In the meeting cycle, you have the daily afternoon foreman huddle, the daily morning worker huddle, and the crew preparation huddle after that. Then, sometime around nine o’clock, you have the daily team huddle. I’d rather call it a huddle than a meeting.
Short answer: The daily team huddle is a five- to 15-minute stand-up for the project team around a scrum board, following the scrum or Death by Meeting daily check-in model. It prioritizes the roadblocks gathered from the field, like RFIs, permissions, and submittals, and pulls the needed materials, information, and permissions into the takt rhythm, so the office supports flow in the field every day.
Why Around 8 or 9 a.m.?
I love joking about project managers coming in late, but I’m just kidding. I love me some project managers, and anybody who’s worked with me knows it. One of the coolest people on earth is Ryan Young, the project manager on the research laboratory, and I think the world of that guy. But PMs and project engineers are sometimes in different circumstances and come in later, so I love the thought of 8 or 9 a.m.
What Framework Does It Follow?
The idea is to follow either the scrum framework or Patrick Lencioni’s Death by Meeting daily check-in. You need a scrum board with, at a minimum, your backlog, in progress, and complete. I’d prefer backlog, sprint backlog, in progress, and complete, following the scrum master model. You’re not developing a product, so the product owner isn’t exactly the same, but I’m not too worried about that. The key is how the team operates. Getting scrum master training with Felipe Engineer at Scrum Inc. would be a fantastic idea. See How to Implement Scrum in Construction Feat. Felipe Engineer.
Spend 15 minutes, all standing up, using the scrum board without wasting time, and move items for the team on a productive, consistent basis: coordinated, with no duplication of work, helping each other without batching, working one-piece flow, and creating flow in the field.
What Happens Without It?
- You will duplicate work.
- You will work on things that aren’t a priority.
- You won’t have a sense of urgency.
- You won’t have a cohesive team.
- Issues in the field will slow production, and then you’ll be firefighting.
Where Do the Backlog Items Come From?
From the trade partner weekly tactical, the afternoon foreman huddle, the morning worker huddle, and the crew preparation huddle, that’s four times the superintendent, field engineer, or project engineer gathered information from the field about the roadblocks people are experiencing and the constraints slowing the system. We need this RFI expedited, this permission, this variance, or we need to figure out the exhaust in the elevator shaft or the stairwell. We won’t have those on time unless we discuss them daily and know they’re prioritized.
| Meeting | What it feeds the team huddle |
|---|---|
| Trade partner weekly tactical | Look-ahead roadblocks and procurement misalignments |
| Afternoon foreman huddle | Handoff problems and next-day needs |
| Morning worker huddle | Feedback from workers on conditions and safety |
| Crew preparation huddle | Anything from the crew that needs escalation, texted to the team before it meets |
Who Is the Product Owner?
The product owner can be the PM, which isn’t exactly within the framework, but we can’t be too rigid. It can also be the superintendent, which is an interesting way to look at it. Either way, every backlog item needs to be prioritized to create flow in the field and explained, with a definition of done. Every team member in the office needs to be clear about what they’re doing that week and that day, work in one-piece flow, and lean in to help each other daily.
Here’s an example. There’s a crucial submittal that really needs to get done. Without the daily team huddle, maybe the project engineer stays until midnight. With it, the team says, we have some additional capacity, we’ll all help you page-turn this submittal today. I really believe project managers and project engineers need scrum training, there needs to be a scrum master, and I highly recommend the book Death by Meeting. Read Scrum in Team Huddles.
How Does It Pull Resources Into the Takt Rhythm?
Here’s what I’m trying to say about takt and the Last Planner System. The schedule is on a rhythm, and that rhythm is only supported if we pull in the needed resources. View the team weekly tactical and the daily team huddle as the vehicle for pulling, as needed, materials, information, and permissions into the takt rhythm and system. That is exactly how it works.
If we don’t know what the rhythm is, and we don’t have a communication channel, we aren’t pulling the right things at the right times. You can’t have a PM and project engineers siloed at their desks doing what they think they should be doing. It has to be based on actual data and clear communication channels. This is the meeting where we remove roadblocks and reduce the impact of constraints, then go take action.
Then the afternoon foreman huddle hits, then the morning worker huddle, and the next day the team meets again with more information from the field. Every day, we have real-time information in a cycle. This ties to the Patton standing orders series, which I’m not done with, about having intel from the field every day. See Lead Like General Patton Part 1.
What if a PM Has Five Projects?
Time-block a time to check in with each project. Even if it can’t be a huddle, at least make it a phone call, a combined meeting, or at a minimum a text message. Make sure you’re working on the priority things for the field that day. Implement the purpose, the intent, the spirit of the law behind the daily team huddle.
A listener wrote that he’s impressed by the content and excited to see insights on the takt production system and lean construction. We’re down to four more bits of feedback, so keep it coming.
So here is the challenge. Set up a scrum board with backlog, sprint backlog, in progress, and complete, and hold a 15-minute stand-up with your office team every morning this week.
Bottom line: Pull what the field needs into the takt rhythm every day, together, around one board.
If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow.
On we go.
Takt and Last Planner Implementation series:
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FAQ
What is the daily team huddle in construction?
A five- to 15-minute stand-up huddle for the office team, around 8 or 9 a.m., run on a scrum board, where the team prioritizes and moves the items that create flow in the field, such as RFIs, permissions, variances, and submittals, without duplicating work.
What goes on the daily team huddle scrum board?
At a minimum, backlog, in progress, and complete. Jason prefers backlog, sprint backlog, in progress, and complete, with the backlog prioritized to create flow in the field and a clear definition of done for each item.
What happens without a daily team huddle?
You’ll duplicate work, work on things that aren’t a priority, lose your sense of urgency, lack a cohesive team, and leave issues in the field that slow production, and then you’ll be firefighting.
People Also Read:
Daily Team Huddles in Construction
Last Planner in Construction: Daily Team Huddle
SCRUM!
Death By Meeting – Winning Teams
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