost, quality, and safety is ultimately determined by the execution of the schedule. And because the implications of an improperly scheduled project are disrespect for workers and the families of everyone involved in the project, both of which are unacceptable.

This isn’t about efficiency for efficiency’s sake. This is about bringing respect back to workers and keeping family time sacred. This is about bringing flow back to construction through correct planning and scheduling practices. This is about reversing the productivity decline that’s been plaguing construction for decades while every other industry figured out how to build better, faster, and safer.

The second edition of “The Art of the Builder: The Takt Production System” is being recorded as a podcast series because Takt certification courses are scaling like wildfire, 36 people per class, and the information needs to get out faster. This isn’t just another construction management theory. This is the system that actually works.

The Mission: Workers, Leaders, and Families

Here’s what you need to understand first: the only reason Elevate Construction exists as a company is to bring respect to workers, train leaders, and preserve families. Until you comprehend that the mission is about people, you will not understand the mission. Everything else—the schedules, the plans, the systems, the metrics, exists to serve that purpose.

Jason and Spencer have seen firsthand projects where workers and foremen love coming to work. Projects where bathrooms and lunch areas are inviting and where there’s a flow and a general sanity to the way work is done. These environments improve humanity. That’s the goal.

So how is Takt planning and Takt control tied to remarkable environments? In their experience, only Takt enables the visibility, control, and capacity the team needs to create remarkable environments. In the absence of this, you see burdened teams, overworked leaders, unreliable supply chains, unstable amounts of material inventory, broken families, unsafe and poorly run projects, dirty environments, and jobs without the most basic of human dignity, such as a place to use the restroom and eat lunch.

At its worst, projects are unsafe and harm or kill people. That’s why this book exists. That’s why the time, financial commitment, and mission is dedicated to the wonderful work you do, the project leaders who have good intentions and just need help, and the families that will benefit from better-run projects.

What Makes Takt Different From Everything Else

Takt planning is a strategic, logistical, and tactical initiative in creating a stable environment. That’s the key word: stable. How can anyone continuously improve in a chaotic environment? How can stable environments be built with the exclusion of deep and abiding respect for people and resources?

To bring respect, training, and preservation back to construction, we have to get the formula right for lean. We have to bring back stability which allows for respect and continuous improvement. We have to bring flow. And Takt does this.

Here’s the definition of lean that Elevate Construction espouses: respect for people and resources, stable environments that create flow, total participation through visual systems, and continuous improvement and fanatical quality. Takt planning delivers all of that. It’s not one piece of the puzzle, it’s the foundation that makes the other pieces work.

Jason has always finished projects on time, and he realizes now it’s not because he was good at CPM. It’s because he has always, and he means always, paired Takt with and ahead of CPM by making sure Takt created flow first. Takt has brought sanity to his schedules and has preserved his family and respected workers in his care.

He started out slowly using it mainly for interiors. After learning how German and French experts and companies use Takt on projects, he began experimenting with exterior flow schedules and eventually scaled the system to hundreds of projects. He relied upon principles learned from the Pentagon renovation to build his own unique system. He created his own version, experimented and implemented it, and designed his own way of aligning terminology and additional insights in his journey.

This system is the way. It has made Jason, and he knows if applied correctly, it will make you.

The Problem With CPM (And Why We’re Not Afraid to Say It)

Here’s where this gets controversial. The book attempts to contextualize true CPM and better support Last Planner and Scrum as it elevates Takt planning and Takt control. The assumption was that this would upset some people and incite some pushback, which is fine if it drives change—but the goal is to take this journey with everyone.

Saying that a fork won’t work for tomato soup is not an insult to the fork or the soup for that matter. In a like manner, saying that true CPM is not a standalone project management tool or scheduling system that will serve you well alone is not an insult. The problem with speaking up may stem from the fact that true CPM has been structurally incorporated into so many systems, cultures, and processes that going against the grain might offend someone’s position, relevance, or education.

But here’s the thing: the criticism of current methods is not because Jason and Spencer don’t know the system. Jason is a career superintendent proficient with P6 and CPM. Spencer is a professional expert, both qualified and certified scheduler, and has made a living creating and managing CPM for years. They know the system. They know the drill.

Therefore, they know the best way to be supportive of something is to use it in its right place and in the right way. CPM has a role. It’s just not the role most people think it is. And when you try to force it into a role it can’t fulfill, creating stable flow for workers, you get chaos, delays, and disrespect.

What Takt Actually Delivers

Takt planning changes what’s possible on a construction project. Here’s what it delivers when implemented correctly:

• Stable environments where workers can actually work instead of constantly fighting chaos, waiting for materials, or being pulled in six directions at once
• Predictable daily schedules so workers know where they’re supposed to be hour by hour instead of wandering around asking what’s next
• Visual systems that create total participation so everyone can see the plan, understand the flow, and coordinate with other trades
• Reduced variability and waste because work moves in a rhythm instead of the stop-start chaos that burns crews out and destroys productivity
• Flow that respects workers’ time and families because stable schedules mean people can plan their lives instead of living at the mercy of reactive firefighting
• Quality built into the process because workers have time to do things right instead of rushing to catch up to an impossible schedule

This isn’t theory. This is what happens when you implement Takt. Jason has done it on hundreds of projects. Companies in Germany and France have been doing it for over a decade. BMW uses Takt in their construction management arm for building facilities around the world. This works.

The Coalition Building This Movement

The second edition of the Takt book represents a massive collaboration of lean experts, Takt practitioners, and construction professionals who are done accepting the status quo. The acknowledgments section reads like a who’s who of people actually changing construction:

Adam Hoots expanded concepts on capacity and time buffers and created tracking metrics. Felipe Engineer-Manriquez trained Jason on Scrum and elevated his understanding of lean theory. Hal Macomber provided corrections on key lean concepts and industry resources. Marco Binninger, the co-creator of Takt, shared his experience and simulations and quadrupled Jason’s understanding. Janosch Dlouhy is finishing his doctorate degree in Takt production and construction, working at BMW where they use Takt in manufacturing and construction. Fabian Font has been a Takt planning practitioner since 2009 through hundreds of projects and created project management software to support Takt.

These aren’t academics theorizing about construction. These are practitioners who have proven the system works at scale. They’re sharing their knowledge because they believe in the mission: respect for workers, training for leaders, and preservation of families.

Why This Matters Right Now

The productivity decline in construction has been going on for decades. While every other industry figured out how to do more with less, construction has been stuck using outdated scheduling systems that create chaos instead of flow. We’ve been trying to force CPM to do something it was never designed to do: create stable, predictable work for crews in the field.

The result is burnout. The result is unsafe conditions. The result is workers who hate their jobs and leaders who are drowning. The result is families that never see their spouse or parent because construction demands everything and gives back chaos.

Takt is the answer. Not because it’s trendy or new, but because it’s based on production science that actually works. It’s based on respecting the flow unit, the worker, and designing systems that support them instead of burdening them. It’s based on the recognition that if the plan requires burnout to succeed, the plan is broken, not the people.

LeanTakt LLC exists with a clear vision: reverse the productivity decline in construction. Their values are flow, scale information fast, fail forward, increase education, and be results-driven. Their mission is to scale Takt planning throughout the United States and beyond and enable project teams to run projects in a stable way with respect for workers, enjoyment among the project team, and in a balanced way to support families.

That’s not marketing language. That’s the actual mission. And the podcast series recording the entire second edition of the Takt book is part of scaling that information fast. If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow.

FAQ

Q: What exactly is Takt planning and how is it different from CPM?

Takt planning is a production system that creates stable, rhythmic flow by dividing your project into zones and sequencing work through those zones at a consistent pace. Unlike CPM, which focuses on activity durations and dependencies, Takt focuses on trade flow and creating predictable work for crews. CPM tells you when activities should happen; Takt tells you where each trade should be working each day to maintain flow. CPM is useful for logistics and milestone tracking, but Takt is what creates the stable environment workers need to actually do their jobs well.

Q: Why does Jason say Takt is the only system that creates remarkable environments?

Because Takt is the only system that provides the visibility, control, and capacity needed to stabilize work. Without Takt, you get burdened teams, overworked leaders, unreliable supply chains, unstable material inventory, broken families, unsafe projects, and environments without basic human dignity. Takt creates hour-by-hour schedules, visual systems everyone can understand, predictable trade flow, and the stability that allows leaders to actually support their people instead of constantly firefighting. That stability is what makes remarkable environments possible.

Q: Can Takt work on my type of project or is it only for certain building types?

Jason started using Takt mainly for interiors, then expanded to exterior flow schedules, and eventually scaled it to hundreds of projects of different types. German and French companies have been using Takt on all kinds of construction for over a decade. BMW uses it globally for their facilities. The principles apply anywhere you have repetitive work, multiple trades, and the need for flow. The question isn’t whether Takt can work on your project, it’s whether you’re willing to learn the system and implement it correctly.

Q: What’s the learning curve for implementing Takt and where do I start?

The book “The Art of the Builder: The Takt Production System” is designed to give you everything you need to begin your Takt journey. There are also Takt certification courses (currently scaling at 36 people per class), resources at leantakt.com, YouTube videos on the LeanTakt channel, and training and consulting available through Elevate Construction. Start by understanding the principles, study projects that have implemented it successfully, and begin experimenting on a small scale. The second edition includes formulas, theory, tracking metrics, and practical guidance from world experts.

Q: How does Takt planning respect workers and preserve families?

Takt creates predictable schedules so workers know where they’ll be working each day and can plan their lives accordingly instead of living at the mercy of reactive chaos. It reduces the variability and waste that forces overtime and weekend work. It creates stable environments where people can do quality work without being constantly interrupted or pulled in different directions. When projects run on Takt, workers have flow, leaders aren’t drowning in firefighting, and people can actually go home to their families at reasonable hours. That’s respect made visible through better systems.

On we go.