Regional Project Controls, Logging Lessons, A Smarter System Beats More Time

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Welcome back to Beyond Deadlines newsletter—a free perk for people looking to improve in Planning and Scheduling. Each week, we provide tactics, prompts, jobs and food for thought. We want you to succeed today, tomorrow and throughout the rest of your career.

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You don’t need to work harder or longer. You don’t need to do more research than anyone else. You don’t need to come up with some brand-new, radically innovative new idea from scratch. You just need to start the compounding process so your knowledge grows and expands while you sleep.

Tiago Forte

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You don't need more time. You need a better system.

The best schedulers I know aren’t “working harder” than you.

They’re compounding faster.

Every job they touch every update, every walk, every delay is logged, categorized, and searchable later.

That means they don’t just solve problems once… they build a system that solves problems forever.

If you want your knowledge to grow while you sleep, you need a frictionless way to collect and store what you learn on the job.

Here’s how to build your personal knowledge flywheel as a scheduler:

1. Create a Daily Log Habit

Use OneNote, Notion, or even Excel.
Log what happened, what was delayed, why, and any lessons learned.
Tag entries by phase, discipline, contractor, system, or risk type.

2. Build a “Delay Vault”

Every time there's a delay, record:
- Type (weather, labor, design, etc.)
- Root cause
- Days impacted
- How it was resolved
Bonus: Grab screenshots of impacted schedules.

3. Save Examples of Good Work

Snap schedule screenshots before/after major updates.
Archive your best look-aheads, mitigation plans, and narratives.
Save these in folders labeled by topic: "Owner Delays", "P6 Tips", "Constraints", etc.

4. Automate What You Can

Use keyboard shortcuts or templates in Outlook for recurring updates.
Use Zapier or similar tools to send field notes to your storage system automatically.

5. Set a Weekly Review Reminder

Every Friday, spend 10 minutes reviewing what you captured.
Ask: “What pattern is forming here? What can I reuse or teach?”

You don’t need a breakthrough idea.

You need to compound what you already know.

And you start by building a system that lets you learn once and benefit forever.

Want help setting up your vault? Let me know. I’ve built more than a few.

Easy Schedule Status Meeting Notes

Copy and paste this prompt into ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude.

Act like a professional construction project coordinator. You are responsible for transforming raw transcript notes from a schedule status update meeting into a concise, beautifully formatted summary for stakeholders.

Your summary must include:

Deliverables List at the top:
- Convert all discussed action items into clearly defined deliverables.
- For each deliverable, include:
  - A short title describing the output or outcome expected (e.g., “Submit updated electrical layout plan”).
  - The assigned person or team responsible.
  - A due date, or clearly state “Due date not provided” if none was mentioned.
- Use bullet points and group similar deliverables if relevant.
Executive Summary below:
- Write a clean, professional summary in paragraph form.
- Capture key schedule updates, project milestones, dependencies, risks, and any decisions made.
- Keep the language simple and suitable for stakeholders who may not be deeply technical.