3 SCHEDULING MYTHS LIMITING CAPITAL CONSTRUCTION
Improve estimating, communication, performance tracking, and project success with these tips
In capital construction, complexity is on the rise and demand is high. Labor shortages, tough competition, and evolving contracting models are spurring capital project teams to seek out innovative approaches to keep margin erosion at bay.
Firms and teams seek efficiency and competitive advantage by become more specialized and more focused on their particular expertise. And every challenging project, every specialized contributor, is tied together by the construction schedule. But silos are the downside of specialization, and no discipline has felt the negative effects of silos as keenly as scheduling. Increasing complexity has led scheduling to become more and more isolated from the rest of the construction process. Scheduling teams struggle to staff up – there are more than 17,000 job openings for schedulers in the US alone.1 And it’s probably not a coincidence that as complexity increases, on-time completions don’t. Less that half of all capital construction projects are delivered on the promised timeline.2
Silos breed distance between schedulers and their peers in the field, and distance breeds myths and misconceptions. Without exposure, communication, and visibility across disciplines, field teams are likely to misunderstand and undervalue the scheduling function. The resulting myths about planning and scheduling undermine the schedule’s credibility in the eyes of other departments. And that limits its ability to guide work to a profitable completion. But it doesn’t have to be that way. By breaking down the myths surrounding construction project scheduling, organizations and their leaders can re-engineer the planning process. Everyone stands to benefit when scheduling is transformed into the collaborative and strategic process it has always had the potential to be.
1 https://www.zippia.com/project-scheduler-jobs/trends/
2 https://ineight.com/annual-global-capital-projects-report/
MYTH 1
MY PLAN WILL ALWAYS BE BETTER
The brutal truth is that side schedules wouldn’t exist if everyone had enough confidence in the master schedule. All too often, though, field teams view CPM schedules as difficult to use and hard to trust. In their view, such schedules don’t accurately include their knowledge about how their own role will affect the project. And the resulting lack of buy-in gives rise to the belief that “my plan will always be better,” and thus to the side schedules that make accurate tracking of progress difficult, make it harder to collaborate with other specialties, and further erode the usefulness of the master schedule.
MYTH VARIATIONS
“Schedules don't actually reflect how work gets done.”
From the perspective of field teams, traditional CPM schedules represent an idyllic, best-case scenario. They don’t accurately reflect the real world and the risk and uncertainty it brings, not to mention the expertise of field execution teams.
“Schedules are a formality that don't guide the project over the long term.”
Field teams may also view master schedules as little more than a software output. Someone pushes the button, and the computer produces something that checks a box for the office staff, but lacks the necessary detail. Viewed this way, schedules don’t contribute to the downstream success of a project.
BEHIND THE MYTH
The misconception that a side schedule plan is always better than the master schedule reflects a nugget of truth: Most CPM schedules don’t capture the expertise of field teams. That’s because traditional scheduling tools make it difficult to gather iterative, comprehensive feedback and input. Schedulers can’t incorporate expert insights into their work as extensively as they’d like, and that means schedules aren’t as realistic as they could be. So it’s no wonder that field teams don’t have confidence in master schedules, and they have data on their side. Less than half of all construction projects finish on time, and 37% exceed both budget and schedule projections.3 Though side schedules are created to address a shortcoming, they also compound the problem they aim to address. When each team works from its own side schedules, communication between field teams and the existing CPM breaks down, causing serious misalignment. Field teams’ willingness to pivot from the plan compromises trust between the scheduler and the field execution teams. That, in turn, creates siloed pockets across the project as each discipline operates based on their own point of view. When project contributors aren’t bought into the same schedule, project consistency and cohesion can’t develop. Inaccurate reporting to stakeholders – another unfortunate downstream result of side schedules – also undermine ongoing trust and accountability.
37% of construction projects exceed both budget and schedule projections.3
MOVING PAST THE MYTH
The best way to dispel a misconception is to create a new reality. So what does it take to create a new scheduling reality in which field teams aren’t tempted to create side schedules by a belief in their superiority? Organizations must change how they think about the scheduling process and enable two key changes.
AI ON YOUR SIDE
Collaboration between experts forms the core of great scheduling. But AI can help, too. InEight Schedule includes AI-driven analytics and suggestion engines to help scheduling experts spot challenges and opportunities. Learn about practical AI tools.
MAKE CHANGE HAPPEN
CONNECTING VIEWPOINTS WITH COLLABORATIVE MARKUP
Soliciting input from field execution teams is critical to a more collaborative and reliable capital construction process. It’s time to retire cumbersome, manual processes for allowing stakeholders to provide their feedback. Instead, these four strategies can simplify the markup experience and help teams come to a consensus faster:
TRANSFORMATIONAL SCHEDULING DELIVERS:
- Find the right stakeholders. While every leader in the organization is likely to have their thoughts, not every opinion is necessary to generate consensus. Identify contributors with the right experience to give valuable input. Of course, keep other leaders in the loop, but don’t overcomplicate the feedback process with unnecessary eyes.
- Be clear. Ensure stakeholders understand exactly where their attention is needed. There’s a considerable difference in the time commitment necessary to assess an entire CPM schedule versus a specific phase.? Without clear instruction, stakeholders are far more likely to push off the task until they have adequate time to understand the need.
- Set a time. Most contributors are far more likely to engage with projects outside of their typical routine when schedulers or project managers designate a specific time for those experts to submit focused and thoughtful feedback.
- Make collaboration easy. No one outside of the scheduling team knows how to use P6, and it’s not set up for feedback anyway. InEight Schedule offers a collaborative markup tool that helps teams build more accurate schedules by emailing stakeholder invitations, consolidating their input, sharing those details across the team, and allowing for seamless revisions.
MYTH 2
SCHEDULING SHOULD KEEP STAKEHOLDERS AT ARM'S LENGTH
Call it a myth or call it an unhelpful mindset, but too many construction leaders see the relationship between contractors and owners as almost oppositional, especially when it comes to scheduling. In this pessimistic view, deadlines and milestones represent contractual obligations. There’s little room for conversation or collaboration about priorities and shifts in circumstance. This myth leads to defensiveness and mistrust as all parties seek to insulate themselves from blame or culpability if delivery dates are missed.
MYTH VARIATIONS
“Schedules details are best kept internal.”
By distributing schedule details on something like a need-to-know basis, project leaders believe they are protecting their organization and the integrity of their project. These decision-makers feel each party only needs to know what they need to know, and that any additional information could create unnecessary disputes—further derailing the timeline.
“No project finishes on time, so it's ok if ours don't either.”
Project leads accept that even the best schedulers and estimators can’t anticipate everything. Experience has taught them that something will pop up and derail the project no matter what the schedule says.
BEHIND THE MYTH
Bitter experience is the driver of this myth. Contractors and owners alike have come to accept schedule overruns and blown budgets as an ugly reality of the industry. Experience has taught a consistent lesson: Delivery will exceed the discussed expectations. But it simply doesn’t make good business sense to continue to accept the status quo. No one triumphs in a world where only 47% of capital construction projects4 and 8.5% of infrastructure projects5 deliver on time. In fact, large projects typically exceed their estimated schedules by 20% and are up to 80% over budget.6 It’s one thing to be 5% over; even 10% is palatable, but 80% is simply inexcusable. And yet, organizations convince themselves that they must accept those overages as industry standards. It’s no wonder that in-field experts don’t trust the schedule. Nor is it surprising that stakeholder trust has eroded so far that contract owners just assume the information they receive is incorrect, but still plan to hold the contractor accountable to that faulty timeline. Instead, owners latch on to the promised date and keep one eye on the calendar and their legal team on speed dial.
THE STATUS QUO
Doesn’t make good business sense to continue to accept the way things are.
47% of capital construction projects deliver on time
Over 8.5% of infrastructure projects deliver on time
20% of large projects exceed their estimated schedules
MOVING PAST THE MYTH
Changing the us-or-them relationship between contractors and owners and learning to use scheduling as an effective tool for working with stakeholders requires a big shift. Teams need to learn to build schedules that serve the needs of both the business and the stakeholders. In practical terms, that means up-to-date information must be easily accessible and easily distributed to both internal teams and external stakeholders. The solution requires removing the limitations of the tools capital construction teams have traditionally relied on to build their plans. Modernizing the scheduling process is becoming increasingly urgent given the rise of new contracting methods like progressive design-build or integrated project delivery. Rather than hoarding information, successful projects open communication lines and create a more collaborative and visible project experience. For owners, delivery partners whose schedules are accessible and transparent about challenges and opportunities stand out from the pack. The resulting trust increases the likelihood of becoming a preferred contractor in the future. To create schedules that are strategic assets for the company at large, organizations must provide more transparency into the scheduling process. Collaborative tools are the answer, making it possible to remove scheduling from its silo internally and give external stakeholders ongoing visibility into change. Teams can create more buy-in throughout the project timeline and provide realistic updates that make sure stakeholders have the right information when they need it the most.
CONNECTED IN THE CLOUD
The success of collaborative capital construction schedules hinges on transparency about schedules. Everyone must work from the same set of up-to-date information at the same time. But on-premise systems limit any tool’s ability to distribute data at scale and across organizations. Without ongoing access to the latest information, stakeholders risk operating from outdated plans, causing team members to fall out of alignment. Cloud connectivity ensures those metrics stay synchronized and that each contributor works from a single source of truth. At the same time, network administrators can control exactly who can access and update data, so sensitive information stays secure throughout the process. Unlike legacy storage solutions, cloud-connected approaches allow always-on, secure access to project information. Stakeholders can provide feedback, review reports, and share project documents anywhere there’s internet service. Learn more about how natively cloud-based InEight Schedule connects schedulers, field teams, and stakeholders.
MYTH 3
THERE’S NO CHANGING THE STATUS QUO
Scheduling tools have changed so little in the past few decades that it's easy to assume that the status quo the only way things could possibly be done. The construction industry has experienced sweeping innovations in other disciplines. Still, whenever someone does try a different approach to scheduling, they get burned when those new “solutions” fail to meet the team’s needs. Stakeholders know they need a better solution, but don’t believe improvement is possible, thanks to the complexity of the jobs and the limitations of the tool.
And so, a myth is born: Scheduling will never change.
MYTH VARIATIONS
“Good enough is good enough.”
Leaders believe their organization has invested too much money into product training, licensing, and specialist salaries to justify change. The status quo may have its flaws, but if it's served this well for this long, can the effort change requires be worth it?
“Schedule consensus is impossible.”
Tired stakeholders mistakenly believe that with scheduling's many moving parts and siloed operating processes, it's simply impossible to create a schedule that satisfies every stakeholder and deliver a final plan that works for owners and in-field experts alike.
BEHIND THE MISCONCEPTION
Reluctance to change is often rooted in fear. And reasonably so—construction is a trillion-dollar industry with razor-thin profit margins. Companies follow the same playbooks and use the same equipment until there’s a clear benefit to be gained by making a shift. To change is to invite unfamiliar challenges, and familiar challenges are less daunting. It’s clear that yesterday’s scheduling toolsets aren’t keeping up with the ambitions of today’s agile organizations, and construction leaders know the current scheduling process is unsustainable. The capital construction industry’s siloed scheduling process cannot create the consensus needed for accuracy and buy-in or deliver the transparency projects need to thrive. Even so, the status quo persists because of the fear of up-ending the entire scheduling process without a better replacement.
MOVING PAST THE MYTH
To combat the myth of the eternal status quo, capital construction teams need to make collaboration and transparency routine. Inviting expert perspectives into the planning conversation and incorporating their perspectives increases buy-in and transforms the resulting schedule into a useful communication tool. Field teams trust and rely on the schedule when they’ve had a chance to share their expertise and address concerns. However, collaboration is painfully difficult inside the siloed scheduling process most organizations use today. Despite their best intentions, schedulers struggle to collect feedback from a range of team leads in a format that’s useful. Then they face the challenge of synthesizing all the feedback they get. To change the scheduling status quo, experts need a clear, easy way to provide feedback on their area of expertise. Schedulers need an easy way to understand where different experts disagree, so they can resolve areas of concern before they create delays or rework. The process of gathering and analyzing expert input and updates needs to be repeatable and routine. Updates on project schedules and progress aren’t worth much if those referencing them don’t believe the information to be reliable.
4 STEPS FOR GENERATING BUY-IN
Buy-in isn't just possible; it's critical for the success of any project. These four steps shift stakeholders from doubting the schedule to believing in the schedule:
- Provide ease of use. The schedule must be easy to use, easy to assess, and easy to revise.
- Invite stakeholders into the conversation. Make it easier for non-schedulers to participate in the process.
- Hold teams accountable. When stakeholders participate in scheduling processes, they can be responsible for meeting the expectations they help set.
- Invite stakeholders to help solve scheduling problems. When contributors see their expertise included, they're more likely to invest in the final product.
Explore how an intuitive and accessible scheduling platform achieves consensus faster with InEight Schedule. See the difference for yourself.
DISCOVER A NEW MINDSET
In breaking down the myths surrounding schedules and the scheduling process, it's essential to recognize that these myths reflect mindsets across the construction industry. The key to breaking through any myth is adjusting those mindsets and opening up to new approaches, technologies, and ideas. Disruption is necessary for the growth and evolution of any industry. Without some level of upheaval, things go stagnant. Creativity wanes; competing organizations all begin to look the same. Without change, organizations languish as more adaptable, nimble competitors that were willing to take the needed risks outpace them. There’s a clear opportunity for forward-thinking construction leaders to stake their claim on a more collaborative future. Those organizations put distance between themselves and their competitors by rejecting misconceptions and rethinking their scheduling process to meet deadlines, stay on budget, and improve stakeholder trust.
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