Category: Senior Executive

An Early Warning Indicator of Success

Three Weeks Later

“At this rate, we’re not going to be able to keep up with all the quotes we are getting,” said Alice.

Alice is a short, petite woman. She started with the company as an assembler in our electronic circuit board department. She made it on to Jacques staff through hard work and the clear desire to help the company succeed. That was almost five years ago and she’s been in charge of the quotation department ever since.

She said, “I don’t know what’s happening, but we’ve had to work overtime and I’ve come in on the past two Saturdays to try and keep on top of things. We can’t do this forever.” She put her hands on her lap and looked down at the table. Her frustration was clear to everyone. I saw it, too.

Jacques invited me to his staff meeting because he’s taken me under his wing, so to speak. With all the traveling we’ve done together and the many sales meetings we’ve conducted, we’ve got to know each other very well. He isn’t the jerk I thought him to be. I’m not the crazy project manager he thought I was.

I said, “What companies are these quotes coming from?”

She read them off and I was not surprised to hear the names. They were the same companies Jacques and I had visited. I know we got good responses to our new offer, but I didn’t know we got more quotes from them. My prediction was that the sales hit rate would go up, but I didn’t know when or how much.

The systems we sell are unique. Every customer wants an up to date quotation even if it for things they’ve ordered before. Alice must create a response to a customer RFP from scratch each time. I didn’t know much about the process she uses, but it’s starting to look like a small project. Each quote has many steps and the work is handled by more than one person.

Alice said, “It wouldn’t be so bad if customers were willing to wait for us. But, I’m getting a few phone calls, only a few so far, asking when their quote will be back to them.”

Jacques said, “We have a small window of opportunity to get back in with some old customers. We have to get the quotes back as soon as we can.”

Jacques was pushing them hard, but I could see his point. We weren’t out fo the wood yet. We needed to close more and more deals to capitalize on the hard work we put into re-organizing my operations.

But, my operations under the same pressures at one time. Each order has many steps and the work is handled by more than one person. Our customers complained about how long it took for us to deliver an order. When we did deliver, it was usually late. We were working overtime and Saturdays. I even came in on Sundays from time to time.

I said, “We are in uncharted territory here. I’m not sure how much more capacity we need to process quotes today or next week. But, I do know that when we looked at the work in operations, we exposed all the capacity we needed and more.”

Jacques said, “Do you think the solution you used to expose capacity could reduce the time it takes to process our quotations?”

I said, “I don’t see why not, but we can check. It’s obvious to me that there are common tasks for every quote even if the details are unique. These tasks have a general duration of flow. It takes more than one resource to process all the tasks. And, there is a lot of uncertainty about many things Alice needs to deal with. If an environment, in this case, the quote department, has these characteristics, the solution we’ve used should be good fit.”

Jacques said, “Do you have time to sit with Alice and come to a firm conclusion?”

I said, “How about I send Jim, one of my best project mangers, over to meet with Alice? He’s not busy right now and has been on the road the past few weeks. He’ll be glad to work on an internal project for a change.”

The meeting continued through the rest of the agenda items and then broke up. I returned to my office and saw the CEO sitting behind my desk. It wasn’t my desk exactly, it was his company after all. But, I still didn’t like it.

He pushed some papers around and clamp his hands together. He looked up. Not surprised to see me. His face was passive. A lump of grey, sagging clay. His eyes were small, brown dots underneath his huge forehead. I looked into them and imagining the small child inside start to shrink. I continued to shrink until I was so small that he had to strain to see me. If I could have disappeared, I would have, but I could only shrink so far. It look all the energy I had to stand there and wait.

He said, “We lost another order today. Why did it take a call to the CEO of the Klinester Corporation to beg him to reconsider? Don’t you know we are trying everything to get them back as a customer? What kind of show are you running here anyway?”

In my shrunken state, the drone of his words echoed in my head. I was in a deep, dark hole where every sound reverberated off one side then the other. No word was distinguishable. I couldn’t make sense of anything I was hearing. I didn’t want to. It hurt. Anymore words that got into my head would explode.

I was aware of my breathing only because I was running out of air. Breathing was hard. It scared me more than the exploding words. I started to panic and felt myself become light headed. Ah, relief. My lightheadedness gave way to euphoria. I was flying. Floating higher and higher. Free. Silent.

I opened my eyes and was standing in front of my desk again. The CEO was sitting there looking at me. Waiting. Waiting for what?

He said, “What are you doing about these customers who want their order faster?”

My breathing back to normal, I said, “How much faster to they want there orders?”

He said, “You have to cut your lead times in half. That should do it.”

I said, “OK, I can do that.” How in the hell was I going to do that?

He said, “Get it done and start with the Klinester order.”

He rose from my desk. My chair hit the wall with a clang and the wheels rattled. His bulk pulled a vacuum from the space behind my desk and I saw some of my papers move. I heard a whoosh of air as he moved towards me.  Moving aside I  let him by me and caught a whiff of cologne. My eyes started to water. Or, were those tears. As I blinked, he faded off into the distance.

I sat in one of my guest chairs and continued to take deep breaths. Dazed. That was a close call. I hope he didn’t notice. My childhood memories of being berated by my father appeared out of nowhere like all my memories do. I was a small child being traumatized by the one person I depended on for my survival. I had nowhere to go. No way to defend myself. But, I learned to protect myself by shrinking in place. My safe place.

What a morning. There is preliminary evidence that our reliability offer was generating more quotations. And, if my hunch was right, we could find more capacity for Alice’s department by include her in our CCPM solution. More quotes doesn’t always mean more orders. But, the increase in quote activity is the early warning I need to make sure we do everything we can to turn the quotes into orders.

But now the CEO wants to deliver orders faster, not only on time. We would have to maintain our due date performance, of course, but now orders deliver in less time than the industry standard. By half.

How to Professionally Prepare for a Project Network Building Session

Jim Reynolds sat at his spartan desk. A solid grey number he picked up himself from a local thrift store. His shoulders hunched and his head bent over a blank piece of paper. Pen in hand. A wood file cabinet stained dark stood next to him like a roman centurion guard. A faded map of the world was on the wall behind him.

There was a gleaming trophy and a picture of Jim with his softball team smiling for the camera. Jim had been 100 pounds heavier in that picture. Over the past few years, he had started exercising and eating right. Today, his shoulders were broad. His head was full of grey hair framing a face of someone 10 years younger.

I walked in and sat in my project manager’s only guest chair and asked, “Good morning, Jim, what are you working on?” I glanced over at the trophy and at the old Jim.

Preparing for the Project Network Building Session

He said as he looked up, “I’m working out what I need to do to prepare for my next project network building session. I’ve noticed that we all have a different way of leading these meetings and I wanted to find the least effective dose.”

The least effective dose is medical slang. To get the greatest possible effect, the doctor injects the patient with the least effective dose of medication. Many times the medication can be poisonous, but up to a point, the poison can be tolerated by the body and kills off the virus being treated.

I said, “Good idea, this has been on my to-do list for a while, too. Do you mind sharing what you come up with?”

Jim said, “Of course, I should have something to you this afternoon. The only other thing I need to do this morning is look over my portfolio dashboard and see who needs help. As you know most projects are moving along so well it shouldn’t take me too long.”

The project network building sessions are where two project management worlds collide. Ours and the customers. The potential polite, but never the less, explosive situations between our two companies are things we want to avoid. So, we want to be very careful to plan how we get agreement on the problems which face both of our organizations before doing anything else. It may be a strange way to start a meeting, but it’s vital we build trust before continuing on to the more contentious ways we are working these days.

The Pre-meeting and Meeting Details

As I left his office, I saw Jim start to write. I know Jim needs to put pen to paper to get his thoughts straight. His handwriting is atrocious, but as long as he can read his scribbles, that’s not my problem.

Meanwhile, Jim read over the details he had about the meeting so far:

The starting point is scheduling the project network building session. DONE. He had sent out the invite to the customer’s project manager and to his team the first thing this morning.

Since this project was with a new customer, a pre-meeting was planned with their project manager. We’ll go over the agenda and make them aware of the few, key differences in our CCPM approach. Review our poor history of project performance and the significant consequences of poor performance first.

Before this first customer meeting, add my own introduction, agenda and objectives. The same content will be used to kick-off the network building session itself.

Any mis-understandings or concerns need to be cleared up ahead of time. But, the most important reasons for the customer pre-meeting was to create a sense of confidence. Trust. Not in my abilities to lead our project, but to instill some confidence in them, too. CCPM flies in the face of some commonly held beliefs about how project are planned and executed. And, it doesn’t do anyone any good if their project manager looks ignorant about them in front of their own people.

Unique CCPM Items

The few, unique CCPM items to cover in the initial customer meeting are:

    • How task durations are established.
    • The focus on scheduling the known work. Not scheduling the “what if’s”, unsubstantiated predictions or items with a low probability of happening.
    • The focus on finishing the project on time, not focusing on finishing each task on time.
    • The project buffer and the “insurance model” as an example for dealing with uncertainty throughout the life of the project.
    • The level of task details and the ability to added as much detail as desired with the task description notes, custom or activities fields.
    • The definition of a task––A task of a project is defined as a group of activities whose completion enables ANOTHER resource to start doing their work.
    • The process of building the network from the objective back, from right to left, to the beginning of the project.
    • Defining the one objective and expected benefits the project is intended to deliver.

Stakeholder Elements

Next, I’ll request and review the few elements we need before any project planning session (the stakeholder analysis elements). These elements items are the:

    • Scope, goal(s), and key milestones
    • Internal and external customers
    • Tangible deliverables
    • Major items needed as inputs
    • Technical, schedule and budget risks

Software Set-up Elements

The project management software also needs a few pieces of data before the network building session. I’ll plan on getting these things during the initial customer meeting. They are:

    • The customer’s holiday schedule
    • Project naming conventions
    • The project manager and their email address
    • Who their task managers are and their email addresses
    • Who their resource managers are and their email addresses
    • The days of the week they work and which day their work week starts
    • Request an initial list of resource types (skills) needed and quantity of each available for the project.
    • Request an initial list of users who only need access to view the project’s performance indicators.

Then, I’ll set up the software with the above data before the network building session.

Meeting Room Set-up

Arrive ahead of the network building session and make sure:

    • The room is set-up
    • The large video screens work
    • I can connect my PC to the screens
    • To dial in to the conference call, call a colleague and check the volume
    • There is enough work space for the expected project team members

Kick-off Meeting Agenda

Start the kick-off the network building session with the following:

    • Welcome and introductions
    • Inventing the future speech
    • Combination of skills and knowledge which will get us there
    • The project performance issues we encountered in the past, the significant ramifications of poor project performance, and the things we have done to avoid them in the future

After that, review the four phases of network building, e.g., build network, add all task success criteria, add resource type and durations, and optimize.

    • Network building / Naming Projects (what is a project)
    • Select the Project Manager––A Project Manager has the responsibility for all aspects of the planning, scheduling and execution phases.
    • Schedule the known, leave the unknown to the buffer.
      Planning “What must be finished immediately before this task (on the right) can start?”
    • Dependencies must be true dependencies, using the word “MUST”, i.e., this task must finish before starting the next one.
    • Repeat until you have reached a task that could be started today.
    • Add success or exit criteria to each task.
      Add resource type(s), resource quantities, and estimated task durations. Use these guidelines:
    • Assign a resource type responsible for completing the task. Resource types assigned to a task are doing the majority of the work.
    • To increase the speed of the task, determine the most number of this resource type that could be assigned to perform tasks.
    • If a resource type will cause a delay in the task’s execution, but the skill is not critical, list them in the task notes section (not as a resource type).
    • For the task duration estimate, ask “How long would this task take without interruption and if no unusual problems occurred?”
    • Optimizing project network for total duration, risk, and on-going improvement opportunities.

Examples of  CCPM Schedules

Show an example of a CCPM project. Review what the schedule will look like. Explain the critical chain tasks, project and feeding buffers. Review the project dashboard, what updates are required, and what reports are available.

Finally, we’ll determine the official start date of the project and how the project status will be communicated.

Above all, the only other thing Jim jotted down for the network building session was a small, sugar free snack from the grocery store. A small, peace offering can’t hurt. He’ll pick that up the day before the meeting.

Jim’s Email

Sure enough, Jim’s email––How to Prepare for a Project Network Building Session––landed in my inbox at 1:35pm the same day. I read it over and decided it was good enough. Good enough may seem like faint praise, but good enough is a different way of describing the least effective dose for planning projects. You see, the amount of uncertainty every project encounters during its life dwarfs any detailed predictions made during the planning process.

In the end, the beauty of CCPM is that is expects the uncertainty. A CCPM schedule has buffers in the right place to watch exactly how much uncertainty the project is experiencing. And, the performance indicators provide enough time to react to most, if not all, deviations. So, good enough is indeed good enough. The point is not to plan a project to death, but to get the project finished on-time and reap the benefits of the work done.

 

Our Big, Lovely CCPM Multi-Project Portfolio Problem

Current Status

The number of projects planned or re-planned using the CCPM method stands at 26. This is about two thirds of all our running projects. We have made progress. But, the amount of effort I have to spend poking my nose into some projects seems too high. I intervene far too many times and I’m worried about it.

The project performance indicators are showing we may hit the wall soon if I don’t find a way of avoiding it. The wall is the promised due dates for the projects I’m intervening in. What is the number one reason project managers miss their due dates? They run out of time. Why re we running out of time? And, I’m paranoid. Murphy is waiting to trip us up.

Each project manager has had some time to learn how to lead a CCPM project. The ability to focus on the same set of critical chain tasks can be described as stability enhancing. That’s a good thing around here. And, my ability to get confident answers to “where is the project stuck” questions is satisfying. The answers appear after a few clicks of the mouse. Everything seems to be going fine at the project level.

The Search for Less Expediting

But, why is there still too much expediting from my portfolio level? Some of the projects we recently re-planned required us to go back to our customers and confirm the new dates. Of course, each customer was skeptical of our new dues dates. But, what could they do? We already had the contract and some said they expected us to be late anyway. Sigh.

Staring at the screen or procrastinating over what to do next was not doing anyone any good. Admitting to yourself you are out of your depth is not an easy thing to do either. Yes, the promises we made to our customers are one thing. My promises to our own folks and to our company was another. I have to look into the eyes of these people. How am I going to feel if some day I realized they hadn’t been taken care of? Especially, when I was in a position to do so.

Get Help If You Need It

The tightness in my stomach was worsening. The dizziness is starting to build in my head, so I picked up the phone and called Gary, our non-software salesman. I tracked him down on a beach in Cost Rica. He said the sun was shining and the morning paddle he made around the deep blue inlet was refreshing. But, he had a few minutes for me.

I asked, “With so many projects running under the CCPM rules, why hasn’t our portfolio performance improved at the same rate? I’m concerned we won’t deliver as late as we used to, but I’m not sure we’ll deliver on the dates promised either.”

“I’m glad you called,” he said, “I only have a few minutes, but let me ask you a few questions. How many of the CCPM planned projects do you have running right now?”

“All of them,” I chuckled, “Since they were already underway, we re-planned them and started them as soon as everything checked out.”

“OK,” said Gary, “we may have to check your decision to do that, but here’s another question. What are your most loaded resources?”

I said, “I’m not sure. As you know, we haven’t hired or fired anyone in the past several months. So, the total resource pool hasn’t changed much.”

Gary said, “I know what may be going on, but you will need to check these things yourself. I’m being called away.”

“No problem, what do I need to do? I don’t have a lot of time myself, but I’m sure they are for different reasons that yours,” I said.

Gary says, “Since you, the manager of the project portfolio, do not know the most loaded resources concerns me. You also started projects as soon as they are re-planned. This also concerns me. You may have inadvertently overloaded your resource pool by starting some projects too soon. If you have started projects too soon it’s easy to create multi-tasking between projects. And, when multi-tasking increases, what happens to lead times?”

“Lead times always go up,” I say. I’m glad Gary is being blunt with me. I need some motivation and some clear thinking to get past the tightening screws in my stomach.

Gary says. “Look into the Pipelining process documentation. You will find your answers there. You may find some projects should not have been started right away. In other words, you re-started them too soon. Sorry, that’s all I have time for. I’ve got to go.”

Do Your Research

The phone went silent and I was left with a daydream from a beach vacation long ago. Anyway, we took great care to cut the multi-tasking within projects, it would be a shame to now have multi-tasking between projects. If we have exceeded our resource capacity that would explain it. I clicked on the software documentation and found the Pipelining section.

In the Pipeline section of the User Guide, I read that the Dynamic Drum synchronizes the release of all projects with the Pipeline status. The Dynamic Drum is focused on maximizing the throughput for the entire portfolio of projects. This is what we are missing. Gary and I talked about this a long time ago, so I continue reading.

The User Guide also says the Dynamic Drum is forward looking, not based on historical results or the past use of the resource loading data. This must mean the resource the software is using as the drum resource changes as projects are stared and introduced into the portfolio’s pipeline.

The Dynamic Drum Feature

I click on the Dynamic Drum button and walked through the predefined steps. I ranked the projects and watched the software highlight the resource selected as the Drum resource. It’s our Video Developers. They are the one’s which provide the customer code for the unique features our customers want. Almost every project uses them.

I check the status of the resource loading on another screen. Sure enough, our Video Developers are overloaded. But, so are a few others that I was not aware of. My intuition only goes so far, doesn’t it? I used to be able to tell which resources were overloaded in the past because I worked in the company for so long. I know these people. But, with the changes we’ve made, my intuition isn’t as well developed. I’m going to have to rely on the software to help me after all.

The two things Gary was worried about are indeed true. We have too many projects running and a few resources are showing overloads. I remember now, the earlier we start then the earlier we will finish is not correct. Gary went over this with us. Our new mantra should be, “To finish early, start as late as possible.” I started projects too soon. I didn’t want to lose any time. Folks were already working on these projects and didn’t want to lose momentum. These may all be good reasons, but missing the due dates was not worth it.

Gary’s prediction may be right. If I run the software’s Dynamic Drum the recommended project Start Dates may delay some of the projects from starting today. It will show some projects were released ahead of time and effected the resource use across the portfolio. If I change anything now, it would cause a major wave of disruption across the portfolio. It’s time to call a staff meeting and explain our situation.

A Group’s Problem Needs a Group Solution

Right after lunch, most of my staff are assembled in the conference room. It was a hot afternoon and rush of air conditioning was audible in the background. Jim and Karen came in together, but sat on opposite sides of the room. I know they have been seeing each other on the side, but it was none of my business. At least not until it started to effect their performance.

I started the meeting by saying, “We’ve got a problem. I’m sorry I didn’t catch this sooner, but we may have too many projects running. Too many projects in execution means we have overloaded our resource pool. Not every resource in our resource pool, but a few which many of you have on your projects. Too many overloads, too much multi-tasking, and too long lead times.”

I shared the screens I had looked at earlier. I showed them which resources were overloaded. And, showed them which resource the software suggested as the Dynamic Drum.

Jim asked, “What happens if you take the software’s suggestion?” Jim was wearing a pin-striped short sleeve shirt. Unusual for him, his thick hair was not perfectly in place.

Let the Software Support You

I said, “The software will suggest the optimal start date for each project in the Pipeline status. To include the already running projects in the calculation we need to place them back into the Pipeline. Only then can we understand how many projects our resource pool can handle.”

I let that sink in for a few seconds and said, “And, I don’t know how long these already running projects will stay in the pipeline. But, we have to take some of the load off our resource pool and improve our flow. Improving our flow will improve our throughput. And, improving our throughput will have a positive effect on almost every project’s due date performance.”

The frustrated faces stared at me. I was afraid of that, but when you find yourself in a deep hole, stop digging. We had to find a way out or all our work over the past few months will have been for nothing.

I searched for the right words and said, “I’m sorry for the hassle, but here’s what we are going to do. I’ll put every running project back into Pipeline status. I’ll run the Dynamic Drum process and let the system suggest the start date for each project. For those projects with a start date of today, we can put them back into execution. For those with suggested start dates in the future, we’ll redeploy the effected resources. These re-deployments may help the running projects finish sooner.”

Accepting the Software’s Suggestions

The software staggered the start dates of a few projects and left many of the project back where they started. We exposed capacity for the few resources which were overloaded before. We also exposed capacity for most resources which were not overloaded to begin with. They were redeployed to the running projects. This extra capacity may be enough to improve our flow. The resulting throughput improvement will help us deliver all our projects on time. Makes sense.

But, the main thing I learned is that I can’t run away from my responsibilities. I can’t hide from them because I’m afraid to proceed. The longer the procrastination, the larger the pain. So, what’s worse, the big pain of tomorrow or the tightness in my stomach and the dizziness in my head today? I’m glad Gary was there to point me in the right duration. We all need people like him to get us off the X.

Promising Results

A few weeks later, the first CCPM project we promised to deliver on time was delivered two days early. The projects due by next week were also performing well.

Multi-tasking is the single greatest contributor to poor project performance. And, as difficult as it was to reschedule our projects, is was a major breakthrough for us. It is key to not over-schedule our resource pool. It’s also the key to improving the stability and the throughput of our company.

Initial Results of Using CCPM to Plan Projects

No two projects are the same. Our place in the business universe is far from ordinary. The things our engineers can do would knock your socks off. Although we have customers who buy from us over and over again, what they want is never the same. Although our project managers lead these projects, the project teams never have the same members. And, the vendors we use to provide goods and services for our projects never know what to expect from us.

After One Month

But, after a month of planning projects the CCPM way, a pattern, a rhythm, and drum beat has emerged from the chaos. The calm voices, the productive meetings and an improvement in our performance measures is almost spooky. It may be the calm before the storm.

There are eight projects in flight which were planned and scheduled the new CCPM way. We have about 20 more projects to go. But, already the amount of distractions and people running to me for answers has gone down. No dark clouds are on the horizon.

I don’t know by how much, but the number of emails from upset customers has dropped off. Of the few measures we are using to track our performance the number of nasty emails per day is the one I am using. I want them all to go away someday, and someday day soon.

Don’t Expect Miracles, Yet

It doesn’t take long to bring me back to reality. My daydream was shattered when I hear our CEO bellow, “Why do I have to hear from one of our best customer, MegaForm, that their project is going to be late? They are threatening to pull the next order they have with us and send it to one of our competitors.” Our CEO has a temper, but today his voice was flat and firm. But, below the surface, I saw the dragon straining to be unleashed.

Remaining calm, I say, “I won’t give you excuses. Let me look into it and see what I can do. One of our best project managers is leading that project, so there must be a reason.”

The majority of our projects are still waiting to be re-planned. My hands are sill full with the unplanned ones. But, it’s how our customers are managing projects. It’s what our competitors are doing it. It’s what the professional organizations tell us are the best project management tools. How could they all be so wrong.

Somewhere along the line, the world has been suckered into a mediocre status quo. And, some folks think that’s alright. Some folks like it there. Although, we are not out of the woods my any means, I see there is a different way and a way which may raise us above the mediocrity. Right now other people’s way of doing things is not my problem.

Before I could say anything else, his back was to me as he huffed out of my office. Still, my anger was building, but after a few deep breaths and I felt the feelings pass. It’s a good thing, too, since Jim was the next person to walk into my office.

More Good News From the Front Lines

He says, “Hey boss, I want to give you an update on how our Labor Day project is going. Have a minute?”

“Sure,” I say, “give me as much detail as you want. Tell me everything.” I took another deep breath.

He grins and sits in my guest chair. He says, “As you know, we started this project on the recommended start date, which was the same day we finalized the planning. I immediately prepared to start the tasks the software suggested to start during the first week.”

“Yes, I remember that,” I say. It was a turning point which I won’t soon forget. Would this be the solution we were looking for? Time will tell.

A New Way to Request Resources

Jim said, “I asked the manager of our Accounting Department for someone to fill the Financial Analyst position. We need to set up the budget tracking process for this project. In the fine print of our contract, we agreed to provide the City with a detailed breakdown of our expenditures.”

‘We did,” I asked, “Did you get the resource you needed?”

“Like every other department around here, they are all overloaded. But, when I specified which resource we needed, for how long we needed them, and showed her the priority of this project in our portfolio, I had no problem getting them.”

Usually, getting the commitment from department managers for project resources is a well rehearsed and civilized battle between two Japanese sumo wrestlers. I asked, “How did the task assignments go?”

Assigning Tasks Redux

Jim said, “Fine, I didn’t include a due date when assigning the tasks like you asked. I was careful to only use the estimated task duration as a guide. I also stated when the task is complete, be ready to pass your work on to the next resource. This will cut the multi-tasking, Parkinson’s Law and the student syndrome behaviors.”

By focusing attention on the task due date caused all kinds of bad behaviors. Jim’s use of using the task duration should keep these behaviors at bay. I wonder if folks will add their own date to the task when it is assigned. If the task duration is three days, they could look on the calendar three days from now and pick the due date for themselves. Let me ask Jim about this when he finishes his report.

Effects of Exposing Management Capacity

I asked, “How long did it take to assigning all the first week’s tasks?”

He said, “Less than two hours. I know what you are thinking, what did I do with the rest of my day. I know we expect to free up capacity, but I didn’t think it would happen to me. I did have to take time to hold some hands to get the daily days remaining updates. But, I asked myself, what else can I be doing to move this project along.”

“And,” I said.

A Leader Emerges

“I looked ahead in the schedule and tried to think of all the things which would slow things down. I’ve heard you say time and time again to be paranoid. Be paranoid. But, don’t be hysterical. So, I found a few documents we need to have and some folks who need to have a clear desk in the next few days. I was clearing a path for the project team to follow. I’m a few steps ahead of them and can see things before they do.”

“That’s one of the things Gary, our software non-salesman, expected would happen. Putting project managers in a leadership position is much better than managing things by pushing a string through the forest.”

“It felt good being out front for a change. Not only can I see better, but I’m not being pressured to make decisions under duress. But, there is a temptation to intervene even when I know I shouldn’t.”

“What do you mean,” I asked.

“I’m so used to sticking my nose in and trying to help. When the indicators show I don’t need to, I’m helpless somehow.”

I said, “You are not helpless. You said it yourself, it’s better to be out front leading the team through the jungle rather than being in reaction mode. That’s a move in the right duration. You are also in a much better position to deal with the unexpected we know are behind the next corner. Murphy as been pretty quiet so far, but I don’t think that will last.”

“Thanks for that. I do need some reassurance from time to time,” Jim said.

One Way to Evaluate Disruptions to the CCPM Schedule

I said, “When you do come up against something that you think will cause a delay, let me know. In the software, we can make a copy of your project, make the changes we will need to make, and see what the impact is. If we like what we see, we can use the updated plan or stick with the one we have.”

“Good idea. But, I only want to use the updated plan if the change turns out to be a major disruption. I want to avoid changing the tasks along the critical chain. That would also be a major disruption. If the critical chain changes, all your looking ahead efforts are lost. Wasted,” I said.

Jim said, “I’ll be sure to let you know. The other change we made is having the team make their own daily updates to the task’s day remaining estimates. This will help us see any deviations as early as we can.”

That answered my question. Our project resources may add a date to the end of their task assignment. But, being reminded every day that all we want is a days remaining estimate should counteract the date they set for themselves.

“That’s all I have for you today, boss,” Jim said, “I’ll get out of your hair.”

“Come back anytime. When you have positive status to report like this,” I exclaim. “I can use all the positive news I can get. It’s also a good idea to plan on sharing your efforts with the other project managers in our weekly staff meeting,” I said.

Rising from his chair, Jim said, “I’ll be glad to. As good as it feels hearing good news, it feels good giving some good news for a change.” With that, he disappeared.

Silence. I’m now alone to worry about how I’m going to get the next projects planned and scheduled.

Dealing With Those Who Doubt Your Ability To Deliver Projects Quickly & Completely

The CEO’s eyes narrowed into small slits and they didn’t leave my face until I said, “What do you mean what’s taking me so long? We only got the signed proposal last week.”

“I got off the phone with the Chief and his patrols haven’t seen any of our trucks in the field. He expected us to start work as soon as he sent over the signed proposal. Last week, he said. The clock it ticking, he said. This project has to finish on time, he said. And, then he hung up on me. What the hell is going on?”

“Let me get this right,” I say with an even tone in my voice, “the way to deliver this project as soon as possible is to start work without having all the necessary information?”

Not Starting a Project With All the Necessary Information

“Damn right,” the CEO says, “we don’t have time to collect all the information you need. In my day, we didn’t take time to plan. We went out and got the job done.”

He had managed to grow the company over the years. And, he had a good relationship with many of our customers across the country. But, he didn’t see the constant challenges with our project performance on a day to day basis. I was the face of the company out in the field. I came face to face with angry and frustrated customers all the time. They wanted what they wanted no matter if it was spelled out in the proposal or not.

I was also in meetings with the CFO who would grill me about the expenses and my budget overruns. Being busy and getting started on a project these days was more than running out the door and getting the job done. Those must have been the good old days everyone talks about.

Making the commitment to myself to fix the issues was a choice I made. I took the time to go deeper into the issues and get help along the way. I wanted to go through everything I learned and get our CEO to see we had a chance to do things different, but I said, “This project needs to finish on time right? And, you want me to stay within budget and deliver everything we promised to the Chief, right?”

“Damn right,” he said again. This time with his face became a deeper shade of red.

And, how well have we been meeting these commitments lately, I was going to say. But, I said nothing.

The Consequences of Not Having Some Information

Without a pause, he said, “That’s another thing I want to talk to you about. We’ve been making too many promised we can’t keep. Our CFO tells me to funnel more money into your labor account all the time. It’s got to stop. And, some customers we’ve had for a long time won’t even talk to me anymore. What are you doing about that?”

No way was I going to take the bait. The only thing that is going to convince anyone of anything are results. And, I expect the results will come from the new way of planning projects and the way Gary says we are going to manage them. I need to buy some time. So, I say, “I get the Chief wants to see us in the field. We did send some guys out to do site surveys, but he must have missed them. We sent out access request to the buildings we need. And, we have the Procurement department checking on the status of the hardware. So, we did start. No one noticed.”

“OK, fine, fine, fine,” the CEO says. He was backing off a little.

He needed to back off even more, so I said, “the people we need on the Chief’s project are already working on other projects. These folks need to finish what they are doing or find a way to transfer the work to someone else. That’s already underway. It’s not going to do anyone any good to load and already overloaded resource with even more work.”

He said nothing. His arms rigid with tension. He stared at me and said, “I’ll be watching this project. The Chief is a good friend of mine and he’s been a good friend to this company. I’m not going to disappoint him again. Now, I’ve got calls to make.” He swiveled in his chair, turned his back to me, and started to pick up his phone.

Higher Confidence Levels Go a Long Way

As I walked back to my office, I through about the information we got from the Chief’s signed proposal for the project. I have no idea where we got some of the estimates. Much of the key information was missing. And, somethings didn’t make any sense to me. It was not enough information to start with. Some information is necessary to start a project, isn’t it, I mutter to myself.

Gary showed us that there is bare small amount of information we needed to start the planning process. It wasn’t as much as I though and it’s took no time at all to complete once we got everyone together. We made sure we had a consensus on the project’s goals. And, we built into the plan ways to exceed expectations with no extra costs or delays.

During the planning session we sequenced the work which gave us a road map to follow. I’m sure the sequence will prevent delays and the rework we usually encounter. The resources we need are also identified. But, even more important, we now also have some idea of when we will need them and for how long. Dealing with the departments managers for those resources is going to be much easier.

If nothing else, the plan we have will act like a reference point against which we can compare our actual performance. Without this baseline, who knows if we are on track to meet the due date or not.

The CEO will get all his questions answered in due time. Right now, I have a project to start and more projects to plan in the new way. I’m convinced we had all the information we needed to start planning. The planning was done to the right level of detail. We got buy-in from all the participants. This has got to be the way to finish project and deliver them on time, with everything we promised, and within budget. Now, I only have to prove it.

Never, Never Give Up

As I rounded the corner to my office, I almost ran into Jim. Startled, he said, “Gary wants to see us in the conference room. He’s got something to show us.”

The CCPM Full Kit Process––No Project Should Start Without It

The Next Morning

My office is quiet when I arrive. What else would it be, I’m the first one here. I tossed in bed last night and said the hell with it and got out of bed early.
 
Today is the day I’ve been waiting for. We wrapped up the planning of an important project yesterday afternoon and today the project starts. The amount of coffee I usually have by now is nowhere to be seen. I’m energized by some other unseen force and can’t wait to get started. Where is everyone?
 
Appearing out of nowhere, Gary walks into my office. He’s wearing a wool overcoat, dark blue scarf, and the black fedora. “Good morning,” he says, “sleep well?”
 
Can he tell I didn’t get much sleep? I want to say I couldn’t stop thinking about what was going to happen today, but I say with a smirk, “Sure, I’m glad you are here. Ready to start the City’s project today?”

A Full Kit

“Not so fast, I got here early to check a few things before we do,” he said, “I want to make sure we don’t start the project before we are ready.”
 
I wanted to shout. I thought we were ready. And, we told everyone we would start today and we can’t afford any delays. But I say, “What kind of things?”
 
He takes off his jacket, scarf and hat and sits in the chair beside my desk. He says, “If I understand, there are some necessary things you need to start work. Site surveys, network designs, equipment specifications, contractor quotations, and the like. If work is started without these necessary things, it could result in rework. And, rework causes delays, delays we can’t afford.”
 
His laptop screen flies open and he shows me the project schedule. The cursor hovers over a task. The task requires the sub-contractor to visit buildings where our wireless equipment will be installed. He asks, “is the site survey for this location done? Nowhere in the project planning did we create a task to do this survey.”
 
Checking the files for the buildings, I didn’t find the site survey documentation we needed. It’s short work, but depending on the availability of the building manager, or in this case, the security chief, we don’t always get quick access. We show up, but have to come back later. This has caused delays in the past.
 
“I can make a few phone calls this morning. If we give the locations enough warning about when we will be there, they can usually fit us in. No delays.”
 
Gary says in his baritone voice, “That’s one delay we’ve avoided. My main interest is to ensuring all major pieces are in place so that there are as few delays as possible once the project is underway. Since I don’t know your environment all that well, I’m going to rely on you to determine what those major pieces are. What I can do in the meantime is to share the ways the scheduling software can support this process. We call it having a “full kit.”
 
“OK, let me find Jim and we’ll put our heads together. We’ll make a list and review it with you,” I say.

Some Example Full Kit Items

Later that morning, I find Gary in the conference room. He’s on the phone, but ends the call when I walk in. He says, “what things did you guys come up with?”
 
“We found a few things which would have made for a longer project. The project planning did show we made good decisions about the sequence of the work. The right sequence of tasks is going to prevent rework and delays down the road. But, to start the first task in this project, we need to make sure we have the latest line of sight confirmed between transmitters. Trees grow, leaves block the radio signals, and poor network performance is the result. One of Jim’s engineers is going to do the surveys today.”

Preventing Delays

“Good. You may want to keep track of the kind of things to check before a project starts. You will see some of the same things over and over again. You can then address them in the project planning or create a pre-launch “full kit” checklist. What else did you find?”
 
“The Power utility controls the access we need to enter the buildings on the north west corridor. We’ve already put a call into them to schedule entry. And, the City needs to provide traffic control around the two sites near the stadium. The lieutenant said she would coordinate with the units in the area. Otherwise, we have everything in place.”
 
“Nice. Before a project starts is a good time to find these things. Sometimes they are captured in the planning, sometimes they are not. No longer are we starting projects just to keep resources busy. This usually gives us time to conduct the “full kit” process.
 
I say, “As you know, when a project starts are here there never seems to be enough time and things slip through the cracks.”
 
“For a while, you’ll notice an urge to keep everyone busy and efficient, Gary says, “That’s the way you operate around here. But, you want the excess capacity. Most resources need to be a little inefficient. That’s the key to shorter lead times.
 
I say, “With only one project in the Pipeline, will see much effect on resource capacity.”
 
Gary says, “A little, but the more project we schedule, the more capacity you will expose. So, for now, let’s focus on prevent delays.”
 
“How can the software help us prevent delays,” I ask.

How the Proper Software Can Help Prevent Delays

Gary inhales and says, “The software will show your planned and actual resource loading. You will be able to check if any resources are overloaded. An over loaded resource leads to multi-tasking, and multi-tasking leads to delays.”
 
Jim will also be able to identify the resource types required each week. He can ensure they have been on-boarded. And, he can update their department managers about their involvement and their planned time frames.”
 
“Good reminder, I have to coordinate with our Procurement group. They need to have all the buy orders in place. Finance needs to have the cost and work hours tracking in place. And, our IT folks need to set up the project’s hardware and software environments,” I say with a long breath out.

Don’t Leave Raising Awareness to Chance

“And, don’t forget about some of the most important customers of all,” Gary says, “you’re management team and the management team of your customers. Since many things are going to be different. The results will take time to appear and you can’t leave the expected increase in your confidence to chance.”
 
I say, “I’m expecting to lead our company out of the mess I helped to create. With all the pressure to perform around here, I don’t have time to make too many mistakes.”
 
Gary says smugly, “Be prepared to show them the differences in the planning you did before. Show them how well the current plan includes references to all their known requirements. Be prepare to show them how we plan to deliver on time and what reporting we will be doing along the way. And, be prepared to set expectations about how issues will be escalated and the response time required. These things will show others the differences in your approach.”
 
I make a few notes in my notepad. I say before heading out the door, “I’m recharged. Give me a few minutes to get the information we need. When I get back, will be be able to start the plan?”
 
“Yes,” Gary says, “In the meantime, I’ll send out the invitations for accessing the software and setting up the “project execution” training session.”

Some People Are Never Happy

I see Jim walking in front of me. I give him a slight nod of encouragement and a smile as I pass him by. I also see the CEO coming my way. He says, “What’s taking you so long to start the City’s project? Follow me. I want an explanation. Now.”

 

The Minimum Steps Towards Planning a Project––Part 3

July 20th @ 3:00pm

The day didn’t start like any other. Despite the dark clouds outside, the project planning was unlike any other planning session. In our own way, we limited the devastation multi-tasking. We brought the planning group’s attention on a single thing. We focused on translating the project requirements into a workable plan.

The euphoria I felt only went so far. The other shoe was about to drop. I could feel it, deep down, somewhere, something was wrong.

Snapping back to reality, everyone was looking at me, again. Everyone had returned from the break. I had returned from my daydreaming. But, what was I worried about, Gary was about the speak and stood to address the group.

His large frame seemed to rise out his chair by itself. He wasn’t fat, he was muscular, a chiseled face, perched on his thick neck, out of which came a deep command voice. He say, “Thank you for your input and the effort put into the planning session,” he said. “I don’t have any proof of this, but the more effort put into planning, the less Murphy will come to visit us during the project’s execution. That’s the way reality works. Let’s push on to the end and take care of a few more things.”

The First Scheduling Run

Gary returns to the planning screen and presses the Scheduling button. An alert appears, the progress bar flies across the screen, and a new view appears. No more planning tasks, a series of horizontal lines of different colors appear.

Gary says, “This is the result of the software deciding on the projects longest path of task and resource dependencies. We call this the critical chain. Based on this critical chain, it places a shock absorber, filled with safety time, between the project due date and the end of the longest chain. For all the other tasks, the software creates feeding chains. These feeding chains also have smaller shock absorbers connecting them to the critical chain.”

What If the Plan Is Too Long

Labor Day is on Monday, September 7, but we need to be finished the day before the weekend starts. That’s Friday, September 4th. The project due date the software calculated was September 17. That’s nine working days beyond the due date. I knew something like this was going to happen. I knew there was something wrong. Now, I know what it is. The effort we put into the planning shows we don’t have a chance of being on time. Or, do we?

Gary says, “Exepron does a good job of planning and scheduling projects. But, what if the resulting schedule is too long or doesn’t fit into the required, sometimes demanded, time frame?”

Focus on the Longest Leg of Task & Resource Dependencies

I ask, “Is this really the critical chain? My question is not about the software’s algorithm, but about the assumptions we made when we built the project network.”

Gary says, “That’s a good questions. The primary limitation to finishing a single project within the time desired is based on the critical chain. Nothing else matters at this point. We have to reevaluate the current critical chain tasks. For instance, can one or more of the critical chain tasks be broken into smaller tasks? And, can these smaller tasks be done in parallel by different resources?” He points to a task which is eight days long.

The resource type assigned to this task is a Camera Installation Crew Resource Type. I ask, “Did we assume there is only one camera installation crew available to do this work? Or, can we cut this task in half, use two different crews and assign them to the two smaller tasks? That would make each task four days long.”

Jim agrees this is possible and I see him making a note on his note pad. Gary makes the change. Four days down, five days to go before the plan fits within the time we have available.

Gary decides to rerun the schedule and look for further reductions in the critical chain. Either it’s late in the day or no more obvious area for reducing the critical chain appear. We wait to see if Gary has any more ideas.

Focus on the Longest Duration Tasks

“Another way to continue our analysis is by checking the duration of the longest tasks along the critical chain. Here’s one,” Gary says and points to a task 10 days long. “Let’s re-check the task duration estimate now that we have all the other tasks in place. Are we sure this task, which we plan on working on without interruption and without adding any more safety time, 10 days?”

This task is assigned to one of Jim’s engineers, so I look at him and encourage him to re-evaluate this estimate. Jim takes the hint and talks us through the work he expects will happen and how long each segment may take. Nods around the table. He finally says it’s not a ten day task, but an eight day task. Gary updates the task duration estimate to eight days. Two days closer to the original project due date. I’m encouraged again. Three more days need to be trimmed out.

Be Careful When Adding More Resources

“Next, I would like us to check the possibility of adding more resources or resource types. This could be a way to reduce a task’s duration,” says Gary. “The reduction in the planned task duration should be significant. A reduction of at least 20% of the current aggressive, but doable estimate. Why? It’s a rule of thumb, but adding resources to a project could be expensive and they should make a significant difference. If not, it’s not worth it. And, it’s better to plan to do it now rather than trying to add resources to an already running project. There is the potential to encounter a derivative of Brook’s Law which says, something like, adding manpower to a late project makes it later.”

A chuckle of recognition comes from the room and from the speaker on the screen. But, we find a few tasks which benefit from adding another install crew and making a few police resource available for non-technical work.

Gary decides to rerun the schedule and look for further reductions, but none are necessary. We trimmed four days from the schedule and the plan shows it’s possible to finish one day before the original due date. I’ll take every day I can get.

From now on, I’m going to ask these questions to reduce the duration of the projects we are planning:

    1. Is this really the critical chain?
    2. How much time can we squeeze out of the critical chain?
    3. Where can we add resources to reduce task durations?

Using these steps, the critical chain has been crushed, mangled, and broken more than once. No more time can be squeezed out of the critical chain, and an appropriate number of resources have been assigned.

What’s Blocking the Project Now?

Now, it’s not through inaction or laziness which now blocks our ability to deliver the project in the due date. What are we waiting for? The plan is good enough. The planning has to end and the work need to begin. Robin, to the Bat Cave. There’s not a moment to lose.

As a famous philosopher once said, Mick Jagger, “Drink in your summer, gather your corn. The dreams of the night time will vanish by dawn. And time waits for no one, and it won’t wait for me.” Or for you. Or me.

Is the plan good enough? There is only one way to find out. The longer we wait, the less time we have. Start the project! But first, another quick break.

July 20th @ 4:00pm

Gathering everyone back together, I ask if there is anything else we would like to add, delete or check one more time. We are ready to move out of the planning phase and start doing the work of the project as soon as possible.

Silence. No one moves. Everyone is looking at me, again. I decide to wrap up the day with some kind works and acknowledgment of everyone’s contribution. I have to admit this planning session went better than I expected. It has set the standard for the next planning sessions we have.

In summary, I say, “Jim will start the project tomorrow morning, July 21st. By meeting our aggressive task duration estimates, it is possible to finish as early as August 13th. With the normal project delays, we plan to finish no later than September 3rd.”

Gary adds, “Tomorrow we will invite everyone to create an account. That way you’ll be able to login to the software and check the estimated due date any time you want.”

Nods all around. A smile on Gary’s face. The relief of a hard days work flows through me to far off shores.

Everyone signs off, the screen goes blank and our guests are shown to the Lobby. I turn off the lights and head out the door myself. Tomorrow the project starts. Am I sure? All I’m sure of is that we planned the best we could.

July 20th @ 5:00pm

The Minimum Steps Towards Planning a Project––Part 2

July 20th @ 1:00pm

The din of muffled, low volume conversations in the project planning room got my attention. Everyone was talking, some with another, some in a small group in the corner. I interrupted Jim and asked, “What’s up?”

 

for instance

Jim says, “It seems too simple. We built a project network in record time. Everyone is in agreement with the content, and every task is checked against one or more of the pre-planning information we collected. What am I missing?”

“I agree we did some things different, but I don’t think we missed anything. Let’s see how this afternoon goes.”

Gary walks in and takes control of the room, “Let’s wrap up and get back to finishing our planning session.”

Summary of the First Planning Steps

As everyone sits down and the remote participants appear on the screen, I summarize the steps we’ve taken so far. To build a robust project network, at the right level of detail, to meet our needs with the least amount of risk we:

    1. Defined the project’s objective, scope and due date requirements.
    2. Defined the tasks required for the main backbone of the project. We started with the project’s objective and worked backwards.
    3. Added tasks required to build the skeleton (other task pathways). We worked backwards (and sometimes forward) from the objective.
    4. Read aloud the network from the beginning tasks looking for solid task dependencies.
    5. Checked every task against the project goals, scope and sponsor criteria.

Adding Resources to Tasks

Gary says, “Next, we are going to determine the resource type and resource quantity that will perform each task. In parallel, we will also be estimating the task durations. A resource type is a description of the skill we need to successful complete the task.”

The screen zooms in on one of the right most tasks in the project network. Gary says, “This task needs a resource type, or more than one type of resource type, responsible for completing this task. They will be the resource types doing the majority of the work for the duration of the task, for instance.”

“Also, to increase the speed of the task, we can select the most number of resource types, if that’s possible.”

The day before Gary, Jim and I entered the resource types and quantities of each type we expected to need for today. It’s going to save us some time instead of entering them as we go.

But, before we can enter the first resource type, the customer’s CTO asks, “Can we add a person’s name and assign them to the task?” His large face filling the screen.

Gary says, “If this person is the only person with the unique skill we need, it’s OK. But, if you want to be as flexible as possible when making assignments, it’s better to select the resource type from the pool of resources.”

“For example, when it comes time to assign the camera install crew, we’ll select the Install Crew Resource Type for this task. When the time comes to assign a specific installation crew, the project manager will determine who is best suited to get this work. Some crews may be busy on other jobs or not have the manpower we need or not have the skill required to do the job when we need them. The crews who meet the needs at the time will get the work. That’s when Jim will make the task assignment.”

The CTO has the floor, so he asks another question, “What if we need a resource for a small fraction of the task time? Sometimes I need to sign off on something, but only need a few minutes to do so.”

Gary says, “I recommend adding your name in the Notes section of the task. Or, update the Task Description with something like, and request CTO sign-off, to the end, for instance. Sound good?”

The CTO head nods and disappears from the screen.

Gary returns his pointer to the original task can asks, “What Resource types and how many of each do we need?” He selects and enters the Types and quantities selected by the CTO.

Adding Task Duration Estimates

“Great, thank you! In parallel, we are also going to estimate the task duration based on the work involved and the resource types selected. But, to give you the proper perceptive, allow me to describe the duration we are looking for.”

This is where Gary is going to get some push-back. I know the number he is looking for. It’s not the conventional duration. The conventional duration includes the estimated time to do the work, plus the safety time.

Gary says, “Think of the duration we are looking this way. The resource types assigned have everything they need to do the work without interruption. They don’t switch to other tasks or to tasks on other projects. No unusual problems or delays occur. And, they work at a normal pace. We call this the aggressive, but doable task duration estimate.”

The pointer zooms into the task Duration field and blinks waiting for a response. The Lieutenant gives a number. Gary confirms by asking, “You estimate this task will take three days using the quantity of Resource Types listed here? These three days do not include any of the usual safety time?”

“Yes,” she says, “three days. But, what about the safety time? They usually add it for a good reason. Murphy will still come to visit.”

Finishing a Project On-Time is Always More Important Than Finishing Each Task On-Time

“I agree safety time is required to deal with Murphy, and his whole family, when managing a project. But, let me ask you this––what is more important to you, finishing a task on time or finishing a project on time?”

The Lieutenant tilts her head and says, “Finishing the project on time. That’s the only thing the counts.”

Gary nods and says, “I agree, so why don’t we use the safety where we need it the most? We need to protect the project’s due date rather than trying to protect the due date of each task.”

“I don’t know,” she says, “it’s what we’ve always done for other projects.”

And, how has that worked out, I say to myself. It’s clear that finishing the project on time is everyone’s priority. We need to do everything we can to meet the due date. And, if moving some safety time around to do that will help, let’s do it.

The Lieutenant tilts her head the other way and says, “But, I don’t see a place to do that in our plan?”

Gary says, “The software will add the safety time once we press the Scheduling button. It looks like we will be able to do that today and you’ll see what I mean.”

The screen zooms in on another task. Gary says, “This next task needs a resource type, or more than one type of resource, responsible for completing this task. Who is it going to be and how many do we need?” He makes a selection according to the input from the group.

“And, what is the aggressive, but doable task duration estimate?”

Complete Most of the Planning

The next 45 minutes are filled with adding resource types, resource names, quantities, and durations. There is some back and fourth between the folks on the phone about differences in opinion, but that’s to be expected.

Last week I was leading a project planning meeting and it wasn’t going well. We were missing key people, the folk who attended didn’t have all the information we needed, and the frustration filled the room. What a difference a week makes. On day I’m lamenting about my lot in life and the next we are moving through this phase of the planning process smooth as silk.

When I look up at the screen, the pointer has stopped and everyone is looking at me.

“What,” I say.

Gary said, “As a subject matter expert, we need your help to scrutinize the network. Check all task dependencies, resource types assigned and duration estimates. And, make sure each task has a defined deliverables. The rest of us are going to take a well deserved break.”

July 20th @ 2:30pm

More Critical Chain Solution Elements

Facing Down the System

Getting control of our projects is going to be a challenge. The alternative is to continue suffering with the stress and poor performance. I need to gather my strength and do the work. Make the change happen. Never give up.

We have so many people who work hard and try to do their best each day. But, I can see many of them are burnt out and make only the smallest efforts. It pains me to see this because it’s the system I helped create; the system I supported for so long. But, no longer. I may not like the medicine I’m about to take, but it looks to be the only thing that is going to make us well.

However, the system we have imposed on our folks is disrespectful. We ignore the work load we place on our people. We throw the work over the fence and expect them to pick it up. Not only pick it up, but do a good job with it––be on time, quality is job one, and be efficient. We must stop launching projects without knowing the impact on our resources.

Everyone knows task durations are padded, but they are only a compromise which has degraded to lose––lose situation. They employees lose because they have tried to meet all their project commitments and failed.

The company has done its best to secure work for everyone. But, then it allow its employees to squander these opportunities by allowing them to miss on our commitments. That may seem harsh, but everyone complains about missing due date, or going over budget, and the unique ways we trim content from the project. But, nothing changes.

How long can this go on? Especially since I now know there might be a better way. I can not keep it from them or fail in convincing my company to go along with these changes. The time has come to do something different. I’m going to aim high. Like Bruce Lee said, “Not failure, but low aim, is the crime. In great attempts it is glorious even to fail.”

The Non-Software Salesman Returns

Gary came back the next day. We reviewed the new elements of the solution he proposed when planning, or re-panning existing, projects:

    • Determine the touch time and estimate the task durations.
      Calculate the critical chain of the project.
    • Place a buffer at the end of the critical chain and at the end of each feeding leg.

He promised to give us a demo of the software, but there were three more areas of the solution he wants to cover. What happens after the planning stage and the differences in managing a critical chain project. And, what the new solution elements are in a multi-project environment.

Gary says, “has it happened that the start of major project phases is often delayed due to missing necessary things, e.g., site surveys, network design, equipment specifications, quotations, approvals, etc?”

“Sure, I say, “it happens all the time. We start work without all the required items. We are forced to. It results in rework. We talked about this earlier.”

Gary says, “during the first few weeks of the change you are considering, the number of open projects will come down. That’s because we will start to see the work load on your resource pool. Some resources will be overloaded and some will be underutilized. The underutilized resources can be re-assigned to the open projects, further reducing multi-tasking, reducing the project lead times, and thus finishing more projects on-time.”

The Full Kit Solution Element

“When the necessary thing needed to start a project are not available, some of the re-assigned folks can be focused on ensuring all major pieces, e.g., site surveys, network design, equipment specifications, quotations, approvals, etc., are in place. By doing so, you do not delay the project once it starts and rework goes down.”

“I’ll be in charge of that group since that’s all I seem to be dealing with these days anyway,” Jim says.

“Thank you, Jim,” I say, “I’ll make sure you don’t get overloaded with your regular work.”

Gary says, “one of the best features of managing a critical chain project is that the tasks along the critical chain do not change thought the life of the project. That’s assuming, of course, that nothing major happens which required the project to be re-planned.”

Re-Plan vs. Don’t Re-Plan

“That’s a good point, when do we re-plan and when don’t we re-plan,” I say. “I realize we were re-planning every time we made an update to our critical path based project plans. But, I’m not sure when we need to re-plan using critical chain.”

“The urge to re-plan comes from the need to address the variabilities which occur during the execution of a project,” Gary says. “But, be careful when you decide to re-plan since the progress on the project work stops. Why? Who is doing the work of the re-planning? Usually the same folks that are working on the project. These folks must stop what they are doing, check the potential change to the project, determine its impact on scope, budget and due date. And, then re-schedule the project and get back to work. This could take hours, or days, and usually is enough of a disruption to cause a loss of momentum.”

“See what I mean? Re-planning a project is an important decision which I would rather not make if I didn’t have to,” I say.

“I agree. You need to account for the variability and you need to maintain momentum to complete the project,” Gary says. “During the management of a project there will always be differences between what was planned and what actually happens. It’s also a good assumption that project success is enabled by constant movement toward to project goal.”

I’m growing impatient, this is common sense. I say, “True, but what about re-planning to account for the task, resource and duration variations?”

“This is what the shock absorbers, or project and feeding buffers, are for. When the variability exceeds the time of the task duration estimates, buffer is consumed. It’s like the shock absorber being depressed when your car goes over a bump. The project buffer is able to handle the accumulated bumps throughout the life of the project. In some cases, when tasks finish sooner than planned the project buffer can spring back. The same goes for the tasks of the feeling legs and the feeding buffers.”

“So, under normal conditions, there shouldn’t be a need to re-plan, right?” I ask.

“That’s correct. But, there is an important way to use the project buffer which project managers find helpful. When I show you the software, you will see that the project buffer is divided into three, equal zones––green, yellow, and red. At the beginning of the project, the project buffer consumption will be in the green zone; no consumption. There is nothing for the project manager to do other than help the team move through the initial tasks of the project.”

Stop Issuing Task Due Dates

“By the way, the project tasks will be listed in priority order, the critical chain and non-critical chain tasks identified, and about when they need to start so that the project stays on track. What you may miss are the due dates usually associated to each task. Since we are not interested in each task finishing on time, there is one change folks like Jim need to make when assigning tasks.”

Jim says, “I expected something like that, but what do you mean exactly.”

Gary says, “it’s a minor, but important change. There is no difference in how you assign tasks, but I won’t make any assumptions. If I was you, I would meeting the resources assigned to the tasks you want to start. I’ll use the information used to plan the tasks, e.g., task description, success criteria, and estimated duration. And then make sure the resources assigned to the task understand what needs to be done.”

“Yes, that what I usually do, when I have time. And, as you know that doesn’t always happen,” Jim says.

I say with a smirk, “tell me when you did have time, I can’t remember it ever happening.”

Gary interrupts and says, “the key difference is not to mention the task’s due date. Actually, the software does not make it easy to use a date associated with the tasks. Instead, remind the resource the task was estimated to take three days and to do their best to try to finish the task around the same time.”

“Remind them that due to the nature of variability, you don’t expect the task to be finished three days from now. If it does finish in about three days, fine, but if they uncover work that needs to be done to meet the success criteria, do it. This is far more important that meeting the task due date. And, finally remind them that there is a buffer to absorb these differences.”

Actively Managing the Shock Absorbers

“You can also remind them that managing the buffers is something the project manager handles. The project manager will take the appropriate actions, if necessary, to meet the project’s due date. This leaves the resource with nothing to do but focusing on doing good work.”

“I’ll help Jim and the other project managers get the message out. This should reduce our stress and and improve on their feelings of security,” I say.

Gary smiles and continues to say, “over time, the variances may accumulate to the point that the green zone of the buffer is consumed. Now the project buffer is in the yellow zone. The yellow zone of the buffer means the accumulated variability has consumed one third of the available buffer. This is considered to be well within the tolerance of the expected variability.”

“Even when the buffer is in the yellow zone, there is little for the project manager to do. It may behoove you to check on making the necessary and sufficient actions if all the yellow zone is consumed.”

“There may come a time to take action. When the project buffer turns red. Wherever you are along the completing of the project, when this happens, two thirds of your buffer has been consumed. If this happens near the end of the project, it may not be too bad. But, if this happen early in the project, it may be more stressful. The red zone indicator means action must be taken or jeopardize the promised due date.”

Jim says, “This seems like a great way to manage. There isn’t much for me to do as long and the project stays on track. As long as the project buffer is in the green zone. I may finally have time for all the other non-project things that have been aside for far too long.”

“As long as you can plan ahead of time for what the action(s) may be, it should be less stressful. That way we make decisions before our backs are against the wall and customer is breathing down our throats,” I say.

Looking at Gary, I say, “let’s get back to why we planned this meeting. You were going to tell us what happens after the planning stage and the differences in managing a critical chain project.”

“We’ve already covered them. Let’s me summarize:

    • Put someone in charge of full kitting projects and run a full kit meeting before a major project phase starts. The sole goal of this meeting it to ensuring all major pieces are in place so there are no significant delays.
    • Project Managers provides resources with activity durations and estimated start times. Task due date are not mentioned.
    • Project Managers uses buffer management to control the plan.

That’s it,” Gary says.

One More Nagging Issue

Once again it seems too good to be true. And, I can’t find any other issues to ask about. All my issues and concerns seem to have been addressed so far.

But, there is something bothering me. So far we’ve only focused on a single project, not how to manage the multitude of projects we have running in our portfolio throughout the year. I hope my lucky streak continues.

The Day I’ve Been Waiting For During My Project Management Life

After the long lunch we had, I’m open minded and ready for anything. I tell Gary, “you said we have plenty of safety time in our projects, and that we are not using it right. I agree. We also have to break the vicious cycle of adding more and more safety to our projects.”

“I”m glad you are open‐minded about challenging some project management conventions,” says Gary.

“You will have to re-plan your existing projects and include these things in all new projects. Are you ready for that?”

I say, “Look, we have been struggling with so many issues, our performance is as worse as it’s ever been, and many of our customers have lost faith in us. It’s time to do something different. If we have to re-plan everything, I’m assuming it’s necessary to get the results we want.”

Gary says, “it may not be as bad as you think. The work content is not going to be any different and your budget is not going to be effected. We’ll focus on reducing the task duration estimates which will lead to reduced project lead times. We will address the issues you are struggling with. On time performance will improve. And, your lead times will become competitive again. I’m confident about it, how about you?”

“The day things start to turn around can’t happen soon enough. In a short time you have been able to understand our environment and show us a way out. I did have to give up on some preconceived notions about project management. We need to understand the actions we need to take.”

Action One

“Great! So let me explain the first of the three actions I recommend we take. Currently, you have safety time protecting the performance of each individual task. To stop doing something, sometimes all we have to do is the opposite. So, the first step is the reduce the task duration estimates to only the touch time.”

“How do we do that? I’m understand why we should do it, but I see some potential issues with doing that,” Jim says.

“I know which ones you are thinking about, but I assume you they will be addressed,” say Gary.

“During the planning of the project, imagine the assigned resource(s) working on the task without interruption. They have everything they need to do the work. They are away from emails and the phone, and they can work at a normal pace. The task exit criteria is also available so they know what “done” looks like.”

“This is hypothetical, right, because putting a person in that situation will be hard to do around here,” Jim says.

“Of course, imagine it for now. During the actual planning, by putting people in this scenario will help them think. It will also help provide you with a duration estimate closer to the touch time. Remember, folks are used to including safety in their tasks estimates it’s almost an unconscious decisions. The estimate needs to be good enough and nothing like the durations they’ve provided before. During this exchange with the resource, you can also check to see if they have any concerns. Concerns about where the safety time went. How they will protect themselves from Murphy. Or, how they will manage their stress levels.”

Action Two

“But, where does the safety time go? That’s one of my concerns, too. Don’t we still need some protection from all the variances and the visits from Murphy that occur,” I say.

“Yes, and I’ll show you how to address those issues in a few minutes. The second change you need to make is to calculate the longest leg of task and resource dependencies. To determine the length of a project we need to take into account not only the task dependencies, but also the resource dependencies. This is called the critical chain. The critical chain also eliminates resource contention within the project. In other words, a project schedule created with the critical chain method will not force any resource to multi-tasking.”

“That’s good to hear. We don’t need more things encouraging multi-tasking. I have heard of the critical path method and realized a few weeks ago we must take resource dependencies into account, too. I didn’t know it was called critical chain. Anyway, I imagine to calculate the critical chain, we will need some kind of specialized software?”

“Yes, a project or a portfolio of projects operating under the critical chain rules requires software. It’s too cumbersome otherwise. But, I don’t want to talk about that now. Let’s wait until you see the whole picture and then you can decide if you need it or not.”

Action Three

“That’s fair. What happens after you identify the critical chain?”

“Let’s address your issue about where the safety time goes. If it’s not embedded in each task, where is it? Remember when we talked about task variability; task durations usually vary around the median of the planned duration. Our assumption is that the safety time required to protect a series of tasks is smaller than the sum of the safety required to project each individual task. In other words, statistical fluctuations average out. For a path composed of sequential tasks, the reality is that the variances of the path are smaller than the sum of the variances of the individual tasks. It’s this fact that makes it possible to reduce the lead time of your projects.”

“OK, that makes sense. I still don’t see where the safety has gone. What else happens?”

“Let me ask you this, what’s more important––finishing each task on time or finishing the project on time?”

“The project, of course.”

“Of course, that’s how your company gets paid, by finishing and invoicing a project. You get nothing for finishing a task. So, let’s put some protection against what we vakue the most. The software will insert a shock absorber at the end of the longest leg, the critical chain. This will protect the project’s due date against the variability along the critical chain. Based on our vast experience, using 50% of the critical chain’s duration determines the size of this shock absorber. We call it a project buffer.”

“So this project buffer is where the safety we took out of individual tasks went,” said Jim. But what about all the other tasks, or non-critical chain tasks, not included in the critical chain?”

“The software will also add a shock absorber to the end of each feeding leg. It’s also 50% as long as the duration of the feeding leg. We call it a feeding buffer.”

“This feeding buffer will help protect the critical chain tasks from the variability along the feeding legs. It may seem like there is double protection by using two different, but similar buffers. But, realize the majority of the tasks will be in the feeding legs. Only about 10% of the tasks in a project are on the critical chain. The remaining tasks, or about 90% of them, are where most of the variability will occur. So, the level protection is necessary.”

“At the end of the critical chain and at the end of each feeding leg are excellent places for safety time. I can also see now why we need software. There are too many calculations to do by hand or even by using a spreadsheet,” I say.

“Believe me, I’ve tried doing these calculations by hand. There was a time before software was available and it was a frustrating and cumbersome process. I swore to myself I wouldn’t use the critical chain method until there was software. It finally arrived on the market two years later.”

Action Summary

“Anyway, in review, these are the three, new things you need to do when planning, or re-panning existing, projects:

    • Determine the touch time and estimate the task durations.
    • Calculate the critical chain of the project.
    • Place a buffer at the end of the critical chain and at the end of each feeding leg.

“That’s it, seems too simple,” I say.

Gary quotes Einstein, “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.”

“There is one more benefit of using software. Imagine the day arrives for the project’s formal kick-off meeting. All the participants are in attendance. Your customers, key sub-contractors, outside vendors, and our project team are also there. You can review the project’s objectives, milestones, risks, deliverables, etc., and the proposed due date. If any adjustments need to be made to the plan, you can make them on the spot, in real time, and provide everyone with the final plan. You can announce the planning phase complete!”

“Nice! Is the next step to start the project?”, I ask.

“Yes, when you are ready to do so. There are new elements to be aware of during the execution phase. There are only three of them, too. Want to hear about them?”