A week or two before

  1. Pick one milestone and write down what "done" means for it: the conditions that must be true. "DD set issued to the owner, coordinated with structure and MEP, cost check complete" beats "DD done".
  2. Invite the people who do the work, not only their managers: each discipline or trade lead, the owner's representative and anyone who makes decisions the plan depends on. Two to three hours, in person if you can.
  3. Choose a facilitator who doesn't own the work being planned. They keep the room moving; see Facilitator tips.
  4. Ask everyone to bring their honest durations, what they need from others, and what's worrying them.

Set up 7SecondOS

  1. Open the project's Schedule and switch to Timeline.
  2. Add a lane for each discipline or trade with + Lane, so each note sits with whoever delivers it.
  3. Add the milestone as a note in its due-date column, open it (double-click) and tick Locked due date so nothing pushes it.
  4. Add the people coming to the project's team, and invite outside consultants as guests, so they can see the plan after the session. See People on a project.
  5. Log what you already know could get in the way (a pending owner decision, a long-lead item) in the RAIDD Log, so it's on the table from the start.

Send before the session

  • The milestone and what "done" means.
  • The agenda (see Run the session) and how long it will take.
  • A link to the project, so people can look at the Timeline beforehand.