BIG Room Exercise for Integrated Project Delivery

Last week, I attended a BIG Room exercise and discussed the Lean tools which can be implemented on the Project to achieve the project schedule meeting the requirements of Scope – Cost –Time - Quality.

Being a FMCG project, it is very important for our client to start production after the finances are released to establish / expand the facility size based on the market results. Delay in supply will give space for the competitor to capture the market.

After almost a year of design and planning, the project execution started a month back. The subcontractors for all major packages were on boarded even before the ground breaking. A BIG ROOM exercise was conducted to discuss all project related aspects with the Engineers and Supervisors, who are actually going to execute the work. This interaction has developed a sense of ownership among team members and pushed back the ambiguity of working with a new client and other subcontractors.

During the BIG ROOM exercise, we discussed the Management Vision about the upcoming project, Client expectation and priorities, Communication and escalation protocols, Site logistic, Project Schedule, Safety and Quality requirements. Apart from this, substantial time was given to discuss personal goals, what are the expectations of individuals from the project, etc. This helped in creating a transparent working environment, where the individuals explained the challenges, fears, pride related to the project success.

In short, we achieved the following after the first day:

1. All the stakeholders were brought on a common platform to shorten the team formation process of   “Forming – Storming –Norming –Performing”
2. Individuals were apprised about their role in the project and the scope was confirmed in an open forum.
3. Individual concerns and suggestions were listed and to address them, action items were fixed. This helps in creating a sense of ownership among the individuals, as well as increased collaboration.

By the end of the first set of discussion, the idea that the success of any project depends on the performance of the team was established with all team members. It was also reinforced that proactive communication and commitment towards individual tasks are inherent values of a successful team. 

Later sessions were planned to discuss the Lean Manufacturing Tools which can be applied in the ongoing project. After a brief introduction of all tools, we finalized some tools which can be implemented in the project with slight effort. These tools are:

1. Value Stream Mapping – The focus of the team was drawn on the importance of transition between two Subcontractors. Major transition timelines were highlighted on the Project schedule and the prerequisites for transition were discussed.
2. Last Planner – A detailed exercise was performed on Master Schedule, Phase Planning, Look-ahead Planning, Commitment Planning and Lessons learnt.
3. Pull Planning – Detailed backward working was performed for all the major milestones identified in the Project Schedule.
4. Project Rhythm – The frequency of revisiting the Master Schedule, Phase planning, Look-ahead plan, Commitment plan and the participation level was concluded along with all the Stakeholders.
5. Issue Resolution by Root Cause Analysis – Few samples were discussed for the team to understand the tools’ application.
6. Condition of Satisfaction – CoS was defined for each package before the handover to subsequent package.
7. Modularization – Already incorporated in the project to a great extent, aiming to achieve the fast track schedule.
8.  BIM 3D & 4D - Already implemented in the project. Helped in identifying the design and schedule related clashes among different services.

“Planning is dynamic and does not end until the project completion. Variation in planning can be reduced but never eliminated”