In this podcast we cover:
- Questions from listeners.
- How to scale Takt in a small company.
- The difference between contingency and buffers.
If you like the Elevate Construction podcast, please subscribe for free and you’ll never miss an episode. And if you really like the Elevate Construction podcast, I’d appreciate you telling a friend (Maybe even two 😊).
Also, here are links to our YouTube Channels:
· Jason Schroeder YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4xpRYvrW5Op5Ckxs4vDGDg
· LeanTakt YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/leanTakt
· LeanSuper YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzQDevqQP19L4LePuqma3Fg/featured
· LeanSurvey YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-Ztn3okFhyB_3p5nmMKnsw
Hello everybody. Welcome out to podcast number 1169. In this podcast, I'm going to talk to or I'm going to respond to some questions from our listeners. Stay with us. This is the Elevate Construction podcast, delivering remarkable content for workers, leaders, and companies and construction wanting to take their next step. Get ready to step out of your comfort zone with Jason Schroeder as he encourages you to do better. Live a remarkable life and expect more. Let's go. Welcome everyone. I hope you're doing well. Again, I'm at Super PM Bootcamp. I'm out here outside the DBC building and having just the time of my life. I still can't get rid of the stinking cough. So annoying. I started taking a different kind of allergy medication, but you're probably going to hear some differences in my voice. And I hope it doesn't annoy you too much. So let me go ahead and get started. Oh, I would like to read some feedback from our listeners here. And by the way, if you're playing in the background, I am near the airport. Okay. Okay. So here we go. I have listened to Dr. Dr. Ashlag's interview three times. I was trying to piece together what a full kit would entail for a structural steel fireproof roof deck in skin work front. I'm wondering if, if at all, I wonder if at all of that or even more, if it would fit all of that or even more, I could visualize a gate that is approached before any P trades start hanging things from the roof beams. I could feel the way of interviewing someone so influential and knowledgeable. I felt the same. Try to have a floating conversation while listening for what we are missing in our message is crazy complex. You did a great job pulling practical insights from her that may be one of my favorites. You're really making me think about ways to lead as a traditional outsider in the business. Well, I really appreciate that. I'm sorry every now and then, if there's a spelling error, or sorry, what do they call that autocorrect? I don't know how to complete the sentence, but I appreciate that. The full kit would basically mean that you have the tools, the materials, the equipment, the permissions, the information, everything you need to go do something and finish it before you actually start. And yes, you're absolutely right. It works on all of those things that you mentioned. So I appreciate this feedback. This is fantastic. Okay, so now I want to get into the podcast at hand. And today I'm responding to some questions. Here we go. My name is dot dot dot. I can't read the name. I don't have permission. I'm 39 and have been building since I was a kid and love every bit of it. Absolutely love all of your material. Not sure if you are able to answer or help in any way, but figured I would try anyway. I've followed your material for years and can say it has helped me tremendously to climb without ceiling in the industry. I lived in Louisiana and my company was stating to implement, learn more about your tax system. I have since moved to Austin, Texas, and I'm now a part of a smaller operation with just a couple of supers and upper management. How would be a good way, excuse me, to get a smaller company on board with the methods. Younger supers could learn a lot early on without the bad habits. The system seems built for a much larger operation. So I'm just curious how I can sell it to my management as a scaled down version. Any tips or help is much appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to read. Okay, so this is actually easy. Everybody thinks that their operation is too big or too small or too medium or to whatever to do something. That's just the human brain. I remember how maycomer telling me as soon as somebody suggests change, the human mind will always say we don't have enough time. We don't have enough resources. We don't have enough money. It's not relevant. And why should I have to do it? My bosses aren't doing it. Excuse me. And so you're in luck. A small company like that, I would get them hooked by attending the first two hour free TPS course. Then I would do training throughout the company, set up the templates and get everyone started and get help for the first project if I needed to. That is absolutely the way I would implement this. Here's how this is going to go. If you did that and convinced your supervisor, your boss to actually care about their systems and care about people with the two hour TPS and got the training, you could get everybody on board, get the templates and join our discord server and get your first couple of projects out the door in a successful way and then never turn back. If you do that, you'll have the right system, the right corporate structure, everything you need and an easy export button to CPM if you need to because we use the intact software. So this is my recommendation. I really do believe that this will work and I hope this answers the question. I've got one more here that I'll go through before I stop. Okay, here we go. Hey, Jason, it's your biggest superintendent fan with another question. Hope it's okay. Could you explain in a podcast or a video of what the differences between tack buffer and CPM float are? If they serve the same purpose, then explain how using CPM float for, then explain how using CPM float for tack buffers. I'm not exactly sure if that's entirely explained there in the question, but I'll go ahead and explain this and make sure that we're on the same page. There's not a whole lot of difference. Let me build a case here. The difference mainly between schedule contingency and a buffer lies in how they're used basically to manage uncertainty or risk in the planning effort, particularly in project management. So number one, contingency. I'm sorry about my throw. Contingency refers to extra resources, time, money, materials, set aside specifically for unforeseen risk or events that may occur during a project. It's used to deal with unexpected problems or changes that could not have been predicted with certainty at the beginning. Typically, this is for the owner contractually and there's usually provisions that at a minimum it's shared. So here's an example. A project manager might allocate an extra 10% to the project budget for any unexpected costs that arise, like unforeseen regulatory changes. Okay, so now let's go over to buffer. A buffer is a margin or additional resource built into the plan to handle expected variability in processes or activities. The purpose, it's designed to absorb the natural variation or delays in tasks and processes that are predictable, but hard to pinpoint exactly. Here's an example. A manager may add a few extra days to a task schedule to account for potential slowdowns in production or minor delays. The biggest difference is that contingency is for unexpected uncertain risks, while a buffer is for known variability and potential delays in planned activities. The biggest difference for me is that buffers are there for natural variation. They are there to buffer the activities. They are there to give natural slack. They are there to be used, right? Contingency, on the other hand, for large risks or delays are for things that you can't see. So, hypothetically, an attack plan, you could say we have normal buffers and then we have scheduled contingency at the end, but I choose to call them all buffers. One of the things that I don't like about scheduled contingency in a CPM schedule is because even things that you could not naturally expect and predict are considered unexpected for some silly reason, because in a CPM system, everybody expects everything to go perfectly. And so I wouldn't base it on uncertainty. I wouldn't fail to do a risk analysis. I wouldn't fail to realize our potential impacts. I wouldn't fail to calculate our variation and I wouldn't fail to know that we should be using buffers because it's a natural part of the system. So, in my opinion, scheduled contingency, not used very often, if it is, it is used as a shared resource and people don't like to use it at all and it's for massive risks. And it doesn't take into account the fact or acknowledge the fact that variation and impacts will happen and it really is just a percentage. Buffers are intentional. They cover certain risks, variation and impacts. They are known. They're expected to be used. We do not de-incentivize somebody from using them. And they are quantified instead of just having it be just a regular percentage. And it forces us to actually know what impacts and risks can happen. So that's the difference. I like buffers better. That's my personal opinion. Take it or, you know, take it for what it's worth. I hope you've enjoyed this podcast. On we go. Please join us next time in elevating the entire construction experience for workers, leaders and companies coast to coast. If you're enjoying the show, please feel free to share with your construction colleagues and help us spread the word by rating, subscribing and leaving a review on your preferred podcast listening platform. We really appreciate it. We'll catch you next time on the Elevate Construction Podcast. [Music] [BLANK_AUDIO]
