What’s it all about?

When a dozen trades stand in front of a pull planning board on Thursday morning looking at hundreds of sticky notes, there is a sense of brothers-in-arms coming together, planning for battle in the construction arena. People learn quick to come prepared, make sure committed tasks got done, and be clear about what is required rom other to get their job done.  

How do you replicate this experience of creating a network of commitments in the digital world?  The sticky note on the wall is not what makes pull planning successful – it’s that commitment to being done by a certain time, and an understanding of what is needed from others to get done, and what others need from you to achieve this outcome.  Similarly, there is more to being digital than simply replicating the analog world in a digital fashion.   We believe what can be done in the digital world needs to be 5X or 10X better than what can be done using stickies on a board if the company really wants to gain fast adoption.

Pull planning could be the center of a lean construction universe – driving not only planning and scheduling, but, cost, forecast of cost, analysis, and be a hub of integrated understanding on a project.  Taking this more comprehensive approach ends up being less expensive, yields better results, and enables the project manager to deliver a project more on time and on budget.  This is the essence of lean construction.