Top Tips For Construction Project Managers

StrategyDriven Project Management Article |Construction Project Manager|Top Tips For Construction Project ManagersConstruction projects are famously difficult to manage, and this is because there are often so many moving parts. A small issue that can arise in construction can end up having huge consequences, and this is why so many projects often end up over budget and/or past the deadline. So, what can you do if you are managing a construction project and you want it completed on time and within the pre-agreed budget? There is never a guarantee for this, but read on for a few tips that will hopefully help you to find success with the project while keeping stress levels down.

Establish Clear Plans

The first step to take is to make sure that you and everyone else are on the same page regarding plans, budgets, and timelines. Communication is key to success when it comes to construction, so you will want to make sure that you have a clear understanding of exactly what is expected of you and then that this information is communicated to everyone else involved with the project. You should never shy away from asking a question if you are unsure and encourage people to come forward with any questions or concerns that they have.

Create A Schedule

Scheduling is everything when it comes to construction projects, especially if you will be using different contractors that will only be able to work once a certain aspect is already taken care of. This is why you need to take the time to carefully review plans to get a clear understanding of the different tasks that need to get done and in what order. Once you have done this, you can then start to create a logical schedule that will fit with the deadline (you may want to give yourself some leeway with each task in case something goes wrong).

Identify Key Resources

Around this time, you will also need to start identifying and sourcing your key resources. This will include the manpower that you need, materials, tools, and any equipment that will be needed during the project. Identifying and sourcing resources can be a lengthy and time-consuming process (and never one that should be rushed), so you should always give yourself enough time for this stage.

Find The Best Contractors

Following this point, choosing the contractors for your project will be key and determine the project’s success. You should find specialists for the different aspects of the work, such as full-service drilling contractors like Earthworkz if you need directional boring, site electrical excavation, or any other drilling work done. Using specialists will ensure that the work is always completed safely and to a high standard, which could end up saving you both time and money in the long run.

Make Safety A Priority

Construction is a hazardous industry, and every year there are serious injuries and sadly even fatalities. In fact, two construction workers die from work-related injuries each day on average in the US. You will obviously need to make safety a priority to protect your workers and anyone else on site, which will help to prevent the chances of injury, keep the project running uninterrupted and provide peace of mind. There are a few key steps to keep in mind to make safety a priority, such as:

  • Carrying out a risk assessment
  • Making sure that staff are properly trained
  • Making communication easy
  • Providing sufficient PPE and ensuring that it is used at all times
  • Keeping the site safe, tidy, and organized
  • Making sure equipment and tools have been maintained
  • Using signage around the construction site

Anticipate Issues

As the project manager, you will want to anticipate what problems might arise at each step of the way. Hopefully, you will not encounter any issues, but it is helpful if you can identify what might happen so that you can find ways to prevent these issues from arising but also develop contingency plans to mitigate the impact of a problem. As mentioned before, a small issue could end up having a huge impact through a domino effect, so you need to anticipate what might go wrong and do all that you can to avoid issues.

These tips should be useful when managing any construction project and hopefully help you deliver both on time and on budget. Construction projects are amongst the hardest to manage because there are so many elements that need to be planned for, and issues can arise that can have a big impact on all other areas of the project, but knowing how to manage and prevent issues should help to deliver a successful project and reduce stress.

An Overview: Agile and Enterprise Architecture

StrategyDriven Project Management Article |Agile Architecture|An Overview: Agile and Enterprise ArchitectureAgile project management is basically a philosophy that accompanies a way of working. It goes beyond the simple process because it encompasses a way of understanding how our work, our organization, our way of interacting and responding to stakeholders has changed.

Many large multinationals already have it integrated and it is part of their culture, and more and more organizations are doing the same. It is not a fad; it is not something that can pass you by, because it has fit into a changing, demanding and information overdose environment. You have to know how to be agile, flexible and decisive. The smart working is something that has come and hopefully to stay.

Agile origin

Back in 2001, what we know today as the Agile Manifesto was born, by the hand of several American CEOs of the technology sector (software) and they decided to combine various ideas to propose an alternative to the slow working methods that were not responding to the current ones needs, before your organization and your customers. They put together new ideas and formulas to come up with what they understood could help, through continuous improvement.

The goal was to improve quality, productivity, engagement, and be fast.

What is agile?

As you can see, it is a methodology that aims to modify many of the internal processes of organizations to improve performance and productivity.

How does Agile architecture add value to the business?

In this article we are going to see how architecture is changing in practice. From going from being a mainly technical discipline to new approaches such as participating in strategic business issues, that is, helping traditional companies compete with digital disruptors.

Agile architecture is based on the 360 ??customer vision as the core of any digital design and strategy. Enterprise-level architecture supports the strategic themes and portfolio vision by understanding the portfolio backlog, product vision, and roadmap.

The new approach to architecture makes it possible to offer companies innovative digital models and technologies.

  1. Based on the order book and vision, we have to analyze which solution or platform should be new and which solution or component should be reused in order to optimize cost.
  2. Based on the IT digital strategy , the choice of the new technology has to be decided according to the requirements of the company.
  3. The enterprise architects are the bridge between management product portfolio and high – level view of enterprise solutions and development initiatives. For example, collecting, generating, designing and analyzing innovative ideas and technologies to use in the vision of the product portfolio.
  4. Support the evaluation of the solution in terms of cost benefit in the ecosystem and aligned with the business strategy, stakeholders and portfolio requirements.
  5. Support the implementation of the proposed design , that is, work closing the solution architects within the Agile teams during the delivery of the product, CI and CD and DevOps. Being a reality what was designed and being in practice the business and digital strategy.

We can also optimize the budget and profitability of the product or digital asset as part of the investment in technology and support the business vision and the delivery of the product.

Agile architecture features in practice

Architects play a horizontal connector role as they often combine a technical foundation with business acumen and communication skills.

In this age of rapid change, we need architects who can act as mentors and bridges between project teams, between domains and between different layers of the organization, and with strong technical skills as well. It is a combination of business and technical knowledge.

The roles of Agile architecture distinguish the responsibilities between the architect company, the architect of solutions and systems architect. They collaborate at different levels of the business and service domains. In practice, it means:

  • Enterprise Architects Tool are the bridge between product portfolio management and the high-level vision of enterprise solutions and initiatives under development. They participate in strategic themes, portfolio vision, product roadmap, and portfolio backlog, working together with the venture owner and other stakeholders (see image below). EA collects, generates, designs and analyzes innovative ideas and technologies to use in the vision of the business portfolio.
  • The solution architect and system architects are part of an Agile team. They are part of a tribe or squad to participate directly in the implementation of the solution or the delivery and deployment of the product. They provide the technical design of each case in the delivery of the product.
  • There are some architectures, such as data architecture, security architecture, and enterprise architecture, that are part of the shared services hub. These roles are also considered solution architects and technicians.

How to Tune Construction Job Costing Software for Improving Project Tracking

StrategyDriven Project Management Article |Construction Job Costing Software|How to Tune Construction Job Costing Software for Improving Project TrackingManaging a construction job can be challenging with its various aspects. Having a clear view and set guidelines are important for a project. Hence, it’s a given to include job costing software for all construction jobs and having regular flow between projects.

Building a construction business is not child’s play and requires extensive planning and restructuring of projects. In order to get linear and high-class projects, it’s best to have a high standard infrastructure. But the software must also perform at its best and provide custom solutions for your unique needs in the company. All this can be done by a few of the closely explained points down below:

Assess Reports

As a construction manager, it’s important to have regular insights into a project’s different aspects and know how the costs are being distributed. It’s often after a project that managers get to know if the project saved some in profits or gobbled everything up the client offered. For this reason, making good use of the construction job costing software is important to get regular updates and reports on the budget spent to change allocations or assign some more expenses to another part of the project that needs it. Obviously, you will need to perform daily inputs and acquire calculated amounts to know how to allocate costs more constructively.

Breakdown into Groups

Just one construction project can engulf several tasks and provisions. These can make managing the job and providing resourceful allocations a challenging job for the manager. But if you use the job costing software the right way, you can create several small groups of huge tasks and conquer them by dividing. When the functions like labor hiring, costs allocation, materials procurement, overhead handling, and much more can be divided into categories using the software to monitor each with ease. This dividing can also help you get constructive reports of every little task completion to stay ahead.

Track Cashflow

Under an ongoing construction project, cash can go in and out so wildly; it becomes hard to evaluate where the budget went. Rather than crying over spilled milk, you must recognize where every penny is spent and whether it was put to a good cause or not. You can’t do this by calculating the outgoing cash by hand; it will take forever. But you can always input the exact amount spend and get an analysis from the software to review how the cash flow is being allocated, whether if it’s constructive for the project or not.

Input Data Regularly

For a construction job, you need to be able to administer regular inputs to get productive analysis. However, this isn’t possible with an office computer that is used to run the job costing software. You must invest in a system that lets you travel with the data wherever you go to make sure you don’t miss a beat on reports. Having the data to show up on a mobile phone screen can ease things up and make the data accurate and reusable on the automated platform.

Organize Tasks

Constructions tasks assigned to every level of professional in the field can often get messed up as printed schedules are formed with unruly hierarchy structures. These aspects can really slow down the job assignment and completion to create several lags in the job overall. For this reason, it’s important to have a dedicated system of job assignment and task division so that every professional knows what they have to do. By storing the job hierarchy in the software, you can create more flexible schedules for each day so that the tasks remain organized and structural.

Top 6 Tips for Project Management Success

StrategyDriven Project Management Article |Project Management |Top 6 Tips for Project Management SuccessWhether you are managing a multi-million dollar project or overseeing tasks for a small startup, being a project manager can be a stressful and challenging role.

To find project management success you have to understand the project, assemble the perfect team, utalize your resources effectively, and manage everything from the beginning to the end. One small problem or missed deadline can result in a disaster for you, your team, and your client.

Fortunately, by following a few tips and implementing a few best practices, you can manage your project to success. If you are a project manager who wants to level up your skills, this short and simple guide is for you.

1. Embrace Your Role

One of the best ways to find project management success is to embrace your role. The sooner you embrace your role, the sooner you can manage, encourage, and motivate your team. If you need help in your role, consider using these services.

2. Set Realistic Goals

A helpful project management tip is to set realistic goals. Project management is all about deadlines and milestones. Setting goals and milestones to reach will help keep the project on track until it’s completed.

3. Prepare Your Team

While you may oversee and plan the project, your team will be doing the heavy lifting. For this reason, it’s essential to make sure your team is fully prepared for the work that is ahead. Give them all the tools and support they need to be able to perform their jobs effectively.

4. Understand the Project Details

One of the critical success factors in project management is understanding the ins and outs of the project. One missed detail can derail your success and put you on the track to failure. Make sure you are familiar with all the details of the project you are managing.

5. Use Effective Communication

A great tip for how to manage a project is to communicate effectively. You should be communicating with your team and with your client. Make sure to keep the lines of communication open so your team is comfortable coming to you for solutions and support.

6. Use the Right Tools

Successful project management involves using the right tools to manage the project and track your progress. Without the right tools, you and your team can easily waste time and energy performing tasks inefficiently. Implement the latest technology to give yourself the best chance at success.

Use These Tips for Project Management Success

By using these tips, you can fill your role and find project management success.

Start by embracing your role and setting realistic goals. You should prepare your team, know the ins and outs of the project, and use effective communication with your team and client. Make sure to use the right tools and manage your time wisely to ensure success.

Follow these tips and you’ll be well on your way to effectively managing a project.

Don’t forget to browse our site for advice on business, health, technology, and more.

Improving Your Team’s Lean Project Management

StrategyDriven Project Management Article | Improving Your Team's Lean Project Management“Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.”
Vincent Van Gogh

At its core, lean project management is about delivering greater value while minimizing waste. In that sense, this approach will help you improve quality while decreasing the cost of production — but where do you begin?

If your goal is to improve your team’s lean project management, resulting in greater efficiency and productivity, you need to take a number of key steps. Here’s how to get started.

Make Your Projects Run More Efficiently and Deliver Better Results Through Lean Project Management

Lean is a business philosophy that first began within the manufacturing industry. The goal was to decrease costs and lead time while yielding greater quality. Derived from the Toyota Production System, this philosophy is applied to all business processes.

Once Toyota successfully maximized outputs while reducing waste, Lean principles were applied to many business disciplines; and in terms of project management, Lean principles help managers improve key variables. For example, just some of the benefits associated with Lean principles include:

  • Greater quality assurance and customer satisfaction
  • Improved team collaboration
  • Lower costs, as well as reduced waste

How to Apply Lean Project Management Methodology

Once you understand the core principles and benefits associated with lean project management, it will be time to apply what you’ve learned. To do so, take the following steps.

Step One: Identify customer value

When developing any project, the first step is to consider the perspective and needs of the customer. In that sense, you should focus on what the customer needs and when. Quality and price expectations are important to consider here, particularly in terms of value and waste reduction. You should strive to eliminate bottlenecks in the project process, focusing on speed while minimizing waste. You’ll want to remain particularly mindful of wasted effort, inconsistency, and overcommitment issues.

Step Two: Create a value plan

Whenever you’re about to tackle a new project, it’s important to consider the initial idea, visualizing your end goal. In doing so, you will become more mindful of the steps in between. That way, you can better understand which steps add value and which do not. For example, when designers create prototypes, this step typically adds value.

The same is true when building your design system, allowing you to eliminate inconsistencies while standardizing all ongoing processes. Design systems bring order to chaos, boosting efficiency and consistency. As a result, companies are able to create at scale. In contrast, meeting with the entire design team daily to share updates may not add a significant amount of value. Remember to think of the customer. While analyzing each step, ask yourself, does this step add value to the customer?

Read more: Lean UX: Expert Tips to Maximize Efficiency in UX

Step Three: Eliminate activities that don’t add value

This step is all about reducing waste. The ultimate goal here is for your team to end up working on activities that add value, eliminating all those that are non-value adding. Depending on the scope of your project, this may be easier said than done. However, even small improvements can make a significant difference when aiming to become Lean.

Step Four: Continue to improve

It’s important to note that the step above is not a one-time job. To be an efficient, successful Lean project team, you need to continuously review ongoing activities to eliminate and reduce as much waste as possible. It’s also important to empower your team so that everyone feels comfortable challenging inefficient activities.

How to Identify Waste Activities

While you may want to improve your team’s lean project management for a number of reasons, eliminating waste is at the core of this philosophy and is addressed by three Japanese concepts, known as:

  • Muda — This includes any activity that consumes resources without creating value. In relation to project management, this is often seen when resources are utilized without any sense of meaningful output. That is why you need to create a well-defined end-to-end project plan. Work closely with your team so that each individual understands what they’re responsible for.
  • Mura — This focuses on reducing unevenness without your team. The goal here is to maintain balanced progress while identifying risks in your work schedule. Within project management, Mura often evolves due to changing priorities, dependencies, poor risk management, and a lack of clarity — all of which can be avoided.
  • Muri — This involves the concept of being overburdened, relating to both humans and machines. When required to work at a higher pace, for longer, this can lead to low-quality output. To avoid this, establish clear boundaries regarding work-life balance and encourage breaks when needed.

Implement Lean Six Sigma (DMEDI)

DMEDI is a structured, measurable, and highly proactive method. The purpose of this approach is to identify issues upfront so that you can prevent waste in terms of your time and resources. The five phases of this method include:

  • DEFINE
  • MEASURE
  • EXPLORE
  • DEVELOP
  • IMPLEMENT

These phases essentially act as a blueprint when setting up a project.

So, whether your goal is to reduce the number of useless activities or would like to address overburdened team members, lean project management will help you reduce wasted efforts and become more productive. It’s a win-win!

Want to learn more? Check out the following resources: