Project Actions Required (PAR)

Project conditions are constantly changing. The role of the project team, primarily the Foreman and Project Manager is to:

1. Have clarity on the outcomes expected - generally along these seven major objectives.
2. Have Situational Awareness (SA) of the constantly changing project conditions.
3. Communicate and confirm (ABC Communications) ensuring internal and external stakeholders are aligned.
4. Make continual adjustments to execution (PDCA) to deliver consistent outcomes regardless of the inconsistencies from suppliers, customers, equipment, and team members. That is the magic of great management.  

Project Actions Required (PAR) kept in a shared location and updated daily aligns other project management tools and processes including:

1. Project Planning (Schedule + Budget)
2. Short-Interval-Planning (SIP)
3. ABC Daily Planning
4. Production Tracking
5. RFIs
6. Submittals
7. Change Identification and Management
8. Schedule of Values (SOV), Billings, Follow-Ups, and Cash Flow

Actions Required (ARs) was a term originated in the military in the 1940s to make a clear distinction between information and specific task directives. The intent, and sometimes the vocabulary is used throughout project management including Action Items, Ball-in-Court, etc. Whatever you call it, the intent is clear:

• What specifically must be done?
• Who is directly responsible (DRI) for getting it done?
• When does this need to be done?

Situationally, you may include: 

• Why does it need to be done? If it is not obvious, and for training others, explaining the rationale including dependencies is a good practice. 
• How does it need to be done? If applicable, this can include safety, quality, installation standards, code or contractual requirements, resources, budgets, operational boundaries, decision rights, etc. Along with explaining the rationale, explaining the how is a good practice for developing others. 

Why PAR (Project Actions Required)? Par is a golf acronym that nearly everyone knows means the "target" for each hole. The term was originally used in 1870 and came from financial slang meaning "face value" - the standard or benchmark. On construction projects, using PAR as a disciplined workflow each day and week will ensure the project hits targets for all measures including safety, quality, customer satisfaction, team development, productivity, profitability, and cash flow. 

The Range of Project Actions Required (PAR)

• Some may be automatically generated by a project management system such as past-due RFIs, Submittals, or Change Proposals, Back Orders, or delayed Material/Equipment deliveries. 
• Some may be large like a major change to the schedule or project team. 
• Many will be incredibly small details like a missing label on an installation or a quick follow-up that will be done within hours to days. 

Note that these may be internal or may be external. You can differentiate these with a field on the tool, but don't differentiate. 

Why Write Them All Down?

1. Everyone has cognitive limits for working memory and long-term memory. Those limits change over time, and with conditions.
2. Like safety, the best process is one that works comfortably within the limits of everyone on the team, leaving a margin of error. No one wants a safety harness rated for exactly our claimed body weight. :)
3. Outside of the smallest service and special projects (SSP), multiple people with wide ranges of experience, capabilities, and capacity have to work together collaboratively as a team to deliver the project. 
4. Writing down your ARs helps refine your thinking including how to best communicate - see the list above (what, who, when, why, and how).
5. Notifications like "Past Due" or "Close-to-Due" that may come automatically from project management logs (RFIs, Submittals, Changes, Purchase Orders) or from job costing (cost vs. budget, accounts receivable) still need ARs to get them back on course. Not all notifications are of equal importance. Not all system notifications will be resolved in the same pathway. Most people simply ignore the onslaught of notifications that come out of the various PM systems. The notification is information - it is a nudge that an action may be required, but it is not the action. 
6. Seeing all the ARs from across the project laid out in one place allows you to use your brainpower for prioritization and communication rather than trying to hold all the details internal. 
7. Seemingly disconnected ARs and notes can paint a different picture when seen all together. Are there patterns in delays, schedule changes, rework, broken tools, missed material deliveries, etc.? Has scope creep unintentionally worked its way into the project through one too many favors or some mis-understood demarcation point? 
8. Reviewing the schedule, plans, specs, construction documents, and walking the job together to develop Project Actions Required (PAR) is a great tool for evaluating and developing new Crew Leaders, Foremen, Field Engineers, Project Engineers, and Project Managers. It makes Situational Awareness, problem solving, and prioritizing as visible as physical performance in a game.
9. Having a disciplined process of developing and reviewing the ARs will narrow the gap between a less experienced and a more experienced project team which is necessary given the shortage of talent in the construction industry. 
10. A log of ARs is an incredibly powerful project documentation tool - especially when tied together with images, video, and related project documentation. 

Besides those, there are few benefits to having a shared Project Actions Required (PAR) list. :)

What's a No-No?

• Duplication of an existing system notification or process with no additional value-add. For example, some contractors have a robust cash flow process that includes its own form of cascading communications, responsibilities, and actions. Duplication of this in a PAR list would be 100% waste. If there are gaps in that system, improve that system, do not duplicate. 
• Logging an AR after it is complete, or one that would be done anyway. There is a psychological benefit (dopamine hit) that comes from putting something on a list and crossing it off. That is a good thing if it is used to drive the project forward. If it is being done just for the feeling of crossing it off, that's like eating sugar - immediate rush but negative long-term benefits.

What's a Good Process?

1. The Foreman walks their job mid-day between the startup huddle and end-of-shift roll-up making continuous notes of everything they see and need to take action on. For some project teams, this may include the Crew Leader and/or Field Engineer. 
2. The Project Manager and team including Project Engineer, Assistant Project Manager, Project Detailer, etc. are all updating ARs as they go about their daily work.
3. End of day, possibly right after the shift ends, the Foreman and Project Manager have a quick sync-up call going through the ARs, daily production, and look ahead over the next few days. What got completed? What was impacted? What's on-track? What's delayed? What's planned? What's needed? 
4. The Superintendent walks the project with the Foreman at least every 400 field labor hours. This is a detailed review that is both an evaluating and coaching tool (see above). It's also great risk mitigation for the project. Depending on the project team, this may be a General Foreman. 
5. Each week, the Project Manager clarifies the items, updates status, prioritizes, syncs up with the internal project team, communicates with the customer and other external stakeholders, and escalates the items required. 

Integrating these five elements into standard work by job role will accelerate team performance just by synchronizing the timing. See example standard work template for field leaders you can modify. 

What's a Good Tool?

There is a wide range of great tools for this. The best tool is the one that people will use; and use collaboratively. Having a project team of five people with five PAR lists is not effective. Trying to manage five project teams each using their own tools is also ineffective.

• We've seen some people make great use of the tools that are tied to their project management software integrating pictures and other files. 
• We've seen equally effective teams use a combination of notepads for "in the moment" tracking and a shared spreadsheet. 

We would recommend starting with simple tools and improving only after you have 90% consistent use. 

What are Typical Challenges?

1. The managers who directly manage the PMs and Foremen not being disciplined about execution of the system. If the leader is not engaged, the process won't work. This process requires effective delegation including standards and a QA/QC process. This is not simply an idea to be floated out to the project teams. 
2. Over complicating the system too early - if it doesn't work with a shared online spreadsheet (Microsoft, Google, Smartsheet, etc.) and a weekly email crafted to the customer, no amount of technology system, phone app, or AI will help. 

Remember that this is just one tool that helps tactically integrate a variety of other processes. This only builds on the foundation created by pursuing the right opportunities, an accurate estimate, and a good initial project plan.