EP Brain Food Series Recap: BIM, Lean & Other Collaborative Tools
The third installment of the COAA “Brain Food” series was presented on August 17. This monthly series of live webinars is designed to arm less experienced Emerging Professionals (EPs) with fundamental project management knowledge. The series also promotes peer-to-peer learning and networking by connecting EPs with each other.
This month’s course focused on BIM and Lean and their value as tools that promote team collaboration. In true COAA fashion, the content was presented by several legs of the project delivery stool:
- Sam Werschky with Cook Children’s Healthcare System
- Eduardo Calderon with Smith Seckman Reid
- Marc Budaus with HKS
- Kevin Imming with Linbeck Group
Most of the session was devoted to ways in which service providers strive to incorporate Lean principles, including:
- Define client’s value
- Map value stream (how to achieve the client’s goals)
- Achieve value flow
- Respond to pull ... break down silos and invite each team member into their process
- Seek perfection and stay aware of what is not working
Attention was also given to the Last Planner System, a modern approach to scheduling. Highlights included:
- Milestone – set milestones *should*
- Phase Pull – specify handoffs *should*
- Look Ahead – make work ready *can*
- Weekly Work – make promises *will*
- Learning/ Improving *did*
If you’re age 35 or younger, this series is designed for you. If you’re a COAA member, each class is FREE ... and even if you’re not a COAA member, the cost is modest. Next up on September 21 is Integrated Project Delivery, so feed your brains, EPs!