WHY I ANSWERED IT THAT WAY

Before I push a crew harder, I want to know exactly where the project stands.

What's the current phase of the project? Where were we supposed to be by now? Are we behind by hours, days, or weeks? What's the next milestone, when does it have to be reached, and is another crew or construction activity waiting on us to finish?

Once I understand the actual schedule gap, I want to know what caused it.

Did we start on time, or did we inherit a delay from the contractor or team ahead of us? Have there been material delays, wrong parts, weather days, access problems, or changes in the work? Have people been added to or removed from the crew?

Personnel changes matter more than people sometimes realize. Replacing one experienced person with someone new doesn't necessarily give you the same production. The new person has to understand the project, learn where things stand, understand the expectations, and get into the rhythm of the crew. Change several people and that disruption compounds.

Then I look at the crew itself. Do we have the right people doing the work? Do they have the experience and capability the project requires? Is the crew being led effectively? Do they have the materials, information, equipment, and access they need to produce?

There's also an important difference between being behind schedule and causing the delay.

If my crew was given a certain duration to complete its work and we started late because of something upstream, but we're performing within the duration we committed to, simply telling everyone to work harder doesn't fix the underlying problem.

If the final completion date hasn't moved, then we may need to discuss additional resources, acceleration, schedule impacts, or a change order with the customer.

On the other hand, if we started on time and our own production is falling behind, that's different. Now I need to determine what's limiting production and correct it. Maybe that's manpower. Maybe it's leadership. Maybe it's experience, materials, sequencing, planning, or something else.

The corrective action depends on the cause.

I don't push people harder until I know people are the problem.

This is exactly what I mean in Operating Code 009 — The Numbers Tell You What, Not Why.

A schedule can tell me we're behind. A production report can tell me we're not hitting the target. Those numbers matter, but neither one explains the cause.

The number tells me where to look. It doesn't tell me what I'm going to find.