Written by Whitni Mungin
Four project management lessons learned from the Kindred Project.
I am going to share an honest review of my time on this project and the lessons learned in hopes of helping other project managers.
Recently, I was the on-site site project manager for a small commercial kitchen renovation at 103-bed transitional care Kindred Hospital Lakeshore in Chicago, Illinois, which is managed by Jones Lang Lasalle, the largest real estate management company in the world. The project was simple in scope: demolition and replacement of an existing acoustic tile ceiling and light fixtures. This was an opportunity for me to put my project management practices to the test in a new setting with many stakeholders. My goals in any project are to communicate clearly and deliver in the triple[NG2] constraints (time, scope and budget).
Below are four lessons I learned throughout the Kindred project.
Recently, I was the on-site site project manager for a small commercial kitchen renovation at 103-bed transitional care Kindred Hospital Lakeshore in Chicago, Illinois, which is managed by Jones Lang Lasalle, the largest real estate management company in the world. The project was simple in scope: demolition and replacement of an existing acoustic tile ceiling and light fixtures. This was an opportunity for me to put my project management practices to the test in a new setting with many stakeholders. My goals in any project are to communicate clearly and deliver in the triple[NG2] constraints (time, scope and budget).
Below are four lessons I learned throughout the Kindred project.
Day 1, Assess the Site Conditions and Expect the Unexpected
As a project manager, you must not only assess the conditions of the site and materials, but you must also know all the stakeholders involved in your project both on- and off-site. I spent the first day learning about the team, which included my director, the architect, the owner's on-site project manager, the owner’s facilities staff, and our subs. I also had to understand what off-site stakeholders influenced the on-site crew. Next was assessing the site conditions and delivered materials. Our first surprise was an already demoed ceiling. My second surprise, which was not revealed until later, was a misalignment in the expectation of the new materials, which were on sight 2x4 tiles versus removed tile that were 2x2.
Look Ahead to Solve a Problem and Lean on the Experts to Provide Solutions
Remember that already demoed ceiling? The subs did not have visibility to existing conditions because they did not demo the space. Therefore, they had no knowledge of the needed soffit. I did not have visibility to the before conditions either but used as many existing site conditions, such as sprinkler head height, to guide the crew. After measuring the sprinkler heads a second time and realizing there was a discrepancy in height from one space to another, I asked for images of existing conditions to confirm my suspicions. Immediately, the crew was redirected to frame out a soffit over the dish area. It was important to lean on the carpenters to provide a solution because drawings and details were not available. We collectively came up with a solution that translated into a sketch and shared it with the team as an update.
n(n – 1)/2 = Communicate, Communicate, Communicate!*
* n(n – 1)/2 is the formula project managers use to calculate how many channels of communication are in a project based on n, the number of stakeholders.
There are many barriers to communication, in addition to some that are typical to many jobsites, such as language. One of the best parts of a project is to see it come together because the single thing everyone understands is a set of plans. Our small crew represented the Caribbean, Italy, and Mexico. It is not only important how you communicate but what is communicated. The duration of the project was originally scheduled for three days but expanded to 10 days. It was important for me to send daily project updates highlighting issues, providing solutions, and explaining the drivers of the increased project duration. Any issues that required clarification were handled immediately with the architect. There were several check-ins a day with the on-site project manager and his staff for coordination with other contractors.
Drink Some Wine to Get Through It!
Although this was a quick project, it required heavy coordination. I spent long days on-site to address specific challenges such as subs arriving on time, taking direction, and reciprocating a level of communication needed to ensure the project was moving at the correct pace. Another unspoken challenge was my gender. If you are a woman in any profession, intuition is key in discerning our treatment compared to our counterparts and to know if gender plays a role. As a woman who has been in the architecture, engineering, and construction industry for more than 10 years, I have had limited challenges on site with subs because of gender. My lack of challenges may be attributed to the fact my previous role was as the architect on site. In this role working directly with the subs, it was a challenge to be heard, and it was reflected in the quality of the work and the extended time it took to complete the job. In the end, I was able to assess the situation to adjust how I communicated to get the job done.
In conclusion, this was a great opportunity to work with JLL, the largest manager of property in the world. Going through this project was hard for me because it was a stretch role, but I can say without a doubt I learned a ton to apply to my next project. I look forward to leading more projects in size and scope.
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Whitni is a Project Manager with Urban Equities. She is inspired by creating sustainable change in communities through development. When not working, Whitni is active volunteering in several organizations or enjoying the Chicago lake front.
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