Getting Started with Takt Planning.
Turn your project into a production line. Learn zones, trade trains, and buffers, then leave with a finished takt plan for your project.
By Kyle Nitchen · $149 · Lifetime access · Available now
Your $149 credits in full toward Antifragile Project Management if you enroll within 90 days.
Why this course
Most schedules are a stack of promises with no production logic. Takt gives your project a beat: trades flow through zones like a train, handoffs happen on rhythm, and problems surface while they are still cheap. The course walks you through the same build for your project, step by step.
The format
Why written beats video here
Every lesson is about 10 minutes to read and 30 minutes to apply, one lesson a day. You read it in the trailer at 6 am and you run it on your job by lunch. That cadence is the reason this actually gets implemented instead of saved for later.
Live access
Monthly office hours with Kyle
First Friday of every month, noon Pacific, on WHOP. Bring your board, your numbers, or your stuck spot. Every $149 course includes a seat.
What you'll build
Skills you can point at.
01
Flow thinking
- Takt time, zones, wagons, trains, and buffers, in plain language
- Why production planning prevents the blowups CPM cannot see
- Where takt fits and where it does not
02
Your zone map
- Break the project into density-leveled zones by real work content
- Pick a takt time that fits your crews, not a textbook number
- Handle non-standard areas: OR suites, MEP mezzanines, restrooms
03
Your trade train
- Sequence the wagons in the proven interior and MEP order
- Handle break-takt work without derailing the train
- Manage inspections, first-of-kind, and owner sign-offs inside the flow
04
The protected plan
- Place buffers where risk lives, not evenly across the schedule
- Set hard gates: dust-free milestones, owner stops, commissioning
- Design the plan to survive the trade that shows up late
05
The finished board
- Build a day-level takt board in Excel, zone by zone
- Use the included AI takt plan builder: guided interview to draft board
- Refine the draft with your trades in one working session
06
Run it in the field
- Re-level when reality hits without throwing out the plan
- Read the board like a super: is the train on time, ahead, or falling apart
- Coach trades to think in takt, not just tasks
The artifact
What you walk away holding
A one-page takt plan for your real project. Drafted Day 2, rebuilt by your own hand by Day 12, proved against your contract Day 13, and sold to the room Day 14.
What readers say
"The company I work for lacks in training and procedures. Your work is helping me become a better PM and bridge the gap that I am missing due to the lack of formal training."
Your instructor
Learn directly from Kyle.
Kyle NitchenKyle Nitchen is a Regional Construction Manager for Layton Construction, part of STO Building Group, the #3 ranked construction organization in the world. As a Project Executive, he leads high-stakes healthcare construction across Southern California, overseeing teams, managing risk, and delivering complex projects that help communities live, work, and heal.
Over a decade in the field. $500M+ delivered. He writes The Influential Project Manager, read by 10,000+ construction leaders.
Every framework in these courses is field-tested on active, large-scale construction projects.
Who this is for
Built for the operator, not the observer.
- Schedulers, supers, and PMs on repetitive multi-zone work
- Interiors, MOBs, hospitals, multifamily, data centers
- Lean champions who want a real production planning system
- Owner reps who want their GCs planning in flow, not fiction
Prerequisites
- Basic Excel. No prior takt or lean experience required.
- The AI Takt Planning Assistant needs a paid Claude plan with the desktop app. If you don't have one, the included 9-prompt kit walks the same path in any AI chat.
What's included
Everything you need to ship.
- 14 written lessons with worksheets, one per day
- The AI takt plan builder
- The 9-prompt Takt Kit, an equal path in any AI chat
- Monthly group office hours with Kyle
- Day-level takt board Excel template
- 31-wagon interior trade train reference
- Zone planning worksheet
- A real hospital TI worked example
- Lifetime access, updated for life
- Certificate of completion
FAQ
Questions, answered.
No. Takt drives production inside CPM. Your master schedule sets milestones, takt runs the daily flow between them.
Atomic for Teams
Bring your company along.
Systems stick when the whole trailer runs them. Get reimbursed, learn with your team, or run a private cohort for your company.
Reimbursement
Get your company to pay
Most contractors have a training budget. We give you everything L&D needs: a copy-paste request email, a receipt, and a certificate of completion.
Team discount
Learn with your project team
Enrolling 2 or more from the same company? Use code ATOMICTEAM at checkout for 20% off every seat. Systems stick when the whole trailer runs them.
Private cohort
Run it for your whole org
A dedicated cohort with a custom schedule and curriculum for your company, taught live. Built from a $500M portfolio of real healthcare and commercial work.