A phone call's ring is no different to a human walking up to your desk and barking, "immediately stop what you're doing and listen to me." What are the odds that by addressing this interruption (the ringing phone), we learn of something of greater importance than what we were already doing? Am I saying you shouldn't answer your phone? Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. Here's why...
Those who trust their minds with reminders are either unwise or uneducated. Have you ever arrived at work, seen a colleague with whom you had said you would spend time after work, and only then remembered your needed to bring a spare change of clothes? Or can you think of a similar story that is … Continue reading How To Make Sure You Never Forget – An Underrated, Fundamental Tool
The Chaos of Uncontrolled Demands I recall a scene in the movie The Firm. Tom Cruise plays a lawyer, Mitch McDeere, and in this scene, Mitch is trying desperately to focus on the task before him but is suffering frequent interruptions from well-intentioned individuals bringing him more and more advice and study material for his … Continue reading How To Effectively Manage Demands on The Construction Site
The most effective construction project manager can obtain and maintain a clear head. If your head is clear, then your mind's full capacity is available for any given problem or undertaking. Often, we attempt to work with only a portion of our mind with the rest distracted by lesser issues. The effective among us will … Continue reading The Clear Head – A Vital Tool of an Effective Construction Project Manager
When someone says they have an outside perspective and can, therefore, see things you cannot because you are "inside" or "too involved," this is not always true. To have an outside perspective, one must be able to see everything from a greater height. This person may claim they can see the whole picture, but they … Continue reading Outside Perspective or Narrow Perspective?
Symptom 6 – Incompetence/ Ineffectiveness Program delays, blown budgets, nonconformance reports, and health & safety incidents. Every project has them, some worse than others, but every project has them. They've come to be expected. If a project does not report them, rather than assume the project is performing, people assume a fault in the reporting … Continue reading What is Wrong with the Construction Industry? Part 6, Symptom 6
Symptom 5 – Poor Focus & FireFighting Our focus is too nearsighted, and we lose clarity of what matters and what does not. To make progress, we must focus on things that matter and chip away at the immense workload atop us, but we often don't. To our detriment, we chose to focus on lesser … Continue reading What is Wrong with the Construction Industry? Part 5, Symptom 5
Symptom 4 – Stress Construction is one of the most at-risk industries for suicide Despite Symptom 1 - Insufficient Human Resource, buildings go up, and the industry trudges on because the responsible individuals are making a sacrifice. They sacrifice their personal lives to try to make their professional lives tolerable. They give up their mental … Continue reading What is Wrong with the Construction Industry? Part 4, Symptom 4
Symptom 3 – Life Imbalance Having balance in your life means distributing your resources (such as passion, time, and energy) fairly across all the things that matter Those who work in the construction industry widely accept that, to enjoy a highly fruitful career in this industry, you must sacrifice a great deal of your personal … Continue reading What is Wrong with the Construction Industry? Part 3, Symptom 3
Symptom 2 - Overwork [Construction workers] will take what sleep they can, where ever they can be it on the morning train or in a dark corner of a construction site. Demand > Supply = Overwork The industry is booming! Everywhere you look, you see new development; I can see twenty-one cranes in my view … Continue reading What is Wrong with the Construction Industry? Part 2, Symptom 2
