The ReAlignment Group, Ltd.
P.O. Box 811
La Jolla, CA 92038
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What is Pull Planning?
Pull planning is a tool that has been adapted to lean projects from the Toyota Production System and evolved from the research of Greg Howell and Glenn Ballard of the Lean Construction Institute. In general, it starts planning with the proposed finished product (the completed project or some series of milestones) as goals on the right end of the schedule and pulls backwards (left) to discover and incorporate all the steps that get to the finished project. Instead of "pushing" a project through production, pull planning establishes what is necessary to pull it towards completion.
Pull Planning and the Last PlannerŪ System
As used in design and construction, Pull Planning is based on the work of Greg Howell and Prof. Glenn Ballard, founders of the Lean Construction Institute - Last PlannerŪ is a registered trademark owned by the non-profit research institute, LCI.
In the 1990's:
- Glenn Ballard was asked to prepare a manual to improve planning
- He decided to measure planning system performance before writing yet another such manual
- So the decision was made to measure how well the planning system predicted the condition of the project one week in advance
- Tasks on the foreman's weekly work plan were provided as the basis for this measure.
As the system began to develop Ballard & Howell recognized that:
- Improved planning was important to the immediate crew but it was really important to next crew.
- The realization that workflow was unpredictable explained all sorts of problems experienced on projects:
- the reluctance of specialty contractors to mobilize to site based on schedules
- the necessity of maintaining large material supplies to keep people busy, etc.
Ballard's Ph.D. Thesis on Pull Planning (May 2000):
- Leveraged the productivity studies in the 1990's
- Developed a method to overcome the deficiencies of push planning
- Voila! Last PlannerŪ
Without Last PlannerŪ:
- Only half the tasks on weekly work plans are completed as planned
- So called "project control" is after-the-fact identification of variances, not proactive steering toward objectives
- Projects are a commitment-free zone; promises are neither requested nor made.
- If you aren't free to say "no", you can't make a promise.
Last Planner Starting point:
- All plans are forecasts and all forecasts are wrong. The longer the forecast, the more wrong it is. The more detailed the forecast, the more wrong it is.
- Plan in greater detail as you get closer to doing the work
- Produce plans collaboratively with those who will do the work
- Reveal and remove constraints on planned tasks as a team
- Make reliable promises
- Learn from breakdowns
With Last PlannerŪ:
- Planning is seen as Learning, Organizing & Promising
- Planning is Conversation Centered: the right people talk about the right thing at the right level of detail at the right time.
- Connects the big picture to details in progressively greater detail
- Runs on and improves Confidence & Judgment
- Planning system performance metric (PPC)
- Increase trust, reduce contingency
- Designs and activates the Network of Commitments necessary to delivery a project
Pull Planning and the CPM Schedule
Planning becomes a series of connected conversations:
- Master Scheduling - Milestones (CPM Schedule)
- Set milestones, strategy & id long lead items
- Phase "Pull" Planning (Should)
- Specify handoff, Identify operational control
- Make Work Ready Planning (Can)
- Make ready & launch; replan when needed
- Weekly Work Planning (Will)
- Learning (Did)
- Measure PPC & act on reasons for failure to keep promises
Functions of The CPM Schedule when coupled with Pull Planning:
- Demonstrate the feasibility of completing the work within the available time
- Develop and display execution strategies
- Determine when long lead items will be needed
- Identify milestones important to client or stakeholders
- Create an electronic as-built as "lessons learned" for future projects
How to Pull Plan
- Pre-work
- Establish clear Conditions of Satisfaction in a pre-session
- Establish appropriate milestones
- From Master Schedule
- Identifying long lead items
- Important to client or stakeholders
- Making ready: identifying pre-requisites and eliminating constraints
- Get ALL the right people to the meetings
- TRG offers Pull Plan Kits for the process (standardization)
- Facilitate "the conversation"
- Get everyone to the wall & in the conversation
- Make work ready: identify pre-requisites and eliminate constraints
- Make contingencies visible and eliminate them
- Assure commitment by both sides in each promising "deal"
- Drive from ambiguity to clarity (clarity is like quality)
- Use professional facilitation - the team needs a trained neutral to guide and coach them
- Ask the Facilitator to coach and train teammembers in self-facilitation
- Do a Plus/delta at the end of each session
- Follow-up
- Document the commitment log
- Monitor the swim lanes
- Measuring & Evaluating
- Measure PPC (Percent Plan Complete)
- Identify unplanned work: "tasks that came from nowhere"
- Identify reasons why weekly promises and goals are not kept
- Act on reasons for failure to keep promises - learning
- Develop reliable backlog
Pull Planning Tips:
Making the pull plan on the wall: Use heavy "butcher-type" paper with a smooth finish (colors available from Aaron Bros.).
- Fill the wall from knee high to as high as most people can reach (so from 2' to 6.5'). Use push pins liberally.
- Draw vertical grid lines for each week: allow at least 18" to 24" for each week (adjusted for available wall space) for 6-8 weeks (so 9' minimum to 16' maximum).
- Draw horizontal grid lines for each swim lane (5" high to accommodate 4" stickies). Each team gets a swim lane (eg. during design: owner (1-3 groups including IT and FM), architect, GC, structural, civil, plumbing, HVAC, electrical, interiors, landscape, insulation studs/drywall; and for construction add: roofing, exterior wall, ceilings, flooring, millwork, etc.)
Identify the milestones. Draw from contracts (eg. phasing milestones), CPM schedules and team target dates. Write each milestone on a yellow stickie - write the actual date on each milestone stickie. Rotate each milestone stickie 45 degrees to create a diamond shape.
Starting the Pull Plan: Pulling back (left) from each Milestone, write a stickie for each deliverable required to meet the milestone. Use the stickie color of the team requesting the action (the TO).
Filling out stickies: Use Sharpie pen, write large with few words, assure it's clear: What, From, To, Date Due.
Setting Date Due: Knowing what we know today, what's the soonest, most realistic date for this to be done. (contingency: our goal is to drive all contingency out of the plan)
Where to put the stickie on the board: Use the stickie color of the team requesting the action (the TO) - put the stickie in the swimlane of the team who takes the action (the FROM).
How to document the stickie wall: if everyone is co-located (continuously working in a Big Room), you may be able to work directly from the stickie wall. However, if the Big Room is only occasionally populated (eg. 2 hours a week) or if many participants are off site most of the time, use the TRG Excel format worksheets for Commitment Log. During or just after each Pull Plan session, update the Commitment Log (easiest is to dedicate a person to update it contemporaneous with the Pull Plan discussions).
Measuring PPC (Percent Plan Complete): During each weekly update, as part of the Commitment Log, for each stickie with a due date of that prior 7 days, record YES or NO in the PPC column for that date. At the end of the session, count the YES's and NO's and calculate PPC (YES/ [YES+NO] ).
Have Questions? Need Help?
Use the "How Can We Help You?" box on the right
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