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Critical Chain Project Management

Critical Chain Project Management

Organizations don't work in vacuums. They operate in all kinds of changing environmental and competitive circumstances. To sustain a position as a high performing organization, continuous improvement has to be a way of life, and successful projec ts are fundamental - yet, on average, only about 30% of all projects are on scope, time and budget.

In addition, organizations have encountered a strong resistance internally to make a change. Rigorous project plans quickly degenerate into a series of artificial milestones. Project participants stubbornly refuse to provide timely updates on project progress and executives often ignore resource availability during project selection and prioritization.

The simultaneous presence of few results and strong internal resistance leads many observers to, most incorrectly, conclude that there is a causal relationship: improvements do not materialize because there is a strong resistance to change. Therefore, they stress that the answer lies in educating the organization on benefits of discipline, grounding project managers in the discipline, and getting executives to enforce such discipline.

There is a contrary opinion. Lack of improvements and resistance to change, some say, arise from the same root cause: traditional project management is useless for its ‘customers’. Since the product does not serve their needs, failure and resistance are natural.

Traditional project management assumes a perfect world, one that does not exist. The theory is that you create a good plan, follow it, and projects will get done. In reality, many uncertainties strike you in execution:

  • Requirements change
  • Technology fails
  • Vendors do not deliver
  • Work materializes slower than expected
  • Approvals do not come on time
  • Priorities change.

The extent of these uncertainties is what makes projects unique.  “Unplanned" uncertainties account for more than 30% of a project's work. As uncertainties strike, plans go haywire, especially in multi-project situations. People are constantly pulled from one project to fix other project’s problems. Priorities become unclear and people start multitasking; delays compound.  Managers are continually surprised by schedule slips. Focus shifts from delivering projects to explaining delays.

The next time, people are forced to create a more meticulous plan. Of course, that only means they now have even more details to track and explain. Managers at every level, wary of all uncertainties and delays from their previous experience, begin hiding “safeties” in their commitments before sending the plan upwards. Finally, everyone gives up on project planning. Dictating commitments and "managing on the fly" looks more attractive.

Is it really rational to expect people to embrace traditional project management, knowing that it will bring no benefits and, possibly, make their life worse? Why force them to create project plans that will become obsolete before execution begins or issue a report status that is misleading?

Because of its unique ability to accommodate and manage uncertainties, Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM) is a “silver bullet” alternative that delivers results and lowers resistance to change.  For the first time, managers can make project plans and execute them knowing they reflect the reality of their uncertain world. Of course, they still need basics like creating project plans, getting timely updates, and paying attention to resource availability. The difference is that by providing a means to accommodate and manage uncertainties, CCPM makes doing these activities practical and purposeful. For example:

  • No detailed planning upfront: Only high-level requirements and activities are needed during planning. Detailed project specifications are added as they become available in execution.
  • No more re-planning cycles: Even as uncertainties strike, project plans and due-dates remain valid. The burden of constant re-planning is removed.
  • No need to hide local safeties: Because explicit buffers are available to absorb and lessen the shocks of uncertainties, project participants are no longer measured regarding on-time completions of individual activities. Furthermore, CCPM even provides measurements that encourage people to give up local safeties.
  • Simple, meaningful updates: Project participants only report the time they need to finish what they are working on.
  • Utility for project participants: For the first time, project plans and progress updates can be used to dynamically synchronize priorities within and across projects.
  • Early warning signals: Managers do not have to manage on the fly.
  • Resource balancing: As resource estimates become more real, executives become eager to properly balance projects and resources instead of dictating commitments.

One might ask, "Where is the catch?" Properly done, CCPM implementations rely on very few, but powerful, changes, brought about in a systematic manner. Five changes that drive success include:

  1. Task Manager responsibility and measurement: Task managers are located closest to where projects are executed. Making them responsible for execution (define task details, ensure priorities are followed, and provide progress updates), and rewarding them accordingly gets you maximum bang for the buck.
  2. Master Scheduler role (only in multi-project environments): A senior person is made responsible for ensuring that project due-dates are capacity tested.
  3. Buffering Policy guidelines: Executives specify the minimum buffers that projects should have to be considered for execution.
  4. Project templates: A set of templates that anyone can customize/ fine-tune for their projects, without having to master the art of defining networks, are created. There are usually about half a dozen types of projects in organizations.
  5. Aggressive estimates at the task level to accommodate buffer: Explicit buffers in projects also means that safeties should be reduced from individual task estimates. There are three ways to accomplish this:
Option A – Just do it: Start with the due-date, put in the buffer and then shrink task durations to fit the available time. Half of all practitioners use this approach.
Option B – Take estimates from management: Experienced managers usually know how long it takes to finish a task. Around one third of practitioners use this approach.
Option C – Ask rank and file: They can provide estimates, assuming they will be working on only one task and they will not be penalized for exceeding the estimates.

With these five changes in place, a good scheduling and information system takes care of the rest. It automates data collection, does the calculations, and provides appropriate reports to all managers so that they can measure performance and make decisions.

Fifty years after the advent of project management, it is finally possible to make projects finish on time, on budget and at scope. Successful operations know this and harness CCPM.

Critical Chain Project Management: Questions For Further Discovery
  1. What percent of your projects finish on time and budget?
  2. Is accountability for projects “local” or “shared” across divisions?
  3. Do you suffer from “student syndrome (leave it till the last minute) and “Parkinson’s Law” (work expands to fill time available)?
  4. What approach do you take toward estimates - are they really estimates or cast in stone?
 

Redline’s services and deliverables for critical chain project management
  • Change management tools
  • Critical chain project management / facilitation
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