Queing

Queuing Construction Projects (How Alignment and Preparation Prevent Chaos)

One of the topics that has come up quite recently makes me sad for the people that are experiencing it. Not judgmental, actually. It makes me sad that a superintendent who might not be as firm as needed can’t love somebody and be really, really firm at the same time. I love you and you will wear your safety glasses or you will go home to a safe place. Not everybody’s able to do that, and I feel bad for that because their kindness shouldn’t be abused.

The United States Culture Challenge: We Have to Put Our Shoulders Back

Unfortunately, with our current United States culture, and I love the US, if we were in Japan, people would just naturally fall in line. But in the United States, we have to put our shoulders back and be confident. And some of the things that I’m about to say are going to sound crazy, like absolutely crazy. But if I was running a job today, I will queue people into the project.

Because I disrespect them? No. Because I think they’re less than? No. Because I’m controlling? Partially. Why am I doing it then? Because I love them.

One Gate Opens to Worker Huddle, Second Gate Opens After Alignment

Let me explain what I mean. On construction projects going forward, there’s going to be one gate that opens into the worker huddle area and the dojo, and we are going to participate in the morning worker huddle until everybody’s participating together. And I was doing a super PM bootcamp in Atlanta, and one of the supers was like, “I love this concept.” And he said, “I do, ‘If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands,’ and everybody claps, and I don’t open up the second gate until everybody claps.”

Now, in the United States, I know what you’re thinking. Your first thought is, “Some son of a whatever told me to clap. I don’t have to clap. Don’t tell me to clap. You can’t make me clap.” But what he’s trying to do is align everyone.

The Japan Example: Seven Seconds of Balance for Alignment

And when we went to Japan with Paul Akers, one of the things that happened there was there was a strip. It was probably like eight inches wide, probably 18 feet long, and for seven seconds, the motorists that were the male persons that were on motorcycles had to align and stay on that strip for seven seconds to make sure that they had their balance for the morning.

The morning worker huddle and logistics queuing is alignment. They’re just getting aligned. I will always bring people in to a morning worker huddle, go through everything with total participation, and then do a rally cry like “clean and steady” or something, and then I’ll open up the second gate.

No Logistics Past the Second Gate Until Kitted and Ready

I’m going to do that for logistics as well. No logistics gets past the second gate until it’s kitted and ready to go. Now, if we have a steel delivery and it’s being erected right off the truck or it’s a concrete truck or something like that, we have common sense for that. But everything else has to be queued and kitted.

And in fact, I’m not going to let any equipment on the site until it’s queued. Like literally, they can deliver it and queue it right then and there and until it’s 5S clean, beautiful, maintained fire extinguishers. I’m not ever going to let bad behavior on the job site and then track it down to fix it. Never, ever, ever, ever again. There will be a gate that you queue through to get in.

If You Don’t Have Space, Use Approval and Scheduling Systems

And if you’re like, “Well, Jason, we don’t have enough space on the job site to do that,” I understand that. So then as a part of your delivery system or your mobilization system, you don’t let anybody… Before they queue through any gate, they have to have approval and you have to be on the schedule.

We do it all the time. Have you ever gone to one of these meta data centers? What do you have to do? You have to be on the list and the security guard has to know you’re coming. This is easy.

So, “Hey, I’m coming in with a delivery or my work truck.” “Okay. Yeah. Come on in. Send me pictures of all the tool areas, your fire extinguisher, your current certificate of insurance and all the things. And you’re scheduled for 9 a.m.” And then somebody was like, “You either are or you’re not on the schedule.”

Why You Don’t Have Time: Because You’re Chasing Bad Behaviors

Now you may think that you don’t have time for this and that’s fine. But the reason you don’t have time is because you’re chasing things in the field behind schedule, rushing, pushing or panicking because you’ve let bad behaviors on a job site.

The one thing you actually should be doing is orienting, queuing, holding the line, preparing pre-con meetings, pull plans, looking at planning, the trade partner preparation process. Like that’s the key.

Here’s how queuing construction projects works:

• One gate opens to worker huddle, second gate opens after total participation – On construction projects going forward, one gate opens into worker huddle area and dojo. Participate in morning worker huddle until everybody’s participating together. Super PM bootcamp Atlanta: super does “If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands,” everybody claps, doesn’t open second gate until everybody claps. Trying to align everyone. Bring people in to morning worker huddle, go through everything with total participation, do rally cry like “clean and steady,” then open second gate.
• Japan example: seven seconds of balance for alignment – In Japan with Paul Akers, there was strip probably eight inches wide, 18 feet long. For seven seconds, motorists on motorcycles had to align and stay on strip for seven seconds to make sure they had balance for morning. Morning worker huddle and logistics queuing is alignment. Just getting aligned.
• No logistics past second gate until kitted and ready to go – No logistics gets past second gate until kitted and ready to go. If steel delivery being erected right off truck or concrete truck, have common sense for that. But everything else has to be queued and kitted. Not going to let any equipment on site until queued. Deliver it and queue it right then and there and until 5S clean, beautiful, maintained fire extinguishers. Not ever going to let bad behavior on job site and then track it down to fix it. Gate that you queue through to get in.
• If no space: approval and scheduling systems before queuing through gate – If don’t have enough space on job site, then as part of delivery system or mobilization system, don’t let anybody queue through any gate without approval and being on schedule. Meta data centers: have to be on list and security guard has to know you’re coming. “Coming in with delivery or work truck.” “Come on in. Send pictures of all tool areas, fire extinguisher, current certificate of insurance and all things. You’re scheduled for 9 a.m.” You either are or aren’t on schedule.
• Reason you don’t have time: chasing bad behaviors instead of preparing – You may think you don’t have time for this. But reason you don’t have time is because you’re chasing things in field behind schedule, rushing, pushing or panicking because you’ve let bad behaviors on job site. One thing you actually should be doing: orienting, queuing, holding the line, preparing pre-con meetings, pull plans, looking at planning, trade partner preparation process. That’s the key.

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

A Challenge for Construction Leaders

Here’s what I want you to do this week. Think about queuing your construction project. One gate opens to worker huddle area and dojo. Participate in morning worker huddle until everybody’s participating together. Total participation. Do rally cry like “clean and steady.” Then open second gate. No logistics gets past second gate until kitted and ready to go. Everything has to be queued and kitted. Not going to let any equipment on site until queued. Deliver it and queue it right then and there and until 5S clean, beautiful, maintained fire extinguishers. If you don’t have enough space, use approval and scheduling systems. Have to be on list. Send pictures of tool areas, fire extinguisher, current certificate of insurance. You’re scheduled for 9 a.m. You either are or aren’t on schedule.

Stop chasing things in field behind schedule, rushing, pushing or panicking because you’ve let bad behaviors on job site. Start orienting, queuing, holding the line, preparing pre-con meetings, pull plans, looking at planning, trade partner preparation process. We will never get to where we need to be on job sites until this exact kind of thinking is how we do work day in and day out. As we say at Elevate, queuing construction projects: one gate opens to worker huddle, total participation, second gate opens after alignment. Kit logistics before entering site.

On we go.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why queue people into construction projects?

Because I love them. Morning worker huddle and logistics queuing is alignment. Just getting aligned. Bring people in to morning worker huddle, go through everything with total participation, do rally cry, then open second gate.

What happens before the second gate opens?

Participate in morning worker huddle until everybody’s participating together. Total participation. Super PM bootcamp Atlanta: super does “If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands,” doesn’t open second gate until everybody claps. Trying to align everyone.

What’s the rule for logistics and equipment?

No logistics gets past second gate until kitted and ready to go. Not going to let any equipment on site until queued. Deliver it and queue it right then and there and until 5S clean, beautiful, maintained fire extinguishers.

What if you don’t have enough space for queuing?

Use approval and scheduling systems. Have to be on list. Send pictures of tool areas, fire extinguisher, current certificate of insurance. You’re scheduled for 9 a.m. You either are or aren’t on schedule.

Why don’t superintendents have time for queuing?

Because chasing things in field behind schedule, rushing, pushing or panicking because let bad behaviors on job site. Should be doing: orienting, queuing, holding the line, preparing pre-con meetings, pull plans, trade partner preparation process.