Construction project manager - morning tasks

1 Introduction
2 Exercise
3 Review the previous day’s work
4 Communication with stakeholders
5 Schedule day’s tasks
6 Analyse departments
7 Check resources
8 How to achieve these tasks in the morning
9 Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki

[edit] Introduction

A construction project manager occupies a very big position with a lot of major responsibilities. Their days are usually busy and the whole project, including those working for the project, depend on their decisions being sound. A wrong decision can lead to the project being cancelled, started over, or closed indefinitely.

Therefore, it is important that whoever occupies this position utilises skills learned and experience gained to manage projects.

The most productive part of the day is believed to be the morning, because that is the time when a human’s brain has been 'rebooted' and is open to new ideas. There are a few things successful project managers do at the start of their day.

[edit] Exercise

Project managers should develop a workout routine for the mornings, as this can help relieve the body of the previous day’s tiredness. A work-out should be done before showering or having breakfast to have the body perform at an optimal level. If there is less time to spare, even a half-hour work-out is ideal.

[edit] Review the previous day’s work

Regardless of how busy the day ahead is, successful project managers should take time to go through the previous day’s work. Every aspect of the project should be reviewed to see if it is moving forward as expected or stalling. This process provides valuable time to think through plans and strategies before getting to the construction site.

[edit] Communication with stakeholders

It can be easiest to get hold of stakeholders first thing in the morning, before they have become busy with the pressing events of the day. Therefore, this can often be a good time to update them on the progress of the project. Clients can also be updated at this time.

This is also a good time to read and write emails as it will often be difficult to attend to them once at the site. It is preferable that there are no pending unread messages before leaving for work.

[edit] Schedule day’s tasks

Before starting a project, an overall schedule should be created to serve as timeline for the project. Daily tasks to achieve should also be scheduled, as well as tasks for the team.

[edit] Analyse departments

At a construction site, each department handles a different task and their collective efforts are what lead to a successful project completion. The project manager needs to monitor and analyse the workings of each department to determine whether they are being productive or not.

New strategies can be drawn up to motivate less productive departments, assigning them more responsibilities or re-assigning some responsibilities from an overwhelmed department of the workforce.

[edit] Check resources

The project manager does not want to be caught off-guard when resources get depleted. Therefore, it is important to take some time to analyse how resources have been used the previous day to avoid having to strain the budget.

A daily analysis is much better than a scheduled analysis because then the project manager is in a position to act fast. For instance, if a certain department is overusing resources, the project manager can reassign some of the resources to other departments facing shortages.

[edit] How to achieve these tasks in the morning

Most project managers use digital platforms to help centralise the whole project management process. With project management tools, they are able to do everything from a central point. With a cloud-based web solution it can be possible to send emails, write memos, monitor and analyse data, allocate resources, set duties, update clients and communicate to all departments, all from a computer or mobile phone.