The company I work for as a Project Manager currently lives in a constant state of having to react to situations.
My opinion is that this is due almost entirely to poor/lack of planning and design.
So the way to correct that is to implement greater efforts on the design and planning end of things in order to prevent these reactionary situations from occurring in the field on a all too regular basis.
Sounds so simple maybe I should just delete my post and go have another beer.
My real question is this. How to you develop a culture within the company (from the top down) that fosters this proactive attitude?
Edited 7/26/2007 6:19 pm ET by EricPaulson
Replies
I think you have to measure the cost of the screw-ups. If you can get some data on a few of these cases you can figure it. For example: Say the designer or planner forgot to order the right custom materials and the job got delayed for 3 days. Figure out the real cost, including interest, wages, penalties, rework, etc. Show this to the guys who cut the checks. Always follow a statement of a problem with a path to a solution. Bosses don't want to hear the problem and then no solution.
Read books on how Toyota does it. There are several. They know how to build quality and efficiency into processes. GE copied them with much success.
As with any culture change, there has to be an example set, and those who work for that example are more likely to follow. So, in that regard, if the culture is established at the very top of the organization, there should be a trickle down effect.
If you set an example of a culture you wish the company to adopt, you will only expose that culture to those who work for you. (You can have more of an impact on the culture change by pressing the change to those above you, supervisors, managers, directors, owners, etc.)
But it is paramount for complete success that the upper reaches of management and ownership embrace the change, and advocate it, as well as live it.
You CAN make a difference, but the difference will have more widespread effect if you convince the owners/management that it's to their benefit to do so.
There, I finally got to use some of the BS I had to sit through at the utility, LOL.
But it's true. I saw it happen at the plant I worked at. It was a large company, but we fought for change, using ourselves (Operations Shift Managers) and set the standard, dragging a lot of others along the way, convincing the powers-that-be that it made economical sense to change. And they did.
"I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul." Invictus, by Henley.
In addition...
You have an idea that things are not as efficient as they could be, right?
Take some time to sit down and write out what it is that you think is wrong, or could be done better. Include any examples, if possible. Also try to be specific, like wasted time, added expense, etc.
After you've developed a listing of what is wrong, systematically identify why those items are problem areas. Two guys setting a toilet where only one is required, work being held up because no one ordered the correct hardware from Simpsons, etc.
Once you know why the identified problem areas are inefficient or unproductive, determine a way to make the process better, often this becomes pretty obvious after identifying the problems in the first place. If possible, put an economic value on the change. If the value ends up saving the company money, it has a very good chance of garnering the attention of the guys who write the checks.
"I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul." Invictus, by Henley.
Take some time to sit down and write out what it is that you think is wrong, or could be done better. Include any examples, if possible. Also try to be specific, like wasted time, added expense, etc.
We're doing a couple of decks attatched to an addittion we are doing. Trex decks.
Plans and contract do not specify color.
Knock, knock. Hi Linda..............I want it the same color as the pool deck and with the border too...........no; wait, maybe we don't want the border. Uh, I'll have to call my husband.
Hours later............
Ok, we THINK we want the border, but the same color as the deck with the white railing.
Huh? What white railing? The one I talked about with your boss. Oh, the one that is not specified either in the plans or the contract.
The railing that will require the landing on the deck to be re-framed larger to acommodate the railing system you want.
YES! That's the one!
This is pretty much what i deal with on a daily basis.
Contracts typically state "as per plans" which have lots of pictures and little product specification.[email protected]
I see what you mean. Once upon a time, I had to plan and schedule a 54 million dollar plant outage. Just about every day for the year before the main event, I would remind myself of the 5 Ps: Prior Planning Precludes Pizz-Poor Performance.
The fundamental problem is failure to identify the basic neccessities prior to starting the work. Unless you have some kind of allowance setup in place, type/color of railings should be not only identified prior to working, but I include them in a Specifications part of my proposal. I've been burned more than once for failing to communicate exactly that sort of stuff. In my garage sits contains two $1100 windows as a testimony to my incompetance. But I learned, and started a Specifications paragraph that details all the specific details.
The knee-jerk reaction is because you're not prepared. Duh, you know that. What suprises me is, how is your company making money if they don't know/are prepared for, all those little details. Those details, or the lack of planning for them, can make the difference between red and black ink.
You have to get the details identified and agreed to before you pull up that day to work.
But you already knew this.
Now, if I can only find the time to build my shed. I have some beautiful authentic divided light Marvins that would look just great.
BTW, the outage went down on time and 2 mill under budget. First time that had happened in the ten years it had been operating. I got burnt out, however, and left the company two years later. 16 hour days for a year straight can have that kind of an effect.
"I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul." Invictus, by Henley.
Now, if I can only find the time to build my shed. I have some beautiful authentic divided light Marvins that would look just great.
Thanks for the chuckle, I needed that.[email protected]
>how is your company making money if they don't know/are prepared for<
This is the angle you need to work on the boss. If he is already making money, explain to him how he can make even more money.
The attitude changes won't happen unless they happen at the top and then incetives for improvements.
As a fellow project manager, that makes me think of a little job we were supposed to wrap up on Friday. It was only supposed to be two days. . .We were doing pretty minimal work in a bathroom: new shower door, toilet, vanity, counter, sink & taps. This is exactly the kind of job that pisses me off, because it's a major irritant when things go wrong.Well, the client wanted the shower door opening into the shower, which doesn't work; the door isn't reversible. The client and the designer (my boss) had a fairly intense conversation with respect to this detail, which was not resolved on Friday. So the job lingers.Also, a tall cabinet was ordered with the wrong side finished. I admit, I should have caught this one. My problem was that the cabinet was sitting upside-down in the shop. It looked right. I had plenty of time after it was delivered to catch this mistake, but instead I invested my time making sure we had the correct mouldings, cabinet, ya da ya da ya da. And the job lingers.The irony is that I spent a lot of time trying to prepare for this little job, and the wheels still fell off. Didn't try hard enough, I guess. Still learning after 11 months at this job.
I'm curious how much input the boss/owner had in this.
I see some small but striking resembalances to the company I work for.[email protected]
The way our place works is as follows: the two salespeople are a husband/wife team who own the company. They close jobs, design jobs, and then pass the file over to me.So: my boss designed the bathroom and ordered the cabinet backwards. The direction of swing of the shower door was not indicated on a floor-plan or specified in the contract. The thing is: it's always assumed to swing outwards. This is a first.
it's always assumed to swing outwards.It's a safety thing. Three circumstances; Nothing but hot water comes out and you've got to get out fast. Slip and fall against the door and youn want it to open, not break. An unconcious body up against an inswing will pizz off the rescuers.SamT
FWIW I don't believe a shower door can legally ( by code) swing into the shower. It may be possible in some areas but I would bet that here if I tried that I would get tagged by my BI the first time they saw it."Poor is not the person who has too little, but the person who craves more."...Seneca
Likely given a big enough shower, it might be allowed.[email protected]
I checked with the BI, because I was really hoping to make the issue go away *that day* by telling the client there was only one option.Apparently it's all right to have it swinging inward, here. Seems pretty stupid to me, for the reasons already mentioned. Pissed me off quite nicely.
Our contracts aside from the legaleaze, are scarily vague on specifics and refer to the drawing which often contain ommissions or mistakes.
Then the client wants to know why it doesn't look like the drawing.
The door thing is code. It still should have been correctly drawn, and perhaps a reference to the code included as well.
So who caught the crap for these mistakes?[email protected]
The door didn't show up on the drawing. :PI apologized for not catching the backwards cabinet when I received it. Or, for that matter, when I delivered it. They let me off the hook. I was sure kicking myself, though. Tomorrow, I get to have a chat with my other boss regarding a 10" deep Corian window ledge that's shown on the plan as sticking straight out from the window without any means of support. Uh, no.
When your done I'll tell you about the two bay windows that my boss ordered.
Single most important aspect was that 1 1/4" granite was to go on the seat board.
Too bad there was only 1/2" between the seatboard and the window operators.
".........on Andersens it works."
Yeah fine, these are Bonnevilles.
duh[email protected]
Here's my take on it. People like to call attention to themselves and kind of thrive on it. If the person who is supposed to plan this stuff is doing their job they would be in a more background leadership position. Let's face it. Planning stuff is boring.
So every time there is a problem they "need" to be called into the fray and "save" the day. At first it was just inexperience but after a while it becomes habit and they aren't happy unless they can be the knight in shinning armor who saves the day.
They don't necessarily even know they are doing it.
You know leadership is good if someone takes some time off and everything runs pretty smoothly. Everyone knows their position and the one above theirs as well.
I just got back from a job where the guy in charge was hacking everything he did and two of us were watching. He was in charge, he said he didn't have the time, he was butchering everything, and when I asked if we could help ( several times) he wouldn't let go. I almost pushed it further by asking why but let it go.
He's the knight in shinning armor. It's just work. Last time I checked you don't get knighted for doing work.
Edited 7/26/2007 9:06 pm ET by popawheelie
Good point about the attention.
I think the boss loves the drama.
I wish he were the knight in shining armor though........that he ain't.[email protected]
"(from the top down) "
I think this is the key to the whole deal. And from your later description (the one I talked to your boss about) you already know that. A fish stinks at the head first. DanT
Eric,
I don't have an answer but thought I would share my day.
I am a recent hire as site super with a company , today I get a memo telling me that all problems involving design or owners are to be handled by the PM.
No problem.
Then the memo informs me that because this company does negotiated work there will be cost saving changes to the project that will not be noted on the plans.
If there is a difficult/hard to build/ expensive area of the job I am instructed to look at margin notes on the spread sheet to see what solution the office boys came up with. The plans won't be changed unless the BI needs that .
Great , so now I have to look at the numbers crunchers spread sheets to find out how to build the building instead of looking at the prints.
I don't even want to think how many problems this is going to cause.
To me it rings of bad planning.
"Poor is not the person who has too little, but the person who craves more."...Seneca
The answer is getting the right leader and having them do all the things you talk about.
Organization, having systems, planning and readiness are key. Throw in people skills, and watch the company change.
If one leads, they will follow.