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GEMBA KAIZEN, A COMMON SENSE, LOW-COST APPROACH TO MANAGEMENT - BY MASAAKI IMAI As the name suggests the book advocates spending time at Gemba (the workplace) to see what is really happening and to get a clear understanding of what is affecting the value adding activity. What it doesnt suggest is that this book is about lean or by any other name, continuous improvment, so dont be put off by the title. I like it because it emphasises the need to go to the workplace and look at what is actualy going on, which is a real must in my view for our construction managers who seem to spend less and less time at Gemba due to an overburdening with time consuming and potentially non value adding administration. I really like this book, because it covers in detail and explains very eloquently the philosophy behind many of the classic lean tools and techniques such as: Standard Working, Managing Quality, Cost & Delivery, 5S Workplace Organization, Visual Management, 7 Wastes and Just in Time. And in the back of the book, you will find some really good case study examples which outline the approach taken in several companies to deliver a lean transformation. Finally, there is lots of good stuff about change and leadership and creating a learning environment to support improvement activity, indeed the quote that sticks in my mind is 'training is for cats and dogs - people learn'. So in summary, not written for construction, but very comprehensive and explains the subject extremely well.

CRITICAL CHAIN, APPLYING THEORY OF CONSTRAINTS TO PROJECT MANAGEMEN BY ELIHAYU M. GOLDRATT. Ok! this simply has to be one of the most influential and possibly least known books on the subject of effective project management techniques. It will expose you to some not so radical concepts (common sense) such as activity buffer removal, constraints management and time reduction techniques and an easy to follow project management mantra: - Identify the constraint. - Exploit it by scheduling the sequence of work to make sure the constraint (or bottleneck process) is running full time. - Subordinate all other processes to it, providing buffer as needed to keep the constraint running at maximum capacity. - Elevate the constraint, by increasing its capacity. - Add resources in ways that shorten the critical chain; improve processes along it. - Repeat, since if you're successful, a new constraint will appear - This is the opportunity for continuous improvement. Alternatively, take a look at the Bigfish Collaborative Planning Teachpoint, which applies many of these simple but effective concepts to a real situation. Happy reading One last thing. did you hear of the US project manager who protected his critical path activities by encouraging all operatives on the critical path to wear coloured helmets (say bright red) - these then had priority over all other 'non critical' activities, such as material movement, information priority etc etc - to paraphrase Goldratt a week lost at a critical activity is a week lost on the project and for everyone, whilst a week gained on a non critical activity is just an illusion.