Happy 2013 - End of year thoughts

The most innactive year comes to an end, hope next one is better.
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2012 comes to an end. It's time to think about all those new year's resolutions and of course, after checking that I only posted 6 times on this blog in 2012, my new year resolution seems obvious, POST MORE. I already explained the main reason why I was not having time to blog at all here. Well, good news for the blog (not so much for me) the construction is over and I am temporarily back to office. It is a more relaxed sort of job I am doing right now, but of course not so interesting. So apparently it seems I will have more time after work (and more energy) to think on posts and to write them. That is my new years resolution. Of course, there are others, but can't publish them here ;-). On the mean time, I just want to say thanks to all readers who keep coming here on purpose or just by chance through a google search during 2012, you are my motivation to keep the blog active. Cheers and happy 2013 to all! I have though one good news coming soon, will post it already in 2013!
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[Guest Post] MS Excel: How to find the corresponding value for a given entry

Using the VLOOKUP function in Excel
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Another Guest post by my brother about Excel. Imagine you have this list, where each letter has a value

Then you have a given list such as, and you want to have the value for each letter:

You just have to write the following: =Vlookup(value you want to find; matrix where the value has to be found; number of column where the value is;”false” if you want to find the exact value) In our example, this would mean you write in Sheet 2, Cell B2 the following: =vlookup(A2;Sheet1!A:B;2;FALSE) And the result would be:

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[Guest Post] Some useful shortcuts for Excel

Some useful shortcuts for Excel. A guest post by my brother Jordi.
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This is a guest post by my brother Jordi. A list of useful shortcuts for MS Excel that will make your workflow much faster. Here they come:

• Ctrl+”+”: Add a new column or row. Click on the column/row where you want to add and press “Ctrl” and at the same time the “+”.
• Ctrl+”-“: Delete a new column or row. Select the column/row want to delete and press “Ctrl” and at the same time the “-”.
• F2: Modify a cell. When you are in a cell, press F2 and you will be able to modify directly the cell without the need to double-click it.
• F4: Repeat an action: When you want to repeat and action you just performed, press F4 and the last action you made will be repeated.
• F9: recalculate the values. Sometimes the excel sheet are put into manual calculation, if you want the sheet to calculate and show you the values, pres F9
• Ctrl + “up arrow”/“down arrow”: Move to the first/last line with values: Press Ctrl + “up arrow”/“down arrow”

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[Updated Old Post]: AutoCAD Image Frame

Settings for image frames in AutoCAD
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This is an updated verion of a previous "guest post". I've been asked to remove that post, but since the topic is relevant I will just summarize it here.

Images in AutoCAD have frames (even if you don't see them). Playing with the "IMAGEFRAME" system variable allows you to toggle from seeing or not seeing the frame. THe three settings for the IMAGEFRAME system variable are these:


If you set it to 0 it means the frame is completely off (not seen nor printed), setting it to 1 means the frame is on (seen and printed), and finally setting it to 2 means that the frame is on in the drawing, but it will be off in when you print.

Also, you can switch from Visible (number 1) to invisible (number 0) frames by using the TFRAME command. It doesn't allow to control the variable to set it to number 2 though,  but this gives you the flexibility to switch on and off the frames quickly.
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Ferrovial's Handbook Against Waste [1962]

A Handbook against "waste" dated back from 1962.
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Recently, I got news of the realease of the "handbook against waste" written as an internal document for Ferrovial (one of the biggest general contractors in Spain). I had heard of this docuemtn for a while but had not had the chance to read it. Now it is available for everyone from this link. [The handbook is in Spanish]. I am also keeping here a mirror copy just in case the link goes down and I am not available to update it. Click on the image below.
It is a very interesting read, and what is specially interesting is that it dates back to 1962. Sometimes we tend to think that all the fuzz about Lean, Last Planner or Location Based Scheduling is something new that just came out of nowhere just a few years back. 
This handbook is the proof that some companies and many professionals have worked with better standards and processes for a long time, they just didn't publish it openly. Competition is fierce in the construction sector, and maybe this fierce competition is what for a long time has made it impossible for companies to share their knowledge and improve so the Construction Industry as a whole. Luckily, I think the internet and the advent of Social Media, has changed this, and more and more companies are sharing part of their better processes.  I am back! ;-) 
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The reason i am not blogging

Can't find the time to blog sorry, too busy.
Català - Castellano - Deutsch
Been to busy recently to keep on blogging, the reason? Last december I prepared a presentation for a project we were bidding to be the general contractors, and it seems the presentation was good enough to win the bid. You can see part of the presentation below.



SO now I am the Project Manager on site, dealing with all subcontractors, writing contracts, controling costs, taking care that we keep on the tied schedule we have, all that! So no time to blog at all other than this few lines 2 months after the last posts. At some point I'll be back, can't tell you when yet. Hope you don't leave the blog forever.




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First Pull Session of the Last Planner System™

Just sharing a short summary video of our first Pull Session.
Català - Castellano - Deutsch
One of the reasons I haven't been blogging in the past month is that I have been very busy at work. One of the two reasons (the second one I will explain soon if I can) I've been so busy is because we have been implementing the Last Planner System™ (LPS)at one of our projects to control the works on site.

I am not sure yet if I will share this type of information on this site in the future or if I will start a new blog on the topic somewhere else, but for now, let me share a short summary video of this 1st Pull Session. See below.



The Last Planner System™ is a set of processes to improve predictability of construction works through a series of planning and controlling conversations between the stakeholders of the project. We have been for now testing the LPS in one of our projects and we are trying to turn it soon into the standard methodology to plan an control the works on all of our construction projects.

We are proud to be of the few pioneers who are implementing this in Spain, and we will be sharing our experiences on the coming meeting of the Spanish Group for Lean Construction that will take place in Madrid on February 14th.

What you see in the video might be the first Pull Session in the history of Spain, so it might become a historic document ;-). The Pull Session is the first meeting to collaboratively agree on a schedule of the works were the Last Planners (those who actually will perform the tasks on site) share their insights and opinions on what is the best sequence to be able to do their tasks.

This is of course a very simple way of describing a Pull Session, if you need any help or more information or if you want a Construction Company that can / wants to work with this system, please do get in touch with me.

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