THE OPERATING CODE | 013

PROTECT WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

Not every unfinished task carries the same consequence. Some days we don't accomplish everything we planned, so we adjust the schedule, carry the remaining work forward, and keep moving. That's part of construction.

Other days, what we finish today determines whether something else can happen tomorrow. It might be commissioning, an inspection, an outage, another contractor, another crew, or a commitment we've made to the customer.

When somebody else's plans depend on our work being ready, I believe the priority has to change. We need to understand exactly what must be completed to protect that next commitment and make sure everybody involved knows what matters most.

Know What Cannot Slip

When a deadline is approaching, I want to identify the work that absolutely has to be completed before the next activity can begin.

A project might have twenty tasks remaining, but perhaps only eight of them need to be finished before tomorrow's commissioning. Those eight become the priority. That doesn't mean the other twelve aren't important. It means we understand the sequence and recognize which work has the greatest immediate consequence if it isn't completed.

If we finish those eight tasks at four o'clock, we can keep working on the remaining items and make tomorrow easier. But if it takes until eight or nine at night to complete the critical work, continuing may not be the right decision.

The crew still needs to return to the hotel, eat, get some sleep, and be capable of performing the next day. Keeping people on the job longer just to improve today's production numbers can create fatigue, mistakes, and problems that affect the very commitment we're trying to protect.

I've always believed you have to look beyond what you're trying to accomplish today. Sometimes the better decision is to finish what absolutely has to be done, make sure everything is ready for the next activity, and let the crew get some rest.

We shouldn't sacrifice tomorrow just to make today's numbers look better.

The Superintendent's Responsibility

At the superintendent level, protecting the next commitment starts with knowing what's actually happening on the job.

An experienced foreman should understand the scope of work, the schedule, and what his crew needs to accomplish. I don't believe a superintendent needs to run the foreman's crew for him, but he does need reliable information about progress and anything that could affect the next milestone.

If tomorrow's commitment is at risk, I want to know while there are still options available.

A phone call at two o'clock telling me the crew is falling behind gives us time to look at what's happening. We can determine what's actually complete, what remains, and why the work isn't progressing as expected. I want to hear what the foreman thinks the recovery plan should be, because he's the person closest to the work.

Maybe we need another person. Maybe we can change the sequence, move resources, or postpone something that doesn't have to be finished before tomorrow. Sometimes the answer is simply recognizing that we're spending time on something that isn't the immediate priority.

But if I don't find out until seven o'clock that we're in trouble, many of those options may already be gone.

That's why I don't consider checking progress to be micromanagement. If I'm responsible for making sure tomorrow's work can happen, I need enough visibility today to know whether we're still on track.

I also don't believe we can always rely entirely on verbal progress reports. If somebody tells me a task is almost complete, there may be times when I need to look at it myself, review photographs, or verify the actual condition before making another commitment.

And if the information repeatedly turns out to be inaccurate, I want to understand why before deciding who is responsible. Maybe the foreman estimated the remaining work poorly, or somebody on the crew gave him incorrect information. Maybe material failed, something was damaged, or the original schedule wasn't realistic.

Different problems can produce the same missed deadline. If we don't understand what caused the delay, we may end up correcting the wrong thing.

Put Attention Where Mistakes Cost the Most

We can't stand beside everybody and prevent every mistake. Some things are going to go wrong, regardless of how much experience or preparation we have.

What we can do is recognize where a mistake carries a much greater consequence and make sure people understand that before they begin the work.

A blurry photograph can usually be taken again, and a missed scan can often be corrected. But cutting something that can't be put back, making a permanent modification, or performing work that could jeopardize tomorrow's commissioning deserves a different level of attention.

Those are the situations where I want people to slow down, verify the requirements, check their measurements, and make sure they understand what they're about to do. If the work requires customer or engineering approval, that needs to be addressed before proceeding.

Sometimes that means having another qualified person review the condition or verify a critical step. Other times, it's simply making sure the foreman understands which activity cannot afford a mistake.

As people gain experience, they should begin recognizing those situations themselves. What once required additional guidance eventually becomes part of their judgment.

I don't want to supervise every detail of an experienced foreman's work. I want him to understand where the greatest risks are and give those activities the attention they deserve.

Eventually, what once required considerable thought and supervision becomes just another Tuesday.

The Project and Operations Responsibility

As responsibility grows beyond individual crews and jobsites, the way we manage these situations has to change.

At the project or operations level, I can't personally go to every site whenever a crew falls behind and take over the recovery. I need capable superintendents who understand the work, recognize problems early, communicate with their foremen, and develop realistic plans to get things back on track.

My responsibility becomes understanding how the problem affects the larger operation and what support or decisions may be needed beyond the superintendent's authority.

Suppose I have a customer meeting in ten minutes about tomorrow's commissioning, and the superintendent sends me a message saying he doesn't think the site will be ready. He's letting me know as soon as he recognizes the problem.

At that point, I don't need to take over the site. I need to understand what's happened, what remains incomplete, and what the superintendent believes can be done to recover the schedule. I also need to know whether he requires resources or decisions that he can't provide himself, and when we'll have enough information to determine whether tomorrow's commitment is still achievable.

Then I need to look beyond that particular jobsite.

Are commissioning personnel already traveling? Has the customer committed other resources? Will another contractor be affected? Can we move people or equipment without creating another problem somewhere else? Is there additional cost, or do we need customer or engineering approval?

Those are considerations the superintendent may not have complete visibility into while he's working with the crew to recover the job.

The superintendent needs to concentrate on getting the field work back on track. At the project or operations level, we need to understand and manage the commitments affected by that work.

Both responsibilities matter, but they aren't the same job.

Own the Customer Conversation

When a customer commitment is at risk, I believe communication needs to be timely, accurate, and based on what we actually know.

We shouldn't create unnecessary alarm by making assumptions, but we also shouldn't wait until every question has been answered before telling the customer about a significant risk they need to know about.

Sometimes the appropriate conversation is simply explaining that we've identified an issue, we're evaluating the impact, and we'll provide another update at a specific time. That gives the customer an opportunity to consider their own plans while we continue working toward a solution.

When we do have a recovery plan, it needs to be realistic. I want to understand what we can recover, what we can't, what support is required, and what we're committing to next.

And if the problem belongs to our organization, we need to take responsibility for it.

I don't believe in sitting in front of a customer and blaming the foreman or superintendent for a missed commitment. Internally, we absolutely need accountability. We need to understand what happened, whether the problem could have been prevented, and what needs to change.

But the customer shouldn't have to sort through our internal responsibilities to figure out who's accountable for the commitment we made.

If we made the commitment, we own the conversation.

Lead at the Level You're Responsible For

One of the challenges in moving from field supervision into broader operations leadership is learning that your experience doesn't mean you should continue doing everybody else's job.

As a foreman, you can directly influence much of what happens on one site. As a superintendent, you can still visit the job, observe the work, help resolve problems, adjust resources, and coach the foreman.

But when you're responsible for multiple projects and superintendents, you can't manage every situation by personally stepping into the field.

You need people you can trust, accurate information, clear responsibilities, and communication early enough to make a difference. You also need to give your superintendents the authority to do the jobs they're responsible for.

Your field experience still has value. It helps you recognize when a recovery plan isn't realistic, ask better questions, understand what resources may be required, and identify risks that somebody else may have overlooked.

But that experience should help you lead the people responsible for the work, not require you to keep doing the work for them.

There will always be situations where direct involvement is necessary. The important part is knowing when your involvement adds something and when you're simply taking responsibility away from somebody who's capable of handling it.

Protect What Happens Next

Plans will change, people will make mistakes, equipment will fail, and some days the work won't progress the way we expected. Protecting what happens next doesn't mean preventing every problem.

It means understanding which activities and commitments are most important, getting accurate information while there's still time to respond, and giving additional attention to the work where mistakes carry the greatest consequence.

It also means recognizing how your responsibilities change as you move through leadership positions. The foreman concentrates on getting the crew's work completed. The superintendent looks across the field work and makes sure the next activities can happen. Project and operations management look beyond the individual jobsite to understand the customer commitments, resources, and other projects that may be affected.

Those responsibilities need to support each other without everybody trying to do the same job.

At the field level, protect the work that must be ready next. At the management level, protect the commitments that depend on it.

And as your responsibility grows, learn the difference.