The Next Morning
My office is quiet when I arrive. What else would it be, I’m the first one here. I tossed in bed last night and said the hell with it and got out of bed early.
Today is the day I’ve been waiting for. We wrapped up the planning of an important project yesterday afternoon and today the project starts. The amount of coffee I usually have by now is nowhere to be seen. I’m energized by some other unseen force and can’t wait to get started. Where is everyone?
Appearing out of nowhere, Gary walks into my office. He’s wearing a wool overcoat, dark blue scarf, and the black fedora. “Good morning,” he says, “sleep well?”
Can he tell I didn’t get much sleep? I want to say I couldn’t stop thinking about what was going to happen today, but I say with a smirk, “Sure, I’m glad you are here. Ready to start the City’s project today?”
A Full Kit
“Not so fast, I got here early to check a few things before we do,” he said, “I want to make sure we don’t start the project before we are ready.”
I wanted to shout. I thought we were ready. And, we told everyone we would start today and we can’t afford any delays. But I say, “What kind of things?”
He takes off his jacket, scarf and hat and sits in the chair beside my desk. He says, “If I understand, there are some necessary things you need to start work. Site surveys, network designs, equipment specifications, contractor quotations, and the like. If work is started without these necessary things, it could result in rework. And, rework causes delays, delays we can’t afford.”
His laptop screen flies open and he shows me the project schedule. The cursor hovers over a task. The task requires the sub-contractor to visit buildings where our wireless equipment will be installed. He asks, “is the site survey for this location done? Nowhere in the project planning did we create a task to do this survey.”
Checking the files for the buildings, I didn’t find the site survey documentation we needed. It’s short work, but depending on the availability of the building manager, or in this case, the security chief, we don’t always get quick access. We show up, but have to come back later. This has caused delays in the past.
“I can make a few phone calls this morning. If we give the locations enough warning about when we will be there, they can usually fit us in. No delays.”
Gary says in his baritone voice, “That’s one delay we’ve avoided. My main interest is to ensuring all major pieces are in place so that there are as few delays as possible once the project is underway. Since I don’t know your environment all that well, I’m going to rely on you to determine what those major pieces are. What I can do in the meantime is to share the ways the scheduling software can support this process. We call it having a “full kit.”
“OK, let me find Jim and we’ll put our heads together. We’ll make a list and review it with you,” I say.
Some Example Full Kit Items
Later that morning, I find Gary in the conference room. He’s on the phone, but ends the call when I walk in. He says, “what things did you guys come up with?”
“We found a few things which would have made for a longer project. The project planning did show we made good decisions about the sequence of the work. The right sequence of tasks is going to prevent rework and delays down the road. But, to start the first task in this project, we need to make sure we have the latest line of sight confirmed between transmitters. Trees grow, leaves block the radio signals, and poor network performance is the result. One of Jim’s engineers is going to do the surveys today.”
Preventing Delays
“Good. You may want to keep track of the kind of things to check before a project starts. You will see some of the same things over and over again. You can then address them in the project planning or create a pre-launch “full kit” checklist. What else did you find?”
“The Power utility controls the access we need to enter the buildings on the north west corridor. We’ve already put a call into them to schedule entry. And, the City needs to provide traffic control around the two sites near the stadium. The lieutenant said she would coordinate with the units in the area. Otherwise, we have everything in place.”
“Nice. Before a project starts is a good time to find these things. Sometimes they are captured in the planning, sometimes they are not. No longer are we starting projects just to keep resources busy. This usually gives us time to conduct the “full kit” process.
I say, “As you know, when a project starts are here there never seems to be enough time and things slip through the cracks.”
“For a while, you’ll notice an urge to keep everyone busy and efficient, Gary says, “That’s the way you operate around here. But, you want the excess capacity. Most resources need to be a little inefficient. That’s the key to shorter lead times.
I say, “With only one project in the Pipeline, will see much effect on resource capacity.”
Gary says, “A little, but the more project we schedule, the more capacity you will expose. So, for now, let’s focus on prevent delays.”
“How can the software help us prevent delays,” I ask.
How the Proper Software Can Help Prevent Delays
Gary inhales and says, “The software will show your planned and actual resource loading. You will be able to check if any resources are overloaded. An over loaded resource leads to multi-tasking, and multi-tasking leads to delays.”
Jim will also be able to identify the resource types required each week. He can ensure they have been on-boarded. And, he can update their department managers about their involvement and their planned time frames.”
“Good reminder, I have to coordinate with our Procurement group. They need to have all the buy orders in place. Finance needs to have the cost and work hours tracking in place. And, our IT folks need to set up the project’s hardware and software environments,” I say with a long breath out.
Don’t Leave Raising Awareness to Chance
“And, don’t forget about some of the most important customers of all,” Gary says, “you’re management team and the management team of your customers. Since many things are going to be different. The results will take time to appear and you can’t leave the expected increase in your confidence to chance.”
I say, “I’m expecting to lead our company out of the mess I helped to create. With all the pressure to perform around here, I don’t have time to make too many mistakes.”
Gary says smugly, “Be prepared to show them the differences in the planning you did before. Show them how well the current plan includes references to all their known requirements. Be prepare to show them how we plan to deliver on time and what reporting we will be doing along the way. And, be prepared to set expectations about how issues will be escalated and the response time required. These things will show others the differences in your approach.”
I make a few notes in my notepad. I say before heading out the door, “I’m recharged. Give me a few minutes to get the information we need. When I get back, will be be able to start the plan?”
“Yes,” Gary says, “In the meantime, I’ll send out the invitations for accessing the software and setting up the “project execution” training session.”
Some People Are Never Happy
I see Jim walking in front of me. I give him a slight nod of encouragement and a smile as I pass him by. I also see the CEO coming my way. He says, “What’s taking you so long to start the City’s project? Follow me. I want an explanation. Now.”