Have you heard of this "Pull Plan" thing? Its been around for about 30 years and some of us think its taking too long to get traction and some of us just wish it would go away. 

I have been an advocate of the thing since my introduction to it in 2000. But what is it? Well here are a few links for you to check out

• https://theleanbuilder.com/category/last-planner-system/
• https://leanconstruction.org/lean-topics/last-planner-system/  
• https://youtu.be/7LdehS66AGQ?si=g8JPGcZg7ZR6BNsU

Yeah yeah, Im being lazy with the links because I want to talk about why Pull Plans suck! 

Or more specifically the 2 things Ive seen completely undermine the purpose of a Pull Plan. In Jesse-land Pull Planning is a collaborative approach to visualizing the work flow amongst multiple trades and surfacing problems early.

But over the past 20+ years I have only experienced that a few times👎

Thing #2: Constraints vs Complaints

Having seen Pull Plans across the country from the subcontractor perspective, GC perspective, and Lean professional perspective it is clear that the GC's mindset around problems will make or break the experience.

When I hear the CM team say "all we hear is excuses from the trades during these pull plans"  I know their Pull Plans suck, not just for them but for everyone involved. Folks with this mindset are just going through the motions, seeking to validate their schedule and weaponize the "commitments" they coerced from the trades. 

If thats you you are doing it wrong! and you are better off scrapping the thing and going back to the style youre used to. Cuz you are wasting everybody's time and tarnishing a pretty effective system.

But if you want to make the experience better all you need to do is make one ☝️ simple shift. 

Celebrate Problems! as in when the trades are throwing out "excuses" say THANK YOU, write the "excuse" on the board and continue to do so through out the session.

Then put a plan together to eliminate those "excuses". And if you are extra brave start identifying the "excuses" as CONSTRAINTS. The trades are telling you about these issues because they need support in clearing them in order to make the work happen. They are letting you know what will stop work before it actually stops work and thats a magical thing.

 Thing #1 Facilitator vs Dictator

The facilitator vs dictator issue is the biggest and toughest shift to make, specifically for Superintendents. Especially when the superintendent has got some years in the role without the Pull Planning thing. Superintendents have to be assertive just to survive in the role and they have typically invested hundreds of hours building or at least studying the project schedule. But in a Pull Plan the combination of this assertive nature and intimate relationship with the schedule betrays the superintendent if they havent developed the skill of FACILITATION.

Facilitating the collaborative planning session means listening more than talking

It means asking more questions and giving less answers

It means calling balls and strikes

Transitioning from giving all the answers to mining for answers is extremely challenging, mostly because companies decide to start their "Lean Journey" and dont invest in resources to equip their superintendents with the skill of facilitating.

This usually results in them dictating to the trades where to put there sticky, what to write on their sticky, and ensuring the stickies match the schedule. Which again you could have saved a whole bunch of time by sticking to what you are good at.

But if you want to get good at this facilitation thing its going to take some work.

And if someone on your team needs to get better at this facilitation, asking questions, listening thing; hit me up about The Cultivation Crew.