Latest / Learnings and Missteps by Depth Builder / The Goal Calabosession #4
Transcript
- 0:00I didn't want the listeners to feel like we scripted this whole thing.
- 0:02I want make this feel real and wrong.
- 0:04I don't have prepared, I have my notes, I got my notebook, but I don't have it like, scripted in front of me.
- 0:10I have an agenda.
- 0:11I want to hit all these items because, I think it would hit little bit differently if to a listener, if you were just listening to us just chit chat and banter and rant and going down huge rabbit holes.
- 0:24about the goal.
- 0:25But we will try to keep some amount of time.
- 0:28So the goal for today is to get to 19 . Tipping Point Chapter 15 is a tipping point.
- 0:33It's the Herbie Hike.
- 0:34And I want to just back up a little bit because we hit it.
- 0:37I think like we hit it and we took it to a level where I don't know if I've.
- 0:42Heard or read in forums or whatever about the goal that Alex had to swallow some ego.
- 0:51So did Herbie.
- 0:52And oftentimes that's the hardest thing to do.
- 0:55Both if you're in a position of leadership, you have to admit that your way is not working, even working like, and whatever you are trying to do, whatever you try to do will be wrong because all of your assumptions are wrong.
- 1:08Oh yeah.
- 1:09Thomas and I are back at it again with collab session number four, and it's kind of like our really good friend, Mr.
- 1:16Davis Hambrick said, the entire conversation is.
- 1:20Framed around the, the goal, and then we just kind of keep veering off and getting into deeper subjects, like super deep, highly intellectual subjects like booger, flicking, I know it sounds goofy, but there is a serious tone to the whole idea.
- 1:35You're gonna have to listen to catch that one.
- 1:37we also jump into constraint management and Thomas shares some really simple but important techniques to like, make sure they get handled and and removed before they impact the flow of work.
- 1:51He also brings up like a list of ambush techniques that, I'm gonna say weak managers, which I used to be and still am sometimes tend to deploy on their people.
- 2:07With like a cheat code list of how to respond when you're being ambushed by your manager or those managers that deploy those types of techniques.
- 2:17So it's actually another one of those where you should get your notepad out and maybe make some mental notes or write 'em down, um, because he's dropping knowledge, man, that dude's got it going on and it's like a little scary because we're getting close to the end.
- 2:31Meaning there's two or three more episodes to come if I can ever like buckle down and get it done.
- 2:37And because I've, I have become the bottleneck on releasing these collab sessions and with the help of the patrons.
- 2:46Thank you all patrons for.
- 2:48Been with us and sticking with us for so long.
- 2:51we have added, a team member.
- 2:54Miss Arely who I don't know if y'all noticed, if you haven't gone to the learnings and missteps.
- 2:59TikTok, you'll see I've been pushing out tons of content and that's because she's been helping.
- 3:05Chop up the clips, like she's making the total selection.
- 3:08So that's taken some work.
- 3:10And we just ran an experiment with this episode where she did all of the editing and I am extremely pleased with the product.
- 3:20And again, the funds that people contribute to the Patreon account through the website help pay for stuff like this.
- 3:27And also, December's upon us, so we'll be making a distribution to Skilled Trades Alliance for 80% of what we've gotten from, from y'all's contribution.
- 3:37So appreciate y'all very much and also wanna give y'all a little teaser.
- 3:41It's the day after Thanksgiving.
- 3:43I have on my board to release the Lean and Love Reflection Journal.
- 3:49So it's gonna be like a 30 day journal.
- 3:51I, of course I've got some work to do it.
- 3:54The famous lady, Jennifer Lacy, has already produced a fabulous piece of art doodle art that's going to be on the cover.
- 4:01But keep an eye out cuz that's coming out in December, just in time for all the Christmas gifts.
- 4:08Back to the conversation on the Goal They're not based on anything scientific or fact that are based upon your own emotions.
- 4:21In that moment.
- 4:22In that moment, when you go 10 minutes later and you look back, it'll be crisp, clear, but it doesn't matter.
- 4:27Cause that's 10 minutes later and you have a whole brand new situation.
- 4:31So when we were gonna talk about bottlenecks Bottlenecks are not necessarily bad, nor are they necessarily good.
- 4:38They just are.
- 4:40They're just state.
- 4:41And once you accept that you have bottlenecks, you can start to exploit them . And you see that here in this example in chapter 15 with Herbie.
- 4:51Slow.
- 4:52He's overloaded and he is getting tired.
- 4:55So whatever Herbie tries to do by himself just makes it completely worse and it slows everybody down.
- 5:01And oftentimes what we try to do in construction is if we find the slowest trade, I guess you've been in general contractor long enough.
- 5:09What's the almost like knee jerk reaction once you find someone that's working slower than agreed upon, Double 'em up.
- 5:17Right?
- 5:17Like they need more manpower.
- 5:19They need more material.
- 5:20Gonna supplement labor.
- 5:21You gotta work overtime.
- 5:23I gonna punish them.
- 5:25I've written in my day letters nasty letters with certified and signatures and made sure they were delivered.
- 5:34Like, there's legal ramifications for doing this and we have to do that, right?
- 5:39This is just the world's like neither delay letters are neither good nor bad.
- 5:42They just are.
- 5:43They're part of the system, right?
- 5:45. But we shouldn't weaponize them as a first tech.
- 5:49That should be the, when every other thing that we've decided has failed, including third party arbitration.
- 5:55Like we get a third party, then we take steps to Supplement labor and there's other production laws that will teach you that, that won't even help.
- 6:06That's the worst.
- 6:07Make it worse.
- 6:08Doesn't make it worse.
- 6:10Well, you know what's interesting?
- 6:11I understand the value of the letters and the contract language and the different gateways that you go through to, you know protect yourself against liability or risk.
- 6:21What confuses me or what I'd rather, what I've always found entertaining is when me as a trade uses the same system and all of a sudden I'm not a trade partner because I'm submitting letters, I'm using language like delay, and people get super, super defensive.
- 6:39All this.
- 6:39It's like, well wait a minute.
- 6:41Last time you did this to me, you said it was just business.
- 6:43Like it's not a big deal.
- 6:45what happened to just business?
- 6:47This is just part of the system, the part of the process.
- 6:50But I understand, right?
- 6:51Like it gets people, you read the language and it's intimidating language and I It's intimidating by design.
- 6:59Yeah.
- 7:00Like our long form contract that if you want to work with the company I work for it's pretty scary.
- 7:06There's a lot of risk.
- 7:07She there.
- 7:07And oftentimes my thing is, Okay.
- 7:09Sign that.
- 7:10Throw that in the folder.
- 7:10Never even look at that again.
- 7:13The only people that have to look at that besides the little scope portion, are none of us, none of us need to even look about that because those will be people who are $450 an hour and they wear suits and fancy shoes at the job site and not understand why that's a bad idea.
- 7:31, they're not one of us and they're great people.
- 7:33And we need attorneys.
- 7:34People in the justice, but not when we're trying to settle a production issue on a job site.
- 7:41Let's be real here.
- 7:43So back to the book.
- 7:45I just wanted to say that thank you for showing some vulnerability because we were talking about being men and the beam courageous and strong and independent and assertive.
- 7:55Those are known, studied psychology of being masculine.
- 8:00And Alex Rogo finally starts to become a leader at this moment on this hike.
- 8:08What he does, he says, He doesn't accept that Herbie doesn't want to open his rucksack and remove all this heavy stuff that's burdening him down., but he's like, Nope, Herbie it's too bad you have to for the better of this group.
- 8:21and everybody here, you have to pick up the slack so we all can move forward as a team.
- 8:27That's so important at that moment.
- 8:30And they're very small moments.
- 8:31And you would think, Oh, what's the big deal?
- 8:33It's like this group of children doing a hike.
- 8:36This was his tipping point to start to change the way his mindset worked when dealing with delays at work.
- 8:45He swallows his pride and says, Herbi, I was wrong this entire time.
- 8:50We just proved it by doing this silly simulation that we gotta find a bottleneck and you're the bottleneck and you have to admit that.
- 8:58So you have to admit that Herbie is the slowest, but also understand that herbie's a crucial part of the troops goal.
- 9:07Right.
- 9:08Like you have to accept both.
- 9:09When we accept both, we can accept the current condition.
- 9:13Like you can literally see.
- 9:14And there's a lot of bias and I'm full of it, but I have trouble when I'm in that moment, if I'm so like stubborn and stuck in my ways, I literally can't see things, even if it's right in front of my face.
- 9:25But I didn't notice where the bottleneck until I finally accepted it.
- 9:30Yeah.
- 9:31And once you accept it, then it's like, Oh my god, I can see it.
- 9:35And then it grows and it builds upon itself.
- 9:37And then Alex, the leader, he puts herbi in the front along and makes a statement.
- 9:41The idea is to get there together.
- 9:43Not a bunch of individuals.
- 9:45We're a team and a team doesn't arrive at camp until all of us arrive at camp.
- 9:48So anyways, we'll go back to the book and they get to the campground late and they're setting up the dark.
- 9:54It presents an increasingly dangerous situation.
- 9:57So not only are they in a psychological battle with themselves about like egos they're also in actual danger.
- 10:05So he asks open and honest questions.
- 10:08He goes, Hey Herby, what do you got in your pack?
- 10:11What you got, man?
- 10:13Six pack of soda spaghetti candy bars, Jarrow pickles, multiple cans of tuna fish, a raincoat, rubber boots, bag of 10 pins steaks, large iron skillet, and a collapsible steel shovel.
- 10:24This guy was ready.
- 10:25He's ready.
- 10:26He was ready to be entrenched and Herby resists the help.
- 10:29He says, I can carry.
- 10:31And three, make a plan once you've accepted it, right?
- 10:36You have to make a plan and it says, make a plan to help Herbie go faster.
- 10:40And Alex says, If we take some of the load off you, you'll be able to do a better job at the front of the line.
- 10:46Herby finally seems to understand.
- 10:49And then three, take action.
- 10:51The kids, they split up the carrying load and it's like, no factor.
- 10:54We got you Herbie.
- 10:55We got you.
- 10:56Cuz they understand the situation too.
- 10:58And they remove the stuff in his bag.
- 11:00They split the stuff up, they share the load, and then they get it back going down the trail.
- 11:05Suddenly they go faster.
- 11:06And the lesson we learned there, the slowest operation in terms of theory of constraints, that is the lesson here, is the slowest operation is the constraint.
- 11:16Cause if we have dependent events, you don't have to look far, you just have to look for the slowest.
- 11:22And whoever's the slowest that's the constraint.
- 11:25And if the constraint.
- 11:27Is stop the line.
- 11:29That's the worst kind.
- 11:30If it's not sloppy the line, but it's slowing it down, slowing it more than the demand that you want it to be like, Hey, we need to get to the end we got a production rate, we got meet, we don't get there, We're gonna be in the dark.
- 11:42And that's dangerous, but I'm gonna do this.
- 11:43So Dr.
- 11:44Gold in the hike, he teaches dependent events and statistical fluctuations because all of the events depend on the constraint.
- 11:52Everything is dependent upon the constraint.
- 11:55Herbie doesn't make it, but we don't meet the goal, right?
- 11:58So each event has an expected value, but all of those expected values fluctuate because of slight variations, right?
- 12:06Somebody speeds up and especially for Herbie, cuz Herbie's the constraint.
- 12:11So any fluctuation in Herbie if he get gases out and falls down Yeah, everybody's down the stopped, right?
- 12:18So you'll have slight fluctuations that might change inventory or might change your operating expense.
- 12:25But if your constraint slows down, it's the worst cuz everything slows down.
- 12:30And even if the kids.
- 12:32Pass Herbie.
- 12:33We do this all the time.
- 12:35Look around him and we'll go back and get Herbie, be like, Herbie, sit down.
- 12:39We're gonna take your bag and you rest here, and we're gonna come back and get you when we're done.
- 12:44Like, that's terrible.
- 12:45Don't do that with children.
- 12:47That's super dangerous.
- 12:48So we can't go around Herbie, we can't.
- 12:50We got the face facts.
- 12:52So the constraint is the slowest task or individual step in the process.
- 12:58If that step is the slowest, that is the constraint.
- 13:02You have to label that thing and put red flags and shoot lasers at it.
- 13:06And if you are the constraint, it's super scary because it's like, Oh man I'm the loser here.
- 13:12So you also have to highlight it and then also support that if it's a person or if it's a person's responsibility, you gotta be like, It's okay.
- 13:20We're gonna help you.
- 13:21If you don't do that, That leads to bad, bad, bad things or fire the person.
- 13:28That doesn't help you.
- 13:29What helps the person and helps the whole situation is helping that constraint.
- 13:32All the other tasks are directly dependent on the constraint ahead of them.
- 13:36So if you think of me in the self checkout line somebody's in front of me with complicated order, and they're doing a price check and then they bought alcohol, so they gotta check their ID and then they're gonna rent it with a check.
- 13:48Or get off a damn airplane.
- 13:49The person who put their bag four rows behind, Who's trying, Just wait.
- 13:54Just wait until those four rows go by you and then go back and get it.
- 13:57Don't try to be a salmon and go, so anyway, so we need to support them and teach.
- 14:03But often this also happens in construction.
- 14:05Let me just bring it back a little bit.
- 14:07We use historical data in construction, right?
- 14:09Or we use a set of logical rules that is fixed five day concrete cycle.
- 14:15What's this high rise right here?
- 14:16It's five day or five day.
- 14:18Five day, right?
- 14:19Tape and finished drywall.
- 14:21It could be 10 square feet.
- 14:22It could be 10,000 square feet.
- 14:24It's gonna take seven days.
- 14:25Overhead.
- 14:26H V A C, Ruffin from floors two to 10.
- 14:28Do we ever use historical data or rules?
- 15:11Yes.
- 15:13So the historical data slash rules that I used to plan off was pounds per hour cuz we knew the poundage of the sheet metal that we were installing.
- 15:24Combination of medium pressure, low pressure, and it spat out like, okay, this is what we perform at, this is what our history tells us that we've been able to accomplish.
- 15:33And we would build that.
- 15:34That's how we would build our schedule.
- 15:36And so then it's a simple question of that helped me to have the negotiation with the GC of, Hey, you need to be done in three days.
- 15:44Like, okay, in order for me to do that, I'm gonna need all of my sheet metal here and I'm gonna need 15 people on the floor to be able to accomplish that.
- 15:53Where do you need that?
- 15:54Because this is our install rate.
- 15:56Well, we can't do that.
- 15:57Nobody else is gonna be able to work.
- 15:58I was like, I agree.
- 15:59So can we do nine days Can we phase this out?
- 16:03To where I get out of the chase get my medium pressure in and concurrent with the framers.
- 16:09But all those other little damn wing walls all over the place, leave them down.
- 16:13And let me get ahead a day or two and then they can come back and do whatever they gotta do.
- 16:17Like we can do that, What the hike teaches us is when we're in the production time, we cannot rely on historical data.
- 16:27There is a time and a place for historical data.
- 16:29Correct.
- 16:30I get it.
- 16:30When we're facing constraints and we're in real situations, the thing we should double down on is not, Hey, what does RS means have to say about production rate for electricians running three quarter and one inch conduit.
- 16:45Like, no, throw that book, put that back on the shelf.
- 16:47Don't throw it away.
- 16:48Different situations is a useful book.
- 16:49Go base it upon what you see in front of your face.
- 16:53People moving around.
- 16:54And if you see a electrician that has to go in and out these little meeting rooms on a lift, because you can't use ladders, you know, in and out on the lift, in and out on the lift.
- 17:05It takes longer.
- 17:06Is it better?
- 17:07Is it more ergonomic and is more safe?
- 17:08Absolutely.
- 17:10But it takes longer to do that maneuver.
- 17:12The only way to understand that is to actually go out and see and stand in that situation and study it.
- 17:18Yeah.
- 17:18And then take your assumption that your RS means book or historical data or the five day concrete cycle that we all bought in the contract.
- 17:29Get it.
- 17:30I get it.
- 17:31Set that aside and take current reality and go find Herbie.
- 17:36Find your constraint.
- 17:37And it won't take long because all you have to do look for the slowest operation, the one that's completing at a rate that is slower than the rest.
- 17:48And oftentimes it tells itself because people are upset.
- 17:53Not only are the people behind it like me and the checkout line, like I'm upset.
- 17:57Why is constraint in front of me?
- 17:58I feel confined or I'm on a airplane, I am confined and I can't leave because there's a process in front of me.
- 18:05So oftentimes you don't even have to look.
- 18:07People will tell you.
- 18:09Yes.
- 18:10Oh, absolutely.
- 18:11They'll tell you if you listen, they'll tell you.
- 18:12Yeah, ask them.
- 18:13You just look at their eyes.
- 18:15And then the people who are Herbie, the herpes of the world you can see fatigue in their faces or stress.
- 18:21Yes, they're demoralized.
- 18:23You know, there's a couple things that have popped in my head, you know, in terms of historical data, cuz I've had this argument, ah, too many times.
- 18:32The GC would be telling me exactly how many plumbers I needed, how many pack fitters I needed, how many sheet metal guys I needed.
- 18:39And I'm like I disagree.
- 18:41where are you getting this?
- 18:42Like what are you talking about?
- 18:43I didn't understand.
- 18:45But over and over I started like kind of paying attention.
- 18:47They had their own personal historic data, right?
- 18:50They had their little pocket notepad that over the years they had this many square feet and it took this many plumbers to do that and it took this many sheet metal workers to do that.
- 19:02And so they were basing it on another outfit's performance.
- 19:07And at the time, the company I was with we preassembled as much as we possibly could before we hit the job.
- 19:15So that was the reason I was not going to have this large volume of people.
- 19:19And I used to fight it all the time.
- 19:21Like, what do you mean you only have four plumbers?
- 19:22I'm like, bro, we got a layout.
- 19:24We're gonna install hangers.
- 19:25My prefabs showing up next Tuesday.
- 19:27Like, I got plumbers working on it right now.
- 19:29You just can't see them.
- 19:31And it was a constant battle.
- 19:32So that's one point on the historic data.
- 19:34And finally like, look, we're just gonna have to be mad at each other.
- 19:37Like by next Friday, if you, don't feel better, then call my office but I'm not changing anything to make you feel better That's incredibly profound.
- 19:47And people who are listening, we don't ever double down on historical data or even if it's an attacked plan.
- 19:57If you find a constraint, don't force it because it's like, hey, you have to be here and you also have to be in this zone cuz you're holding this tack train.
- 20:05Now you get the focus on the Herbie and that the beautiful thing about tact.
- 20:10It'll almost instantly tell you when you have a Herbie, that's the beauty of it.
- 20:15So those who are into tact or are curious, the beauty of even last plan.
- 20:22It'll tell you, It'll find Herbie and it'll tell you what Herbie is within whenever you're, whenever you close the cycle.
- 20:31So if you're doing less planner, it's at least every five days.
- 20:34And if you're doing tact, it could be twice a day.
- 20:37Yes.
- 20:38As often as twice a day.
- 20:39If you're super di , and then the closer you are to Herbie showing up and Herbie getting dealt with, like us removing all the crap outta Herbie's backpack, the closer in time that we can do that, that's how you recover quickly.
- 20:53That's being agile.
- 20:55Like I think I just covered like six books in a row there.
- 20:57Yep.
- 20:58It's a super easy to say, Super hard to do what I'm trying to say.
- 21:01So what do you think about that?
- 21:03I think so there's a really important point there.
- 21:05You talked about these different planning, production management systems and I used to have this thinking and then I kind of like, Oh no, I was thinking about it backwards.
- 21:14These systems are perfectly designed to surface problems.
- 21:18Right.
- 21:19Think about it when you're having a pool plan and people are saying, Man, I could do that, but I need this.
- 21:23Like, we don't have that agreement or submittal or whatever constraint, right?
- 21:28That goes on the constraint board.
- 21:29Like, let's make sure get a plan to let's push that skillet somewhere.
- 21:33Somebody's gotta carry that skillet.
- 21:34Y'all need to go do that.
- 21:35Now, what people do though is because all of these constraints are surfacing, all of these problems are coming out in these engagements, their response is to feel like the meeting or the session was a failure because all anybody did was complain.
- 21:51It's like, no, they didn't complain.
- 21:54They're surfacing problems early . And now we can do something about the, Cuz normally those problems don't come up until we're on the hike.
- 22:03We're finding out now before the damn hike.
- 22:06And so again, to your point, these things will surface problems.
- 22:10But for people that are maybe new to them, their natural instinct is like, Man, this was a waste of time.
- 22:15All we heard was a bunch of complaints and excuses.
- 22:18Like, no, you got a bunch of gifts today.
- 22:21That's what you got.
- 22:21That was the entire point.
- 22:22I mean, the benefit that maybe we figured out sequence A through D, right?
- 22:28That's really effective.
- 22:29But the gold, the whole reason, the entire reason we did it is surface all those.
- 22:35Then all of a sudden now we got a cheat sheet.
- 22:37Not only do we have at least the best plan of all that experience in that room.
- 22:41Two, we also have all of the issues from the experts who know the issue, who aren't doing this for the first time or who aren't over who aren't being challenged in a leadership position.
- 22:54Like, these are people who've done this for 20 plus years.
- 22:56They know all the tricks.
- 22:58, they surface these issues, and then it's like, Oh my God, we need go do something about this stuff.
- 23:02Everything that goes on, that constraint log goes into the plan.
- 23:05So it's like, how do I put, uh, the pull plan into P six?
- 23:10Well, you just take what's ever written on the card and add a line and yeah.
- 23:15P six, link it together with the logic that's written on the board.
- 23:18Step one, step two, if there's also an issue that's linked to that activity, gotta put it in.
- 23:22Also make that another activity and call it constraint if you don't wanna put it into your schedule, put it into some kind of a worksheet or a whiteboard that you'll look at every single.
- 23:33Not when you print the notes for the oac meaning, or when you have to scramble and get everything into the monthly report for the people like me, don't do that.
- 23:45I don't, I already know the issues cuz how, cuz I went and you wouldn't solve, I looked at either your whiteboard or if you have a, some kind of constraint log in your folders.
- 23:55I've already read it that way when I show up I respect your time.
- 23:58You don't have to teach me all your issues.
- 24:00I'm more or less aware of those.
- 24:03And now it's like, hey instead of me discovering all these new issues that are new to me, just start working on them and then I'll give you some advice on how to solve them.
- 24:12That's literally how you'd be an operational manager.
- 24:15So we learned that from Herby.
- 24:17We learned that from Alex and he's like sitting on some juice.
- 24:24I got it, I got it.
- 24:25He's all excited.
- 24:26And then he goes home and then it's like chapter 16 and his wife is gone.
- 24:31Sealed letter from Julie, by the way.
- 24:34I've never gotten a sealed handwritten.
- 24:36I've gotten a couple emails and many texts and a couple phone calls, but you gotta be angry to put pen and paper fold it very nicely and put it into an envelope.
- 24:48Seal it and write Alex.
- 24:50Boom.
- 24:51Leave it on the kitchen table and you pack your stuff and you're gone.
- 24:54The note reads, Al, not even fully, Alex, just al I can't handle always being last in line for you.
- 25:01I need more of you.
- 25:02And it's clear now that you won't change.
- 25:05Woo.
- 25:05I'm going away for a while.
- 25:07Need to think things over.
- 25:09Sorry to do this to you.
- 25:10I know you're busy.
- 25:11Yours truly, Julie, you've already shared this, but you received a similar letter.
- 25:17Yeah, similar.
- 25:18I mean, the letters were handwritten.
- 25:20Man, You know what I wonder if I still have the handwritten, I got pictures of it anyways.
- 25:24I received the letters there was a different tone.
- 25:26I mean, Partial part of it is like, you're jacked up, bro, we need to work on this.
- 25:31But the point was can we use this to work on our relationship?
- 25:35Not like I'm out just like, Hey, I want this to work, so can we work on this together?
- 25:41And I'll tell you in that moment, it was an intense, an intensely emotional experience cuz for so many re like one, she was calling me out.
- 25:50Two, it was very factual because, you know, the stuff was real and it was on paper.
- 25:56And just the fact that she took the time and energy to contextualize fives and apply it to our personal relationship, like she was trying to connect with me.
- 26:07And that meant a lot.
- 26:08And then as I'm reading like, Oh my God, this can be valuable for so many people.
- 26:12It was a lot going on at that time.
- 26:14And you know, this part of the book is the part that shocked me, Right?
- 26:19Of the goal.
- 26:20Oh yeah.
- 26:21Yeah.
- 26:22Because you know I'm having a good time reading about Herbie and all the other stuff.
- 26:26. And then they bring the home life in, right?
- 26:28Like the home personal relationship.
- 26:30And when I read the, whatever it was, five, eight years ago I'm like, oh no, let's not do this.
- 26:38Like, what does that matter?
- 26:39That's different.
- 26:40Well, here we are now we're live streaming every other Saturday, Jen and I, and that's all we're talking about is relationships.
- 26:45Because I'm a different person.
- 26:47I live a different life and I'm experiencing a greater quality of life because now I understand it.
- 26:54It's the same , like it's not separate.
- 26:57It's all one thing.
- 26:59And anyways, the goal when this, we get this section is just like, Oh man there's some conviction for me, thinking of the ladies that I've been with.
- 27:09And they were second 100 and they weren't even second.
- 27:12Sometimes, sometimes they were fourth or fifth in terms of priority.
- 27:15So, you know it just reminds me of my shortsightedness on that realm.
- 27:21A lot of the people that read the goal and comment they talk about the chapter 16 as a throwaway chapter is not negative.
- 27:27It's not, No it's proof that there is no balance in work life or a membrane.
- 27:34If you have inefficiencies in your own personal life at work, it flows into own.
- 27:39Yes.
- 27:39Sorry.
- 27:40And if you don't.
- 27:42Use your words and then hold it in.
- 27:44Doesn't matter.
- 27:45It comes out in your energy either in bad moods, it comes out in your words, it comes out in your bodily movements, it comes out in your physical location.
- 27:55You'll go hide.
- 27:56You have to cope with that stress as possible to not to cope with that stress.
- 28:01And this proves it that this is a rough time in Alex Roos life.
- 28:06It's a fictional character and I get it, but, it's real.
- 28:11Yeah.
- 28:11It's very real and work problems.
- 28:15If you're not efficient at work and your team's unhappy and there's a whole bunch of stress, all of that carries spills right over into your home life.
- 28:24And not only does it spill into your home life, but everybody that's also working in that situation, it goes and spills over theirs.
- 28:31And we talk a lot about mental health and in construction, and it's like, Yeah, we really need to do something about this seems to be a problem.
- 28:38Yeah, it is.
- 28:40How do we do that?
- 28:40It's fixing flow.
- 28:43My company works with Nicholas Modig.
- 28:45Dude, Nicholas hopefully hears these words.
- 28:50Because his book if the goal kind of was like shifted me into like, I'm now lean maniac, I can't consume enough now.
- 29:00That was like the one where it was like, oh damn this has world changing impacts.
- 29:07And I just have a little note here.
- 29:09It says flow, efficiency, fulfills needs.
- 29:12That's it.
- 29:12You're fulfilling needs.
- 29:13So if you have high flow efficiency and you have a poor home life or you have issues with home, you're not being efficient.
- 29:21. Right?
- 29:21Right.
- 29:22You still have some process improvement to work on.
- 29:25And the same with if your home life is awesome and you've got amazing family and they're extended and they're so happy, blah, blah, blah.
- 29:31And you're an asset work.
- 29:33Same thing thing.
- 29:35Same thing.
- 29:36So when we talk to Nicholas his whole thing is like fix flow, fix oil.
- 29:41All of these little waiting moments and constraints and issues, like once you start to loosen those, don't just stop with the ones at home or don't just stop with the ones at work because you're only, and Dr.
- 29:52Gold Grant says the same thing, You're only locally optimized, right?
- 29:56You gotta keep going.
- 29:58So your Herbie, you might fix the Herbie and we're gonna get to chapter 18, but you might fix the Herbie at work and be so happy about it.
- 30:05But if we got issues at home that we're not dealing with, with my wife, beautiful wife, Julie, and my children, we're not meeting the goal because we're still having unintended outcomes of that.
- 30:16I think chapter 17 even though it's super short, it plays the reality I was one of those people that said like, Why is that?
- 30:22Even in the book, that's stupid.
- 30:24But again, accounting for the entire system, you know what it reminds me of is addiction, right?
- 30:31Like, I'm so addicted to work or the dopamine hits that I get from the interactions of work that I put more energy into that.
- 30:41And it's the same with my self-medicating alcohol.
- 30:45Like all the stuff that I used, I put so much energy into it.
- 30:50The first, like usually the very first signal that I'm off the rails again, is other parts of my life are unmanageable, are becoming like the yard easy one.
- 31:02The grass and the weeds are now three feet.
- 31:05But everything's good.
- 31:06But no, everything's not good because I'm putting all this time and energy in one part of my life.
- 31:12Sometimes it was productive stuff, sometimes it was not productive stuff, but in every case it was addiction.
- 31:18And the first sign is some important part of my life is falling apart.
- 31:22And so for me, like I did dismiss it originally, but now, you know, coming to where I'm at now, it's like, no, no, no, no.
- 31:30It's a perfect, perfectly suited point of the story in terms of thinking big, like full circle, right?
- 31:37I've been wrestling with this idea around balance, cuz in my head I see a scale and balance means they're evenly balanced.
- 31:46So, in Jesse land, that means I spend eight hours working, I spend eight hours exercising.
- 31:52I spend eight hours sleeping.
- 31:53I spend eight hours with family.
- 31:55And there's not enough hours to do that.
- 31:57And I know that there's no way I'm going to do that.
- 32:00It just doesn't even make sense to me.
- 32:01But maybe it's a matter of intensity.
- 32:05So this is where I'm at now is it's a question of intensity.
- 32:08Do I give all the other important things in my life, the same measure of intensity that I do my work?
- 32:17And if I do that, I mean, that's the experiment right now when I spend time with my mom or my friends or whatever, and I give them the same measure of intensity, it's a more fruitful experience.
- 32:29So it's not, it is that balance, it's intensity, which is also a far cry from half measures or neglect.
- 32:39Anyhow, that's where this whole situation, That's what it's ringing in my head.
- 32:43Yeah.
- 32:44You gotta find Herbie in whatever situation and then take the load off it and then what's gonna happen?
- 32:50Another Herbie.
- 32:51That's powerful stuff there.
- 32:53But it doesn't get any better for Alex either, by the way.
- 32:55No.
- 32:55Go to chapter 17.
- 32:57It's a Monday cause weekend's over, bro.
- 33:01Uhhuh reality.
- 33:02And Monday morning is a disaster.
- 33:05It starts with Davey trying to make breakfast for himself, which is a nice responsible thing to do.
- 33:11So when he is in the shower, his children are trying to make pancakes.
- 33:15So one, it gets the pan too hot D and then scorches in and he freaks out cause there's smoke going.
- 33:23And the two children are fighting in the kitchen and they make this huge mess, huge mess.
- 33:28His daughter Sharon's just trying to help and only makes it worse she grabs a pan and flails it and then they got burnt batter and all kinds of stuff.
- 33:38everything gets ruined.
- 33:40And then it's like, hey it's time to go.
- 33:43Then Sharon she fes illness and she gets sick.
- 33:47It's like, Oh, you can't be sick cuz I got this big thing at work and your mom's not home.
- 33:52Like we can't have this.
- 33:54And he has to sit her down.
- 33:56Have that conversation because in the moment you gotta bring the situation and if it's a nine, you gotta dial it back.
- 34:02And the only way to dial it back is to put space in between that issue.
- 34:06And the person said they go to the bedroom and they have a calm conversation and he explains, I got this situation.
- 34:12I have to go to work.
- 34:13You have to go to school.
- 34:15So they make an agreement and Sharon says, Okay, I'll go to school.
- 34:18But by the time he gets both the kids to school, And drives his butt to work.
- 34:24It's past nine o'clock . That's when you walk in and be like, Good afternoon.
- 34:28You just own it.
- 34:29And as he walks in, cause he is late his assistant has a message slip because this is the eighties.
- 34:36So if you called and no one was there, you had to leave a message and you get handed to you.
- 34:41It was a written from Hilton Smith marked urgent and double underlined.
- 34:46So he is gotta call Hilton, I guess he's the coo and he says Well it's about time I tried to reach you an hour ago.
- 34:53Cuz when you do that and you put someone in a box like that, you're immediately, like on the defense, and we already talked about this earlier, but this is that ambush management style.
- 35:02Yeah.
- 35:03It's one of the worst things you can do to your employees, ambush them.
- 35:06I hate that.
- 35:07And it's favored by those who fear direct.
- 35:11I'm pausing for dramatic effects.
- 35:13If you fear direct conflict, you use this method because it's so effective.
- 35:19It's like hey if I have to have an uncomfortable conversation with somebody about an issue and we gotta have a chat that's not gonna be comfortable.
- 35:28They shield themselves with ambush.
- 35:31Cause it immediately, you don't have a chance to recover yourself.
- 35:36You're like, damn.
- 35:36And then you just do the pile on.
- 35:38So I wrote down some of these ambushes that we weave into our corporate messaging I'm guilty of all of them.
- 35:46That's how I know these are super effective.
- 35:48So number one sending out bad news and a mass email as a first strike mass email layoffs.
- 35:55That's a super uncomfortable conversation and I'm just gonna do it in a mass email and copy the world on it.
- 36:01Two.
- 36:02if you're less tech savvy and you wanna do this in person, you get a bunch of people in a group and you deliver bad news in a group setting and then escape, right?
- 36:12Yeah.
- 36:13And it's like the bad news is for one person, but I'm gonna tell everybody.
- 36:17This is where people get uncomfortable in one-on-one situations cuz it's dealing with people's livelihoods.
- 36:23So we're gonna get a group of them together and we're gonna say, Hey, the situation is bad, blah blah, blah.
- 36:29We're gonna make cuts to the accounting department and then I'm gonna shoot right out this door and ask this person if you have any questions.
- 36:35That's so bad.
- 36:36Ooh, so bad.
- 36:38Using the element of surprise to make reassignments and coerced acknowledgements, right.
- 36:44And be like, Hey you need to go to this other project.
- 36:48Now.
- 36:48I'm gonna use that element of surprise.
- 36:51Instead of having a uncomfortable conversation about, showing up on time or commitment or whatever, I'm just gonna be like, You're not my problem anymore.
- 37:00Go away and I'm not gonna tell you ahead of time.
- 37:03I'm just gonna blast in on you and say, pack up your stuff and get outta here.
- 37:06Now you're somebody else's problem making those things or worse, this coerced acknowledgement where it's like, Hey, you need to go to this other project, and by the way, you need to sign this piece of paper that's backdated so I can be free and clear from hr.
- 37:20So my bus covered for the process.
- 37:23Oh, negative.
- 37:24All of those are just ambushes.
- 37:26If you are a leader and you do this, just stop.
- 37:29Stop it.
- 37:29Do you have another ambush style?
- 37:32I don't know that I have another ambush style, but the two that bug me the most is the group ash chewing when it's one or two people and everybody knows it's the one or two people.
- 37:45Well, I do have another ambush, it's just totally disrespectful and.
- 37:50I respect you less if that's what you're doing.
- 37:52Oh, yeah.
- 37:53Percent, right?
- 37:54Like, come on man, we all know what the deal is.
- 37:57Why you scared?
- 37:57What are you scared of?.
- 37:58It's the conflict.
- 37:59The other one is sending people, like, I call it booger, flicking, like, this person's a problem here.
- 38:05I'm gonna flip my booger to somebody else instead of having the conversation.
- 38:11I have experience with one young man, three years, three year apprentice.
- 38:15And he bounced around from job to job to job.
- 38:18He finally ended up on my crew and he was nowhere near where he should have been in terms of skill and knowledge.
- 38:25And so I talked to him like, Bro what have you been, I know you're a 30 year apprentice.
- 38:29You don't know how to do this.
- 38:31And he's like, Well, nobody's ever showed me.
- 38:32I'm like, Okay, well let me show you.
- 38:34And so he had a lot of problems, like just a lot of problems.
- 38:37And I finally sat him down.
- 38:39I said, Look, bro, like I'm gonna be patient with you, but I need more from you.
- 38:43And here are the things that, like, you ain't even got the tools you're supposed to have, so you're gonna have to have these tools, blah, blah, blah.
- 38:49And he seemed like shocked.
- 38:50Like, What do you like offended?
- 38:52And I said, Dude why do you think you get passed around from job to job to job to job?
- 38:58And his response was, Cuz everybody wants me on their.
- 39:01I was like, Oh my God.
- 39:03Like he really believed that.
- 39:04Yeah.
- 39:05And I said, No yeah, no, they passed.
- 39:09It's because they're happy to get rid of you first.
- 39:12like got teary-eyed and everything.
- 39:15I like, Look bro, I'm sorry to bring this truth to you, but that's my job to let you know and I got you.
- 39:21I could help you, but you really gotta pick it up.
- 39:24I'm gonna be patient.
- 39:25And it helped, right?
- 39:26All of a sudden he's like, Man, thank you.
- 39:27Nobody ever told me that.
- 39:29But three years like you're under serving that person, that human being's career by flicking the damn booger and being a chicken and not having the performance conversation.
- 39:41So the other ambush that I cannot I will exploit it is, Hey, they said this came from upstairs, This came from the main, right?
- 39:52Like, it's not me.
- 39:53It's not me.
- 39:55It's them.
- 39:56Like real story pass through.
- 39:58Yes.
- 39:59And you know, the worst thing about that again is you abdicate your authority and your responsibility.
- 40:07Or rather, if I do that, I'm abdicating my authority and responsibility to them.
- 40:12Whoever them is.
- 40:14And so I had a situation where my boss was writing me up, like a corrective action thing for, I don't even remember what it was.
- 40:22And I earned it like it wasn't wrong.
- 40:25I pissed off hr, I argued with a bunch of people.
- 40:27I got really emotional about a situation, so I was getting written up for that.
- 40:32But what he said is, Hey, man, I gotta write you up.
- 40:35This is coming from above and this is what they think.
- 40:39And my immediate response is like, Okay, well why am I talking to you?
- 40:44I think I should hear this from them.
- 40:45What he wanted to do.
- 40:47All he wanted was a signature.
- 40:48He didn't want to have the conversation.
- 40:50And so of course I pressed, I'm like, Okay.
- 40:52Like if it's from them, I'm kind of feeling like you don't agree with this write up.
- 40:57And so if you don't agree, why are you bringing it to me?
- 40:59He's like, No, no, no, no.
- 41:00I agree.
- 41:00Like, Oh, okay, well let's talk about that.
- 41:02Well, you know, we just really need to, you know, it's just the formality.
- 41:05And of course I lost total respect for that person after that.
- 41:09But it was one of those like hidden ambushes, You're trying to be my friend and you're sticking the knife in my rib.
- 41:15That's most effective.
- 41:17Ambush is when you don't even see coming.
- 41:19. Name droppers.
- 41:21Don't do that.
- 41:22Cause you'll get caught.
- 41:23Yes.
- 41:24Cause how do I know I call the name.
- 41:27Drop the name.
- 41:27I ain't scared of calling a name.
- 41:29Right.
- 41:29I got number two, bro.
- 41:31Oh.
- 41:32And then I'll call and find out that you're a liar.
- 41:34Oh, right.
- 41:36And then it's even a worse situation.
- 41:38Because Oh, what are we, like, We can't even repair that.
- 41:41Like at then it's done.
- 41:42It's just done.
- 41:43There's only one way out.
- 41:45And that's the move on.
- 41:46And I have a letter, I've also deserved a performance improvement plan letter, , and I got the damn thing.
- 41:53I still got it.
- 41:54I'm glad that they did that because, hey, you know what, here's a list of the things that you need to work on.
- 41:58Got it.
- 41:59Yep.
- 41:59A hundred percent.
- 42:00I'll go work on this, these items and, so those performance things, but if you have a real conversation about that and it's truthful and it's honest and open, it's like, Hey, we have this opportunity, blah, blah, blah.
- 42:12Doors will open for you.
- 42:13One.
- 42:14If you're a leader and you do that, you're not a leader.
- 42:16You're a Tyt.
- 42:18Yeah.
- 42:18. You're not effective at all.
- 42:21Uh, two, if you're the victim of an ambush, I have some tips.
- 42:26Ooh.
- 42:26First thing is check your ego . Because it's like, I'm being assaulted verbally or worse.
- 42:32So you have to try to remain calm.
- 42:34And if you can be calm in that situation, it's a superpower.
- 42:37Cause you immediately level the playing field as the attacker tries to ambush you.
- 42:42The whole point of the ambush you is to get you to physically react or emotionally react.
- 42:47That's the whole point.
- 42:48And thereby, if you react and you go start swearing at them or stomp your feet or do the thing that they, that's the reason why they're gonna ambush you.
- 42:59You do that.
- 43:00They win.
- 43:01Because that was the whole point of the ambush is ruined your reputation and make you stomp out.
- 43:06So here's the trick.
- 43:08You gotta pause for six seconds.
- 43:11Ooh, that's six seconds.
- 43:13Not that long.
- 43:14Nope.
- 43:14Is it?
- 43:15I just counted in my head.
- 43:16But it's been studied.
- 43:18There's psychological studies.
- 43:20A book called Never Split the Difference.
- 43:23Uncommon Communicator is a good podcast too, but never split the difference.
- 43:27Just having that six second pause takes all the air out of the Ambusher hires you have to remain calm too.
- 43:36And it's super hard.
- 43:36It's so hard.
- 43:37But it has a profound impact on human conflict.
- 43:40Two, you gotta set boundaries tactfully and tactfully is call out the ambush behavior and set a appropriate meeting time in place for the meeting.
- 43:51Just call 'em out.
- 43:52But you have to do it calmly.
- 43:54Be like, Hey I have a meeting right now.
- 43:57I haven't started my day.
- 43:58You didn't follow the proper communication methods that I set for myself and everybody that I communicate with.
- 44:05So here's how it works.
- 44:07Please look at my calendar.
- 44:09Find an open time.
- 44:10Let's have this conversation for real when we can both do it calmly.
- 44:15And it could be 10 minutes from now, it could be an hour from now.
- 44:17Let's go take a walk.
- 44:18Let's go look at the situation, put some distance in between that attack and yourself, and set some boundaries around yourself.
- 44:26So this is the emotional swift reaction.
- 44:29Force.
- 44:30I like that.
- 44:31Right?
- 44:32So you gotta pump the brakes on the situation, but you have to do it very tactfully.
- 44:36if you come off and you start screaming and yelling, you lost, lost . You gotta set some boundaries around yourself, and that's hard to do.
- 44:44But usually people will to, unless they're a complete bully in that situation, just walk away.
- 44:50Three, be confident, not apologetic.
- 44:53Once you've calmed the situation, you've set some boundaries, Confidence comes in.
- 44:58Be like, Thank you for your feedback.
- 45:01And don't try to get back.
- 45:03There's no get backs here.
- 45:05If you can take enough time to write down the criticism on a whiteboard, put those nasty words in physical form.
- 45:13On a whiteboard.
- 45:14Oh.
- 45:15Oh.
- 45:15You wanna kill a nasty situation?
- 45:17Make it visual.
- 45:19If there's no whiteboard around you and it's like a physical thing, be like, let's go physically walk and look at it.
- 45:26And one it changes the tempo of the conversation cuz you actually have to physically move.
- 45:30And two it helps you collect your thoughts if you're being ambush.
- 45:33But you gotta do it like, cool cat, you gotta have a late night DJ voice.
- 45:37I can't, I don't have one.
- 45:38Then for once you've set boundaries and you're not being apologetic, now it's time to challenge untrue or exaggerated accusations.
- 45:48Yes.
- 45:48So this is why you gotta start writing stuff on the wall or go physically.
- 45:54It's like, Hey, what, what's the situation between you and Brad?
- 45:57Brad's not here right now.
- 45:58Let's grab Brad, bring it into this conversation right now.
- 46:01Be like, Hey, let's not do this.
- 46:04He said, he said stuff.
- 46:05Let's actually have a three-way conversation about it.
- 46:08Turn on a cell phone.
- 46:09They have this magical device that's called a speaker.
- 46:12Or a teams or whatever.
- 46:14We're all basically reachable these days.
- 46:16And then challenge those exaggerated accusations if you're being gas.
- 46:21Someone is like trying to make you feel crazy.
- 46:24As you're challenging these accusations, you answer who, what, where, when, how many for every statement that and usually you'll find in one of those, they can't answer one of those cuz they made some wild assumption and be like, you know what, no, I've already had this agreement with this person and we're actually gonna do it next Thursday.
- 46:47And that's what we're gonna stick to.
- 46:48Cuz that works for the whole plan.
- 46:49I'm sorry you didn't understand that cause I didn't tell you, but I'm telling you now.
- 46:54So you're starting to mend the relationship by challenging their false assumptions.
- 47:00But again you have to do this in very calm character.
- 47:03And how do you do that?
- 47:04Go to step five.
- 47:05And that's using assertive I and not you ever using.
- 47:10You or their name?
- 47:12Or somebody else's name.
- 47:13Because what that does is say, you told me that I can make my own hours, and you told me that blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
- 47:21And just like, oh, just throwing gas on the fire when you do that.
- 47:25Because yes, all of a sudden if someone doesn't like confrontation, they're scared of that, and now it's now in their face.
- 47:32Now they'll double down.
- 47:34On the frontal assault because they're committed, They're committed to that frontal assault.
- 47:39You can't maneuver away from that once you're committed to that assault.
- 47:42So they'll double down on that.
- 47:44And then sometimes, this is how we turn into physical blows, , because when you get into a completely situation where you have no way out, the only way out is you use fights, right?
- 47:54So the other party will automatically become defensive if you're using you.
- 47:58So if using I you're taking those blows, but you're being assertive about it and you always use I, and then the sixth step, and probably the most important.
- 48:10Listen with your ears.
- 48:12. Listen, actively and listening actively means you have to turn your body and face the person's.
- 48:19Both ears can hear equally and then it comes at you.
- 48:22And then two, your body language expresses if I'm open and I don't have my myths up I'm open to having a conversation.
- 48:30And that's why when you're trying to diffuse the situation, if you have to have that conversation right immediately when you write the words down, one, if it's like super aggressive they will tone themselves down because it has this psychological thing where if super aggressive words and they can see it, it diffuses it that way.
- 48:50And two, it helps you listen because it's like, this is what I understand the situation that boom, boom, boom.
- 48:56And these, these five things, is this the entirety of the problem because let's go through these one at a time.
- 49:02And you might hear what your colleague is saying, , but are you actually listening to them or are you waiting for your time to speak?
- 49:12And people's minds often want wander.
- 49:15I'm all over the place.
- 49:17So I have to actually write stuff down and especially if you're getting ambushed in a group setting take meticulous notes.
- 49:25Cause they want you to be shocked and not write anything down.
- 49:29So it's all hearsay, but if you can actually write down what you heard, and then what you were feeling, when you have that follow up conversation it could be more real.
- 49:39So then you can get past that.
- 49:40So that's the gist of chapter 17 there.
- 49:42What do you think about ambush?
- 49:44You know what, I love that you brought one labeled the ambush techniques to, gave some, some remedies to it.
- 49:53Right.
- 49:53Because it happens all the time.
- 49:56And , I would add that if these situations happen with any, like frequency you may need to be thinking about changing places, changing bosses, changing companies.
- 50:09Right.
- 50:10Because I mean, I can remember being on teams where that was the behavior and it was the normal operating procedure to behave that way.
- 50:19And it was not a fun place to be.
- 50:22Then all of a sudden I found myself exerting all kinds of energy.
- 50:27To protect myself from ambushes instead of doing my damn job.
- 50:32Right.
- 50:32Like fact of the matter was these people are gonna be ambushing me no matter what.
- 50:38Like the way they got ahead was on top of other people's backs.
- 50:43I need to be somewhere else.
- 50:46Luckily the leadership changed and that whole thing, like just as soon as the leadership changed that all that stuff went away, there's no value in that.
- 50:56So the whole point of Hilton ambushing Alex in that meeting was to get his freaking order expedited.
- 51:04He's got some subassemblies Yes.
- 51:07For his BFF somewhere.
- 51:08And Alex does doom himself a favor.
- 51:10He's like, Listen, Hilton Spice doing the name drop technique.
- 51:15He's like, Bill Peach, the CEO wants this done.
- 51:17It's like I have a relationship with Bill Peach, by the way, Mr.
- 51:21Smith don't name drop on me.
- 51:24So they're both at this crossroads So they hang up the phone and discuss and at the end of that conversation, Hilton goes, Maybe you ought to read your mail.
- 51:33He knew Smile is like, he's trying to get his order expedited.
- 51:37He's also got this other ambush waiting for him in an envelope, another envelope getting nailed left and right.
- 51:45And uh, geez, he gets the memo.
- 51:49Well, first thing he does, he's like, Right, I gotta get this guy Smyth off my back.
- 51:54Goes talk to Bob the floor manager and he's like, Hey, get the expeditors on this Hilton Smyth thing.
- 52:01He's like, What about this thing about Herbie?
- 52:03Like, what is this?
- 52:04they haven't discussed this yet, but he is like, Okay, back to life.
- 52:08Back to reality.
- 52:09So he's gotta go back to work even though he's holding this solid gold that he learned on a Boy Scout hike.
- 52:15Yes.
- 52:16He's gotta grit his teeth and be like, You know what?
- 52:19Let's gotta wait.
- 52:20We gotta get this thing ordered.
- 52:22Get my button ringer.
- 52:23And then it's like, Oh crap.
- 52:25What's in the memo?
- 52:26What's in the box?
- 52:28So the memo, it pulls it out, it's an announcement.
- 52:32So this would be 1980s version of email blast.
- 52:36Right?
- 52:36It's announcement that he named Smith to a newly created position of division productivity manager.
- 52:42The appointment is effective at the end of this week.
- 52:44Basically, all the general managers of plants now report to Hilton Smy.
- 52:51It's rearranged the organizational structure and guess what?
- 52:55Hilton.
- 52:56Hilton has operational now has operational control of how every plant is run.
- 53:02And it's according to the numbers, right?
- 53:05According to productivity numbers only.
- 53:08Productivity numbers only based on productivity, only based on individual workstations.
- 53:14And he's like, Oh God, whatever chance I had to make some new arrangements.
- 53:20Go find Herbie, go take the skillet out of his backpack, whatever chance I had.
- 53:25Oh it's gonna be so much harder.
- 53:28This guy who name drops, uses ambushes.
- 53:31He's now in charge.
- 53:32And you know what, That happens .The lesson here is whatever I'll take care of your issue and I'm gonna work harder to go find her make this better.
- 53:41And in that moment, even though it's harder, and even though you're probably gonna get busted, you're probably gonna get in trouble now.
- 53:48But being brave, being courageous, being assertive, being the leader, being independent, those are masculine traits.
- 53:56. So we go back to like that's where we want our hero Alex to go.
- 54:01And he gets his crew, he starts to build a crew.
- 54:04And he is got some smart people that work with him.
- 54:07We already know Lou, the accountant.
- 54:09He's got the financials on Lock Bob, right?
- 54:11Operational leader out on the floors.
- 54:14Like superintendent works with all the workstations.
- 54:16Stacy Stacy's the head lead Expeditor who understands how the plant operates, but also understands productivity and what things are.
- 54:25So she's got, the numbers and she's probably classically trained.
- 54:29She probably has like a masters , right?
- 54:30In productivity tqm.
- 54:33Then you got Ralph Naam and he's got the data.
- 54:36He's got the access to the mainframe computer.
- 54:39So now we almost have all of the elements that we can study our operation with.
- 54:44This crack team of misfits guess what he does?
- 54:48Alex goes and he gets a big pad of paper and he starts drawing diagrams on the wall.
- 54:58And this, at this moment,, they're like, Okay, one, we gotta goal, we gotta ship out these parts to another plant for Hilton Smith.
- 55:08Two, we gotta go find Herbie.
- 55:10And so we're like, Stacy, you know, all the optimization stuff.
- 55:14Go find a machine that's not optimum.
- 55:17Bob, go find Herbie.
- 55:19So he explains the hike And then like Lou cool hand Lou, he's like, Nah, I don't buy this.
- 55:28I don't buy this and this my friends.
- 55:31Is why we need diversity.
- 55:33You have to have diverse sets of thought, diverse, and people being like, I know I'm buying into this BS man, just because you went on some hike.
- 55:43I don't know what chemicals that you ingested on your camping trip.
- 55:46He's like, uh, it's just that, Well, you said you figured this out by watching a bunch of kids hiking.
- 55:53Like always nay saying Lou, In fact, you have to have that.
- 55:57And the reason why, because not everybody's gonna buy into your situation.
- 56:01And so instead of being like, No, this is my way or the highway, which probably Alex could have done, but the reason why they set it up with him getting way laid by Hilton Smith, he's like, I'm not gonna repeat that with Lou.
- 56:15I could, I could pull rank and be like, Lou, this is what we're doing.
- 56:19This is the new way.
- 56:20Either you like it or it's too bad.
- 56:22Go look.
- 56:22There's a letter in your inbox by the way, , so you can take it up with Hilton.
- 56:27It's not my fault.
- 56:28. So he doesn't he stops that cycle of psychological damage cuz that's what it is.
- 56:33And he is like I got an idea.
- 56:36These robots, they got statistical fluctuations.
- 56:39It's one of the reasons why we got the dang robots.
- 56:42So we can have consistency cuz it runs, it doesn't sleep, it don't need food, it just needs electricity and grease and oil.
- 56:49So then Lou's like, Hmm, Bob, you gotta point there.
- 56:53So it's like, and so they're writing stuff, they're, you're drawing out diagrams on the wall and Alex is writing like, constraint dependent events.
- 57:02Statistical fluctuations.
- 57:04They start mapping the plant, they start mapping it out.
- 57:08Because when you draw that line, that shows logic of dependent events.
- 57:13Why do you think that is so important to do the visual thing?
- 57:17So there's two reasons for me.
- 57:20One is when we get, when we visualize it and put it out in front of us, somebody in that group of misfits has direct responsibility of that situation.
- 57:32And if we're talking about the situation, like you and I right now, we're on camera and I'm saying, Hey, that thing that you're doing, I'm pointing at you.
- 57:39And so the feeling is that you are the problem, but when we take it out of our head and put it up on the wall, you're not the problem.
- 57:47The problem is we're attacking the problem together.
- 57:50Now, side by side, able to see that.
- 57:53The other thing is now we can both verify that we're talking about the same damn thing.
- 57:59like, Nope, that's not where it is.
- 58:01It's, it's two steps forward.
- 58:02No, it's a step and a half back, whatever that situation is.
- 58:06But because it's visualized now, we are working towards gaining agreement on the problem.
- 58:12That thinking right there.
- 58:14Mr.
- 58:14David, verbal through many coaching sessions helped me understand, he's like, Jesse, a plan without agreement is a wish.
- 58:22What you need to do is get agreement on the problem first.
- 58:27like, Oh man, you, so you want me to work to solve this problem?
- 58:31I just wanted to give a solution.
- 58:33But visualizing is one of those methods to help gain agreement on the problem and make sure that we're isolating the problem as it is out, in the workspace, not within the individual.
- 58:46Yeah.
- 58:46And it takes the individual almost out of it.
- 58:49But yeah, the whole point of that is right, the steps out and if you're in a group setting, if someone doesn't buy that, that step happens after this step.
- 58:59They can see it and understand it and they can interject and be like, No, there's actually an intermediate.
- 59:05That actually happens here.
- 59:07Then that's their opportunity to explain it.
- 59:09And if that's correct, if that proves that, Yeah, you're right.
- 59:12And now I'm gonna draw that instead of from A to B, it's gonna go from A to a 0.2 then to B.
- 59:20So I'm gonna change my logic.
- 59:22So they do that they draw out basic steps of their facility.
- 59:27He wrote constraint dependent events, statistical fluctuation and the team they're like, I think it's the robot the Ncx 10.
- 59:36And they're like, Think about it the parts they have to pass through the robot, the robot can only handle 25 parts per batch, and then it goes through and mills it.
- 59:46I imagine it's like a eighties style CNC mill.
- 59:50You can't do 26, but if you do 24.
- 59:52You're not meeting the capacity.
- 59:54I'm gonna get busted by Hilton.
- 59:55I'm running it.
- 59:56Less than a hundred percent capacity.
- 59:58So if you only run 24, then one empty slot, you don't run.
- 1:00:03So you're actually gonna be slower than what that thing needs.
- 1:00:06Here's the thing, here's what they realize, that that robot, the setup piece, that's not by another robot, that's by a human being and it's by a set of human beings.
- 1:00:17So the setup is done by human beings who take breaks and work shifts.
- 1:00:24The other thing is that the parts that arrive in front of the machine, they don't come in sets of 25 always.
- 1:00:31Sometimes it comes in 12, sometimes it comes in 28.
- 1:00:35So it's like, what do we run?
- 1:00:36We run a batch of 12 and we run half batches, or we run a 25 and then at six, Or what?
- 1:00:41Like what are we doing here?
- 1:00:43So it's, you have all this fluctuation, all this variance, and all this variance is caused because the system, the entire system is not set up to give that machine what they assume is the bottleneck.
- 1:00:56Because that's, It's not optimized.
- 1:00:58It's not giving that machine what it needs every single time.
- 1:01:01So that's what they realized.
- 1:01:02They're like, Oh, damn, this thing that Bill Peach is all hot and bothered about marketing.
- 1:01:07People are all over it.
- 1:01:08So then it's in, and all these trade magazines that like, Unicos got the CX 10, they're like, Oh, damn.
- 1:01:15Like now this situation went from really bad to way worse because we're gonna have to optimize the robot.
- 1:01:22The thing that's entire purpose was to make the plant more productive.
- 1:01:27It's freaking Herbie.
- 1:01:29So the only thing that it can do is make things worse.
- 1:01:32That's the only thing you can do.
- 1:01:33If nothing else is fixed, The only thing that robot will do is continuously make stuff worse.
- 1:01:38And then even worse, a dang thing will break.
- 1:01:41Yes.
- 1:01:42And then you totally shut down.
- 1:01:44Um, if you've ever done anything with a drill rig drilling into the earth, there's one constant, It will break.
- 1:01:52Because drilling into the earth is incredibly rough on machines steel carbide and diesel, and it will break.
- 1:02:02And usually there's not enough money in the budget to have two.
- 1:02:06So the thing about a drill rigs just like the drill robot, gotta maintain it.
- 1:02:11You gotta take some of the load off of it Yes.
- 1:02:14To make sure that you don't run that thing so ragged it's gonna blow up.
- 1:02:17And then your whole drilling operation slows down or it stops.
- 1:02:21So I got a story about the drill rig situation we were pursuing this project that was like crazy, crazy timeline.
- 1:02:2924 hour shifts for, you know, whatever it was, six or seven months.
- 1:02:34It was a data center and the rub.
- 1:02:37So we stop calling it pull plan.
- 1:02:38Cuz the GC didn't like, ah, we don't believe in that lean junk.
- 1:02:42Like, okay, can we at least map out this process, the underground installation from drilling to roughing to pouring concrete?
- 1:02:50Let's just look at those steps because we knew that we would not be able to.
- 1:02:55The scheduled time that was dictated to us.
- 1:02:58Like, we can't do that.
- 1:03:00And they like, Well, you have to, you signed up for it.
- 1:03:02Like, Okay, we did sign up for it.
- 1:03:04I didn't sign it, but I'm telling you we're gonna start out the gate bad.
- 1:03:09So we got into it, they agreed to map the process out and I'm like, Look, the fact is these drill rigs will break.
- 1:03:18There's al there's a lot of downtime and I recognize that my schedule time, I have enough time to do my job if the drill rigs do not break.
- 1:03:28And they always do.
- 1:03:29Like, we all know this, so the sequence is not going to work.
- 1:03:34you're gonna compress me and I know I can't deliver that because of inspections.
- 1:03:38Like, the thing was the frequency and the response time of inspections was going to delay or impact, right?
- 1:03:45It was a day and a day and a day and a day and a day, and it took us four or five days out and like train wreck, I said, What if we go in there and Rock saw all of our ditches and backfill them and then they come in and start doing their drilling and like, Well, why would you do that?
- 1:04:02I'm like, Because that's where I'm gonna get held up if they're bust.
- 1:04:05, I can't dig.
- 1:04:06And my machinery to dig is way bigger.
- 1:04:10There's not enough space.
- 1:04:11We're just gonna have a whole lot of traffic.
- 1:04:13If I can get in there and saw, cut all of my ditches and backfill them and they break down, I can get a little mini excavator.
- 1:04:21I can get a little termite baby to, or hand dig the damn ditch cuz now it's powder and keep going with my roughing.
- 1:04:29And they're like, well you're gonna be responsible like it was, I'll rent steel plates to cover the ditches.
- 1:04:35Like whatever.
- 1:04:37They're not going to slow me down if you let us do this.
- 1:04:39And they did.
- 1:04:40And oh my God.
- 1:04:41It was a crazy idea, but it was glorious at the end of it because guess what?
- 1:04:45This stupid drill rig broke down a few times.
- 1:04:49They had to get one in.
- 1:04:50Oh, it's a big deal the drillers of the world.
- 1:04:53Like we salute you.
- 1:04:54Dude.
- 1:04:54Poor guys.
- 1:04:55That's some serious work.
- 1:04:57Our society is sitting on their work.
- 1:05:00Absolutely.
- 1:05:00A lot of it, if you've crossed a bridge if you've ever stayed, slept in this hotel, I have it's setting upon something that was drilled into the ground and it's not most appreciated work.
- 1:05:12That's a great story cuz it links perfectly with there's a little bet so Alex, he's like I got my, he's up my butt.
- 1:05:21Right.
- 1:05:21We gotta get these 200 sub assemblies out.
- 1:05:24This robot can only do 25 parts at a time.
- 1:05:27it's afternoon.
- 1:05:29This thing is four hours.
- 1:05:31We gotta get this, these parts on the truck and off so we gotta get cracking.
- 1:05:35So you guys make a hundred units and the robot make a hundred units.
- 1:05:41Right.
- 1:05:42But they have to give the robot parts, right?
- 1:05:45That's the whole point.
- 1:05:46So it's like, who's gonna win?
- 1:05:49Hey, the robot needs 25 parts an hour.
- 1:05:51Can you hit that?
- 1:05:52And they're like, Dude, we got this.
- 1:05:55We got it.
- 1:05:55He bets him 10 bucks.
- 1:05:58We don't get this order shipped out.
- 1:05:59He's like, You're betting against your own demise, Bob.
- 1:06:03That's what he bets Bob.
- 1:06:04He's like 10 bucks.
- 1:06:05I big some of money.
- 1:06:06Maybe a little more in the eighties, but he's like, I bet you 10 bucks we don't ship this order.
- 1:06:11But he calls Smith, he's like, Hey, we're gonna get this order out.
- 1:06:15He's like, You got it.
- 1:06:16So he is like, now the heat's on and they gotta get it out.
- 1:06:20So he asked one of Pete's people.
- 1:06:24He says, Keep track of your production every hour and keep it on this Just make a note and then I'll come around and I'll see our progress.
- 1:06:32So the first hour, and in the book, it's on page 1 32, , but the first hour between noon and, and one, these guys get 19 parts.
- 1:06:44Yep.
- 1:06:44It's good.
- 1:06:45I mean, they're on it.
- 1:06:45They're not worried cuz they're like, Hey we'll just ramp it up.
- 1:06:48We'll just start hitting it.
- 1:06:49So the first hour they give the machine 19 parts.
- 1:06:52The machine and the guys are going now.
- 1:06:55Second hour Pete's crew, 21 parts.
- 1:06:58It was an improvement from the previous hour.
- 1:07:00So at this point they're like, guys we're behind.
- 1:07:03We're not gonna make it.
- 1:07:05But this time Bob's like, Oh, we're gonna beat this robots, but we're gonna crush 'em, the robot, I guarantee you, is gonna be the constraint.
- 1:07:13I guarantee you the robot is the constraint.
- 1:07:15They mapped it out.
- 1:07:16Bob comes over third hour.
- 1:07:19So at this point they're only 10 behind, which is pretty close.
- 1:07:23Third hour, they crush at 28.
- 1:07:25they cut it.
- 1:07:26They're only seven pieces behind, but at this time, the robot has only processed a 19 batch, The second batch was 21.
- 1:07:36It's still behind by 10.
- 1:07:38So right now it's 68 parts to 40.
- 1:07:41Third hour.
- 1:07:42So they crushed it between three and 4 32.
- 1:07:45Yeah they've gotten efficiency and now they're ahead.
- 1:07:49They hit a hundred.
- 1:07:50Nailed it.
- 1:07:51They saw the finish line.
- 1:07:53But guys, last hour, if we hit 32, we beat the machine.
- 1:07:57Yes.
- 1:07:57They give the 32 4 o'clock hundred Bob's like, pay up bro.
- 1:08:04And the machine still has got one more hour to run, but it's 10 behind.
- 1:08:09Yeah, it's 10 behind and it can only do 25.
- 1:08:12Like literally they see the constraint in front of their eyes.
- 1:08:14They can't hurry the machine.
- 1:08:16There's 10 units sitting in front of this machine.
- 1:08:19Inventory.
- 1:08:20Yes.
- 1:08:21That's exactly where I was at.
- 1:08:22the inventory showed up and cluttered in front of the Herbie, the Ncx 10.
- 1:08:28And literally, they're like, Yeah there's no point we're done.
- 1:08:32And tell the truck to go.
- 1:08:34They're like, Do you wanna take the half order?
- 1:08:35And I'm like, No.
- 1:08:36I'll tell Hilton that He'll have it, have the dang thing in the first truck out in the morning.
- 1:08:40Like whatever.
- 1:08:41He got his order right.
- 1:08:43But that, proved that the Ncx 10.
- 1:08:46Was Herbie But they were all uncomfortable and squishy about it because this is the big machine.
- 1:08:52This thing has high precedence, high pecking order.
- 1:08:55But the moral there of 18, it's like, hey, they need to one, anticipate that their plan of hitting it on the dot Exactly at the right time this thing does 25 an hour.
- 1:09:06We got four hours.
- 1:09:07That's a hundred units.
- 1:09:09That's the order.
- 1:09:10We got it.
- 1:09:11Like we got it.
- 1:09:12But the first hour that gets 19.
- 1:09:14It was already done.
- 1:09:15So if you're doing this with tact, first hour 19, there's a flag and somebody pulls an and on probably when they've delivered those 19 units.
- 1:09:25That didn't fulfill my Kanban, and on like, and on, let me explain, is a signal that says, Hey, there's some kind of an issue.
- 1:09:32So if you're working to tact, meaning like if we're working to 25 parts an hour and I need 25 parts an hour for me to be fully optimized and I get 19, I'm gonna raise a flag right there.
- 1:09:43So if we're working on assumptions or historical data, being like, Hey, this thing does 25 an hour, if we just work the dang thing harder, if we're hopeful Or have the truck wait later delay the truck and that guy's, he's gotta go deliver and then go home.
- 1:09:59Like now you're screwing around with people's lives.
- 1:10:02if we start creating little micro delays, we have to raise those flags right then and there.
- 1:10:09So I have a story that when this happened, that's why I picked this photograph behind me this is a vertical building.
- 1:10:16It's a 2028 floor.
- 1:10:20Building.
- 1:10:20In San Francisco it's on second.
- 1:10:22And Howard, it's the headquarters of LinkedIn if you're into that kind of thing.
- 1:10:26But you'll see behind me, this is Herby.
- 1:10:29let me introduce you.
- 1:10:30. This guy and this guy they iron workers.
- 1:10:34Remember I was telling the story about we figured out a cycle time for welding Yes.
- 1:10:39And concrete.
- 1:10:40Like we, we figured out that sequence.
- 1:10:42We did not in that sequence, in that planning, we failed to find Herbie.
- 1:10:49This is probably 200 plus feet in the air right here.
- 1:10:53The problem with building in high places is you need to access them . And you can't just levitate we can access them from a hoist.
- 1:11:00And it's not legal either, but the problem with accessing with a mechanical device is if that breaks, then your access is ruined.
- 1:11:07And if someone gets seriously hurt or injured or has a medical condition or just wants to go home, traditionally we would build some kind of a job built ladder here.
- 1:11:17You've probably gone up and down those a million times.
- 1:11:19Oh yeah.
- 1:11:20Right.
- 1:11:20But but we were like, we don't wanna use ladders.
- 1:11:24Why don't we use these steel stairs?
- 1:11:27And they're not the kind you fill with concrete.
- 1:11:29They pan stairs, so they're, as soon as you install them and put a handrail up, you're ready to go.
- 1:11:35They're stairs.
- 1:11:36So Herbie was not the stairs themselves being delivered.
- 1:11:41It was the time it takes to get 'em up there, get 'em aligned, get 'em welded, you know get things in place.
- 1:11:49It's not the greatest work.
- 1:11:50I mean, you see these two gentlemen here?
- 1:11:53They're being tied off.
- 1:11:54You're not, fully able to move freely.
- 1:11:57So you move slower than if you weren't encumbered with that.
- 1:12:01The problem is they don't have multiple crews.
- 1:12:03It's one crew that installs the stairs, they do the erection, they do the bolting and they do the welding and they do the cables and they release them to other workers.
- 1:12:13Plus they have to get all their inspections.
- 1:12:14So it's not like we can just add more herpes.
- 1:12:18Nope.
- 1:12:19We can't add more any iron workers because if we add more iron workers on these sets of stairs, they will rain, welding sl down upon themselves.
- 1:12:27Just like we added some netting to catch the SL from the structural steel weld.
- 1:12:33Same thing here.
- 1:12:35So that's dangerous.
- 1:12:36That can't be the solution.
- 1:12:38So what was the solution?
- 1:12:39? We had to figure that out.
- 1:12:41And we had to accept that yes, our limitation of continuously growing the structure higher was not the hoist, not the crane.
- 1:12:51That was our first assumption in my first story.
- 1:12:54. That only worked until we ran outta stairs.
- 1:12:57And the reason why we ran outta stairs was because the, this opening, they needed the landing to be feel concrete.
- 1:13:06Because they needed to get it set, right?
- 1:13:08And we're like, I don't know if that's the right assumption.
- 1:13:11Is that the right thing?
- 1:13:12And then the second assumption was, well, you can't have the stairs sitting on the slab on metal deck like that's around here until we pour the concrete.
- 1:13:21Like it's in the dang way.
- 1:13:22This is the concrete guys telling me, and this was once we realized the stairs was the constraint and we didn't blame the stair people great workers they were highly productive.
- 1:13:31They were very skilled.
- 1:13:32They did a great job on this project.
- 1:13:34I took this photo, I took this photo studying them.
- 1:13:38I was actually like trying to understand the steps and doing the same thing I did with the iron workers and the concrete crews and all the MEP trades that did all their inserts.
- 1:13:49But now I was like, we have to change the way we looked and we had to accept that and not blame Olson.
- 1:13:56We didn't blame them at all.
- 1:13:57In fact, we were like, Let's figure this out.
- 1:14:00So the first thing was like, we need to resolve this issue with delivering the stairs.
- 1:14:05So that's a manufacturing problem.
- 1:14:07I gotta call Olson's shop and be like, Hey, where's our stairs at?
- 1:14:10And they're like, They're all here lined up.
- 1:14:11Here's a photo, bro.
- 1:14:13So I'm like, Okay, that's not a problem.
- 1:14:14It's a delivery issue now.
- 1:14:16Okay, that's mine.
- 1:14:18I can't control this delivery issue.
- 1:14:20So the second problem was, hey, when the stairs are laying on the deck, it's in the way of the concrete finishing.
- 1:14:26Then we gotta send the concrete crew back.
- 1:14:28Like that's just a bad idea.
- 1:14:30So, you know what the solution that we came up with I don't know if you can see it in this device, but they have this thing, It's a chain fall.
- 1:14:37This chain fall device if you use several of them, you can suspend during a concrete pour safely in the air a high where you're placing the concrete Nice.
- 1:14:49And hold it in that place.
- 1:14:50And we secured it.
- 1:14:51We didn't just use the chain fall we used a couple methods and we made sure it was safe and wasn't falling and no one went under it.
- 1:14:58But we had to finish under it.
- 1:15:00But it was secured off and it was suspended from the air.
- 1:15:04That removed that issue, it removed the issue of, Hey, it's access.
- 1:15:09now, once the concrete is placed and again, it's not hanging over the concrete, it's just hanging over where the stair goes.
- 1:15:16You lower this piece down, and then there's another section where this gentleman's standing.
- 1:15:21The other section is above him that's being lowered from the floor above.
- 1:15:25And that'll go fit in this section right here.
- 1:15:27And that's how stairs are erected.
- 1:15:28And we figured that out about halfway through we resolved another Herbie they're starting to put a hand on Herbie's back, the new Herby concrete.
- 1:15:38Yeah.
- 1:15:38And I'll save that story for the next time.
- 1:15:41I guess you're a marathon runner.
- 1:15:43Yeah.
- 1:15:43So sometimes it helps if you're getting gas, if you have somebody who's running at the same pace.
- 1:15:49So if you have someone, in this instance where you have a productivity.
- 1:15:54They're slow and now they picked back up and they just little, little tap on the back being like, Hey Olson, we're gonna catch up.
- 1:16:03We caught up and now we're giving everyone access very saved off.
- 1:16:08We got cables.
- 1:16:09Like it's way better access than any kind of job built ladder.
- 1:16:13I don't care how fancy it is with gates get it out.
- 1:16:16You can't do this.
- 1:16:18Do scaffolding stairs.
- 1:16:19As a trade worker, you can't appreciate that, that you can, yes, you can use the hoist to get up to the floor, but if you need to work from floor to floor, it's really nice to just shoot down the stairs.
- 1:16:30Plus it's a means of egress in an event of an emergency and it's just better on overall morale.
- 1:16:36Go back to Dr.
- 1:16:37Gold.
- 1:16:37It can't exceed demand.
- 1:16:40That capacity, it should always meet the demand.
- 1:16:43And he actually gives, there's nine more rules they're called bottleneck rules, but we'll talk about that next time, chapter 19.
- 1:16:51But he basically says , if you have a known capacity, we do a floor based upon our productivity rates, based upon a whole bunch of historical data based, based upon our weekly work plan that, we sign off and commit to every single week.
- 1:17:05We know pretty predictably where we're gonna be from week to week.
- 1:17:09And now we find issues and then we start resolving those issues.
- 1:17:14Your capacity will now increase. The trick is don't rest.
- 1:17:19Go look for Herbie.
- 1:17:20He's gonna be around herpes out there for sure.
- 1:17:23He just had different hard hats.
- 1:17:25Yes.
- 1:17:26And the new Herbie will be spoiler alert and will be concrete fill on metal.
- 1:17:30Also amazing crew.
- 1:17:32Now they saw it, they're like, Oh, they see it, they're experiencing it.
- 1:17:35All of the stuff, This has an organizing effect on a whole organization of people.
- 1:17:40] it doesn't matter what trade you're at, when you start to see this organization start to happen, and maybe you've experienced this.
- 1:17:46Oh yeah.
- 1:17:46You start to be like these guys got it.
- 1:17:49Yes.
- 1:17:49These guys are getting it.
- 1:17:51And it wasn't magic.
- 1:17:52Nope.
- 1:17:53We were figuring this out, out on our own.
- 1:17:55We did have some third party help.
- 1:17:56I will say we did . There might have been some uc, Berkeley influence coming in.
- 1:18:01But that was later.
- 1:18:02That was actually later.
- 1:18:03This initial optimization we figured out with last planner, last planner system wasn't perfect.
- 1:18:10Wasn't by the book at all.
- 1:18:11that added with optimization, meaning when I was taking this photo, we would actually watch production happen.
- 1:18:17Then we'd compare notes and based upon the notes, we would make decisions.
- 1:18:22. We didn't go back and look at the P six schedule.
- 1:18:25That was part of the decision making process.
- 1:18:27I'm not saying we threw the thing out, but we definitely used this data That was the means to make the update..
- 1:18:34We didn't sit there and have to explain our way around the situation.
- 1:18:39We still weren't like high fiving each other about getting a hit on the schedule.
- 1:18:43We were high fiving each other because the job was getting easier.
- 1:18:46Yes.
- 1:18:47We were having fun and getting along and it wasn't perfect.
- 1:18:50I'm not gonna say this was like hunky dory and there was rainbows on the other side of mission, but along, we got along really well.
- 1:18:58And how do I know that?
- 1:18:59Because I still feel very strongly for the people that, on that project, that work there and including this Olson steel stair crew, and they just knocked it out.
- 1:19:09They were just, they're great.
- 1:19:11Super safe.
- 1:19:12And when they were Kirby, we didn't blame them.
- 1:19:15We didn't send them delay letters.
- 1:19:17We called, we did do some due diligence.
- 1:19:20We called their fab and said, Hey, what's this situation on the fabrication?
- 1:19:26And then once we got past that situation based on a really great relationship that we had it was like, Okay let's go find a solution.
- 1:19:36And the solution was right in front of our face.
- 1:19:38And all those ideas came from conversations just like the misfit crew.
- 1:19:43? Even in the face of getting yelled at by their boss, even with the home issues that he's got faced with.
- 1:19:49He had every right to just be . With his coworkers, with his boss.
- 1:19:55But he said, I'm gonna work on that.
- 1:19:58But right now the situation says, Let's get Hilton Splice order out.
- 1:20:03Cuz that's the situation.
- 1:20:05But also let's simulate our theory in the meantime.
- 1:20:10So we can do both.
- 1:20:11We're gonna get Hilton's order out on time or way better than we've ever performed.
- 1:20:17So we'll look good there.
- 1:20:19And then two, we're also gonna learn from this process this theory of constraints that we're trying to figure out and we're gonna go find a Herbie and we assume the Herbie is the Ncx 10 robot.
- 1:20:32And then we got the data guy there crunching the numbers, being like, Hey, you're not gonna make it and here's why.
- 1:20:38And all of a sudden they're like, now they're faced with the brutal facts and they're.
- 1:20:42Damn this has more weight to it, so I'll, I'm gonna leave it at that.
- 1:20:47Yes.
- 1:20:48Love it.
- 1:20:48Has that ever happened to you having the organizational effect from other trades, like seeping into your own work?
- 1:20:56Totally.
- 1:20:57I like the way you mentioned the morale, and that's kind of the most significant experience I've had of where we're working.
- 1:21:04And you know, I was totally local optimization for a very long time, and we're smoking everybody, and all of a sudden I could see like, Oh, oh, these dudes are catching up.
- 1:21:14And I'm like, Whoa, wait a minute.
- 1:21:16But because of the way the morale was that way, the gc, the superintendent on that project was very good about, Hey, this is what's happening.
- 1:21:25These guys are getting ahead.
- 1:21:26What are you gonna do?
- 1:21:27They're catching up to you what can we do?
- 1:21:29It was never a dictatorial.
- 1:21:31He would share his observations about what was going on and fig like, Hey Jess, you're working a bunch of overtime.
- 1:21:36I'm gonna ask you to stop because you're creating problems and you don't need to work all this overtime.
- 1:21:42And like, Yeah, yeah, yeah, but we gotta get done and my guys want overtime and, you know, whatever.
- 1:21:45And he finally like, Jesse, no, you need to stop.
- 1:21:48I'm not approving your overtime.
- 1:21:49I am not gonna be here Saturday.
- 1:21:51You're not gonna be here past three 30 because you're getting too far ahead.
- 1:21:55So he would do things and I'm like, Man, why are you doing that?
- 1:21:57And the guys were like, Jess, that's fine.
- 1:21:59Like we won a weekend.
- 1:22:01And all of a sudden I could see ah, okay, now I need to amp it up.
- 1:22:03I need to catch up, or we need to switch some things.
- 1:22:06Significant thing he did and what you've described that you did was, he never told me how many people I needed to have or like any of that.
- 1:22:15What he did was he said, Hey man, I've been watching.
- 1:22:17I can see this is what's happening over here with the framers.
- 1:22:19We got the mezzanine going up.
- 1:22:22What's your plan there?
- 1:22:23I see all struggling.
- 1:22:24What if you tried this so that we can get the air handler units and pieces, get 'em all this, you know, just helping us problem solve, and that's like the one time, there might be two other times in my career, . And the difference was he never said, You need more people.
- 1:22:41What he did was we always approached how we were doing the work.
- 1:22:46How are you going to do that?
- 1:22:48How is what you're doing affecting everything?
- 1:22:51At that point, In my thinking , it wasn't clear to me, it was just, he was just magical, right?
- 1:22:56The way he operated.
- 1:22:58But looking back, it was like, that's what he was doing.
- 1:23:01And it was very different than the traditional style of, you need more people, you need more people, and you need to work more hours.
- 1:23:10Cuz that was always the only answer.
- 1:23:12And now I understand like, oh, okay, so you're gonna make us throw more people and work more hours.
- 1:23:19When really what that means is we're going to do more waste faster.
- 1:23:24Let's look at the process, let's adjust the process like, yeah, I agree, we should add more people, but let's look at all these bottlenecks that we have and let's do something about those before we add the damn people.
- 1:23:37And that's a hard thing people get excited, right?
- 1:23:39They learn last planner, they get introduced to lean and they think it's just gonna happen.
- 1:23:43Like, no, it takes study and observation and experimentation to get there.
- 1:23:49And clearly you understood that.
- 1:23:51Yeah we did that, we're not hitting our numbers.
- 1:23:55That we're committing to what's up with that?
- 1:23:58What's up with that question?
- 1:23:59It's not a closed question.
- 1:24:01You are stair installer, foreman are behind.
- 1:24:05You need to work every Saturday and Sunday and possibly added on the shift.
- 1:24:10But in lieu of that it sounds like you had a very similar conversation and it's universal.
- 1:24:15It happened probably at the same time in Texas.
- 1:24:18I'm in California.
- 1:24:19We're having the same conversation and really that's how it works.
- 1:24:22Take notes, keep score.
- 1:24:25Be open and honest about it.
- 1:24:27And then when you see a problem, don't blame the crew working.
- 1:24:31They're working hard.
- 1:24:33They're skilled crafts people.
- 1:24:35It's not their problem.
- 1:24:36it's Thomas's problem in this thing.
- 1:24:39And guess what Thomas is Thomas me.
- 1:24:42I was like, Okay, now I'm gonna, I'm gonna check my ego and I'm be like, What's the solution out of this?
- 1:24:49And I couldn't do it by myself.
- 1:24:50No.
- 1:24:51I had to call Jay at the shop.
- 1:24:53I had to talk to the foreman and be like, Hey, what's your idea on this?
- 1:24:57I had to go talk to the concrete crew, get their permission because hey, there's this gonna be a stair suspended over an opening.
- 1:25:05Are you okay with this?
- 1:25:06I had to get permission from our safety department to do that.
- 1:25:09They added all kinds of stuff to make sure that things gonna be secured.
- 1:25:14Like I got all that squared away.
- 1:25:16We did in inspection on it.
- 1:25:18We did a whole bunch of validation on it.
- 1:25:20We had a couple contingency plans like, Hey, what happens if the stairs get behind.
- 1:25:25So we had these plans in place.
- 1:25:28Just in case we got out of sequence.
- 1:25:31And if you're Jason Stro.
- 1:25:33If you're planning that tight, this is where you add in those time buffers.
- 1:25:37And then when you need the contingency plan, you burn a time buffer.
- 1:25:41That way you don't get outta tact.
- 1:25:42I was learning that the hard way.
- 1:25:44Firsthand.
- 1:25:46In lieu of learning it in a book.
- 1:25:47But I was also reading chapter 18 when I took this photograph probably very close in time.
- 1:25:54I found that, hey, this is a situation that it's in our power to resolve.
- 1:26:00In fact, this is the kind of problem solving that is looked at as like super positive.
- 1:26:05This is what we want people to think.
- 1:26:07You can't teach that.
- 1:26:08You can't, you can only show people the way.
- 1:26:12And I found that this is the way, and I'm really wanting to share that with the people listening that at this moment and in this time when I took this photograph and when I read this chapter, had these conversations made some decisions.
- 1:26:27I was in a position of authorities so I could actually make these decisions too.
- 1:26:31That's another key factor.
- 1:26:33The key.
- 1:26:34So key, the structural area superintendent in charge of this area.
- 1:26:39Could only bring this up to me.
- 1:26:41And I wasn't even fully agency.
- 1:26:43Like I had to get permission from beyond me to get to do this kind of stuff.
- 1:26:47But we figured it out.
- 1:26:48We made it happen, and, uh, we were better for it.
- 1:26:52But there was always a lou cool hand, Lou being like, eh, you know, instead of just on the chain fall, can we actually have like a physical restraint that doesn't reverse?
- 1:27:04Yeah.
- 1:27:05Let me go talk to the crew and be like, there's other things.
- 1:27:09And we came up with a plan.
- 1:27:11We went out and executed that plan.
- 1:27:14This new concept, have you heard of this?
- 1:27:16It's called the UDA loop I have heard of.
- 1:27:19Yes.
- 1:27:20The UDA loop, it comes from the Air Force.
- 1:27:23So aim high.
- 1:27:24It's a Colonel John Boyd, and it's very important because in an Air Force situation, especially in an aircraft you have to make super fast decisions almost instantly and be trained for that, right?
- 1:27:36So, UD uda, O Oda.
- 1:27:39First O is observation, you have to observe, you have to understand the unfolding circumstances.
- 1:27:45You have to understand the outside information.
- 1:27:48You have to understand what's happening in your environment.
- 1:27:51You only way to do that is observe.
- 1:27:54Second thing is orient.
- 1:27:55So I gotta go talk to the fab shop.
- 1:27:59I gotta talk to the concrete crew.
- 1:28:00I have to talk to the steel directors.
- 1:28:02I have to talk to the steer crew.
- 1:28:03I gotta talk to my safety department.
- 1:28:05I gotta talk to a project manager.
- 1:28:07I gotta talk to the general super.
- 1:28:09I gotta talk to US manager.
- 1:28:10I have to get all of this clearance.
- 1:28:12To get stuff oriented.
- 1:28:15And be like, okay we got this plan, these are the steps.
- 1:28:18What's wrong with the plan?
- 1:28:20And then you decide.
- 1:28:22Once you have that kind of package together, you make a decision and that decision does a couple things.
- 1:28:28You can either move forward and say, Yeah, go to feedback, feedback to your, either your orientation or you go even go back, Gotta go back and observe more.
- 1:28:37You get some kind of feedback and so it's a loop.
- 1:28:41And that decision, you only move to act the A.
- 1:28:45So O O D A, when you move to act.
- 1:28:49You have to make a decision.
- 1:28:50And that decision is based upon how you oriented and how you oriented it is based on observation.
- 1:28:56Your observation.
- 1:28:57So they train in this loop.
- 1:28:59And now I try to bring that into, every situation, observe, orient, decide feedback.
- 1:29:07If the decision is no, right?
- 1:29:09It's never just, no, it's no, but.
- 1:29:11And then act.
- 1:29:12Immediately.
- 1:29:13Immediately act.
- 1:29:15There's no waiting.
- 1:29:16There's no observe, orient, hesitate, , right?
- 1:29:19There's no observe get scared, run away.
- 1:29:23So if you're in a very serious situation, ulu, it's just a little mind trick.
- 1:29:29But you can actually follow these steps in any process, any decision making process.
- 1:29:35So I'm gonna stop with that, but what's your thoughts on this chapter?
- 1:29:39Lots of good nuggets and especially your experience and like the uda loop.
- 1:29:45Observe, orient, decide, act.
- 1:29:47I'm usually the side act and then like, Oh, crap, I should have observed a little bit.
- 1:29:52So that gets me in trouble, but my observation of working with a lot of people in our industry is they never get to decide and act.
- 1:30:00They're observing and orienting and complaining the whole.
- 1:30:03And they're observing from the trailer.
- 1:30:06Sorry bro, that's not what we mean.
- 1:30:09Get out there and get boots and see what the hell's actually happening.
- 1:30:15Because if you're just asking people to report the situation, and Adam hoots, on my interview with him, he shares this example a lot when he was doing last planner, he was having a problem he couldn't understand what the hell was going on between the plumber and the framer.
- 1:30:29And he was frustrating him until he went to see what the, and he is like, Oh, because if we count, and I've done this, if I'm dependent on people's report of the situation, there's bias in the report.
- 1:30:43And if I'm making decision on that, like it's not gonna be the best decision.
- 1:30:47I've gotta go and see it for myself to say, Ah, okay, now I understand what you're saying and what you're saying, and here's the relationship.
- 1:30:55What if we do xyz?
- 1:30:56Right?
- 1:30:57That's the orientation part.
- 1:30:59Again, I think the one thing people take away from this little banter is, don't observe from the trailer.
- 1:31:05.
- 1:31:05Go out there, see it, decide and act.
- 1:31:08There's another book by Annie Duke, Thinking and Bets.
- 1:31:12Really good book.
- 1:31:13And it talks about the difference or dynamic between making the rightest decision based on all the information you had in hand.
- 1:31:21That's a good thing.
- 1:31:22That does not guarantee an outcome.
- 1:31:25And if the outcome is not in your favor, it's not because you made a bad decision, it's because the outcome's.
- 1:31:31An outcome, . And often those people that get stuck in the observe and orient, they're trying to mitigate every single risk to guarantee a particular outcome.
- 1:31:42But life, so the outcome is not always gonna be perfect.
- 1:31:46So decide and act and then repeat.
- 1:31:49That's why it's UDA loop.
- 1:31:51Thank you for that was a great assessment of it.
- 1:31:55And that's kind of the piece that I wanted to say and you highlighted it.
- 1:31:59When you get to decide you have to have an agency to make a decision.
- 1:32:03And everybody's like, you gotta take ownership of all this stuff.
- 1:32:06Like you don't have ownership of everything.
- 1:32:08Every aspect of everything.
- 1:32:10But you can bring this orientation, if you can take ownership of that.
- 1:32:17And say, I've exhausted every remedy I've packaged this whole thing up and I can no longer elevate this constraint any longer.
- 1:32:26I have to elevate it beyond my agency, beyond my roles and responsibilities.
- 1:32:32And from there, the ownership piece for you and me is if the feedback is, No, you have to accept that.
- 1:32:40Because oftentimes the feedback will be no.
- 1:32:42And there's sometimes there's good reasons for the no.
- 1:32:45Sometimes people are just like, Go away.
- 1:32:48Your problem isn't big enough for me.
- 1:32:49But don't fret on that., go back to observe.
- 1:32:53Observe some more.
- 1:32:54Perhaps your observation was flawed or the way that you packaged your issue and the way you elevated it wasn't at the right time.
- 1:33:03The mood wasn't right.
- 1:33:05Somebody was annoyed and said, Get outta here, Thomas, for the 50,000 times today.
- 1:33:10So that orientation piece, when you feed it forward into your decision it's gotta be pretty complete.
- 1:33:16And you have to consider culture, right.
- 1:33:19You have to consider how it's gonna be analyzed, and you have to do this rapidly.
- 1:33:24So, if your plan is incomplete, oftentimes you'll get the feedback of no what I learned in this incident that planning, that orientation part is sometimes exhausting and sometimes you're not completely successful on the first try.
- 1:33:38But Try again.
- 1:33:40Don't be crushed.
- 1:33:41Because the benefit is build morale, build relationships, build trust.
- 1:33:46People are generally happy at work.
- 1:33:50and what that builds upon is people's mental state . Their care for each other.
- 1:33:56That just has such a resounding effect.
- 1:33:59I'm gonna leave it at that.
- 1:34:01Mm.
- 1:34:01Did I not tell you I think it's the combination of Thomas' intellect and flexibility to share the stage with me and his like real concern for humans, like for people he really, really cares.
- 1:34:16That comes through every time I talk to him.
- 1:34:19Uh, he and I, you know, we both operated differently years ago and, and we have seen the light.
- 1:34:26Y'all gotta hit up Thomas.
- 1:34:27If y'all are on the LinkedIn, you need to follow him.
- 1:34:29That dude's gotta going on.
- 1:34:30And time for the LnM Family member.
- 1:34:33Shout out.
- 1:34:34We got some feedback.
- 1:34:36We received a review on the Apple thing.
- 1:34:39Boom, boom, boom.
- 1:34:41LF team, LF team says, Jesse is one of a kind leader who understands the work that is done every day on the job site where he differs from others is heart for people.
- 1:34:54There's no other leader that values others quite like this.
- 1:34:58Be ready to be challenged and to be motivated to grow in each podcast.
- 1:35:02I'm sorry, LF team.
- 1:35:03I giggle a little bit because it's kind of uncomfortable to, to read those, that kind of stuff about me.
- 1:35:08I really appreciate that my heart comes through and that you're picking up on it, and particularly that you took the time to put some meaningful words, into the app thing and, and LnM Family.
- 1:35:19I'm always grateful for all the feedback.
- 1:35:22Your comments on the socials, the likes, the shares, the reposts, Aaron Gibson, you'd be reposting like crazy, bro.
- 1:35:28I love it.
- 1:35:29So y'all keep it going.
- 1:35:30End of the years coming.
- 1:35:32Be kind to yourself.
- 1:35:33Take care of you.
- 1:35:34Take care of your people.
- 1:35:36Be cool, and we'll talk at you next time.
- 1:35:38Peace.
- 1:35:43Oh my goodness.
- 1:35:44You're either driving down the road or just so enthralled with, uh, with this whole podcast that you went all the way down to the very, very, very, very end of it.
- 1:35:54And we appreciate you and just, we're going to take this as an indication of your dedication so we got a little special request of you, a call to action, because everybody tells us that like, you need to have a call to action.
- 1:36:07So here's the call to action.
- 1:36:10Be kind to yourself, go out there and share a smile with someone