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8/10/2019 Are You Ready for Construction - A Comparative Analysis the Game of Football & the Business of Construction
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For many organizations,
projectshitthe 90 percent
completemarkand
progress begins
to
sputter.
A contractor's exit strategy
isthe tool
to
nrpventthis
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8/10/2019 Are You Ready for Construction - A Comparative Analysis the Game of Football & the Business of Construction
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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
18 Compact Equipment
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