My dad has been in construction all his life. Leaving school at 14 and becoming an apprentice joiner like his father before him, he is now a senior manager nearing retirement. He has worked for many of the large contractors as site manager, contracts manager and project manager. He, my mother and their young family moved from North London to Norfolk as part of the London Overspill effort in the late 60’s, with the promise of decent housing and employment. He worked locally for six months, and then began to commute to London in search of work. He is still doing this, forty years later. He likes to work, my dad.
I worked on the same site as him in 1991 when I was 22. I always knew he was a hard-working guy but I was absolutely blown away by the attention to detail and the tenacity with which he pursued the job. He was THE MAN on that site. Everyone and everything got in the way of HIS job. You got on board or you got out of his way. He was first guy on site in the morning and last out at night. He OWNED the site and the project. It was HIS gig and he took it seriously and personally. No time for fools, and no time for people who turned-up late or didn’t produce what they promised. This rubbed-off on me, and of course I have the same DNA, so no excuses.
One day I saw him limping around the site; he had trodden on a nail sticking out of a piece of wood. He was annoyed because he takes safety seriously, and the situation should have not arisen. A week went by and his foot had not improved, so he visited A&E. He came back later that day.
“What do they think I am – a ballet dancer?”. The doctor had cleaned the wound, given him a tetanus jab and advised him to keep the foot elevated above hip-height for a week.
“I’ll fall over” he said. It hadn’t occurred to him that he was being told to take time off work, sitting down.
Here’s the thing with construction: the guys on site are issued with construction drawings, showing them how their client would like things to look when the job is finished. (The issue of the client and their designers not knowing, disagreeing and/or not having the skill to complete their design is another – massive – discussion.) However: it takes a little more imagination and actual site experience to predict what things will look like not only on completion, but at various stages of the job. Where will materials be stacked? Is it safe to walk on that floor until it’s complete? How many different trades can work in that area during that operation? Where’s the fire escape whilst that corridor is being remodelled? Scenarios are easy to see when they’re in front of you, but difficult to predict beforehand, without real-life experience and in-depth knowledge of your subject.
For me, this is the essence of project management, and I continue to use the construction site as an analogy. You are concerned with organising various resources to arrive on site and to work efficiently, completing their task to the required quality. You cannot paint walls that aren’t there yet, much less put the roof on. If you bring guys to site too early, it costs money. Ask them to start their operation before things are really ready, and quality suffers. Too many men in one room means that quality will suffer, as will safety. These are not new rules – they were made up 100’s of years ago by men older and more experienced than me - but they are routinely broken, by people who should know better.
Applied to the wider world of project management, this means that effort is wasted when planning is not effective or effectively implemented. Knowing how your project –not just your site – will look and feel, and sharing this insight with other project members is an extremely valuable asset. Some rules:
- Breaking down your project into ‘steps’ will make each step feel more achievable – especially in those organisations where change is ‘difficult’ – you know who you are.
- Do not try to paint walls that aren’t there. If a section of your project is delayed, then accept it. Trying to produce miracles doesn’t work, and will likely make things worse. See no. 4 below.
- Projects by their nature are unique, and there isn’t always a roadmap. Time spent planning scenarios is time well-spent - it will also strengthen your team and enhance ownership.
- Don’t be afraid to re-plan if you see that your original plan is going awry.
- My dad’s foot got better, and if anything his squash game has improved.
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