Our agenda is meticulously crafted with four tracks:

• Business & Operations

• Projects & Processes

• Quality & Innovation, and 

• Leadership & Wellness

These tracks reflect our unwavering commitment to fostering a culture of excellence, empathy, and sustainability. In an era where pressure often tests our mettle, our purpose here is resolute: to champion a future where job completion is synonymous with safety and quality excellence. 

Together, we shall explore cutting-edge strategies, engage with distinguished experts, and share collective wisdom to drive positive transformation. Thank you for joining us on this transformative journey toward a world where safety and quality are not negotiable but paramount in all we do.

As a Quality Assurance Manager, ensuring job completion without safety or quality incidents under pressure is a critical aspect of this role. Here’s an action-oriented approach to achieving this:

1. Prioritize Safety and Quality Culture:

• Promote a strong safety and quality culture within your team and organization.
• Emphasize that safety and quality are non-negotiable, even when facing pressure.

2. Comprehensive Training:

• Ensure that all team members are well-trained in safety procedures and quality standards.
• Conduct regular refresher training sessions.

3. Effective Communication:

• Maintain open and transparent communication channels within the team.
• Encourage team members to report safety or quality concerns promptly.

4. Risk Assessment:

• Perform thorough risk assessments before starting any task or project.
• Identify potential pressure points and develop contingency plans.

5. Time Management:

• Implement effective time management techniques to handle pressure efficiently.
• Avoid last-minute rushes by planning tasks well in advance.

6. Continuous Monitoring:

• Continuously monitor work processes to ensure they align with safety and quality standards.
• Use technology and data analytics to detect potential issues early.

7. Empowerment and Ownership:

• Empower team members to take ownership of their tasks and quality.
• Encourage a sense of responsibility for safety and quality.

8. Stress Management:

• Provide stress management resources and training to your team.
• Promote work-life balance to prevent burnout.

9. Performance Metrics:

• Establish clear performance metrics related to safety and quality.
• Regularly review and assess team performance against these metrics.

10. Cross-Functional Collaboration:

• Collaborate with other departments and teams to share best practices and insights.
• Seek input and expertise from different perspectives.

11. Continuous Improvement:

• Foster a culture of continuous improvement, where lessons learned from incidents are used to enhance processes.

12. Emergency Response Plan:

• Develop a robust emergency response plan for high-pressure situations.
• Ensure that all team members are familiar with the plan and their roles.

13. Leadership Example:

• Lead by example, demonstrating your commitment to safety and quality.
• Stay calm and composed during high-pressure situations to inspire confidence.

14. Feedback Loop:

• Establish a feedback loop with team members to gather insights on pressure points and areas for improvement.

15. External Expertise:

• If necessary, seek external expertise or consultants to assess and improve safety and quality processes.

Remember that maintaining safety and quality under pressure is an ongoing effort that requires vigilance, commitment, and a culture that values these principles. By implementing these strategies and continuously refining them, you can reduce the likelihood of incidents and ensure the successful completion of tasks and projects.

CQM Expert as Charrette Facilitator

1. Remain as neutral as possible. It is necessary to separate yourself from any message so the group trusts your leadership.
2. Translate the ideas of those less familiar with design into the language of the professional participants and vice versa to validate each concept and increase the likelihood that the attendees understand it.
3. Ask more than you tell. Ask facilitative questions like:
   •  What specific outcomes or results do we want to accomplish?
   • Can you expand on that? How would you summarize that point?
   • Where’s the common ground? Can we take that as an agreement and move on?
   • How are we doing? What course corrections do we need to make?
   • What should I be doing more or less to be more effective?
   • What would be the best use of our time right now?
4. Document all ideas for everyone to see and add new topics to a “bike rack” for future research.
5. Manage the agenda closely so that the meeting achieves the necessary closure. Remind presenters of the time remaining for their section.
6. Keep the group on task by redirecting off-topic conversations to the current topic.
7. Invite everyone to share ideas. If someone is quiet, ask their opinion so that all sides of view are represented.
8. Be flexible. If the group needs to discuss an item not on the agenda, say, “Okay, it sounds like this topic is important. Do we want to continue this discussion or move it to the parking lot?”
9. Get comfortable with mitigating conflict. Contrarians are invaluable to an effective process and acknowledge the contributions of participants.
10. Repeat questions so everyone in the room can hear and bounce the question back to the entire group – thereby facilitating the group process. Remember, the group has the answers – you are not required to know everything.

CQM Experts Benchmark Best Practices

The most effective approach to planning for and understanding the potential outcomes of a charrette is to view reports from other diverse charrettes. The following charrette reports are available in  A Handbook for Planning and Conducting Charrettes for High-Performance Projects .  More information here:

• Boston National Historic Park Greening Charrette
• UNC – Asheville Greening Charrette
• Greenprints Charrette, Southface Energy Institute
• NCSU High-Performance Charrette College of Design
• Simon Fraser UniverCity Charrettes

Three other charrette reports are listed below:

• Eastern Carolina University New Dormitory Building 
• Naval Support Activity Mid-South Base 
• Southface Energy Institute New Office Building 

Work planning and control (WPC) is the use of formal, documented processes for identifying and mitigating risks when planning, authorizing, releasing, and performing work. The purpose of WPC is to ensure adequate protection of workers, the public, and the environment, which would otherwise be put at risk by inconsistent and inadequate planning, authorization, and control.

WPC covers all activity-level work performed in or on facilities, including technical and administrative activities, construction, experiments, operations, maintenance, and service.  The program also covers the stop-work process as part of performing work within controls.

WPC for Construction Quality Assurance

WPC covers QualityPMO core functions for an integrated safety and quality management system for construction projects by:

1. Define the scope of work
2. Identify Risks & safety hazards
3. Plan for Controls
4. Quality Execution
   1. Authorize & Release after Quality Preparatory Meeting
   2. Continuously Monitor and Supervise Work
   3. Work with End-in-Mind, record documents for verification
5. Collect Lessons Learned for continuous improvement

A visit to the job site is warranted, as well as a discussion with the key stakeholders to review area hazard analysis (AHA). The results are documented in a WPC form, that authorizes and releases the work activity for quality execution. Authorization means that the person who authorizes the work

1. A competent person with sufficient knowledge of the hazards has a plan and authorization for such work
2. Has determined the work falls within their area of expertise and responsibility
3. Is satisfied with the content of the work plan
4. Has been determined that the persons assigned to perform work are qualified
5. Has discussed hazards and controls with those people

The person who authorizes work is accountable for its performance. Work is typically authorized by the supervisor and line manager of the person performing the work.

PM 4 CQA

The June 2023 event will focus on how Project Managers are a critical element in planning ahead for an effective WPC at the activity level.  

We have invited Robert Gittens from BIMSync’d to continue the discussion on Scheduling and better methods and techniques using BIM 4D to engage all stakeholders and visualize the result using innovative technologies.

BIM4D as a Single Source of Truth for WPC

Work Planning & Control

• Planning for Requirements
• Early Engagement of Stakeholders
• Ensuring proper use of resources

Integrating Safety & Quality Management

• Scheduling Safety Supervision 
• Scheduling Quality Assurance Experts
• Controlling Procurement of Quality Material & workmanship

Schedule and BIM 4D

• Communication & Collaboration Tool
• Visualization & Conflict Resolutions
• Single source of truth to extract updated project information

Please invite other guests and experts that could contribute to the discussion as we share best practices and learn from each other.

If you are not a member of either chapter, it’s okay! The event is free and open to all managers, students, and emerging professionals!

All events are found at http://cqm.us/events

WPC for Construction Quality Assurance

During our March 2023 quarterly event, Sara did a great job summarizing our goal as a community of practice regarding Work Planning and Control. We invited Chris Carson, the PMI Scheduling Guru, to discuss the importance of Schedule Quality for ensuring proper communication and planning for work activities.  

Dr. Emari presented the Department of Energy’s definition and expectation of a Construction Quality Assurance program to ensure proper WPC to integrate Safety and Quality for all projects.  

The recordings are on our YouTube channel at http://cqm.us/tv

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Introduction to CQM for WPC by Sara Abolhassani, PMP

WPC for CQA by Dr. Emari, PMP

Schedule Quality for WPC by Chris Carson, PMP

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WPC 4 CQA

Dr. Harri Emari, the Construction Quality Assurance Manager for SLAC National Laboratory at Stanford, emphasized the importance of learning together, actively listening, and integrating safety and quality in a “Safety First Quality Always” mindset. 

Dr. Emari explained that work plan control is a standardized process that helps ensure safety and quality in construction projects, particularly those involving federal government entities, which have mandated regulations for public safety. Work plan control involves understanding the scope of work, identifying qualified workers, evaluating and controlling hazards, communicating controls to workers, authorizing and coordinating work, and releasing the work to be performed.

During the presentation, Dr. Emari highlighted that work plan control is not just about safety but is also a quality assurance requirement. Quality assurance involves all the actions necessary to provide confidence that the quality of a product or service is achieved. The Department of Energy’s (DOE) quality assurance requirements are mandated through federal regulations and flow down to contractors working on DOE projects. Dr. Emari divided the 10 criteria of DOE order into three levels: management, assessment, and performance. While quality assurance focuses on the management and assessment sides, it is integrated into all aspects of design, engineering, and execution on construction sites.

The integrated safety and quality management policy is a multi-layered system at SLAC that involves project management practices, engineering policies, and QA programs to ensure safety and quality in all aspects of the company’s operations. This system includes work planning and control (WPC), which happens at multiple levels, from master planning to daily hurdles, and involves continuous improvement through feedback and lessons learned. All Quality Management Systems must use technical standards, handbooks, specifications, and manuals to translate these policies into practical requirements for their staff and subcontractors.

The CQM methodology emphasizes commitment, core values, and alignment with quality assurance programs as it engages qualified people for continuous involvement and monitoring through business intelligence for feedback and improvement. Dr. Emari discussed the importance of quality assurance in project management and how new technology, specifically BIM, can improve it. He emphasized the importance of managing documents, controlling work processes, and having competent people work on projects to ensure quality. Dr. Emari discussed how a Quality Culture of collaboration and proactive problem-solving is crucial for maintaining quality assurance through a QPMO. 

CQM CoP invites all professionals and students to connect on LinkedIn to continue the discussion and provide feedback. We will further expand on this topic and introduce methods and tools such as BIM 4D in upcoming events. As always, CQM promotes continuous improvement and collaboration to achieve high-quality results in construction project management.

Quality Schedule 4 WPC Communication

The importance of quality control and standards in project management cannot be overstated, according to Chris Carson, the PMI Scheduling Guru from Arcadis for over 45 years. Carson’s agenda for the day is to discuss quality control and standards, their relationship to workflows, and the use of standard documents. He believes that high-quality standards require a commitment to industry best practices, leadership in developing these practices, and their adoption into company procedures with training and review processes. This approach builds quality into the work product instead of inspecting it after the fact.

Standardization is essential for quality control, and Carson has found that standardizing processes and procedures, even with modifications for clients, is the best approach. His company offers 175 unique deliverables for project control services, and they aim to standardize and describe each deliverable as a unique product with tasks broken down for review. This leads to an educational component where people better understand what needs to happen, and the quality of the end product is improved.

Carson emphasizes the importance of industry-standard supporting documents, requirements planning, and the use of the schedule as the main communication tool. Project controls are critical to managing communication and ensuring safety and quality management. Standardizing deliverables, procedures, and workflows leads to consistent, high-quality output, making a significant difference in the end product.

The speaker stresses the need for a single source of truth and to document the schedule and estimate. Productivity data is crucial for developing estimates and schedules for a project. It is crucial to engage stakeholders early in the process to ensure their buy-in and understand their expectations. Safety considerations, design integration, and allocating sufficient time for quality control, reviews, and inspections are all critical elements in the project management process.

In conclusion, Chris Carson’s extensive experience in the industry highlights the importance of standard processes and procedures in project management, particularly in construction projects. Using capacity factoring, training, and certification, as well as integrating change management with scheduling and cost, can lead to successful project outcomes. Adopting BIM 4D can also aid in improving project planning and communication. By emphasizing careful planning, stakeholder engagement, safety considerations, and documentation, project managers can ensure the success of their projects and the satisfaction of their clients.

Department of Energy (DOE) has a very rigorous Quality Assurance Program (QAP) per the DOE Order 414.1 D requirements.  The QAP has many guidelines and handbooks on how to assure quality for science projects as well as infrastructure projects.   The main focus of the DOE complex is to safeguard safety, therefore there are many installation and construction-related guidelines and orders under the Environmental, Safety, and Health (ESH) orders and guidelines that apply to the Construction Work.  In general, DOE QAP focuses on three categories: Management, Performance, and Assessments.   However, there is no specific order or guideline on Construction Quality Assurance.

Business Operations

A Construction Manager with Business Administration or CMBA is the ideal professional to work as part of QualityPMO to ensure that the proper program structure, processes, and people are assigned to each part of the business.  They understand the legal and business case aspects of the contract and will conform to issues compliance to satisfy the requirements.

Project Management

A Construction Project Management Professional with PMP certification that has expertise in Construction Management is the ideal candidate to lead the Work Planning and Control required for Construction Quality Assurance.  Most DOE Construction Projects fall under the capital improvement and DOE O 413 requirements that PMP-certified professional managers could fully implement all PMBoK processes and procedures.

Guided Continuous Improvement

Part of any well-organized program is to self-assess and be prepared for external independent assessments.  By studying Lessons Learned from other projects and collecting lessons from current activities, a QPMO is an ideal candidate to create a Quality Culture for Guided Continuous Improvement.  Considering all the four domains of Business, Process, People, and Innovation, a QPMO helps the QualityPMO to understand Management Objectives and guide the team toward the success of the Business Mission.

Construction Quality Assurance (CQA) is a process to ensure that construction work is performed according to the contractual requirements as specified in contract documents and specifications and the Industry Standards referenced in them.

In the Construction Quality Management (CQM) Community of Practice (CoP), discussions on General Quality Improvements and Best Practices were presented and shared.  However, in 2023, CQM.us will focus on Construction Quality Assurance to help distinguish the Construction Quality Control (CQC) activities from Construction Quality Assurance (CQA).

As many professionals are aware, CQC involves the inspection and verification of products (services or results of processes) to confirm that the quality requirements are achieved.  However, for a successful CQC, proper Work Planning and Control (WPC) is required to plan and manage quality for both the Project and the final Product.  WPC management is performed by Project Management Professionals to ensure Project Management and Quality Planning at Project Level per quality requirements flown down from the Enterprise Level CQM Program to ensure proper Quality Planning of CQC during task performance.  It is the CQA’s purpose to ensure the Enterprise Level CQM is properly translated into requirements and implemented in Projects as they provide expertise for Quality Culture and Mindset based on Organization’s mission and core values in a QualityPMO.  The goal of CQA is to prevent quality defects and issues by sharing lessons learned and risk identification based on graded-approach to proactively stop contractual non-conformances.  This includes ensuring that the team of competent people receives the needed training to perform their tasks according to agreed plans and monitoring the performance.  Upon detection of non-conformances, the CQA team acts as an investigation team to find root causes and recommend corrective action plans to prevent reoccurrence and share lessons learned.

Work Planning and Control for CQA

WPC in the context of the Department of Energy Quality Assurance stands for Work Planning and Control. It is a process used to plan, organize, execute, and control work activities to meet project goals and objectives. The goal of WPC is to ensure that work is executed safely, efficiently, and effectively, and that the work product meets the required quality standards. The WPC process is critical to the overall success of a project, as it helps to prevent problems, ensure that resources are utilized effectively, and maintain control over the project schedule. In the context of the Department of Energy, WPC may also encompass compliance with DOE quality assurance requirements, ensuring that work is performed according to established standards and regulations.

 

RemoteCQM

Tuesday, June 28th, 2022

Project Management Professionals understand the importance of Agile Digital Transformation and leveraging the latest technologies to improve their project outputs and successfully achieve their business outcomes.   

As part of our 2022 CQM Discussion Panel Theme for Digital Transformation to CQM4.0, we discussed the advancement in technologies to improve our Construction Quality Management in the following areas: 

1. Scope Management & Integration: Work Progress Tracking with Schedule Integration

2. Risk Monitoring & Mitigation: Collaboration to proactively prevent quality issues and incidents 

3. Accounting & Cost Management: Visually tracking resource-loaded P6 activities 

4. Coordination & Time Management: Clash Detections and virtual construction

5. Resource Management & Calendars: Visualizing equipment needs and crew work fronts

6. Stakeholder Management: Keeping non-construction professionals satisfied with the ease of access to information 

7. Pull/Push Communication & Distribution: Accessible information on multiple platforms in different formats

8. Automated Process & Workflows: Use of robotics and other advanced Construction 4.0 technologies

9. Centralized Document Management: Cloud-based data collection and processing for the most accurate and latest information

10. Business Intelligence Data & Dashboards: Identifying CQM-related KPIs according to the best practices of the industry

Panelists presented how their tools and techniques help Project Manager’s methodologies to better manage construction quality at their job sites.   They presented live demos and case studies on research and available technologies used to achieve high quality and customer satisfaction using their Construction 4.0 Digital Transformation. 

You may watch the recording of the event by visiting http://cqm.us/remotecqm-v

Please make sure to register for our next event in September 2022 about Digital Twins for CQM 4.0 by vising http://cqm.us/events or feel free to contact Dr. Harri Emari, PMP for additional information. (650) 524-5249

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Introduction by Harri Emari, PMI/CQM, on QPMO 4 Remote CQM

Zak MacRunnels, Reconstruct Inc, on Remote CQM

Kevin Jones, HoloBuilder, on Remote CQM

Brian Vizarreta from StructionSite on Remote CQM

Closing Remarks - PMI/CQM June 22 Remote CQM

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If you have registered, you should have received a calendar invite with the following information. If not, please add your correct and preferred “Calendar” email here or download it from here.

Construction Quality Management (CQM) Community of Practice (CoP) Quarterly Discussion Panel Event

The ShorURL of this page is available at http://cqm.us/remotecqm

The meetings are held live at http://cqm.us/zoom for live interaction with the panelists, networking with other Construction Quality Management Professionals, and broadcasted live on YouTube at http://cqm.us/live

Please join our Linkedin Community for the latest events and updates: http://cqm.us/Linkedin

If you have any suggestions to improve or you wish to change your calendar email or remove it from this list, please fill in the feedback form: http://cqm.us/feedback

DASM for Construction PMP

Disciplined Agile Scrum Master Certificate or DASM for Construction PMP is not a trend or a topic as you might expect. However, this article will introduce you to this PMI certification and the benefits of using DASM for PMP in Construction.

As a PMP with over 20 years of experience in Construction and a recent Authorized Training Partner (ATP) with Project Management Institute for Disciplined Agile Scrum Master Certificate, I can tell you of the many benefits that come with a DASM Certification for a Construction PMP (CPMP). We will start with introducing the DASM Certification, then we will dive into the DASM for Construction PMP discussion.

What is the Disciplined Agile Scrum Master Certificate or DASM?

As many of you know, PMI has the PMI-ACP or Agile Certified Practitioner certification that has been around for many years. However, since acquiring Disciplined Agile in 2019 from Mark and Scott; it has been promoting a new philosophy in how it promotes Project Management for all industries and all circumstances.

The Disciplined Agile Delivery or DAD has fresh and agile thinking about Principles, Guidelines, and Promises it makes to its believers. As seen below, there are eight principles that seem to be easy and straightforward, but they create strong and forward-thinking mindsets. For example, the Delight Customers principle might seem to be a trivial thought or no point for discussion, however, if you are a PMP from version 5 or earlier, you would know that Gold Plating was a No-No in PMI Philosophy. The same goes for each of the Principles and Promises that reshape the PMP and DASM certified mind to be the adaptable and welcome change in the rapidly fast-changing world we live in!

DASM for Construction PMP

As do many agree, the construction industry has been the sluggishest and slowest industry to adapt to new technology after the agriculture industry. The market size of the U.S. construction sector was valued at around 1.36 trillion U.S. dollars as of the end of 2020 and it cannot afford to be as old dated and archaic in its thinking. Adopting new technologies such as Business Intelligence, Artificial Intelligence, Lean & Manufacturing, Exoscalatons & Robotics, and many many other digital transformation initiatives for Construction 4.0 will not be achievable with the current Construction Professional Mindset.

The first thing that the Construction industry is still struggling with is Integrated Project Delivery or IPD thinking. There have been so many different Models and LifeCycles available to deliver construction projects that CPMPs have challenges in agreeing on the best and most suitable for their project. DASM for Construction will teach the PMPs that there is no one size fits all and you could have as many different varieties as you please, however, the goal is to move into a Lean-Agile mindset similar to manufacturing operation. A Lean-Agile-IPD will be achieved after several iterations by the key stakeholders as they continuously improve the cycle and avoid reinventing the wheel for every construction project!

DASM Process Blades for Construction

An interesting shift from PMBoK ITTOs has been the adoption of agile thinking to use a Process Blades grouping for Construction Processes. Instead of forcing every team to complete a Project Management Plan using the ten knowledge areas, PMI is giving its users the choice to pick the processes that fit best to their needs and organization. This said it doesn’t mean that the process-oriented thinking is going away. As a matter of fact, the PMBoK 6th Edition has been converted to a digital resource as PMIstandards+ with interactive details and templates.

DASM Certification for Construction

Although PMI is achieving a reputation as a Project Management Professional go-to solution, DASM Certification is more than just a credential to prove your competency on the subject. As a Project Management Professional, each PMP is urged to apply the framework and mindset to their methodology. Therefore, Dr. Emari, PMP has incorporated the recommendations from Choosing Your Way of Work into his Quality Project Management Office Framework and Construction Quality Management Methodology. If you are interested to learn how to apply the same to your industry and organization, join him in his next class. DASM Bootcamps are two-day workshops held on Saturdays that prepare you for the exam and give you the knowledge to pursue this path.

To learn more about future classes visit Peak Business for more options. Use the code #aff2040 to get additional discount.