Lean implementation doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Every project brings a different team, different trade partners, different challenges, and new opportunities to improve.
That’s exactly why we created The Lean Builder Community Circle—a member-only space where Lean practitioners can connect, ask questions, share what’s working, work through what isn’t, and learn from the real-world experiences of other member companies.
During our recent Community Circle live session, members from across the construction industry came together for an open conversation about their Lean journeys. There were no polished case studies or one-size-fits-all answers. Instead, members shared successes, challenges, lessons learned, and practical ideas others could take back to their own teams.
Here are some of the biggest takeaways from the conversation.
(And, if you’re a TLB member, you can log into the portal or access it on the app for Apple or Android to watch the recorded community call.)
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Daily Huddles Are Improving Communication—But They Have to Create Value
Several members shared how Daily Huddles have improved communication and coordination in the field.
One member described how foremen who previously went individually to the superintendent with coordination questions now connect directly with one another during the morning huddle. That shift has helped teams identify potential issues earlier and created a smoother construction process.
Another member pointed to an equally important benefit: a common language. Concepts such as the eight wastes and 5S give teams a shared framework for identifying problems and talking about improvement.
But simply holding a Daily Huddle isn’t enough.
The group discussed how huddles can become routine and turn into another meeting teams attend simply to check the box. The takeaway? Keep asking whether the meeting is creating value.
That can mean finding a meeting time that works for the trade partners rather than simply the superintendent, changing up facilitation, making questions more visual, adding some personality, or inviting another superintendent to observe the huddle and provide a fresh perspective.
As Keyan Zandy noted during the discussion, some of the real magic happens after the Daily Huddle, when trade partners stay behind to work through issues directly with one another.
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Look-Ahead Planning Has to Connect to the Master Schedule
A Daily Huddle can look great. The boards can be filled out. Everyone can participate.
And the project can still be behind schedule.
That led to an important discussion about ensuring the six-week look-ahead, three-week planning tools, pull plans, and daily commitments stay connected to the overall master schedule.
Field work happens in bite-sized commitments—not by asking a craft worker to turn to a page in a CPM schedule. But those smaller commitments still need to move the project toward its larger milestones.
Members discussed several ways they are working to close that gap, including tracking production rates and quantities. If a team expects to complete 25% of an activity during the first week but only achieves 15%, the visual planning system creates an opportunity to identify the problem and develop a recovery plan early—instead of discovering the miss three weeks later.
The broader lesson: visual planning tools shouldn’t operate alongside the master schedule. They should help teams execute it.
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Better Pull Plans Start Before the Pull Plan
One of the most valuable discussions centered on something almost every Lean practitioner encounters: pull planning can be messy.
One member shared that their pull planning sessions don’t always look like the examples teams see in training. Sometimes the process feels chaotic, and teams leave wondering whether they did it “right.”
The group’s response was important: if the right people talked deeply about the work, surfaced issues, and developed a better plan together, the process had value—even if the board wasn’t perfect.
But there was also strong agreement about one factor that consistently improves pull planning: preparation.
That means giving trade partners adequate notice, confirming the right people will attend, discussing procurement and manpower beforehand, conducting an internal pre-pull when appropriate, and helping teams understand the process before they walk into the room.
For companies working with trade partners who are new to Lean, members shared ideas ranging from introductory Last Planner System presentations to pre-meetings with individual foremen.
And when a plan gets disrupted enough that it no longer reflects reality? Don’t keep pushing a broken plan. Bring the team back together and re-pull it.
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Track the Metrics You’re Prepared to Act On
The conversation around Plan Percent Complete (PPC) produced another practical takeaway: more data isn’t automatically better.
Teams can track individual trade performance, reasons for failed commitments, material delays, manpower issues, and countless other metrics. But data only creates value when someone uses it to improve the work.
As one member put it during the discussion, don’t spend too much time tracking something you aren’t willing or able to influence.
The focus should be on actionable information. When a commitment fails, what follow-up needs to happen? Who owns it? What’s the recovery plan? And what needs to change to protect the next milestone?
That moves PPC from simply measuring performance to helping teams improve it.
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Lean Implementation Gets Stronger When Everyone Shares What They’re Learning
Perhaps the biggest takeaway from the session wasn’t about a specific Lean tool at all.
It was the value of bringing practitioners together.
Members shared ideas their peers could immediately take back to their own organizations—from timing Daily Huddles around natural breaks in the workday to using Master Class videos to onboard trade partners, creating visual prompts for huddle questions, incorporating Lean expectations into trade partner agreements, and inviting peers to review one another’s Daily Huddles.
The conversation even generated ideas for future resources and Community Circle sessions, including trade partner onboarding materials, technology-specific discussions around platforms such as Procore and Autodesk, and opportunities for members to demonstrate how they’re implementing Lean within their own organizations.
That’s the purpose of the Community Circle.
No one company has every answer. But when builders openly share what they’re trying, what they’ve learned, and where they’re struggling, everyone gets better.
More Than Training: A Community for the Lean Journey
The Lean Builder Membership provides companies with training, tools, resources, and practical guidance to help teams put Lean principles into action. But implementation doesn’t stop when someone finishes a Master Class or downloads a template.
The Community Circle adds another layer: access to a community of people doing the work in real time.
It’s a place for members to ask the questions that come up after the training. To compare experiences. To share a win. To troubleshoot a challenge. And sometimes, to hear another member describe an idea that makes you think, “We should try that on our project.”
Because Lean is a journey—and there’s a lot we can learn when we take that journey together.
Want to give your teams access to The Lean Builder training, resources, and a community of builders committed to continuous improvement? Learn more about The Lean Builder Membership.
Joe Donarumo, Skiles Group
Joe Donarumo serves as Senior Vice President, Client Development for Skiles Group. He is a construction leader with more than 19 years of experience helping owners, architects, and project teams deliver complex work with greater clarity, reliability, and trust. His background in operations shapes how he approaches growth—focused on alignment, predictability, and long-term partnerships rather than transactional pursuits. At Skiles Group, he focuses on growing the right relationships in healthcare, education, and other technically complex markets. His role is centered on working with organizations that value Lean thinking, collaborative delivery, and a builder who understands both the strategy and the realities of execution. He previously served as a Vice President, Field Operations, where he developed and led high-performing field teams in the healthcare market group for another construction management firm. He also served as Director of Lean Application, ensuring that Lean processes were continuously improved and consistently practiced, and as Senior Superintendent before that. Joe has a unique passion for Lean implementation, continuous improvement, and a ruthless pursuit of waste elimination within his projects, teams, and overall organization. Joe is also a principal and co-author of The Lean Builder, a business fable written for field leaders and last planners to help them begin their Lean journey through Lean implementation at the field level.
