Real Life Lean 049

Happy Monday lean construction family and welcome to another edition of Real Life Lean. This newsletter is intended to give construction professionals worldwide 4 quick and easy resources to grow and continue on your lean journey.

Today's Summary:

• Lean Article - How Planning Turned My Job Into A Career

• Lean Podcast - The Ninth Waste

• Lean Event - LCI Design Forum

• Real Life Lean - Old Dawg Lean Construction Thesaurus

Lean Article

In the article below, Jesse Hernandez shares with us how the use of one simple tool changed the course of his career (and arguably his life).  Jesse shares about the use of 1 Week Look Ahead helped him learn how to lead his team to success and improve his project timelines.

Takeaway - One of the interesting things that I took away from this article was the lack of training that Jesse was afforded when he made the transition to site foreman. I think this is one of the most common issues we face as an industry - people are thrown into new roles with lack of training. It is great to see how Jesse prevailed through this challenged and became the lean leader that he is today!

Lean Podcast

How often do you hear about the idea of transferring risks when buying out a project? It seems to be something GC’s are often looking to do to protect themselves if things go wrong. In the podcast episode below, Jason shares a concept he has recently learned, about how this idea of a risk transfer is not accurate for GC’s. If something breaks, if an issue comes up within the warranty period, who is the owner going to call? They are going straight to the GC to fix the issue, not the individual trade that made the mistake. Sure they will be on the hook to come out and fix it, but it still comes through the GC.

Takeaway - As Jason goes on in his podcast, he shares how all of this risk shedding just leads to conflict down the road, which he has recently learned is the ninth waste on a construction project. I found this interesting because of how common it is on construction sites. We see conflict every single day. This idea got my wheels turning on all kinds of things. If you see the waste that conflict brings to your project, what can you do to eliminate it? Set expectations early and enforce them often. Partner with the correct trades. Have a conflict resolution plan and put it to use!

Lean Event

Outside of LCI Congress, Lean Design Forum is LCI’s biggest event.  Join hundred of like minded lean designers (and builders) in Chicago for 2 days of speakers, workshops and networking. 

Real Life Lean - Lean practices in the real world

I recently saw on LinkedIn that my friends Buddy Brumley and Adam Hoots are close to breaking the 1000 Books Sold for their fantastic book, Old Dawg Lean Thesaurus. If you haven’t already purchased a copy, I highly suggest you follow the link below and get yourself one. This book breaks down the wild world of lean construction into simple, understandable convents for construction rookies OR veterans.   Add this book to your lean tool belt and take your understanding of lean construction to the next level. 

Takt University Special Offer

I have partnered with Spencer Easton from Takt University to share a great offer for Real Life Lean subscribers. Purchase Spencer’s Introduction Course at the link here and enter “reallifelean2023” for 50% off your purchase!

Have a Real Life Lean story you think would be a great feature in an upcoming newsletter? Send me an email at [email protected].