Practical project management lessons from environmental, demolition, remediation, and industrial work. For project engineers, developing PMs, and field professionals. Delivered every Friday.
Friday Field Notes #14: Look-Aheads Should Match Reality
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Good morning team, This week’s topic: look-ahead schedules. 1. From the Field A look-ahead should represent what the project team actually believes is going to happen over the next few weeks. That sounds obvious, but I’ve seen look-aheads continue showing activities that everyone onsite already knows are not going to start on the dates listed. At that point, the document stops being a planning tool and becomes an exercise in updating dates. A useful look-ahead should reflect current field conditions, access, manpower, equipment, subcontractors, deliveries, approvals, and the sequence the superintendent actually intends to follow. If reality has changed, the look-ahead should change with it. 2. Leadership Perspective A realistic plan is more useful than an optimistic one that nobody believes. Good leaders make it acceptable to adjust the plan when conditions change while still holding the team accountable for understanding why. 3. Field Observation One of the best conversations to have while reviewing a look-ahead is simply asking, “Can we actually start this activity when we say we can?” That usually leads to better questions about prerequisites, manpower, equipment, materials, approvals, and access. The value is not just identifying the date; it is identifying what must be true for that date to work. 4. Spreadsheet Tip This week’s formula: IF with TODAY If Column B contains the activity start date and Column C contains the finish date, use: =IF(AND(TODAY()>=B2,TODAY()<=C2),"ACTIVE","") The formula displays ACTIVE when today falls between the planned start and finish dates. It can be useful in simple look-ahead schedules or activity trackers where you want the current work to stand out automatically. 5. Question for the Week Which activity on your current look-ahead is least likely to start when the schedule says it will? Have a great weekend, Dan |
Friday Field Notes
Practical project management lessons from environmental, demolition, remediation, and industrial work. For project engineers, developing PMs, and field professionals. Delivered every Friday.
Good morning team, This week’s topic: small tools and consumables. 1. From the Field Nobody calls an emergency meeting because the project bought another box of cutting wheels. Small purchases rarely look concerning one at a time. Over several months, though, the job may go through far more blades, filters, hoses, batteries, PPE, and other consumables than the estimate allowed. Some small tools will also disappear into gang boxes, service trucks, and whatever mysterious place tape measures go...
Good morning team, This week’s topic: equipment cost exposure. 1. From the Field Equipment costs don’t wait for someone to notice them. A rented excavator can be fueled, inspected, parked in exactly the right spot, and accomplish absolutely nothing while the rental clock keeps running. Sometimes the delay can’t be avoided. An approval may still be pending, the work area might not be ready, or the sequence may have changed. The trouble starts when “we’ll probably need it later” becomes the...
Good morning team, This week’s topic: labor hours. 1. From the Field Knowing that a project used 500 labor hours does not tell you much by itself. You need to know what those hours accomplished. That is where labor tracking becomes more useful. If 500 hours produced 1,000 units one week and the same 500 hours produced 650 the next, something changed. The reason could be completely legitimate, but the project team should understand it. I’ve found that labor discussions become much more useful...