Podcast Summary

Podcast: Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast: Agile storytelling from the trenches
Episode: The DOWNTIME Strategy—Eliminating Waste Before Adding Process | Felipe Engineer-Manriquez
Date: January 28, 2026
Host: Vasco Duarte
Guest: Felipe Engineer-Manriquez

Episode Overview

This episode explores how lean and agile methodologies—specifically the DOWNTIME waste framework from Lean—can be adapted and applied to the construction industry to drive transformational change. Felipe Engineer-Manriquez shares his step-by-step strategy for helping teams eliminate waste, free up capacity, and only then introduce new processes. With concrete stories, practical tips, and a healthy dose of candor, Felipe adapts Agile principles for a sector often viewed as resistant to change.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Philosophy: Do No Harm

(01:43 - 02:55)

• Felipe begins with a foundational approach rooted in responsibility and trust, borrowing from Hippocrates’ “do no harm.”
• He emphasizes humility and accountability: “I promise you that I will do no harm and if something goes wrong, I will take full responsibility with leadership and I'll put my neck on... I'm not just like a seagull coming in, shitting on people and making people telling people they're doing things wrong and that we're going to do things completely differently.” (Felipe, 01:51)
• The key is avoiding abrupt, disruptive changes and instead focusing on gently disrupting harmful patterns.

2. Identifying and Eliminating Waste: The DOWNTIME Framework

(02:56 - 05:52)

• Felipe introduces the DOWNTIME acronym, representing the eight types of waste in Lean:
  • Defects
  • Overproduction
  • Waiting
  • Transportation
  • Inventory
  • Motion
  • Extra-processing
• He details the staggering inefficiency of construction compared to other industries:
  • "For every dollar spent, only 15 to 20 cents of value reaches the owner and... the rest is burned up in the system." (Felipe, 03:45)
  • In agriculture, 90% of value is delivered, but construction averages 15-20%.

3. First Tactic: Stop Doing Wasteful Things

(03:51 - 07:52)

• Instead of adding processes, Felipe first helps teams systematically stop wasteful activities, thereby freeing up capacity before instituting any new practices.
• He shares a critical insight: "Every single project team in lean, we learn about waste... The first things I do is help the team let things go, stop doing things." (Felipe, 03:51)

4. Concrete Example: Big Batch Processing and Waiting

(05:06 - 07:50)

• The most pervasive waste in construction is waiting, often masked by batch work and multitasking.
• Memorable example:
  • “If somebody's asked to make a commitment, the default answer in construction... is within two weeks. Now, nothing in the world... actually takes 14 calendar days to do. But it is the number one answer.” (Felipe, 05:29)
• By reducing batch sizes and focusing on actionable, smaller tasks, “waiting” as a waste is addressed.

5. Making Work Visible: Increasing Transparency

(07:52 - 10:25)

• Once waste is eliminated and capacity is freed, Felipe advocates for radical transparency.
• He recounts a powerful story of a city ambulatory emergency center project that lagged dangerously behind schedule.
  • The solution was startlingly simple: spend five minutes collaboratively defining and writing the next clear milestone on a whiteboard.
  • Result: “Two weeks later they met their schedule and improved the schedule by four days. And the superintendent said, never in the entire time I worked here have we ever met a schedule commitment or did better.” (Felipe, 09:25)
• The milestone was made visible in a meeting (with pizza bribery—to ease resistance), not through force or lengthy documentation.

6. Planning and Small Iterative Change: Learning from Scrum

(10:49 - 12:43)

• Felipe compares the approach to the "daily scrum" but notes construction often holds “daily huddles” more for compliance than real planning.
  • “They were not actually planning. They were just pushing.” (Felipe, 11:37)
• He emphasizes the importance of only making one or two changes at a time: stabilize, let the team adjust, then re-assess for the next bottleneck, referencing theory of constraints.

7. Iterative Change and Bottleneck Focus

(12:43 - 13:11)

• Introducing new changes must follow system stabilization:
  • “Once it stabilized... the next thing to change was to put a focus on getting people paid. That released so the team could actually get paid for work that they had done.” (Felipe, 12:58)
• Change in complex systems must not be rushed—all interventions shift where the next bottleneck will arise.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On taking responsibility as a coach:
  “I will do no harm and if something goes wrong, I will take full responsibility with leadership and I'll put my neck on. My neck is literally on the line.”
  (Felipe Engineer-Manriquez, 01:47)

• On the waste endemic in construction:
  "For every dollar spent, only 15 to 20 cents of value reaches the owner... the rest is burned up in the system of producing the thing. And it's crazy bad."
  (Felipe Engineer-Manriquez, 03:45)

• On flawed commitment patterns:
  “The default answer in construction... is within two weeks. Now, nothing in the world... actually takes 14 calendar days to do. But it is the number one answer.”
  (Felipe Engineer-Manriquez, 05:29)

• On small, visible changes creating breakthrough:
  “We just made that visible. We spent five minutes in the meeting describing what it means for these walls to be finished on a whiteboard. And I hand wrote the date and I put it on the wall... Two weeks later they met their schedule and improved the schedule by four days…”
  (Felipe Engineer-Manriquez, 09:08)

• On iterative improvement:
  “Don’t try to do all of the things at the same time, because when you do one thing, the system changes.”
  (Vasco Duarte, 12:33)

Timestamps for Important Segments

| Timestamp | Segment / Insight | |:----------:| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | 01:43 | Felipe’s “Do No Harm” approach and accountability | | 02:56 | Introduction of DOWNTIME (eight Lean wastes) and construction efficiency critique | | 05:06 | Example of batch processing and default “two weeks” problem | | 07:52 | Shift to making work visible through transparency | | 09:08 | Case study: Emergency center and the dramatic results of visual milestone-setting | | 10:49 | Introducing incremental process changes—small batch scrum analogy and stabilizing teams | | 12:43 | Watching for system bottlenecks, iterative adaptation |

Style and Tone

Felipe balances candor and practical wisdom with humor and humility (“seagull coming in, shitting on people…”). The episode is conversational and story-driven, yet highly actionable for listeners from construction or any “lagging” industry seeking to implement real change at the team and systems level.

Summary Takeaways

• Don’t pile new processes onto an overloaded system; first, strip away waste to free capacity.
• Use transparency and collaborative milestone setting to accelerate progress.
• Treat changes as experiments—one at a time, allowing the system to stabilize before the next iteration.
• Emotional intelligence and humility are key for agile coaches seeking to influence entrenched teams.

This episode is a must-listen for anyone ready to challenge the notion that “Agile won’t work here” and looking for a pragmatic roadmap to real change—even in the toughest environments.