10 years of Construction Production 2.0

“This really isn’t fun anymore.”

We began hearing this more and more frequently from our superintendents and project managers. These were guys with 20, 30, even 40 years of experience who were just not having very much fun running construction projects. The industry was changing and everything seemed harder. The lack of good information, inadequate manpower and engineering resources, unpredictable supply chains, shorter project schedules, and the pressure to direct everybody on the site all day long combined to remove much of the joy that our folks had always found in construction.

At the same time, the industry continued to see declines in productivity and no clear solution. This took the fun from the craft staff and led to fewer young people viewing construction as a fulfilling career. Ultimately, we found ourselves in a place where fewer people were entering the industry, and the people who did work in construction were able to get less done one day than they had the day before.

10 years ago we decided to act. We piloted a new system for running construction projects called Construction Production 2.0. We first recognized that we needed the system to rely on the collective knowledge and experience of leaders on our site – both from Story Construction and our subcontractors – to execute work, rather than just one individual. Second, we changed the way we developed and shared the project schedule and plans for the project. We focused on low-tech, high collaboration to produce work assignments where the people putting the work in place drove the process and allowed them to consistently have good days.

Inside a CP 2.0 trailer in 2014.

The early days were focused on teaching the “process” of CP 2.0. Eventually we started to see a change in culture on our sites. We identified that culture to be one of respect, trust, collaboration and teamwork (RTCT). That culture is best created when Story’s project team demonstrates facilitative leadership and the project participants demonstrate fearless participation. Beyond the positive impact on the work on our sites, CP 2.0 rapidly accelerates the growth and development of those employees that embrace its principles. That growth and development is desperately needed in today’s construction industry.

If you’ve worked with us or hired us to build something for you within the last 10 years, you’re familiar with this system by now – even if you can’t quite remember what it’s called (Construction 2.0, Construction Production… close enough). At the very least, you know it by a wall of sticky notes in our planning trailers. But many of you also know it by the impact it has on our projects that you work on. It feels different. It’s bringing back some of the joy in building things together.

It’s been 10 years since we first deployed CP 2.0 on one of our projects, and we’ve done so on every one of our projects since then. So what’s next?

The Story Way

Construction Production 2.0 is only the beginning. Over the last few years, it has become part of our broader approach to achieving enterprise excellence – ideal behaviors within well designed systems, processes, routines and tools consistently producing ideal results throughout the enterprise. We call this approach the Story Way.

The Story Way first focuses on the behaviors that create our culture, which are informed by our “why,” our core values, our guiding principles and our insights – all of which are listed below. It’s made up of systems, processes, routines and tools – CP 2.0 being one of them – that deliver the results we seek when our teams demonstrate Facilitative Leadership and Fearless Participation within them.

Put plainly, the Story Way is the means by which we are developing a culture that allows everyone to have a good day, every day – at our company, on our job sites, and with our building partners. We’re looking forward to many more years on this journey and bringing along those of you who share in our ideals and values.