Jason records from Southern California while finishing the second edition of "Elevating Construction Takt Planning." Opens with story: superintendent on failing project wants coaching, "That's not coaching, that's project recovery." Key warning: if your project is struggling and you start pushing harder ("I need more material, more manpower, keep pushing, rush it"), you're just extending the overall duration. "The more busyness you have, the longer it's going to take and the more it's going to cost. Unless you create flow, unless you stabilize the project with Takt planning, you will not recover your project. That is scientific." How to visit projects with purpose: talk to all levels (craft workers, janitors, entry-level engineers, foremen, senior team), attend team meetings to assess energy and trust, do lunch with leaders to get real feedback, walk the job using Ono circles (stand and observe flow for 30 minutes to 2 hours), ask about their problems, assess if people's strengths match their roles, use team health surveys. Signs of a project in trouble: lack of flow, poor safety culture, high turnover, dysfunctional team, bad bathrooms with graffiti, cancerous people not removed, more than one trade not performing, unreasonable owner's rep. Distinction: Lorna Gray (University of Arizona) had high but reasonable expectations that made Jason better; unreasonable reps believe every area must be busy, default to adding manpower, undermine GC with trades.
What you'll learn in this episode:
The busyness trap: pushing harder when behind ("more material, more manpower, rush") scientifically extends duration and increases cost, only flow and stabilization recover projects
How to visit projects effectively: talk to all levels (don't walk past everyone to PM's office and close door), attend team meetings to assess energy/trust/conflict, walk the job using Ono circles
The lunch technique: creates mental trigger for looseness and real-time feedback, "if you see them having fun, good sign; if stuffy, there's issues"
Ono circle method: find a perch, stand for 30 minutes to 2 hours, observe energy and flow or lack of flow, see the waste
Signs of trouble: lack of flow, poor safety culture, high turnover, bad bathrooms with graffiti, cancerous people not removed, more than one major trade not performing
Reasonable vs unreasonable high expectations: Lorna Gray held impossible-feeling standards but they were logical; unreasonable reps believe in overproduction, busyness everywhere, adding people as first default
"You will not recover your project if you start pushing. The only way to do it is if you start flowing."
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Also, here are links to our YouTube Channels:
· Jason Schroeder YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4xpRYvrW5Op5Ckxs4vDGDg
· LeanTakt YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/leanTakt
· LeanSuper YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzQDevqQP19L4LePuqma3Fg/featured
· LeanSurvey YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-Ztn3okFhyB_3p5nmMKnsw
