The planning process can be seen as a series of tighter and tighter concentric circles with the bullseye being the daily plan. When the feedback and learning cycles are tightened up to a daily habit productivity improvements accelerate.
Think about productivity the same as filling a jar with rocks, gravel and sand. You have to put your big rocks in first and by doing that you can pack in a lot more gravel and sand. Each work day is your “jar” and your tasks are your rocks. Consider them this way:
- A - The biggest and most critical tasks to get accomplished.
- B - Backup larger tasks that can be completed just in case something happens with your ‘A’ tasks. No matter how perfect your planning and preparation there are always things that can go wrong and the faster your crew can swing over to ‘Plan B’ the less impact you will have to productivity.
- C - The work day rarely aligns perfectly with completion of your major tasks. C-level items are like the gravel and the sand in the jar. They are small punch-as-you-go items, pre-assembly or layout tasks that can be used to fill in those 15-60 minute production holes that often get filled with busy work.
When planning the day make sure the 6 Pillars of Productivity are met leveraging your Site Logistics Manager if applicable.
At the end of each day identify what got completed, what was impacted, why and how to improve the next day.
