Programming: Turning a Scope into a Time-Based Delivery Plan
Programming is decision-making. It answers: what happens when, with which resources, and what must be true beforehand?
1. Build a Baseline You Can Defend
- Start with procurement and approvals, not just site works.
- Include inspections, curing times, testing, commissioning, and certification tasks.
- Align the program with real trade sequencing and workface readiness.
2. Risk Buffers (Use Them Intelligently)
Buffers aren’t laziness; they are risk management. Put buffers where uncertainty lives:
- authority inspections and connections,
- weather-sensitive activities,
- high coordination scope (services rough-in),
- long-lead procurement.
3. Progress Measurement
Use measurable completion criteria: inspected, tested, and signed off. “90% done” is not a status; it is a dispute waiting to happen.
4. Integrate Procurement Properly
Long-lead items are a chain, not a single bar on a Gantt:
- selection / approval,
- shop drawings,
- manufacture,
- delivery,
- installation,
- testing / commissioning (if applicable).
5. Make the Program Useful to the Site
The master program sets direction, but the site runs on look-aheads. Break the work into workfaces and handovers: “waterproof complete and signed off” is a workface-ready milestone; “bathrooms” is not.