Last Planner in Construction | Stop Making up Rules (Standardize for Reliability)

Stop Making Up Last Planner Rules (Standardize for Reliability)

Last Planner in Construction: Stop Making Up Rules. I’m excited about this video, and I really want it to come off in a non-offensive way, and I hope you can hear my sincerity. We’re paying for these videos to share out in the industry. This is a free gift, and I’m attempting to help, and we have got to steer in the right direction.

I want to be an advocate for consistency. We have got to stop making up rules when it comes to the Last Planner System because it’s only hurting us, and we’re focused on the wrong things.

Let me walk you through the made-up rules that are destroying the Last Planner System.

The Pain of Made-Up Rules

When we make up rules most of the time, and it’s normal and it’s understandable, it’s because the influencer or Last Planner practitioner, teacher, or consultant is wanting significance or fame or money. And I don’t like that. I already gave the example that pull planning boards and stickies and pull planning manuals are all behind this big old paywall for multiple thousands of dollars. That just makes me so sad.

We should be democratizing as much of this information as we can, getting it out there to people, and making sure that we’re not perverting it and hurting people.

Here’s what happens when people make up rules. They want to be known for something. They want to sell something. They want to be the expert. And so they create arbitrary rules that sound good but hurt the system. And then everyone follows those rules because “that’s how it’s done.” And the Last Planner System gets weaker instead of stronger.

And this is what we shouldn’t have happen. I would say most of the time Lean folks and Lean influencers, and I’m probably included and I need to repent every time I notice it, we are classical management wolves in Lean sheep’s clothing. We’re doing the same old fixed-minded nonsense in the name of Lean. And it’s just got to stop.

If we’re really Lean, we’ll improve the Last Planner System. We will not be fixed-minded. We will not hold to old outdated practices. And we will be willing to learn.

Made-Up Rule One: Don’t Do Too Much Advanced Planning

Here are some rules that are really weird that never should have been a part of the Last Planner System. I’ll just start listing them off the top of my head. Number one, the concept that you shouldn’t do too much advanced planning. That is one of the most misguided guidelines or rules I’ve ever heard. And I know where it came from. It’s because the CPM is so horrible.

But you can’t have a Last Planner System without a first planner system where you’re planning at the high macro level, queuing up your supply chains, and preparing work early on in pre-construction. If you really want to disrespect and fail the Last Planner System, don’t pre-plan out ahead. That’s one of the worst things I’ve ever heard.

Here’s the truth: Last Planner requires first planner. You need macro-level planning. You need supply chain queuing. You need pre-construction preparation. Without advanced planning, you’re reacting. With advanced planning, you’re preparing. The rule against advanced planning is destroying projects.

Made-Up Rule Two: You Can Do Short-Interval Pulls

Another one is taking phase planning and pull planning and saying you can take that and just do a 3-week or a 6-week or a short-interval pull. You can’t do it. It’s not a thing. You will not be vertically aligned to milestones, and you will not have trade flow.

Creating a 3-week pull is nothing more than adding more people to your 3-week lookahead planning cycle like we used to do 10, 20, 30, 40 years ago. It’s ineffective, and it’s not pull planning, and it does not follow the real science behind pull planning.

Here’s the truth: Pull planning must be phase-level or project-level. You must be vertically aligned to milestones. You must have trade flow. Short-interval pulls create local optimization without global optimization. They’re not pull planning. They’re just collaborative lookaheads. And that’s not the same thing.

Made-Up Rule Three: Pull Plans Must Be Physical Stickies

Here’s another one. Pull plans must be in person with physical stickies. That is an arbitrary rule that hurts us. Let me tell you why. Pull planning is best done day by day, not with batched stickies. It’s best done when you take one sequence and you compare it from zone to zone to zone, and you compare to your end milestone and see if you met the milestone and gain buffers.

And when you do it in person with stickies, it is very difficult to do. It is very difficult for the practitioners to actually get the zone comparisons, and it’s very difficult to see if you’re hitting your milestone. And so that rule people will say you can’t do it digitally. Well, where did that rule come from? Absolutely ridiculous.

Here’s the truth: Pull planning works better digitally. You can compare sequences zone by zone. You can check milestone alignment. You can see buffers. You can adjust in real time. Physical stickies fall off the wall. Handwriting is illegible. Zone comparisons are difficult. Digital is better. The physical-only rule is arbitrary and destructive.

Made-Up Rule Four: Trades Must Write Their Own Stickies

The other rule I’ve heard is a trade partner must write their own sticky. Why? Most people have horrible handwriting because they weren’t taught, which is a failure of our education system. You can’t read the stickies. It takes a bunch of time. And now you have a high-powered foreman doing administrative tasks.

The purpose isn’t to write your own sticky. The purpose is to declare your own sticky. That rule is hurting us. Again, it’s better done in a digital format.

Here’s the truth: The purpose of pull planning is for trades to declare their sequence and durations. Not to write stickies. Writing stickies is administrative overhead. Declaring the plan is value-adding. Let someone type while the foreman declares. That’s respect for the foreman’s time.

Made-Up Rule Five: Weekly Work Plans Must Be on the Wall with Stickies

Here’s another rule. Your weekly work plan has to be on the wall with stickies. There’s nothing more dangerous than that in the Last Planner System because you got stickies falling off the wall. You only have a certain amount of rows. You think small, and you’ve locked the information in the office.

That weekly work plan should be in a digital format to where everybody on the job site can access it with their phones real time.

Here’s the truth: Weekly work plans on physical walls with stickies are destructive. Stickies fall off. Limited rows constrain thinking. Information is locked in the office. Workers in the field can’t see it. Digital weekly work plans solve all of this. Workers access it on their phones. Real-time updates. No falling stickies. No locked-in-the-office information.

Made-Up Rule Six: Huddles Must Be in the Morning

There are a number of really, really weird rules that people are just making up with the Last Planner. Let me give you just one or two more. Huddles have to be in the morning. Why? That is so destructive. You’re either going to have milquetoast meetings that aren’t talking about anything, or you’re going to interrupt the plan of the crews and change things once you get out of the huddle.

It should be the day before. That is an arbitrary rule. And it would be fine if somebody said the morning of or the day before and left it open, but people are like, “No, I heard it once. It was the day of.”

Here’s the truth: Afternoon foreman huddles prepare for the next day. Morning huddles either interrupt the plan or become useless check-ins. The day-before huddle lets you solve roadblocks and prepare. The morning-only rule is arbitrary and destructive.

Made-Up Rule Seven: ELMO and Rude Behavior

And then like concepts like ELMO “Enough, Let’s Move On” I’m not trying to be too offensive, but that is so rude. And so, we are normalizing rude behavior and ineffective non-production-minded behavior for the sake of culture or fame or selling books or whatever or significance. And it’s just not right.

Here’s the truth: ELMO is rude. It shuts down conversation. It dismisses people. It creates fear of speaking up. That’s not Lean. That’s not respect for people. That’s classical management disguised as culture. We’ve got to stop normalizing rude behavior. If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow.

What We Do at Elevate Construction (Learning from Everyone)

This sounds like a lecture. I’m just getting passionate. I am a Lean Last Planner practitioner. “Oh, I don’t want anything. I don’t want to know anything about Takt.” What? We should be open and willing to adopt. And actually, I included myself in that wolf classical management, but actually I’m not.

At Elevate Construction, we learn from everybody and loop their work in. An example: Dr. Valegas introduced what I call the Valegas method where instead of leveling the entire Takt plan, he lets a lot of them create their own individual line of balance in a multi-train Takt plan. Instead of being like, “Oh, that’s not the way you do it,” I was like, “Oh, we’ll loop that in as another method.”

Elevate Construction, we learn from everybody. And if somebody was like, “There’s an actual legitimate reason to do something different,” we will adapt, and I will rewrite the books. But most people will lock their books in forever. They’ll keep the Last Planner System at 1.0 forever. They will keep their weird ideas forever, and they won’t adapt and improve.

Some of our books are on version four. Even Takt practitioners, they’re like, “Single-train Takt planning is the only way.” What? Single-train Takt planning is not the only way. Multi-train Takt planning is absolutely a thing.

Here’s what real Lean looks like:

• Learn from everyone loop in their methods if they work
• Adapt when someone shows a legitimate reason to do something different
• Rewrite the books when you learn something better
• Don’t lock ideas forever improve them, test them, evolve them
• Be willing to admit you were wrong and change

That’s Lean. Fixed-minded rule-making is classical management disguised as Lean.

A Challenge for Last Planner Practitioners

Here’s what I want you to do this week. Question the rules. When someone says, “You have to do it this way,” ask, “Why? What’s the thoughtful reason? Can you prove it?” If they can’t, it’s probably a made-up rule.

And if you’re teaching Last Planner, stop making up rules. Teach the principles. Teach the science. And let people adapt to their context. That’s respect for people. That’s Lean. As we say at Elevate, stop making up Last Planner rules. Don’t limit advanced planning. Short-interval pulls don’t work. Physical stickies aren’t required. Huddles don’t have to be in the morning. Question the rules. Learn from everyone. Improve the system.

On we go.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is “don’t do too much advanced planning” a bad rule?

Because Last Planner requires first planner. You need macro-level planning, supply chain queuing, and pre-construction preparation. Without advanced planning, you’re reacting instead of preparing. The rule destroys projects.

Why don’t short-interval pulls work?

Because you won’t be vertically aligned to milestones and you won’t have trade flow. Short-interval pulls are just collaborative lookaheads. They’re not real pull planning. Pull planning must be phase-level or project-level.

Why are physical stickies not required for pull planning?

Because pull planning works better digitally. You can compare sequences zone by zone, check milestone alignment, see buffers, and adjust in real time. Physical stickies fall off, handwriting is illegible, and zone comparisons are difficult.

Why should huddles be the afternoon before instead of the morning of?

Because afternoon huddles prepare for the next day. You solve roadblocks and prepare. Morning huddles either interrupt the plan or become useless check-ins. The morning-only rule is arbitrary and destructive.

How do you know if a Last Planner rule is made-up?

Ask for the thoughtful reason and proof. If they can’t explain why beyond “I learned it in a training” or “That’s how it’s done,” it’s probably made-up. Real rules have scientific backing.