Grit Virtual is a program that I first encountered at Procore Groundbreak 2019. It is the ultimate tool that fills the gap in scheduling. I have spent several years looking into different ways to do collaborative scheduling properly. My favorite building of all time, the empire state building, used linear scheduling to create their schedule format. Techniques of scheduling have not changed, and it’s essential to understand how a Superintendent should properly set up their schedule.
Figure 1: Schedule snippet from Building the Empire State by Caroll Willis
When I am talking about schedule, I am not referring to the Gantt chart that most contractors use to track a project. Every project starts with that Gantt chart as a baseline schedule and then requires consistent weekly maintenance of the program. There are three critical elements for a Project Manager or Superintendent to implement to create a proactive schedule environment. The first is your weekly work plan, second is a foreman meeting, and third is the overall schedule update.
The weekly work plan is the manager’s guide to what work will be carried out in a given week. You can use tasks from the baseline schedule to start, but it is also vital to discuss assignments and plan with each Foreman for that week. Below is an example of a table you can use for a weekly work plan:
Figure 2: Example of a weekly work plan template to be filled out by Foreman.
The Foreman’s meeting ties directly into the weekly work plan and Foreman discussion. This meeting gives a venue for the trades to discuss and collaborate a week to week plan and also take accountability for the tasks they are set out to do. Accountability is a must in major construction if you expect to get something done. As they say, there is no I in Team.
Lastly, using the information from the weekly work plan worksheet gives you a concise worksheet for anybody to use to update the schedule.
If you want to avoid all the paperwork and do it all in a web-based collaborative environment, I highly recommend checking our Grit since it does these base tasks, plus a whole lot more!
For Coders
If you are a coder, and want to experiment with Primavera XER Viewers, for me here: https://github.com/ibuilder/PHPSchedule
To Build .. Something Great 