Pull Planning - A Collaborative Approach to Project Efficiency
Pull Planning
Looking for a better approach that promotes buy-in from project stakeholders and reduces time to end-user occupancy? Pull planning is an increasingly popular collaborative process based on lean principles that South Florida Controls uses both internally and on active sites.
Pull Planning vs. Traditional CPM
A simple way to look at the difference between the two approaches is:
Critical path methodology (CPM) assigns dates to activities and calculates a project’s finish date.
Pull planning begins at the finish date and moves backwards into the project start date.
Because it works in a backward sequence, pull planning requires input from every key player in the construction project, with everyone’s expertise linked into one cohesive process. All stakeholders, including building owners, managers, and construction managers, work as one to identify potential problems and mitigate unnecessary time spent.
Benefits of Pull Planning
Pull planning increases efficiency because everyone’s involved from the start in working towards a common goal. For the method to succeed, stakeholders must communicate with each other and work together prior to a project launching.
We’ve found that the lean principles pull planning brings to the table are extremely valuable in helping us and our clients meet project milestones, particularly in four key areas.
Construction schedule. Clearly defined goals with clear responsibilities and communication streamline the process and let you identify potential roadblocks that might appear down the road.
Identifying gaps or overruns. Finding gaps in construction schedules and avoiding overruns is facilitated due to identifying true costs and eliminating overly optimistic estimations.
Setting expectations with deadlines. By determining the duration of each project activity, it’s easier to set and meet target dates. Teamwork is fostered as each stakeholder sees where their specific contribution fits.
Forwarding project completion to expedite end-user occupancy. Construction time is greatly reduced by increased planning and a shared strategic vision.
The Pull Planning Process
It’s impossible to know what work is required without understanding what needs to be in place. The pull planning process is not complicated—the only tools you need are a whiteboard and multi-color sticky notes, one color for each participant:
Identify milestones and highlight critical ones.
Build a CPM and adjust schedule accordingly.
Create a weekly plan.
Discuss and review activities with crew leaders to evaluate possible modifications.
Update and review activities and crew feedback on a weekly basis to examine activities duration.
Update the schedule as necessary.
Some basic rules, such as not allowing anyone to alter or move someone else’s sticky note and being aware that altering one activity’s duration could affect other tasks, ensures productive teamwork and better support for the pull planning process.
Pull planning eliminates miscommunication, promotes collaboration, and increases project efficiency. The process creates a good workflow and serves as a tool to smoothly generate task transitions. When the right players are engaged, it’s been shown to increase safety and work quality. And because activity sequences are optimized, it reduces the total project duration which, in turn, reduces project delivery cost.
Along with innovative solutions like prefabrication and cloud engineering, pull planning is another effective tool that building owners, building managers, and construction managers can use to get projects completed and in service as quickly as possible.