My house is dark when I get home. But, the shadows fade in and out as I walk through the house turning on a few lights. There’s a note from my girlfriend which says she’s out with her daughter, she loves me, and she’ll see me later tonight. Yet, I wish that was all true. The weight of changing the course of the Titanic at the office has come between us too often. My constant complaints about why I’m in a bad mood or needing some time to myself doesn’t help. But, the few, key changes we’ve made at work may be my way out of the funk I’m in. Not only for us, but for the Company.
While I made a simple dinner of grilled ground beef and catsup, I think about Jim, one of my best project managers. We’ve put all our efforts into planning our latest project. But, it took some outside perspective to help us see what the real problems in our environment were. Gary, our mentor, took his sweet time making sure we understood our main problem. I see why he did took his time. We have my issues to deal with but only a limited capacity to tackle them with. Narrowing down the issues and focusing our management attention on a few things makes a lot of sense.
For example, we have plenty of safety time embedded in our projects, but we are mis-using it. My ah-ha moment came when I realized finishing each task on time was most important. I assumed this would translate into finishing each projects on time. How many times did we bang our heads against the wall trying to prove this assumption true. It’s not. Our due date performance proves it. I forgive myself. It’s time to move on. Tomorrow is another day to try again.
Project Updates & New Habits
The next morning, Gary and Jim are already in the conference room waiting for me. They had Jim’s project dashboard on the screen and were reviewing the project updates. I asked, “What progress have we made on your project so far?” His answer surprised me.
Jim said, “No progress. Hardy anyone is updating their tasks. I’m not seeing the days remaining estimates changing for the tasks I assigned.”
I look to Gary and ask, “Isn’t that the least amount of input we need from the folks working on the project? These updates are what help determine if we are on track or not.”
Gary says, “It is a new habit folks need to get used to. We can give it some time, or we can provide some leadership here. For this project, we don’t have the luxury to wait for these changes to happen naturally. Let’s find a way to be more proactive.”
“Fine with me,” I say, “Jim, I want you to get in touch with each team member, on the phone or via conference call, and get the updates we need. We don’t have time to wait. Remind them we are all in this together and getting this project done on time is something we need to work towards. Listen for anything which may be blocking them from making the daily updates.”
Jim says, “I’ll get right on it. It’s easy to know who to ask first when the tasks are prioritized on the project dashboard. I like that part. Everyone has been invited to login and create a password so there shouldn’t be an issue with that. And, most folks these days do plenty of things on-line which need a login and password. It can’t be that either.”
Preparing for Our Next Project Planning Session
As I watch Jim leave the conference room, I turn back to Gary. I ask, “Can you lead us through the next projects planning session. I’ve got a lot to do and a short time to do it in. I can already feel the CEO’s breath making its way down my neck.”
Gary says, “Gladly, I used the prioritized list of projects the CEO helped you with. I sent out the requests for the pre-planning information we need to the project managers of the top five projects. I see one of your project managers has already sent me a reply, so why don’t we start with that one.”
While Gary runs for some more coffee, I send out an invite to the folks on the next project planning session. I follow after him and see Jim is in his office. He seems to be involved with someone on the phone. I hope he’s working things out with his project team and getting the updates we need.
Our Next Project Planning Session
The same day, in the afternoon, I welcome the participants to their first project planning session. I introduce Gary and say he’ll be our guide through this process. He also worked with me on my introduction to our new way of working. Like everything else, he says it gets to heart of the matter with the least amount of effort. And, the capacity we have needs to be focused on one place rather than spread out among other peripheral efforts.
Getting Mass Buy-In to the CCPM Planning Method
I ask the group a question, “What if our customers could trust us to deliver projects on time, within budget and with the agreed upon scope? For a long time they’ve had to deal with a variety of project related issues. Things like projects taking too long and not delivering what was promised. In the meantime, I felt like I was always begging them to give us more money.”
I take the silence to be agreement and skepticism rolled into one. But I continue, “What our customers want is to achieve the benefits of their project as soon as possible without going over budget. This means doing at least two things well. 1) take on the right projects. Projects which solve an important problem for our customers. We do this very well. And, 2) deliver the project as soon as possible.”
“When we try to deliver the project as soon as possible, there is pressure to start the project without all the details. We need to know more about how the project will get done. When we try to deliver the right projects, there is pressure to take enough time to understand the details better. We need to know how the project will get done.
The Core Problem
How can we, for the same project, with the same project team, start without all the necessary information. And, at the same time take enough time to get all the necessary information? See the dilemma? Trying to do both things at the same time for the same project is a compromise we can no longer afford. Are you with me?”
Gary raises his eye brows, grins and nods when I look over to him. Onward into the fray.
“And, while we are stuck in this start don’t start nether land, it takes time to resolve the issues, agree on the scope, and find out the best way to use our budgets. All the while, we are burning through the time we’ve been given. Doing the easy thing. Doing the things we know need to start moving along. The clock does not stop ticking. Does this sound familiar?”
Now I see more people responding. Some are even nodding. Even the folks on the conference call make the screen come alive with flashes of a new face one right after the another. I’m feeling more confident.
I continue with, “We need to change a few things, but we know not every change is an improvement. What Gary to going to review with you are the fewest changes we need to make during our planning process. We’ll measure the impact of these changes on one of our main goals. That is to improve our due date performance from about 56% to 90% or better.” I scan the room and the nodding has stopped.
Leading the Planning Session
But, the stage is set. Gary is going to lead the project team through the pre-planning information list and the 10-step planning process. I take a seat in the back of the room and wait to watch Gary do his thing. Anxious, I need to see this part myself, because I’ll be leading one of the next project team through the same thing. Pay attention.
Gary start with a report out of the pre-project planning information from Karen, the project manager. After a few minutes we have a consensus. The project’s goal is exactly one sentence long. The benefits for the customer have been clarified. Knowing who the internal and external customers are is important. Knowing when key input we need and what the tangible deliverables are is important. And, identifying technology, budget and other risks is important. But even more important is we listed ways to mitigate these risks, if necessary. This takes about 30 minutes to compile.
I see this way of pre-planning does two things. One, it takes less time. I estimate the 30 minutes in this meeting and another 30 minutes Karen used before today’s meeting started was time well spent. Two, it gives us what we need to start planning the project. It may be selfish of me, but I consider this project underway.
Gary uses the 10-step planning process as a guide to lead the project network building. He’s not going through each step and explaining each one. He explains the importance of working back from the objective and building the network moving from right to left. It forces us, in a good way, to add only the necessary predecessor tasks which allow the next task to start.
Adding Resource Types & Task Duration Estimates
When it’s time to add resource types and estimate task durations, he explains more about the project buffer. During the planning process, we reduce the task duration estimates to only the work time of the task. Any safety time we would have added to a task is aggregated in the project buffer. The buffer is how we protect the project’s due date from uncertainties we know we face. If a task take less or more time than planned the project buffer will absorb it. Remember, finishing the project on time is more important that finishing each task on time.
Gary also explains how the software will end resource contention within the project and identify the critical chain––the longest leg of task and resource dependencies. He compares the critical chain to the critical path––the longest path of only the task dependencies. He says it in such a way it’s clear to everyone that resource availability plays a key role in determine the length of a project. Nothing else is said about it. And, that the buffer is placed at the end of the critical chain and how it is sized.
Prior Reduction of Multi-tasking
When he runs the CCPM schedule, Gary shows us that no resource is double booked to work on more than one task a day. This helps to reduce multi-tasking and thus the project’s duration. Oh, multi-taking will still occur, but the software will not force anyone to do it. If there is too much multi-tasking, tasks will be delayed, and we’ll see the effects in the buffer consumption, he says.
Finally, there is a review of the CCPM schedule and a check of the project’s projected due date. Acceptable. A few more minor changes are made. Everything checks out and the project team has nothing left to say.
But, there is more Gary wants to say, but I interrupt and stand in front of the group. I say, “Karen, our project manager, has the full responsibility and authority from me to complete this project. I watched and listened to your work this afternoon. Everyone knows which tasks they are assigned to. I know you are very good at the jobs you do. Everyone now needs to work together to get this project done one time.”
The folks in the room have had a long afternoon, but there are pulse waves of energy coming from the room urging me on. I say, “Each morning, Karen will check if there is enough time left to finish this project on time and how much of the project we’ve completed. If she has any issues she can’t handle, she’ll come to me. I promise to resolve them the same day to within 24 hours at the latest.”
Checking Project Update Status Issues
On my way back to my office, I stop off and see Jim. I get no feeling of urgency or stress in the room. The slack look on Jim’s face confirms it. A man without a care in the world. I ask, “What up?”
He says, “I’m done for today and I’m ready to go home.”
I look at my watch. 5pm. That’s about right.
He sees me looking and says, “I know what you are thinking, but I’ve been ready for hours. I made six phone calls today to get the days remaining updated like you asked. Each person logged in to the software and found the project’s dashboard. I asked them to talk me through what they had done to make progress on the tasks assigned to them. They did and then I asked them to translate those efforts into estimating how many days they have left to finish the task. They did that, too. And, then I asked them to make the change in the software to reflect it. No problems at all.”
“Sounds simple enough,” I said.
“We got the updates we needed, the software crunched the numbers, and everything is in the green. Project proceeding as planned. Like I said, I was ready to go home hours ago.”
“Keep up the good work,” I said, “good job.” I shift forward in the chair, stand and say with a wink, “It looks like I need to assign you to some more projects.”
The End of a Productive Day
That evening my girlfriend and I have dinner outside on the deck. The grilled meat and the wine she picked out help us re-connect. The weather cool and a red, yellow and gold sunset starts to appear on the horizon. I let her know about the changes we’re making at the office, but she’s not interested. But, I’m lucky to be with her because she still likes to give me a wink and a nod from time to time. And, we both know what that means.