Book Review: Schedule for Sale: Workface Planning for Construction Projects by Geoff Ryan

Book Review: Schedule for Sale: Workface Planning for Construction Projects by Geoff Ryan

2011

DOI: https://doi.org/10.60164/11c3c1a8c

Authors: Glenn Ballard, James Choo

Citation:

Ballard, G., & Choo, J. (2011). Book Review: Schedule for Sale: Workface Planning for Construction Projects by Geoff Ryan. Lean Construction Journal 2011 pp 9-18.

‌

Abstract:

Schedule for Sale: Workface Planning for Construction Projects, was published in 2009 by Geoff Ryan3. The idea behind the title is that productivity can be improved through better management, and that poor productivity causes projects to have longer durations. The book proposes a method of production planning and control designed specifically for megaprojects in the process industries. According to the book’s preface, the method of workface planning was developed by Ryan with Lloyd Rankin, who intends to publish a companion piece You Can Have It All, which is to provide instruction how to do workface planning, while Ryan’s book provides the concept, the ‘what’ versus the ‘how’. “Work must be achievable before it is released to installers.” (p. 57) This is the main principle behind the design and execution of Workface Planning. The goal is to increase labor utilization, which Ryan equates with labor productivity. Framed in terms of Taiichi Ohno’s seven types of waste4, Workface Planning tries to eliminate the waste of workers waiting on work, but does so by increasing the waste of work waiting on workers. For example, on page 5, it is stated that the size of FIWPs (elemental work packages) is based on foremen estimates of best results, plus 10% so “you don’t run out of work”. Despite the book’s title, schedule is systematically sacrificed to labor utilization through the creation of buffers of inventory and time larger than needed to absorb variation in flows and larger than needed to force continuous improvement. What’s more, opportunities for productivity improvement that go beyond labor utilization are not pursued. But before expanding the critique of Workface Planning, we describe it in the following section.