RisingTerrain LLC

The Core Reason Your Capital Projects Take Longer to Deliver (Even When They Finish on Time) by Tom Richert. Why Speed Matters There are a few primary benefits and a host of secondary benefits to completing a capital project quickly. Here are important primary benefits. 1?? Time to revenue is reduced and your investment is serving the people it is designed to help. 2?? Carrying costs during construction are reduced, including the cost of dormant capital and the cost of managing an ongoing project. 3?? The window of opportunity for outside events to disrupt the project is significantly narrowed. Why Projects Take Longer - The Planning Approach is Flawed There is a practice of carefully crafting detailed schedules that identify all important tasks required to complete the project. The tasks on these schedules number into the thousands and are arranged according to the logic in which they ideally will be implemented. The tasks are interconnected and together form a tapestry through which the critical path of activities is identified. It is presumed that a heightened focus on managing the work on the critical path results in the best possible outcome. These schedules require a great deal of talent to prepare and include such details as the date of a framing inspection on a specific floor, three years into the future. Even though few people believe the schedule portrays the work accurately as the project progresses, the network of activities is relied upon as a map for completing the project. Many capital project owners and builders, subscribe to the approach of building detailed schedules at the onset of the project, institutionalizing a process many recognize as flawed. https://lnkd.in/gYQKtpPF #leanconstruction

Last Planner System? Percent Plan Complete (PPC) calculations and trends position design and construction teams to deliver projects faster with one important caveat - PPC needs a solid foundation of quality weekly planning. This article describes that foundation. It then describes an aggressive approach for learning improvements that drive workflow velocity. #CapitalProjects #Construction #Design #PPC

A Practical Planning Strategy for Reducing Project Time 20 Percent by Tom Richert. What if you completed a fifteen-month construction project in twelve months? If you are a building owner, you have gained an additional three months of revenue while shrinking the amount of time an unforeseen unknown negatively impacts your project. If you are a construction manager, you have increased your profit velocity in addition to productivity savings. A 20% schedule reduction is consistent with the performance of some project teams observed by colleagues and me on a range of projects. One example is the Lakewood Family Health Center project near Cleveland. The team delivered the 65,000-sf Emergency Services / Medical Office Building facility with an initial schedule of 19 months in 14 months, a 24% savings of time. https://lnkd.in/gRsmxkJ7 #leanconstruction

Looking forward to speaking at the Capital Project Engineering in Pharma Summit next month, and hope many of my colleagues in the industry will be joining me. The workshop, co-presented with Teresa Wilson, AIA, ACHA, LEED AP is focused on Elevating Strategic Project Management: Improving Project Tracking Systems to Drive Transparency Throughout the Decisionmaking Process. DM me for more information. #CapitalProjects #RisingTerrain https://lnkd.in/djUAPJPr

Lean construction is taking our teams to the top! Recently, Wise hosted a dynamic Pull Planning session, focusing on accelerating the top, 14th-floor scope of work in a building in Boston. This critical component is part of our larger project to reposition over 175,000 SF across multiple floors into laboratory and research space. Our client came to us with this request as the tenant of this floor needed to be back and operable with as little delay as possible. Pull planning served as a catalyst, aligning our team and trade partners with these pressing schedule demands. We’re tackling significant building infrastructure and mechanical system upgrades to outfit future lab and office spaces, and this collaborative approach ensures we’re all moving in sync. The timely completion of the 14th floor is mission critical: firstly, it will allow the tenant to return to work as quickly as possible, and secondly, it will support the installation of supplemental steel for new rooftop equipment and penthouse structures, as well as MEP risers extending to the roof. This Pull Planning session led the team confidently to an outcome that will foster alignment and accelerate progress as we embark on these complex renovations with our trade partners. Thank you, Tom Richert, for your expert guidance on strategic workflow planning, and shout out to Wise's project team: Andrew Dell'Olio, Ryan Simoneau, Andrew Lynch, Brenden Lydon, and Chris Schena, and to all our trade partners! #EvolveContinuously #BuildingBeyond #WeAreWise

?? Three Dynamic Keynotes You Can’t Miss! ?? We’re excited to announce three incredible speakers who will share their Lean journeys, insights, and strategies at our upcoming event. Whether you’re just getting started or are a seasoned practitioner, these keynotes will provide valuable, actionable takeaways! ?? Walt Channel: "Remember your first introduction to Lean? The excitement of endless possibilities?" Walt reflects on 20 years of Lean at Puget Sound Shipyard—twists, turns, and everything in between. He’ll share practical wisdom, real stories, and insights gained from a sustained Lean journey that will resonate with every attendee. ?? Brad Cairns: "Hey Lean fans!" Brad, the Chief Motivator for Lean in his company for 20 years, will dive into his personal Lean journey. He’ll discuss how conflicting advice from countless Lean books left him navigating his own path. Brad’s keynote will reveal the principles that have reliably worked for him, guiding organizations not just to survive, but thrive using Lean thinking. ?? Steven Spear: Steven will unpack the game-changing insights from his book Wiring the Winning Organization. He’ll explore what enables top-performing companies to outperform their competitors by unleashing their employees’ problem-solving potential. Learn how "slowification, simplification, and amplification" can transform your systems for lasting success. Don't miss the opportunity to gain actionable insights from these Lean veterans! ??https://bit.ly/47RRWc7 #LeanJourney #Leadership #ContinuousImprovement #LeanThinking #OrganizationalSuccess #Keynotes

I'm looking forward to presenting "Sakichi, Ed, and You: Enrolling People in a Culture of Collaboration." Also looking forward to terrific sessions with speakers who include Steve Spear, Art Byrne, Josh Howell, Maria Mentzer, and many others. Learn more at this link: https://lnkd.in/eyDbEVSr #Lean #LeanCulture

A Newton-Wellesley Hospital project team led by Wise Construction engaged in a productive rough-in phase planning session today. Appropriately most of the session focused on developing a common understanding of the work, allowing trade contractor leaders to negotiate and agree upon task handoffs and durations. In the photo, Senior Superintendent John DaSilva leads a review of the first pass of the plan for a typical block of four patient rooms. The sequence of tasks on the wall will be replicated throughout the floor. #CapitalProjects #LeanConstruction #PhasePlanning #PullPlanning #ProjectManagement #Lean #RisingTerrain

I'm looking forward to the Capital Project Engineering in Pharma Summit in Boston this December 4-6. Teresa Wilson, AIA, ACHA, LEED AP and I will be facilitating one of the workshops on the 4th, Elevating Strategic Project Management: Improving Project Tracking Systems to Drive Transparency Throughout the Decisionmaking Process. The Summit is a great opportunity to learn more about the challenges faced by pharma, biotech, CDMO, and medtech capital projects. https://lnkd.in/djUAPJPr #capitalprojects #decisionmaking #strategy #projectmanagement

A pull approach to planning is not just for major construction and design phases. Wednesday DPR Construction superintendent Daniel Wrenn worked with field leaders from Dinto Electrical Contractors Inc., F+F Mechanical, and Unified Construction Group along with Steve Glanzrock LEED AP ASHE from Colliers Project Leaders | USA to plan a temporary facilities removal operation for the Connecticut Children's New Tower Project within a tight 18-day window. Using a pull methodology they developed a viable plan with a two-day buffer. #capitalprojects #leanconstruction #risingterrain