The Superintendent’s Crystal Ball

The Superintendent’s Crystal Ball

Here’s the deal. I was recently touring and walking several projects, and we were talking about how to really implement Takt steering and control and be as productive as we possibly could in the field. One thing came out of those conversations with the professionals on site. A superintendent should never go outside empty handed. Ever.

What a Superintendent Carries

A superintendent should always have their Takt plan, their zone maps, and something they can write on. That can be a tablet or an iPad with the Takt plan and zone maps on it. It can be a pad of paper. It can be the drawings printed out. At a minimum, they should have their phone and be able to write things down.

• The Takt plan.
• The zone maps.
• Something to write on, such as a tablet, an iPad, a pad of paper, or printed drawings.
• At a minimum, a phone to write things down.

A superintendent never just walks around without something. It is not a thing. Superintendents are paid to look into the future, and the same goes for foremen.

Whose Crystal Ball Is It?

I am not doing a good enough job of explaining this, so let me try again. If you look into the future through your mind, then the huddle board and the crystal ball are in your mind. But if you use a schedule and zone maps to look into the future, and you choose that as your crystal ball, then everyone can see through the crystal ball.

People are not effective on a construction project when the plan is in one person’s head. The only way anyone can access that plan is through the telephone, and ineffectively at that. The only way to make sure the plan is accurate is if the understanding and the ideas in everyone’s mind are on a piece of paper or in a visual. If the plan is visual only in somebody’s mind and not actually on paper, no one can see the plan.

If you are thinking, Jason, I’m fine, I can visualize the plan in my head and I don’t need a piece of paper, you might be partially right. But that also means the plan is hidden from everyone else. There is no merit to this.

How to Know You Are Using It

If you have to open the plan on your computer, write notes on a Takt plan, see it on paper, or write notes on a piece of paper to scheme and think about what is going on from zone to zone, then you know that information is in a collective spot. The only way your brain can see it and understand it, and the only way you can lead the project, is through the Takt plan and the zone maps. When you are dependent on the Takt plan and the zone maps, you are in a spot where you can really communicate to the rest of the team.

If you can still do it all in your mind, you know you are not using the crystal ball, and the plan is probably not communicated to the rest of the team.

Forming the Right Neural Pathways

We have to get into the right habits and form the right neural pathways. You might think all this neural pathway talk is not that practical, but here is what happens. As soon as you start to think in zones, in production systems, in Takt, as soon as you visualize the zones and the Takt plan really well, as soon as you think with production principles in mind from zone to zone to zone, and as soon as you start to think in one piece flow, your mind will auto solve other problems. Let me say it one more time. Your mind will auto solve other problems.

It will do that at night, when you are driving, and in other places, because you have given your brain the proper mental frame. Your brain has those principles, and it uses them as building blocks to solve other problems. You will get better and better at every single thing you do.

The Map Analogy

It is kind of like using a map. How many of us guys think we can run around town, or into a new area, and know where we are going with no directions and no map? If you see a guy doing that, eventually he is going to get lost. And the passengers in the car have no idea where he is going.

But when the driver navigates through a map or a GPS system, and it is up on the screen, that is the only time everyone else knows where the car is headed, and everyone else can help. You have real time data and feedback loops.

Zone Control

A superintendent never walks out of the office without the schedule and the zone maps. Superintendents should also engage in what is called zone control, which is another podcast episode I am going to talk to you about. Here is how it works.

• Go talk to the foreman and have a discussion about what has been finished and what needs to be prepared ahead of the foreman.
• Make notes on the zone maps and on the Takt plan.
• Bring those notes back to the office and coordinate them with the rest of the team.
• Bring the notes up in the afternoon foreman huddle, and update them as part of the master Takt plan.

I do not care if you do this with printed drawings, where some transcription is needed, or in Bluebeam, where everybody has real time copies on their iPads and computers. It has to be done.

Without a Crystal Ball

A superintendent, any level of superintendent, has to have a crystal ball. The schedule and the zone maps are the crystal ball. If you do not have a crystal ball, you are not seeing into the future. If you are not seeing into the future, you are reactive. You are behind the eight ball, you are going to come into problems you cannot solve, and you are going to stop the production line. It is going to hurt you from a production standpoint.

So never walk out of the office without your crystal ball. Never fail to use your crystal ball. And never fail to have your crystal ball be the same crystal ball that everyone else can see through and uses on a constant basis.

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

So here is the challenge. Before you walk out of the office, check that you have your crystal ball with you. Then make sure it is the same one everyone else on your team can see through.

Jason Schroeder said it plainly: “A superintendent, any level of superintendent, has to have a crystal ball.” Never go outside empty handed.

On we go.

FAQ

What is the superintendent’s crystal ball?

It is the schedule and the zone maps. A superintendent is paid to look into the future, and using the Takt plan and zone maps for that lets everyone see the same plan, instead of the plan living only in one person’s head.

What should a superintendent carry when walking the project?

Their Takt plan, their zone maps, and something to write on, whether that is a tablet, an iPad, a pad of paper, or printed drawings. At a minimum, they should have their phone to write things down.

What is zone control?

It is when the superintendent talks with the foreman about what has been finished and what needs to be prepared ahead of the foreman, makes notes on the zone maps and Takt plan, and brings those notes back to be coordinated with the team, discussed in the afternoon foreman huddle, and updated in the master Takt plan.

What happens if a superintendent does not use a crystal ball?

They are not seeing into the future, so they are reactive and behind the eight ball. They will run into problems they cannot solve and stop the production line, which hurts production.