are you ready for construction - a comparative analysis the game of football & the business of...

8/10/2019 Are You Ready for Construction - A Comparative Analysis the Game of Football & the Business of Construction

1/3

B

1

V

^

W.A&

Yre

_a-

.

' v

r

V v .:-S

-v.-\, 7 S ^ s ^ J ? & P * ^

For many organizations,

projectshitthe 90 percent

completemarkand

progress begins

to

sputter.

A contractor's exit strategy

isthe tool

to

nrpventthis

'^\^JA-AA-/

--

:\,;> .


2/3


3/3

Exhib i ts

mAAJAf

Li.

I n t e rna l Punch iist

Cus t om er Punch List

As-Butlt

Drawings

W a r ra n t y Le t t e r

Unco l lec t ed M on ies

Ou t s t a nd ing Cha nge Orde rs

T ra de Con t ra c t o r W ork L is t s

A short - in terval p lan should in

clude projected labor resources, mate

rial needs and equipment ut i l izat ion .

This providesthef i eld managerano p

portuni ty and m e c h a n i s m to project

n eed s

and

man ag e co n cern s .

A

"bes t

of class" plan should also include:

Q

Cus t o mer co n cern s

Q

Des ign concerns

n

Trade contractor concerns

o Mater ial

and

eq u i p men t l i s t s

13

Labor resource needs

HuddleUp

While the ul t imate goal of scoring

i s paramount , ind iv idual p lays are

called during the 25 s eco n d s in be

tween . Each player

has a

d es i g n a t ed

respons ib i l i ty and goal for the n ex t

play.

No

confus ion,

no

w as t ed

mo

t ion . Crews of t en beg in thei r days

wi thout know ing what they are bui ld

ing .

It is

even rarer that they have

a

goal

for the day in

m i n d .

The

f irst

f i v e mi n ut e s of each day should be

dedicated to o r i en t i n g the crewand

focus ing themon thegoaloft h eday.

Goals can be as s i mp l e as p a i n t i n g

the third f loor or ins tal l ing the s t eel

f rom column l ine Ato column l ineB.

A qual i ty dai ly huddle process should

also i nclude

the

fo llowing i t em s:

Q

Safety concerns

and

hazards

D Mater ial needs

n

I m p e d i m e n t s to dai ly p roduct ion

Atthe end of the day, the superin

tendent should ind icate the actual

achievements so thecrewcancompare

its progres sto thegoal.

AAAAfSA

F in ish Su pe r in t enden t

P ro jec t M a na ge r

Project Engineer

P ro jec t M a na ge r

Pro jec t M a na ge r / AR C le rk

Pro jec t M a na ge r

She l l Supe r in t enden t

.i,i AASAS

J a nua ry 22,2 0 0 8

J a nua ry

31,

2O08

J a nua ry

IS,

2 0 0 8

F e b r u a r y 1, 2 0 0 8

J a nua ry 15, 20 08

J a nua ry 10 , 2008

J a nua ry 20 , 2 0 0 8

Two-A\mufe

Warning

For many organizations, projects

h i tthe 90percent complete markand

progress be ginstosputter. Field manag

ers shif t

to

bigger projects . Long sched

ules beg in

to

take their toll

on

crews

and teams, t es t ing

the

crews ' mental

fort i tude

and

drain ing thei r cr i spness .

T h e r e ma i n i ng

10

p ercen t

of the

proj

ect often costsanaddit ional 20 percent

to25percent more thanthebudget .

A

contractor's exit s trategy

is

the tool

to prevent this fourth quarter letdown.

At

a

m i n i m u m ,

the

exit s trategy should

includethefollowing ite msasdetailed

in Exhibit 3. For mos t f i rms , these

i t emsarein tui t ive,but the lackof ac

countabil i ty at the conclusion of the

project createsas en s eof nebulousness .

The challenge

is

clearly defining

the

roles

at

th e

end of

the project . Without

fail,

the

l ine between punch l i s t work

and incomplete work becomes blurred .

The punch- l ist SWAT team become s

the receptacle foranything the original

team doesnotw an tto do. Ame e t i n g

des igned to circle the wagons at the

e ndofa project helps galvanizeand fo

cu sthe project team.The project team

agrees on the outstanding work and

receives

the

neces sary "educat ion"

to

make

a

smooth t rans i t ion . Thi s meet

ing also

has the

ability

to

inject some

life into

the

w an i n g mo me n t s .

The Locker Room Speech

Reporters shove microphones

and

mini-recorders

in the

face

of

exhausted

players . What went wrong? What went

right? Four quarters

of

football

are

dis

sectedto unders tand thesuccessesand

shortcomings before the next game.

While most construction projects are

not recorded (and thankfully not on

national televis ion), it is essential to

engage some mechanism to conducta

consistent autopsy of

pioject

successes

and shoitcomings, A post-job

teview

piovides

an education

fot

notonlythe

pioject teambutshould

piovide

lessons

learned

toi

the

entileoiganization.

Cultuially, pioject teams need

to see

the value

in

having such

a

meet ing .

However, many organizations

use

this

opportunity

to

simply evaluate

the

los

ing projects . Conside r

the

message sent

totheorganization whe n the only t ime

a post-job review occurs is on a proj

ect deemed a failure. Lessons can be

gleaned from successesand often have

a greater impact on the organization

when celebrat ing rather than admon

ishing

the

players .

Therefore,

post-job

reviews must

avoid the blame game. The organiza

t ionisbetter servedtoengagein an in

trospective analysis

of the

project.

For

example: What couldI,the e st imator or

superintendent, have done dif ferently?

What wouldIcharacterizeas mygreat

est success? This provides

a

more con

structive ve nue

and

enables dialogue

to

focus

on

real issues rather than individ

uals crafting

a

defense strategy against

an inquis i t ion.

The f inal componentof the post-job

review involves del iveringthemessage

company-wide. The lessons learned

n e e dto be shared with the res tof the

organization. Armed with the knowl

edge

of

what works

and

what does

not

work, managers

and

super in tendents

not only know where

to

look when

a

new project begins

but can

us e

the

past

lessons (good and

bad)

as

a

resource and

a stable foundation.

Coaches carefully calculate the points

n eed ed

to

force overtime

or win the

game. Fans hold their breath with every

reception

as

precious seconds t ick

off

the clock.Theconstruction clock never

stopsforstat ion breaks, t imeoutsor in

stant replayandconstruction planning

may never yield shining s i lver trophies

or tripstoamuse me nt parks ,butconsis

tent, s tandardized planning best prac

tices

do

have

the

ability

to

dramatically

improve profit margins .

Gregg Schoppman

is a

principal with

FMI.

Hespecializes in the areas of pro

ductivity

and

project management.

He

also leads

FMI's

project management

consulting practice. Schoppman may be

reached

at

813.636.1259

or via

e-mail

at

[email protected].

18 Compact Equipment

>

are you ready for construction - a comparative analysis the game of football & the business of...

Documents