BRINGING DISCIPLINE TO PROJECT MANAGEMENTBy Jeffrey Elton & Justin RoePresented By:Group 5 – Batch 2008-10AnubhavVanmaliSharadkumar R BhattSiddharth AnandSymbiosis Institute of Business Management, Bangalore

Eli GoldrattThe Goal –Introduced the Theory of ConstraintsCritical Chain – Applying the TOC framework to managing the development of new products & other products (Falls short in explaining the management of a portfolio of projects)

Focusing on the ConstraintsExplains how to boost the performance of any process that involves a series of interdependent stepsFocus on bottlenecks or constraints rather than on breaking the process down and improving the efficiency of each stepBottlenecks widened by changing policies that may promote efficiencySometimes this hampers effectiveness at the crucial bottlenecks

Focusing on the ConstraintsNext, volume of production from the non-bottleneck activities to be limited to a level that can be handledManagers can increase output by investing in extra capacity at the bottlenecksThese steps to be repeated over time because of constraints that can emergeCritical pathScarce resources needed on & off the critical paths + other projects

Focusing on the ConstraintsCritical Chain = A combination of critical path & scarce resourcesFor smooth flow of critical chain –Use safety buffersAllow extra time to tasks that impinge directly on the critical pathAllow extra time to tasks not on the critical path that feed into the scarce resourceTightly schedule the activities of the scarce resource

Focusing on the ConstraintsProject ManagersCreate a project plan involving a WBSPlan is arranged so that items on critical path can be completed in timeIn conjunction with the budget – to validate some core assumptionsKnow that the plan is only advisory and suggestive of the true structure

Focusing on the Constraints Plans are almost always “wrong” in the sense that the resources used and the time actually taken to complete tasks rarely correspond to the original project plan

Focusing on the ConstraintsSuccessful OrganizationsPutting emphasis on coordination and communication (advances in project management software)Continual communication & coordination becoming mandatory

Focusing on the ConstraintsGoldratt:Elaborate plans should not distract managers from focusing on constraintsMost projects have one/two essential constraints – addressing them most importantProper use of measurementsInduce the parts to do what is good for the wholeDirect managers to parts that need their attentionReduce number of milestones as they motivate managers to insert safety time before each milestone

Focusing on the Constraints“The fewer the milestones, the fewer the delays”Message for project managersRemain focused on a few critical areas Project phases do not matterDesign a project in the same way as a productProject design needs to identify the potential sources of failure: critical-path tasks and critical resourcesThen insert resource & work buffers

Focusing on the ConstraintsMessage for senior managersJuggle a portfolio of productsAllocate resources carefully across projects to minimize constraints on shared resources

Managing Projects as a PortfolioManagers cannot isolate and control different projects easilyThey need a wider perspective of aggregate project planningProjects fall short of resources or lose direction due to lack of agreement between senior and junior managers leading to slowing down of project and also failure to kill themThus organizations have too many projects compared to available capacity

Managing Projects as a PortfolioProjects may still fall short because: Company may not have adequate skills for all parts of product development processHence outsourcing which limits the individual project’s progressReducing the number of overall projects relieves constraints on common resources

Putting Flexibility where It CountsWhen the degree of change involved is great, managers need to approach projects differentlyProjects incorporating discontinuous technologies require managers to apply stringent & individualized criteria for determining how to proceed

Putting Flexibility where It CountsGoldratt’s flexible approach ( without many milestones) may be more easily applied to products that can be frequently modified than to capital intensive or mission-critical products, such as aircraft engines

ConclusionProcess Management: Eliminates variabilityProject Management: Accepts variability as each project is uniqueCritical chain theory cannot be fully implemented for projects due to high level of uncertaintyEssential are Project Managers who can handle the political, as well as the technical aspects of their projects

In truth, Leadership may be the larger constraint.Thank You