Construction projects are commonly an unorganized flow of questions, tasks and issues. Anyone who has worked in the construction industry knows how chaotic it can get and staying organized and on top of issues in a timely manner is key to a successful project.
I want to share a simple process that I learned from a top construction superintendent that will boost your productivity.
This trick can be used for trade contractors as well as general contractors to stay in front of issues and address items before they cause costly delays.
In this blog post, we’ll discuss the technique of using a “daily hot list” to keep track of top priorities and how it can be a game changer.
What is a Daily Hot List?
A daily hot list is a new list of top issues, questions, tasks, etc. that need to be addressed in some way, shape or form today. The list is organized and prioritized at the beginning of each day.
I know what you are thinking….this is just a fancy word for a to do list, right? No, this is different. A todo list is an ongoing list that gets added to and crossed off. It can be many pages long and is rarely prioritized. A todo list can last an entire project. The concept of a hot list is that you have no more than ten items on the list at one time and it only is good for one day! After that day, the hot list must be re-created the next day. By repeating this process every day, it creates focus and proactive actions that will boost your project forward.
How to use a Daily Hot List
Let’s start by creating the hot list
You will need a form to fill out each day. This form can be paper or it can be a digital form. The form has ten rows and six columns. The columns are “Priority”, “Job#”, “Date”, “Item”, “Responsible Party” and “Remarks”.
At the start of each day, spend a few minutes reviewing the previous day’s Hot List. Anything that was not completed or resolved should get transferred to the fresh new form assuming it’s still a hot item.
Now, it’s time to ask yourself the key question……”What are the most important items to address or resolve today so that tomorrow and next week goes smoothly?” By asking yourself this question, your brain will automatically go into a proactive state of mind. Here are some other questions to trigger those proactive answers:
- What items need to get wrapped up?
- What is blocking other trades?
- What is coming up next that I should be thinking about now?
- What future landmines should I be thinking about now?
- Who should I schedule now for next week?
- Are there any inspections I need to get ready for?
- Are there submittals that need to be approved to move forward?
- Are there decisions by the client/GC/architect that are holding me back?
By answering these questions, a top ten list will automatically flow out of your mind and onto the hot list. TIP: I strongly recommend doing this process at a time and place where you can focus. This may be in the truck or even at home before you get to the job site. You can’t have interruptions or you will lose focus and not be able to really think. Take the time to do this BEFORE the daily whirlwind blows you in other directions.
Now that you have your list, it’s time to prioritize it from most important to least important. I suggest using three levels of priority: High, Medium and Low. This can be represented by number 1, 2 and 3 or by a color if you have the ability to label each item with color.
Hopefully you don’t have ten items that are all HIGH priority. Usually you have 2 or 3 that are the top and then the rest are lower priority.
Time to Attack the Hot List!
Now that you have your list, its time to get into action.
Start with your HIGH priority items first. Maybe you have to make a phone call or send an email or perform a task…..get to it. As soon as you are done, make a comment in the remarks section. It could be “Completed” or “called and left message”. If you are done with that item, cross it off the list. Trust me, it feels very good to cross things off.
Now, get to the next item and the next.
I promise you…if you use this technique, you will be blown away by your productivity and your project will go so much better. Why? It’s simple. Construction projects are full of obstacles that slow us down and derail our progress. Being proactive and thinking ahead a few days or weeks every single day allows us to get in front of those obstacles and anticipate problems. Better yet, it allows us to address issues quickly before they become bigger problems.
Repeat the Hot List process
The magic happens when you repeat this process above day after day.
Review the previous day’s hot list and congratulate yourself on how much of the list you completed. Don’t get discouraged if you still have uncompleted or even items you could never get to…..it will happen! Simply transfer the items to the next daily hot list and re-prioritize. If you left a message and never received a call back……call again. Send a Text or email. Keep pushing!
I recommend keeping your list for documentation purposes. You can take a photo of it on your phone if you don’t want to store paper. This allows you to go back and refer to important conversations or decisions, etc. that were made. Making those remarks next to each item can be a lifesaver when you need to go back and look something up.
Summary
Construction projects can go sideways quickly if you don’t stay organized and on top of issues. Using the “Daily Hot List” technique is a great way to keep a proactive approach to moving your projects forward. Download a free hot list template.
My promise to you: If you follow this process and become one of the few proactive thinkers, I guarantee it will be a game changer for you and your career. The fact is, 90% of people in construction show up, work hard and react to whatever is thrown at them. That is admirable but they spend their days reacting to issues and problems but rarely thinking ahead and anticipating what’s coming next and getting in front of it. This simple technique can make you one of the 10% that are looking forward and planning and solving issues before they derail the project.
Take a look at our construction app BuildCenter to note work progress and track time spent on projects is a great way to easily track progress.
Resources
- Get the Free Hot List Template and boost your productivity.
- Try BuildCenter for Crew Scheduling and Time Tracking and see how it can give you more freedom and more success.
- Check out Buildcenter’s other blogs and free downloads
