It is helpful to think of implementing a Lean culture and Lean practices on the project as the work necessary to radically improve the professional fitness and health of the project team. Lean project teams, like athletes, need to be thinking in terms of training every day. That’s why athletic analogies can be helpful in […]
Working Out vs Training Read More »
In a September 9 post, Bob Emiliani makes an important statement. “When the importance of the “Respect for People” principle finally became prominent within the Lean movement in 2007, the focus was entirely on the micro relationship of supervisor-worker, and not also on the macro relationships of management-labor, company-supplier, company-community, or company-country.” View the full post
The Community as a Lean Enterprise Read More »
Four years ago I was given a dressing-down by a venture capital investor for taking handwritten notes at our meeting. If I wanted to fund a technology start-up he told me, I needed to be capturing all my notes electronically. Why he was likely wrong can be found in the podcast transcript here. If
Writing by Hand & the Last Planner System Read More »
Plus: Small project Lean implementation research and presentation; Meeting time management; Quality of discussion; All participated in the discussion; Improved attendance; Established a plan for enterprise wide Lean implementation meeting. Delta: Increase number of participants.
Leadership Team Plus Delta Read More »
Yesterday’s post identified a few of the numerous descriptions for Lean attempting to answer the question, “What is Lean?” A much more interesting question we need to ask is, “What will Lean be?” Bob Emiliani’s forecast is in the lead image to this post. Bob understands Lean as a progressive system of management practice. His
What Will Lean Be? Read More »
Search the known universe for a definition of Lean and you will find a seemingly babelesque array of answers. It’s an old problem, yet still worth pondering. A small sampling of the numerous definitions offered follows. A logical approach to minimize gap between customer expectation and actual outcome at the best speed with the lowest cost.
What is Lean – and Why so Many Answers? Read More »
A superintendent presenting at the LCI Congress this past October stated that they would like to implement productivity tracking into the Last Planner System. Conceptually that is not difficult, if the team is prepared to do some extra work planning and checking. First, it is important to be clear why productivity tracking should be undertaken.
Tracking Productivity and the Last Planner System Read More »
Builders will at times lament the quality of drawings given them to construct a building (yes, that really happens). Before throwing rocks, builders ought to be looking at the quality of their plans for constructing the project. Construction plans built by first planners identifying thousands of detailed activities assembled in a critical path method are
Why Plan – At the Correct Level of Detail Read More »
Make Ready Plans (Constraint Logs), Weekly Work Plans, and other tools have fields identifying either a responsible party or the party making a request. Frequently teams will want to enter names of the enterprises in these fields, such as “XYZ Architect” or “ABC Builders.” A far, far better practice is to enter names of individuals
Focus on Individuals, Not Enterprises Read More »
