Finish a room before moving onto the next

Erik originally went to school to become a civil engineer.  One of his first jobs was as a construction project manager.  He worked with an older supervisor Named Jack Waschitz.  They were working on renovating bachelor housing for Naval officers, which was essentially like a small hotel.   Erik remembers Jack telling him to make sure the crew finished one room 100%  before moving onto the next.  Erik admits this went in one ear and out the other.

Erik quickly found out why Jack had given him that advice.   The crew would move around from room to room as they saw fit, after only having completed 80-90% of the work.   Erik lost track of what had been completed and what hadn’t.   He found himself with several partially-completed rooms and almost nothing done to completion.

That lesson still resonates with him to this day.  It’s a story he recently recalled to the team when we found ourselves not quite done with several projects.  It’s important to be diligent and finish one project before moving onto the next.