So far in this series, we’ve covered getting the right foremen on the bus, understanding your phases and functional areas, making sure you have foremen for each, deciding on a meeting schedule, designing your conference room, trailer, and visuals, and implementing the meetings: the strategic planning and procurement meeting, the trade partner weekly tactical, the daily afternoon foreman huddle, the daily morning worker huddle, the crew preparation huddle, and the daily team huddle. But those meetings will have milquetoast conversations unless you have the right visuals. It’s time to finalize your formats.
Short answer: Once you have your meetings, you need things in them to talk about. Lock in and post your takt plan formats, zone maps, logistics plans, roadblock tracker, six-week make-ready look-ahead, weekly work plan, and day plan, and make them visible in real time to everyone, not hidden in the conference room. Then have your meetings and visuals reviewed.
Which Formats Do You Finalize?
| Format | What to do |
|---|---|
| Macro-level takt plan | Format it, lock it in, and post it |
| Normal-level takt plan | Format it and post it |
| Micro-level takt plan | Format it and post it |
| Zone maps | Killer zone maps on the walls under plexiglass, 100%, and electronically in Bluebeam or whatever program you use |
| Logistics plans | Perfect and finalize about six versions and post them |
| Roadblock tracker | Whether on the takt zone maps or another system, finalize it and post it |
| Six-week make-ready look-ahead | Finalize the format and make sure it’s jamming |
| Weekly work plan | With zone maps on the back |
| Day plan | The biggest area for opportunity and improvement |
Which Logistics Plans Do You Need?
In case I haven’t mentioned it before, there are usually several:
- Make-ready.
- Foundations and structure, because you’re dealing with wall racks, pumps, concrete trucks, and all of that.
- Interiors and exterior, for your phasing maps.
- Finishing site work.
- Safety and logistics.
- Wayfinding signage. You can put signage on each phase map, and I love that, but to actually order the signage, it’s really nice to have its own.
See Logistics Is #1: How to Build a Site Logistics Plan.
What Makes a Good Look-Ahead Format?
I prefer six weeks. There’s nothing wrong with three, four, or five, whatever you want. But the six-week make-ready look-ahead format needs to let your trade partners see what work is happening. It should have triggers to remind the trades what makes an activity ready, and a really good way to showcase roadblocks.
I remember a card wall where each activity was a card. I think this was LCM, Lean Construction Management, whose software is now LCM Digital. You’d write your activity on a card, and if it wasn’t ready, you turned it around, and the back was red, signaling a roadblock. I thought that was genius. Whatever look-ahead system you have, make it easy to identify roadblocks. Being able to print it is crucial for zone control.
How Should Trades Get the Weekly Work Plan?
You may put the weekly work plan and the look-ahead on the same drawing. Totally fine. But trade partners must have the weekly work plan, with the zone maps on the back, through a QR code, on their iPad, in Bluebeam, printed out, or maybe everywhere. That’s the way to implement zone control. Read Zone Control: How to Manage the Speed of the Train.
What Is the Dream Day Plan?
The day plan is probably the biggest one for me, because it’s our largest area for opportunity and improvement. Here’s my dream. Have a site map, and on a big site, an isometric 3D expanded view of the project with all the floors and the site. On the left, the agenda: these are the deliveries, these are the inspections, this is where everything’s going, this is the general plan, this is the biggest safety risk, this is the training, this is the weather. Annotate the deliveries where they actually go and mark other things to give everyone a visual feel for the site.
Build it in Canva, which is a great program. Katie and I are writing a book in Canva right now, and she’s the genius, with amazing, beautiful graphics. Any superintendent can use it to do wonderful things, and our engineers can help set you up. Fill out the day plan during the afternoon foreman huddle, keep it as the same file attached to a QR code, and every worker can access it every day. I really think creating, formatting, and distributing day plans is probably our biggest strategic advantage, so everyone sees as a group, knows as a group, and acts as a group. See Day Planning in Construction.
Why Can’t It Stay in the Conference Room?
If your meetings go over the strategic plan, procurement log, weekly work plan, six-week look-ahead, and day plans, and you remove roadblocks, you’d better have ways to see the information. That’s why you create the takt plan on maps, the logistics plans, the roadblock tracker, the look-ahead, the weekly work plan, and the day plan. Otherwise, you have nothing to talk about and nothing to scale. No one will remember what you said.
It can’t just be on boards hidden inside the office. You can’t leave the information in the conference room as a conversation, or even only on the visuals and boards. Everyone has to see it in real time. That’s why I’m convinced your schedule deliverables and the day plan in Canva are crucial. Otherwise, it won’t make a bit of difference.
What Is the Next Step?
Step seven is to finalize your formats and visuals. Step eight, which doesn’t need its own episode, is to have your meetings and visuals reviewed. Ask a separate superintendent, your project director, a lean expert, or someone on their own lean journey to audit your meetings. They’ll give you such valuable advice that you’ll wonder why you haven’t done it already. Then keep working on it for anywhere from three to 12 weeks, because it takes that long to perfect, and improve from there.
A construction tech founder heard the going paperless episode and wrote that, although they’re helping contractors go paperless, they agree it shouldn’t be the priority. If you’ve messaged me and we haven’t connected yet, it’s not laziness, disrespect, or lack of interest. With a big family, multiple businesses, books, church service, and a spouse I love very much, I’m just doing my best over here. Know that I love you.
So here is the challenge. Print your current look-ahead, weekly work plan, and day plan, and ask one superintendent from another project to audit them and one of your meetings this week.
Bottom line: Finalize your formats so every meeting has something to talk about and everyone can see the plan in real time.
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:
Previous: The Daily Team Huddle
Next: Zone Control
FAQ
What formats need to be finalized for takt and Last Planner implementation?
Macro, normal, and micro-level takt plan formats; zone maps on the wall under plexiglass and in Bluebeam; about six logistics plans; the roadblock tracker; the six-week make-ready look-ahead; the weekly work plan with zone maps on the back; and the day plan.
How many logistics plans does a project need?
Typically around six: make-ready; foundations and structure; interiors and exterior phasing; finishing and site work; safety and logistics; and wayfinding signage, which is helpful as its own plan when ordering signs.
What is the ideal day plan format?
A site map, isometric on a big site, showing all the floors, with the agenda on the left: deliveries, inspections, the general plan, the biggest safety risk, the training, and the weather. Deliveries are annotated where they go. Built in Canva and linked to a QR code, every worker can see it every day.
People Also Read:
How to Mark Logistics & Zone Maps
Lean Onboarding Series – The Day Plan
Canva
How to Create a Look-ahead Schedule
If you want to learn more we have:
-Takt Virtual Training: (Takt Virtual Training)
-Check out our YouTube channel for more info: (Elevate Construction on YouTube)
-Listen to the Elevate Construction podcast: (Elevate Construction Podcast)
-Check out our training programs and certifications: (Training Programs and Certifications)
-The Takt Book: (The Takt Book on Amazon)
Discover Jason’s Expertise:
Meet Jason Schroeder, the driving force behind Elevate Construction. As the company’s Founder and COO, he’s dedicated to taking construction to new heights. With a wealth of industry experience, he’s crafted the Field Engineer Boot Camp and Superintendent Boot Camp – intensive training programs engineered to cultivate top-tier leaders capable of steering their teams towards success. Jason’s vision? To expand his training initiatives across the nation, empowering construction firms to soar to unprecedented levels of excellence.