Information is the lifeblood of all project delivery. You can’t effectively work as a team to deliver a complex project without good, reliable, and accurate information. In this blog post, I will highlight the importance of information flow and what teams can do to ensure that they have the right information for the people doing the work.

Before any physical labor can take place, several prerequisite steps must be completed, including material, decisions, labor, and information. Without these prerequisites, work cannot proceed. That's why it's crucial to focus on improving the prerequisite steps, starting with information.

Although the lean construction community understands the importance of material, equipment, and labor flow; information and decision-making flow is not well-utilized. In this blog post we will explain how to improve information flow within your team and ensure the success of your project.

What are the sources of information on a project?

Information is key when it comes to project management, but where does it come from? Owners, contractors, architects, laborers, equipment, materials, and the physical project itself are all sources of information that need to communicate with each other. This means that people, equipment, software, and the project itself should all be in sync.

How do you keep information flowing?

In order to keep information flowing, the first step is to make the information transparent and available. Lean practices such as pull planning, make ready, daily huddles, and huddle boards are practices that we use to make information available. Visual management and visual boards are examples of how we can improve information transparency.

Figure 1. Visual Management and visual boards

Once we have all the information available and transparent, effective collaboration becomes possible. This is because everyone on the project can be on the same page and have a clear understanding of what is missing and deficient. Information transparency is, therefore, a prerequisite step for effective collaboration. It enables team members to add their own thoughts and ideas to the project, leading to better outcomes.

Some lean project examples

In the lean construction community, we have many practices that we use which focus on information flow. For example, the tracking of the target cost and spending during design and construction serve as a financial dashboard for the project. Look ahead planning, master planning, the make ready process, daily huddle boards all improve information flow and communication.

During the design phase, the team can use the Last Planner System to track decisions and decision milestones.

BIM, VDC, and construction technology such as reality capture are all effective techniques to improve the information availability and flow.

Figure 2. Target Costing & Financial Dashboard

Figure 3. Big Room to communicate information

Figure 4. Huddle Boards

Figure 5. Tracking Decisions in Design

Figure 6. Model Based Design and Estimating

Figure 7. Reality Capture

Why should you have an information plan on projects?

A lack of information flow can lead to stoppage in work or in some cases rework when the work takes place ahead of the information. So for a project, it is important to have an information plan. Things such as client and stakeholder decisions, design changes, and capturing the current state of the project are necessary to control the quality and schedule of the work.

If you don’t have an information flow plan, the information will still flow. But the flow, quality, and availability of the information may not be optimal. You get what you focus on and too few projects focus on the information.

Conclusion

As a project manager, it's crucial to understand that controlling cost and schedules isn't enough to ensure project success. Instead, we should focus on information flow and the people involved. Cost and schedule are lagging indicators, while information flow is a leading indicator. Without a healthy information flow, we won't have a good flow of work, and the project is unlikely to succeed. Remember, information is power, and a successful project starts with a strong information flow.