There’s a paradox in science – ask any scientist what the most important branch of study is, and they will likely say it’s their own particular specialty. To the physicist it’s obviously physics – the entire universe runs on physics! Ask a chemist and they’ll say obviously chemistry – without chemical reactions, no life, no fire, no-thing! Just static atoms and space…Ask a biologist, geologist, mathematician. Their answer will be the branch of science they are passionate about (it’s their specialty, after all) is the most important…and they are all correct. Because the universe, the world, life, society – are all complex, interconnected matrices, and to understand them, one must realize that all are most important, because without anyone, the whole would fail. That’s the basic principle to understand with Critical Path Method (CPM) schedules. It’s not that we are identifying “the” key operation. The key to the schedule is the whole chain. Without any one link, it fails. A critical path. Every step of the journey is the most important.
This is the foundational principle to understand any complex process, or entire ecosystem, if you will. The plan is the key, because each process, each element is critical. Design, resources, skills, materials, tools, labor, sequencing, they all must come together, in the right place, at the right time, in the right proportions, with the right alignment… well, you get the picture. It’s really a wonder that anything ever gets built. And it’s no wonder that most projects go over budget, over schedule, and have unrealistic expectations. It’s hard to keep all this info in your head. That’s why good scheduling tools are important. The graphical interface promotes visualization of the steps in the sequence of work and allows you to fill in the details in a way that makes sense and is flexible. As you think of intermediate steps, insert them. If you realize you have a flaw in your logic and one step can’t proceed without another preceding it, adjust it. It’s important for your planning solution to think the way you do, with the big picture first, filling in the details as you go.
So Hamlet almost had it right – actually, The Plan’s the Thing.
Now you have a plan, and a tool to help you get it down in detail. What are the benefits of using an effective, flexible plan for your project? A lot, it turns out.
The Benefits of Critical Path Modeling
Do your pieces of equipment often seem to give out just when you need them the most? Lack of needed equipment can be a major cause of delay and wasted effort on a construction project. Create a maintenance schedule based on typical use rates and make sure that the next air filter change, tune up, lubrication, CARB registration or any needed activity related to that piece of equipment is performed on time. Integrate this equipment maintenance schedule with your resources and master the Critical Path Method schedule and your Maintenance department can make sure that all the equipment is ready to work when needed.
CPM schedules are not just for construction. As any manager of a complex project knows, organization and resource utilization are critical to the timely success of any project. It could be developing a new software app, negotiating a complex trade deal, organizing the outline for a textbook, or even preparing a bid for a complex construction project – you need a schedule! Don’t waste your investor’s seed money while developing your mobile app, schedule its development. Don’t waste travel expenses, schedule your personnel to be together for training where and when you need to train them. Keep hospital staff’s certifications up to date so they never miss a day due to lapsed certifications or disruptive last-minute training.
Schedules created with the Critical Path Method (CPM) let you run multiple what-if scenarios and build your project in your head before expending expensive labor, or ordering materials and equipment in the real world. Think of CPM schedules as VR viewers that really work. You can find the flaws in your logic, or the roadblocks from dead-ends, or see spikes in needed resources that just aren’t practical (like hiring 10 new specialists that you only need for 2 weeks).
Once you have your schedule, use it. Create specific duration-limited sub-schedules to give the carpenter foreperson a month-long look-ahead schedule so she knows where her crews need to be and what tasks need to be completed to keep the rest of the project on track. Same for the plumbers and electricians. Your General Superintendent can quickly check his master schedule and see that all the crew foremen are working on their critical tasks today and re-align them if they get off track.
Benefits for the Planet
By effectively capturing the steps necessary to perform a complex and difficult task, a CPM Schedule gives the user insights and knowledge into how to perform the entirety of the work without false starts, sidetracks, or out-of-sequence activities. This improves the overall efficiency of the work and offers the following advantages:
- Reducing the overall time and effort for a project
- Reducing the project’s carbon footprint.
- Reducing the amount of hours expended translate into less impact on the planet
- Fewer workers to feed, house and support (especially for remote job sites) means less energy expended to support them.
- Fewer worker hours expended means fewer commute days and less gas used.
- Fewer worker hours expended means less fuel used for the machines they operate, saving diesel (or electricity or whatever powers them), and ultimately means fewer machines must be build, avoiding the climate impact of their construction, assembly, and freight, which can be substantial.
Fewer workdays spent managing the project means less office space needed to be heated, cooled, few with power and ultimately, having to be built at all. All these savings reduce the impact on the planet.
Avoiding re-work from incorrect assembly sequences reduces the amount of materials that the project will ultimately require and all the energy and resources to create them.
- Less excavation to dig up lines that have to be redone or repaired,
- Fewer walls that have to be damaged to get to hidden utilities and
- Overall, less damage to completed portions of the project and less waste.
- Plus, less effort and the savings associated with fewer hours as above.
Benefits for Society
Having a clear understanding of the actual work required and the sequence needed to install every component means that:
- Workers with less experience can be used to do some of the work.
- They don’t have to rely on past experience to know that a particular approach won’t work.
- So, the access to the workforce is expanded, allowing for a more diverse workforce and less risk of the perception that only “good old boys” can do the work right.
- Materials will be ready when they are needed, and there will be no delays to the job waiting for them. Less waste since materials are used as needed and don’t have to be re-ordered for rework
- The proper equipment will be in place to do the work, no scrambles for another tool/machine.
- Workers with the needed skills will be available.
Schedules developed with the Critical Path Method (CPM) can do more than just list the steps needed. They can identify the Dates work will need to be done for each task but they can also focus on the Class of Worker required, when Materials will be available and/or the Equipment necessary to perform the task. This is called resource loading or allocation and can be used not only in the above case to ensure that the materials, equipment and labor are available, but if the resources are limited:
- Resource leveling can be set as a constraint on the schedule to ensure the project is done optimally:
- Using only the number of workers of a particular skill available,
- Or with a limited set of equipment on hand,
- Or scheduled to coordinate with the delivery of limited materials.
- Schedules can be optimized for any constraint, not just time.
- Time is usually related to minimum cost on a job, but not always,
- Sometimes getting additional skilled workers or equipment, if in short supply, will be too expensive. The best overall cost will be to use the resources available, even if it takes a little longer. This is optimal for public works projects where the taxpayer resources (tax funds) are often the limiting factor for what can be done.
Opportunities for Growth
The final pillar of ESG is the Governance part. Like much of the construction industry, the organization and the beta-test user group skews strongly male, older, white or east Asian, and affluent. It will be important as construction planning tools expand to become more mature and powerful, that inputs from women and women-owned businesses, are specifically solicited. Also, that a diverse group of users and potential users from all age groups, ethnicities, and schedule-use experience levels, provide feedback to make these tools as user-friendly as possible for the widest demographic.
As a manager of complex projects and multiple skilled people, it is important to know what new tools are available to make you a better manager and a more effective steward of your resources. The Critical Path Method (CPM) provides a wide array of benefits for contractors, allowing them to optimize operations and promote efficiency and profitability.
