Experience Files

If you're someone who is a current client of mine, I'm sure you're familiar with me constantly harping on the concept of doing post mortems on the completed projects regarding the entire process. If you're new here, I'll explain briefly why you should be reviewing your projects upon completion.

In a 1948 speech to the house of commons, Winston Churchill said, "Those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it."

Only with a review of your projects will you uncover the failures & the successes of each projects. Ultimately, something is always learned from each project. Maybe having the crew leader meet with the adjuster to discuss scope of work for the mitigation led to a more agreed upon scope than having the stuffy collared-shirt wearing estimator meet with the adjuster.

Maybe the consumables used on a project was more than quoted. It's a good idea to figure out was it an estimating error, was it a situation where production excessively burned through suits & gloves. Maybe you switched suppliers & got defective products. Either way, you may not ever be aware of what the issue is without a review & discussion. Maybe the suits that are 50% the cost of the suits you normally provide rip at more than 2x the rate of the normal suits.

Maybe you'll realize that the 15 fans & 3 dehumidifiers placed on the project, was 5 fans too few, and 1 dehumidifier too many on the project.

Maybe reviewing the atmosphere report that it took the technicians 2 days of drying to reach the overnight drying goal.

Maybe you'll see that you could have placed air filtration on the project, as there was a qualifying situation on the project.

Perhaps you'll learn where your crew leaders strengths & weaknesses are so that you know where to focus ongoing training.

Perhaps the client wasn't "crazy as hell". Instead perhaps they were just frustrated to sit at the house all day waiting for your crew to show up, because no one gave an approximate arrival time.

Maybe the crew leaders never set expectations for the project regarding the timeline and acceptable results? How many of you have had the conversation on the 2nd day of drying, "Everything looks dry, why are you still running these noisy fans". Perhaps having a conversation upfront that moisture content of material has very little to no bearing on physical appearance of the material would have prevented this confrontation.

How about the times where the customer complains the 2nd day that the house smells moldy, and you've obviously not doing something right. Maybe on the first day had you discussed the idea of wet materials off-gassing, and that that smell will pass as the materials dry, they wouldn't look at you like you're scamming them.

I'm just saying, you should be reviewing the revenue vs job cost, your successes vs failures, and unlock a repeatable process where failure is less common & success is the norm. How can you not love the wisdom of Dilbert?