Sunday, June 23, 2019
Preplanning and Preparing
The Plan of Tomorrow Meeting and Percent Planned Complete
by Ted Smith on 02/15/14
I couldn't complete my task because of X. And I couldn’t get you the information because of Y.
In our industry or perhaps in life in general, people are used to hearing excuses from other people. Getting reliable commitments from a person takes time and effort and it is worth the effort because it makes the planning process more reliable. People might be unwilling to make a commitment for certain reasons. Often this is an opportunity to ask questions, learn more about other people and to determine the root cause of the issue.
Receiving a reliable commitment is only one part of the equation. Superintendents and General Foremen must hold each other accountable for their commitments in order for the project to be successful. People are generally uncomfortable with confrontation, but holding others accountable is an important and necessary step for increasing the reliability of the scheduling process. problem-solving process and tracking processes.
The E Light Plan of Tomorrow Meeting (POT) is designed to facilitate these things if everyone participates. The first step is to determine the task or tasks that each crew on the project is going to be doing the next day. Often times we try to line these up into big non-descriptive items that are not easily defined. Avoid this trap. The leaders of the project are in the room. Have them list the tasks that are actually going to be done. The project manager can determine which bucket that task will be tracked in against the budget. At this stage, it is important to have the task defined by what is actually going to be done in a way that everyone understands it. The next thing is to define the quantity the crews will accomplish and the number of people assigned to it. Break the quantities up in a way that is numerical and lines up with how we break up estimates. Wire and raceways in feet, devices in units, terminations in a number of terminations, etc. Make the quantity real and also keep the estimate and schedule in mind. How many do we need to do to keep the schedule? How many do we need to do per man hour to be within budget?
The last step is to go back and ask the following three questions for each task on the board.
1. Do we have 100 percent of the tools we need to complete that task and how will we get them to the crew in the morning?
2. Do we have a detailed written installation plan that provides the crew with 100 percent of the information they need to complete the task and how will get it into their hands in the morning?
3. Do we have 100 percent of the materials we need to complete the task and how will we get it to the crews in the morning?
If we do not have a complete answer to all three of those questions for each task, then the crew cannot complete their task and we either have to reassign the crew to something we are prepared to do or we have to specifically assign someone in the room the responsibility of getting the missing items before the crews start work in the morning. This is why we do the POT meeting around noon the day before, so we have time to take care of things before the crews start work. This is also why we have all the superintendents, all the general foreman, the safety manager, and the logistics person in the room for POT meeting. They need to be involved in working it to get the crews ready to go.
The next day we will start with going down the line and asking if we hit the goal of each task. This is a Yes or No answer only and since everything is in numbers it is very objective and easy to answer. We also need to know the actual quantity that was done, and the approximate number of man-hours used to do. The PM will take this information and put it into the productivity tracker. The supers and GFs in the room can also use it quickly to see if the numbers are making sense. For example, if the GF responsible for the crew doing terminations says they did 15 terminations and used 20 man-hours. Quick math tells you that is over 1 hour per termination. If the terminations are 500 or 600 KCMIL aluminum, then all electricians immediately know that something is wrong and needs to be addressed because it simply does not take that long to do that type of termination. Now we can troubleshoot the situation and find out what obstacle we need to remove in order to correct the issue.
Once you have determined the met goals and unmet goals. Count the total number of tasks that were planned and divide that number into the total number of tasks that met their goal. The answer is the Percent Planned Complete. In other words, the percentage of the tasks that were planned to be done and that were actually completed, and goals met. This number should be written at the top of the board and also sent daily to the PM and VP of Operations, so they have an idea of what is happening on the project. What is a good PPC? 100% is always good unless it is every single day. A project that is hitting 100% PPC every single day is probably under planning. This is construction, things always happen, and we miss hitting our targets. If the entire crew is hitting their target every single day, that is too good to be true.
If we are below 80% that will happen periodically, but it is a red flag. Something is happening that is keeping the crews from performing their tasks.
The number that says things are going well and as expected is around 80% PPC. Better is good but once again, when we get into the consistent 100% then we are most likely under planning.
The next step is to talk about all the No answers and find out why we didn't hit it. Use the "5 Why" method. Ask why 5 times for each item to get to the root cause and then find a solution.
Now start over for the next day.
This process should take no more than an hour if everyone comes prepared. Know what your crews have done, why they did or didn't make their numbers, think about solutions to propose in advance. In other words, think like a leader and come prepared to lead.
The POT meeting is perhaps the most important thing the leadership of the project do every day. It is the moment on the site when the leadership plans the day for the crews tomorrow, finds the trouble spots and finds solutions to them and makes sure that we have everything we need for the next day.
Ted "Smitty" Smith
(C) 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019
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