Critical Chain Project Management - An introduction

Project management is full of good ideas and solid management methodologies that can be used to effectively manage projects from start to end. The project management style and process that works best will typically vary based on the focus of the situation and the skills of the individual running the project. Critical Chain Project Management ( CCPM ) is a mighty project management principle derived from the Theory of Constraints used to focus on getting your projects done in time and speed up the velocity by far.

What is CCPM?
CCPM is a management methodology in the vein of Critical Path Management, and is derived from the algorithms present in the Theory of Constraints. CCPM differs from other management techniques in that it attempts to focus on facilitating the preceding resources and terminal elements that are associated with a project. The belief is that the proactive management of these resources at the front end of the project will aid in minimizing the potential for exceeding both budgetary and financial constraints. Given the guiding principles stated in the Theory of Constraints we know that there are limiting factors associated with tasks and projects. The manager implementing a CCPM style will give consideration to those limiting factors and apply their knowledge of the Theory of Constraints to mitigate the potential impact of those known outer boundaries.

How does CCPM seek to mitigate risk?CCPM uses a multi-stepped process to provide assurance that delivery schedules and project budgets are not blown out of the water while pressing onward toward completion and focus on minimizing the impact of limits described in the Theory of Constraints.

1. By analyzing resource dependencies the manager is able to understand the potential cause and effect relationship of their supply chain. This allows them to anticipate the impact of potential resource delays.
2. Sometimes good enough is ok. The manager implementing this strategy does not spend an inordinate amount of time searching for the perfect solution, 80% is good enough (Pareto principle). This allows for an offset of the limiting factors defined by using the Theory of Constraints.
3. The manager identifies where they can plan the insertion of buffers into the multiple processes to ensure there is plenty of time built into the schedule to absorb any delays.
4. Management evaluates the progress of the project by looking at the rate that the buffers are being consumed; the less buffer time that is used, the healthier the project is.

 

Bad Multitasking

One of the primary aims of continuous process improvement methodologies is to realize additional efficiencies in the way tasks are accomplished. By simplifying the focus of the process and breaking it down into its most basic components businesses can reduce the time and resources required to produce products or implement services. Oftentimes in business today, the virtues of multitasking are espoused as a necessity. Furthermore, the ability to multitask is required in many organizations. The problem with multitasking is that you have to handle a setup time for every task switch, leading to so called bad multitasking which meens a reduction in proficiency when attempting to accomplish tasks.

What's so bad about multitasking?
The Theory of Constraints simply states that at some point within a process you will encounter a limiting factor to your productivity. At that time, the constraint will have to be identified and dealt with to minimize its impact on the efficiency of your business processes. Bad multitasking provides an excellent backdrop to examine the Theory of Constraints. Most individuals function best, and most profitably, when they are able to focus on a single task at a time. The reason for this is that they are able to bring all of their mental faculties to bear on the challenge at hand. When multitasking occurs, the singular attention an individual is able to give to handling a situation is now divided with only a portion of their intellectual capabilities being used on each problem. When more than two tasks are introduced, the focus of the individual is further diluted.

How to prevent multitasking

So when you are looking to implement a continuous process improvement initiative: Let your team members always concentrate on a single task at once. Consider that you will get the best efficiency when you claim the complete the resolution of one task before moving to the next one. On the other side, give your team the ability to concentrate on a single task and do not put new work into ongoing jobs. Severall methodologies have mighty tools to confine multitasking: Kanban has the principle of limitting the work in progress, in the agile method Scrum you have the so called "Definition of Done" which uses an exact definition to decide when a task is really completed, and the Theory of Constraints uses buffers to prevent specially the constraint from multitasking.

 

My personal experiences

Every task change will cost yourself about 15 minutes of setup time in complex environments like development or engineering. If you are working on 2-3 projects simultaneously, your efficieny factor will shrink down to less than 50%. Don't allow this! Focus on less things and work on them really concentrated. Start a new job only if the last one is completely done. You will have a much higher efficiency at the end of the day.

 

Theory of Constraints: The Thinking Process (2)

As I mentioned in the first part of this post about the thinking process, the first question to ask yourself is "What to change?". The Theory of constraints provides us with the "5 focusing steps" which help you to get clear what to change:

Five focusing steps

1. Identify the constraint that prevents the goal from happening.
2. Check how to exploit the constraint.
3. Subordinate all other tasks and processes to support the constraint.
4. Elevate the constraint to break through it.
5. Once the constraint has moved, return to Step 1 and continue making adjustments where needed.

The second Question of the thinking process
"To what to change to?" is the second important question of the thinking process of the Theory of Constraints. Organizations must look at ways to constantly evolve and continue changing to achieve full potential of their goals. By using the Theory of Constraints companies can focus on identifying these constraints, decide how to work the system to get the most out of it, adjust the rest of the system to support the solutions, make some more changes to break the constraint, and then start the process over. Starting over allows the organization to examine what changed and see what else needs to change to continue working towards its goals.

The third question of the thinking process
The third and last question is "How to cause the change?" The process of TOC understands that organizations are measured and controlled by variations of throughput (money or units made through sales), investment (money invested to sell goods and services), and operating expenses (all money spent to make investment into throughput). By understanding how the company operates, enables managers to understand where and how to improve production and profits.

Managing People's Resistance to Changes
Understanding what causes constraints helps managers to identify and initiate solutions for the constraints. Dr. Goldratt notes that change is not a happy process if not everyone does win in a situation, so companies have to consider all parties when deciding what to change. In some cases it could also be limited skills and mentality levels caused by practices within the company that can reduce production. Managers have to learn to work with and around these limitations by finding solutions that work for everyone and reducing the fear of changes.

My personal experience

Answering the first two questions may sometimes be hard, but often this section is the easier job because you can overlook your company more or less from "outside". The last step is mostly the hardest one because there you really have to take action and change your old habits. Don´t let yourself be controlled by fear in this phase: Aalways keep your goal in mind!

Suggestion: The original video lectures from Dr. Goldratt to the second and third question.