PRODUCTIVITY SERIES REVIEW (reissued)

Project Professionals blog had a series of posts earlier this year.   Over the next several weeks, the intention is to add to this popular series.  This summary was posted in June.  Since June, the number of readers has increased significantly.  Consequently, we are reissuing this post as a kickoff and restart of the labor/labour productivity series.

Productivity has become a hot topic and has given rise to much discussion and debate in the project management world.  Labor productivity can be a competitive advantage or a managerial disaster.  Therefore, we believe that there is high potential benefit in a review of McLaughlin & McLaughlins Productivity Series.  Below, we have the titles and links to each post followed by a brief summary of the content.  We intend to augment these posts with additional writings on the subject.

 

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Construction Field Labor Productivity Improvement Take Away the Excuses

Over the years, much has been written about craft worker productivity.  The Construction Industry Institute (CII) has done several extensive research projects on productivity.  The issue was raised in a formal manner by the old Business Roundtable (BRT) back in the late sixties.  They developed a series of publications that addressed the problem of rapidly rising construction costs facing owner companies.  These articles were broadly covered by the now familiar banner of “More Construction for the Money”®.

Working in the construction industry for many years has given some great insights into craft worker productivity.  I always ask myself the question, “What would I need to have in order to be more productive and have a better perspective about my work, if I were in this same situation?”  Every situation is different, though there are many similarities.  The truth is, there is not one single solution to every productivity issue that one might encounter in the field.  But let’s start with one very straight-forward approach that has proven to yield consistently good results. [Read more…]