The Wrong Sequence

If you have the wrong sequence, you set yourself up for trouble. The impact on work is real and often painful, but the good news is there are practical ways to prevent it. This conversation is about why the sequence matters, what happens when it is wrong, and what you can do to make sure it goes well.

I am writing this while traveling to San Diego for LCI Congress and reflecting on some exciting updates. Our team just added new leadership roles, standardized titles, and increased our leadership huddles. These moves are creating space for innovation and growth. We are also preparing for a Foreman Bootcamp in November and planning a training video in February that will be available for the public. Beyond that, we are developing crew boards and installation work packages that help crews QC their work, see quality, and stay empowered in the field. These steps are about enabling people to succeed where the work is actually happening.

Now let’s get into the core idea. Recently, I was mapping out the most common roadblocks and constraints that hit construction projects. There are about 40 of them, and as I drew connections, I had an aha moment. Ninety five percent of those roadblocks tied back to the pull plan. Not just to have a pull plan, but to have the right sequence in that plan. When the sequence is wrong, everything downstream suffers.

Think about it this way. Without a proper pull plan, trades are unprepared. Zones are not defined correctly. Staggers are misaligned. Bottlenecks go unnoticed. Buffers are missing. Milestones are unrealistic. Weekly work plans break down. People abandon the system and go their own way because the plan is not connected to reality. The result is frustration, wasted time, and slower progress.

Every time a client has pushed back against doing a pull plan the right way, the project has paid the price. Whether it was skipping trades, inventing a fake sequence, or letting a superintendent dictate durations instead of relying on trade input, the outcome was always the same. We ended up fixing problems later that could have been prevented. That is why this is becoming a non-negotiable for us. If you want to work with our team, we need to have a proper pull plan done the right way.

So what does the right sequence look like? You prepare your trades and make sure every trade is represented. You plan by zones, using calculators to define the right number of zones. You perform forward and backward passes to identify every constraint and predecessor. You analyze bottlenecks, evaluate tack time, and ensure buffers are in place. You connect every pull plan to the final milestone and review for optimization. This is how you protect the project and keep the rhythm intact.

I want to be clear that I am not just criticizing the industry without offering solutions. In our books, we give detailed instructions on how to do pull planning. We share videos, templates, and even provide support on our Discord server. If you need help, we can walk you through it. But the starting point is simple. You must have the right sequence, or everything else will be harder than it needs to be.

I am convinced now more than ever that the basics are what elevate performance. Advanced results come from doing the fundamentals consistently well. When you commit to a solid pull plan with the right sequence, you prevent 95 percent of roadblocks before they ever show up. That is how you protect your crews, empower your trades, and deliver great projects.

Key Takeaway

I realized that almost every roadblock we face on projects ties back to one thing: the pull plan. If you want to avoid chaos, empower your team, and finish strong, the right sequence in a pull plan is non-negotiable.