A schedule slip: trace contributing delays before choosing recovery
The drywall activity is later than forecast, and the manager proposes adding another crew. The recent record includes a window delivery change, unresolved receiving work and an inspection booking issue. The team needs to understand which conditions actually affected the current sequence before spending money on the trade visible at the end.
Trace the contributing events and actual dependencies behind the current forecast. Start from a defined slipped commitment, compare the relevant plan with what occurred and test each claimed connection against records. The earliest recorded late event is not automatically the single cause of the finish slip. This original recovery-planning inquiry does not determine legal responsibility, compensable delay or contractual entitlement.
Build an evidence chain with its missing links visible
- Define the commitment and comparison. Identify the milestone, relevant schedule version, current forecast and actual progress information. Confirm the affected work and calendar basis with the scheduler. Keep a changed scope or outdated baseline visible; a red activity alone does not describe how much a current completion commitment moved.
- Connect dated events to actual readiness. Gather submittal, delivery, receiving, inspection and work records as relevant. For each event, ask what specifically waited, whether other suitable work occurred and which dependency affected the sequence. A nearby date or an earlier letter is not enough to establish the connection.
- Test parallel causes and uncertain links. Compare other constraints and changing logic with the responsible team. Identify incomplete evidence and avoid counting overlapping waits twice. Do not add each calendar delay into a finish-loss total or sort every cause into blame categories from one retrospective diagram. Keep supported contributions and open questions distinct.
- Choose recovery from the current constraint. Identify responses the responsible people can assess now, along with technical, resource and commercial needs. Adding labour may not help an unreleased work area. Record the decision, actual prerequisites and review trigger, then update the forecast as conditions are confirmed. Preserve the event record separately from the chosen recovery action.
Common mistakes
- Blaming the trade currently visible at the end of the sequence.
- Treating the earliest late event as the only cause.
- Adding overlapping waits as if all moved the finish.
- Buying acceleration without checking current receiving constraints.
Action list
Before choosing recovery, identify
- A defined slipped commitment and current comparison.
- Dated events and actual readiness connections.
- Parallel constraints and uncertain evidence.
- Assessed responses to the present constraint.
- A received decision and forecast-review trigger.
Check your understanding
An earlier shop-drawing issue appears before all other delays. Does that make it the sole cause of the current finish slip?
