5 Practices for Managing (Constrained) Projects Successfully

April 17th, 2003 by Hal

Article Series - Down n Dirty with the Theory of Constraints

Theory of Constraints Perspective for Projects
Physical Project Constraints
Policy Project Constraints
Multi-Tasking Leads to Project Delays
Take Good Care of Constrained Project Resources
5 Practices for Managing (Constrained) Projects Successfully
Customers, Promises, and TOC

Projects are always constrained. Accept it. Now what? (Day 5 in the TOC series.)

We've discussed three types of constraints, the focusing process for managing constraints, and the perils of multi-tasking in a world that work is not ready. Now what? Let's consider some practices we can employ on a day-to-day basis to operate successfully in the uncertain world of projects.

Manage the project in a way that keeps the constraints busy performing what should, can, and will be done.

Planning is a practice that runs throughout the life of the project.
Constraints will change. As the project unfolds plans can change to take advantage of what new is learned.
Have an everyday focus on doing what you said you would do.
Being reliable is the first step for improving project performance. It is also the step that allows you to anticipate demands on constrained resources. Reliability keeps the project flowing from one task to the next.
Shield the constrained resources from variations in the release of work to them.
The last thing you want to have is a constrained resource standing around. Have a queue of ready work (workable backlog) that the constrained resource can work down if a feeding activity fails to perform.
Conduct the project anticipating you and the team will learn.
The work breakdown structure used to plan a project to six levels of detail before the project has begun is not the way the project will be conducted. Keep re-planning. Do it with the people who are closest to the tasks. Adjust your plan considering the emerging talents and competencies of your team.
Measure your planning reliability.
How often are people able to finish what they said they would finish? When there is a failure understand why. Not to blame, but to identify the underlying source(s) of the failure. Take action to remove the underlying causes.

Particularly on large or remote projects you can't watch everything all the time. Status reports are rear-view mirrors. By keeping your eye on the constrained resources you will have your hands on the leverage point for your project. Manage the project in a way that keeps the constraints busy performing what should, can, and will be done.

Let's see what Frank and Joe have to say.

Physical Project Constraints

Not-So-Secret Dirty Little Project Management Secret

Customers, Promises, and TOC

Grid Blogging the “Brand”, December 1, 2003

Policy Project Constraints

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3 Responses to “5 Practices for Managing (Constrained) Projects Successfully”

Claude Emond Says:
April 18th, 2003 at 12:35 pm
Nice wrap up from all three of you. Joe’s first 3 out of 4 conclusions could be summed up as: ‘SCRUM meets TOC’.

I remember reading not to long ago an entry from Frank in te New Grange Forum asking WHY TOC-Critical Chain Project Management did not seem to be considered as part of Agile-Lean approaches in the eyes of certain others participants in the forum. I think, from what I read from you three, that the right question is not WHY but rather HOW they can be linked together. Joe gave the answer twice already : ‘TOC tells you where, Lean (Agile) tells you how’(I added Agile as being family to Lean).

And I guess it is the same answer for many approaches, be it the use of detailed WBS (alluded to by Hal in his list of recommendations) or other ‘traditional-coined’ approaches. (in the WBS case, Joe’s statement could be :’WBS tells you what, Lean (Agile) tells you how’).

Maybe if people were asking the right questions, like you did, before giving answers, it would be a lot easier to have real converging conversations, to build bridges between paradigms and come up with very useful things as you three just did.

After all, Douglas Adam’s answer to ‘Life, the Universe and Everything’ was 42 !!! But nobody really knows the exact wording of the question !

I enjoyed every bit of it.

Three personal Cheers for each of you (that makes 9 of them)

Claude
Hal Says:
April 18th, 2003 at 7:05 pm
Claude,

Thanks for you encouragement. We had fun doing it.
Bolivar Senior Says:
April 18th, 2003 at 9:29 pm
Hal:

Generally I am a batch reader of your blog. I allow a week or so to accumulate and then have my fix. Furthermore, I rarely visit your website, since I read your postings as email messages in my Palm. All this is the fanfare to say that the TOC series has been outstanding, especially combined with Joe and Frank blogs. I propose that you combine and preserve the series. Don�t let the entries die in a blog archive; it would be near-criminal.

I have my own strong opinions about TOC, generally positive, and about Critical Chain (CCM), generally negative. The problem with TOC is that it is frequently treated as a cult by its �followers,� who insist that salvation can only be granted to those that �believe� wholesale in Goldratt (sorry, today being Good Friday I feel mystical). I noticed that none of you addressed CCM in detail. Good for you. While CCM is good at discussing some CPM limitations, it offers poor alternatives to them (In fact, you may remember that I wrote a full-fledged discussion of CCM for Neenan back when you were their CEO). What if you take a respite, and discuss CCM at some point?

Regards,

Bolivar

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