Schedule for Sale: WorkFace Planning for Construction Projects

Geoff Ryan, P.M.P.
AuthorHouse (2009)
ISBN 9781449041960
Reviewed by Olivera Baumgartner-Jackson for Reader Views

The three main factors for each construction project - and actually, for any kind of a project - are quality, cost and time, or as  Mr. Ryan calls it in his book, the Schedule (productivity). If you’ve ever been involved in any construction or renovation, you will have to smile when reading the wonderful little example from the introduction to the book:

“A Plumber once summed it up for me by telling me that I could have a project:
Good and Fast, but it won’t be Cheap.
Or Good and Cheap, but it won’t be Fast.
Or Fast and Cheap, but it won’t be Good.”

The author then argues that it is possible to have a project done good, fast and cheap, as long as one focuses on good and fast. This can be achieved by using the WorkFace Planning process, which has been identified as a best practice amongst constructors by the Construction Owners Association of Alberta (COAA) in 2005.

The book guides the readers through the Basic Principles of WorkFace Planning process and provides them with a comprehensive section on Resources. Those two introductory sections are followed by a section on Information Streams, which introduces the structure of information required to support the Resources and help the WorkFace Planners achieve their goals.  The last section introduces Total Information Management, with the emphasis on understanding of the process and a glimpse into the WorkFace Planning Software, as well as an interesting “excursion into the future.” For anybody who thinks that everything described in the book sounds impossible, the author concludes his work by an interesting fact that in Uganda it takes 99 people to produce the equivalent of what one person can produce in Canada, a fact that I found both fascinating and chilling.

Although “Schedule for Sale” by Geoff Ryan seemed to be geared more towards major projects, I have no doubt that reading it and familiarizing oneself with the basic principles and execution of such plans would prove to be beneficial to managers in construction on any level of projects. The book is written in an accessible, no-nonsense style and offers a valuable insight into a well-designed system of project management for construction projects.

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