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Author Archives: Donald Santos, PSP
#11: Use Professional Technical CPM Schedulers To Supercharge Your Construction Management Career
CPM scheduling is a trade in and of itself.
If you’re a contractor and you’re expecting PM’s, CM’s or Superintendent’s to create and maintain project CPM schedules, you will be let down and disappointed. And it won’t be their fault. I know you have been doing it for years. But what have been the results? Not [...]
#10: Does Partnership Trump Leadership?
Does leadership really require leadership? Can’t we partner our way around it? Not if we’re looking for results that exceed mediocre…
I can’t tell you how many owner-side construction managers I have met recently that have told me that they partner with their construction managers, therefore do not require any help with schedule review services.
I realize [...]
Posted in Home Tagged CM, construction industry, construction management teams, constuction managers, contract type, cpm, critical path method, db, delevery method, design build projects, failing projects, leadership, outcomes, partnership is not leadership, pm, project failures, project management, project manager, projects, psp, recoveries, recovery schedules, responsibility, schedule review process, schedule update, schedules, scheduling consultant, silver bullet Leave a comment
#9: 7 CPM Tips: Supers/PM’s/CM’s This One’s For You
CPM tip #1: Hire a scheduler with Construction Management experience
The ideal career path for a scheduler is:
Superintendent->Project Manager-> Construction Scheduler.
It is the career path less traveled; but if you can find even one such scheduler, you will have really found something.
A scheduler without construction experience can’t build a schedule without the help from a CM [...]
Posted in Home Tagged baseline, breaking down, career path, chain, CM, cm experience, cm insight, cm insights, cm type, coding, concurrent, construction management, consultant, cost, costs, cpm, cpm basics, cpm schedule, CPM tips, critical path method, critical path scheduler, current, deming, design, detatch, detatched, develop, drive, evm, flow, flow of work, grouping, inherit, insight, insights, learn, link, managers, mediocre, milestone, model, modeling, momentum, non-critical, optimize, optimized, organize, outcome, pace, pm's, primavera, project, project manager, propel, risks, scheduler, schedules, smooth, strategy, superintendent, undisputed record and reason, update, updates, valid Leave a comment
#8:What a Construction Manager / Project Manager can Learn from a Race Car Driver
I have spent most of my career working in the Phoenix market. While living there I met a race car driver/driving instructor named Ty. He worked at the Bondurant School of High Performance Driving and he told me a story about car racing that applies to construction management /project management too.
First let me say that [...]
Posted in Home Tagged acceleration, according to plan, ambition, build momentum, compensate, construction momentum, cpm, cpm schedule, cpm schedule model, cpm schedule performance, drive, driving, driving fast, extraordinary project outcome, guarantee, increased momentum, momentum, on schedule, onsite momentum, perform that schedule, planning, pm, power, profound, project management, project superintendent, schedule maintenance, schedule management, schedule performance, silver bullet, speed, strategy, sustain momentum, trade momentum, valid, valid cpm schedule, valid cpm schedule model, valid schedule, valid schedule in place 9 Comments
#7: Here is a Silver Bullet that can be Used by Contractors and Owners Too
Could you be overlooking a fundamental construction management process?
Remember, we’re not looking for exciting strategies here; we are looking for profound strategies that make on-time on-budget outcomes routine, and even automatic, for our PM/CM teams, vendors, subcontractors and clients. And that is exactly what this process does.
I’m talking about leading smooth projects, retaining employees, and building strong subcontractor/vendor [...]
Posted in Home Tagged 4 steps to updating the cpm schedule, 9 bad signs, actual data, actual dates, actual finish, actual start, and archive the Master CPM Schedule weekly, billion, building process, call in, challenges, challenges to weekly cpm updates, change logic, change management, change management maintenance, cm team, construction management, construction management process, construction management strategies, construction management team, corporate project management culture, cpm, cpm schedule, critical path, critical path method, data entry, delay, detach, disruption, divergence, entering data into the schedule, eroding profit margins, exciting, exiting strategies, exponential business growth, extracted, flag, fox guarding the hen house, increase profit margin, it's only a schedule, manage, manipulate, master schedule, mirror and model, mirror complex construction, model construction, moving the data date, on-site, on-site cm/pm, outcomes, pace, pay applications, percent complete, perform, pm team, pm/cm, PM/CM teams, proactive cm, proactive construction management, proactive pm, process, produce, profound CM strategies, project management team, project manager, project pace, recalculating the schedule, record and reason, record and reason for construction pace, recover, refine, refinement, remaining duration, repeat busines, repeat business, retaining employees, savvy builders, scheduled activities, scope creep, smooth projects, stakeholder, stakeholders, subcontractors, too few, too green, too green too few, trades, update, update frequency, update period, updates, valid, validate, varience, vendors, weekly CPM schedule update, weekly update, work 3 Comments
#6: Sync or Sink
If the schedule doesn’t match what’s happening on-site, it is not used to manage the job. When a schedule does not get used to manage the day-to-day operations on-site, the CM team is forced into a reactive mode of operation. Once that happens, the project is sinking.
Strive to keep the contract, the schedule, and the [...]
Posted in Home Tagged change management, change order, CM, cm team, construction management, construction management beyond reproach, construction schedules, cpm schedule, flow, in-sync, look-ahead schedule, managing day-to-day operations on-site, master schedule, pm, project, project management, project stakeholder, schedule, stakeholder, stakeholders, valid schedule update, valid schedule updates Leave a comment
#5: Construction Management Beyond Reproach [on the job]
Your projects seem very interesting. I would like to talk with you more about how to use a rigorous schedule update review process to optimize construction management. I call it; construction management beyond reproach (CMBR).
I am not talking about nitpicking the minor aspects of the schedule. I agree with you, that is futile. What I am [...]
Posted in Home Tagged archive, archiving, beyond reproach, constraint, constraints, construction management beyond reproach, cpm schedule archive, cpm schedule archives, cpm schedule constraint, cpm schedule model, cpm schedule performance, critical path, estimate, focus, in-sync, lead, leadership, leading, microsoft project, milestone, milestones, model and mirror cpm schedule, msp, ownership, primavera, project update, schedule contraints, schedule performance, schedule project contract, schedule update, schedule validation, suretrak, training, update, updates, valid schedule, validate, validation 3 Comments
#4: Too Green – Too Few
I have seen a lot written recently about project failures and there seems to be a few popular opinions circulating that are polar opposite to what I have learned over the last 22 years in the trenches.
I am often called in to build recovery schedules. I have seen my fair share of project failures – [...]
Posted in Home Tagged acceleration, acceleration costs, builders, building, building business, business, CM, construction acceleration fees, construction management, constructive acceleration, consultant, costs, cpm, gc, general contracting, industry, overhead, owner, performance, planned profit, profit, project management, projects, risk, risks, schedules, scheduling consultant, staffing, too green too few, w. edwards deming 4 Comments
#3: Is The Fox Guarding The Hen House? [on the job]
I heard a top executive for a 500m GC say to a large state client: Having the CM team manage the CPM Schedule was like letting the fox guard the hen house!
That got my attention…
He continued: Even my own construction managers will spin the project to highlight owner-side delays and hide builder-side delays. In the [...]
Posted in Home Tagged construction superintendent, primavera, project controls manager, training 1 Comment
I realized years ago, as a superintendent, that successful construction management boiled down to 3 steps:
#12: Engage a PSP with extensive CM experience if you can