Managing Dependencies and Grow Profitably

As projects and contractors grow in complexity it becomes increasingly more difficult to manage all the dependencies between tasks.

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 It is those connections between tasks and people that are often the culprit of delays rather than the actual speed of task completion itself. 

Quote: Unacknowledged dependencies remain the number one cause for project slippage. John Doerr.
  • When a business or project is simpler it can be easily managed using a task list.  
  • As it grows in complexity tools like Gantt Charts and the Critical Path Method are required for sequencing.
  • Relatively quickly you get to the point where a project or process becomes so complex that not all the dependencies can be seen by the person doing the planning and management.  
  • Even if all those dependencies could be seen by the person managing the overall project or process it is very important for the critical front-line supervisory level to deeply understand these dependencies.  

Additional tools and operating rhythms are required to develop the people that are necessary to develop the project and the company.  

Project:  The Last Planner System

Company:  Objectives & Key Results (OKR)


Learn more about how we help contractors develop the management systems required to grow their businesses profitably.




002 - The Construction Contractor Business Model (Intro)
As contractors grow, their business model complexity evolves, affecting structure, management, and people. Visualizing this reveals bottlenecks. Includes 3 hours of examples and 50+ resources (tools, books, training, articles) to help your business grow.
Using Checklists Effectively
Too many construction businesses needlessly run on razor-thin margins due to poor productivity. Checklists are a very simple and powerful tool that can be used to mitigate many of these problems.
Changes - Impacts Beyond the Direct Costs
Contractors don't typically see the full negative impact of changes and, therefore, don’t put the right level of resources into their management.