Collective Learning Leads to Brilliance

In our daily work world more and more problems require creative answers.  One of the main reasons is that simple problems . . . problems having to do with behavioral efficiency, are now handled by machines, robots or sophisticated tools of various types.  Consequently, the remaining problems faced by fabricators and builders are becoming more and more complex, requiring more advanced cognitive skills, more wrestling with concepts and calculations.   

So how do you get crews of welders, fitters, operators, and ironworkers to develop creative solutions to tough unforeseen problems missed during the project design process, and in the process, saving days, and sometimes weeks, of wasted time waiting for solutions from on high?  The answer is by exercising our uniquely human aptitude for collective learning.  This is different from “brain storming”, or group discussions.  Collective learning is a term coined by David Christian, historian at San Diego State University, and to which I have applied a variant for crew training.  It is, at its center, about putting teaching, listening and learning back into our daily work.  Instead of making human beings into machines, we train them to spread ideas, steal concepts, change and rearrange the status quo.  Yes, initially this results in a loss in efficiency.  But given a reasonable duration for mastering collective learning skills, an amazing thing happens . . . efficiency goes sky high.  Its efficiency through working smarter, not faster.  

This process takes a little patience, but the end result is a new level of workmanship which leaves customers and clients demanding we “take their future jobs.”  This summer, due to the incredibly creative solutions our crews brought to an Alaska Marine Project, the General Contractor demanded we take (3) more jobs, which is a nice problem to have, yes?  Oh, and by the way . . . we weren't the low bidder, but we were the best.

Intimate Business Networks

Communication with people of the entire Pacific Rim is becoming a daily occurrence for many of us.  But if we see it simply as a shift of economic power from the west to the east, we will miss something very important.  While the U.S. will remain a global economic power for generations to come, we are becoming one of many powers, more like the European continent of 100 years ago.  British economist Paddy Ashdown calls this our new Multi-Polar Economy.  But the point we must not miss is that our interconnectedness, our networks are not just casually connected, we are intimately connected.  If my project plans detailer in Bali, Indonesia gets sick, my harbor project in Petersburg, Alaska gets stalled.  Or, as happened recently, if my General Contactor’s Materials Engineer in Germany drops the ball and tells no one, my Bridge Project in Annette Bay, Alaska gets put on hold, and my fabrication crew in Sedro Woolley, Washington, has to go home, and local restaurants immediately see business slow down.  Our economic world is not just connected, we are intimately interconnected, and to the degree to which we can successfully manage this interconnectedness, we will determine our success .  

Scheduling Gun

Project scheduling is suppose to be for the purpose of . . . scheduling, projecting a work flow for a project, or multiple projects in a fabrication environment. But invariably schedules become tools for assigning responsibility to unrealistic goals . . .


It is essential we realize schedules are weapons, both for offense and defense. If you are bad at scheduling, then I'll see you in court, and you'll lose . . . here's what I mean:

This week I'll post a scheduling story from a recent project to illustrate this point.