1. Project Management what marketing suggested what management approved
what engineering designed

2. Project Management what was manufactured what maintenance installed
what the customer wanted

3. Project Management What is Project Management?
Why do Project Management?
Tracking project timing and cost.
Managing project resources (people, materials, budget).
Motivating personnel.
Ensuring functional deliverables.
To monitor if your project is staying on time and
is within budget.
To ensure project goals are met.

4. Project Management
What questions might project managers be interested in?
How long will the project take?
Can I add manpower or tools to reduce the overall project length?
To which tasks should I add manpower?
What tasks are on the critical path?
Is the project on schedule?
When should materials and personnel be in place to begin a task?
Am I within budget?
Should I transfer funds between line items?
Other?…

5. Project Management – Examples of Success
Willow Run Bomber Plant (Ford)
B24 Liberator Bomber
Two years to build facility (started in early 1940)
Some stats:
488,193 parts
30,000 components
24 major subassemblies
peak production – 25 units per day
25,000 initial engineering drawings
ten model changes in 6 years
34,533 employees at peak
Apollo Moon Mission
Sputnik I orbits earth
1958 – NASA formed
July 20, 1969 – “The Eagle Has Landed”
Hoover Dam

6. Project Management – Examples of Failures
Denver Airport
Numerous ERP System Conversions
Numerous highway systems

7. Project Management – Reasons for Failure
Top 10 Sources of Project Failure Do any of these conditions exist in your organization?
Failure to appreciate the impact of a multi-project environment on single project success.
1 a) Trying to put 10 pounds of projects through a 5-pound pipeline in a multi-project environment.
1 b) Wasting of resources through dedication to projects, making them unavailable to support other projects.
1 c) Failure of management to provide real guidance on priority of projects before they are planned and promised.
1 c1) As well as the flip side, ignoring rational plans and promises for perceived, but questionable, priorities.
1 c2) Another flip side regarding priorities -- failure of management to kill projects when their reason for existence goes away.
2) Irrational promises made due to a failure to take into account the variable nature of task performance.

8. Project Management – Reasons for Failure
Top 10 Sources of Project Failure –cont.
3) Irrational promises made due to a failure to take into account the statistical nature of project networks.
4) Insufficient identification of dependencies necessary to deliver the project.
5) Focus on (and active management of) only a portion of what should be the full project -- a true bottom-line value adding outcome for the sponsoring organization.
6) Reliance on due-date, train-schedule, and actual-against-budget-to-date performance to drive project performance, resulting in the wasting of any safety included in the project (to account for 2 and 3 above) and in the effects of Parkinson's Law -- Work will expand to fill (and exceed) the time allowed. The whole concept of "time allowed" is a major culprit.
7) Wasting of resources through underutilization because they aren't the "best resource" for the job.
8) Wasting of the "best" resources through over-utilization, multi-tasking, and burn-out.

9. Project Management – Reasons for Failure
Top 10 Sources of Project Failure –cont.
9) Delivering original scope when conditions/needs change. Flip-side: accepting changes to scope without sufficient analysis of impact on the project (or on other projects).
10) Multi-tasking, multi-tasking, multi-tasking, multi-tasking, and multi-tasking. Commonly thought of as a key problem in multi-project environments, where resources are expected to address tasks from different projects in a coincident time-frame, multi-tasking also impacts single project durations (and wastes safety) when dedicated resources are expected to wear several hats.

10. Project Management - Timing
A project consists of a series of tasks with estimated durations.
Consider building a house:
Step A: Prepare site. (5 days)
Step B: Build foundation. (8 days)
Step C: Frame walls and roof. (15 days)
Step D: Rough in Plumbing (12 days)
Step E: Rough in Electrical (10 days)
Step F: HVAC Venting (8 days)
Step G: Drywall (11 days)
Step H: Finish Electrical (5 days)
Step I: Finish Plumbing (4 days) Step M: Paint (5 days)
Step J: Finish HVAC (2 days) Step N: Landscape (5 days)
Step K: Install Kitchen (8 days)
Step L: Install Baths (14 days)

11. Project Management - Timing
Timing – Gantt Chart
Tasks and task durations are often represented as Gantt Charts.
No consideration for task precedence.
Jan. 31
Jul. 5

12. Project Management - Timing
Timing – Network Diagram
Tasks must sometimes be performed in series, or may at times be performed in parallel.
For the house example, let each arc represent a project task/job.
Each arc is identified by a job letter and duration. Note the
dummy jobs indicating precedence that jobs H and I must complete before K or L begins.
J,2
D,12
H,5 7
M,5
K,8
A,5
B,8
C,15
G,11
E,10 1 2 3 4 5 6 9 10 11
L,14
N,5
F,8
I,4 8

13. Project Management - Timing
Timing – Gantt Chart
Tasks and task durations are often represented as Gantt Charts.
With task precedence knowledge.
Jan. 31
May. 9

14. Project Management - Timing
Critical Path
Why is knowing the critical important?
D,12
H,5 7
J,2
M,5
K,8
A,5
B,8
C,15
G,11
E,10 1 2 3 4 5 6 9 10 11
L,14
N,5
F,8
I,4 8

15. Project Management - Cost
Costs
Estimate your costs by task (add a safety factor, 20-50%?), also called itemizing.
Track your costs by item.
Formally transfer/track transfer of budget between line items.
Stay within budget!!

16. Project Management - Resources
How do resources effect project management?
Add workers to reduce task time.
Remove workers if a task is not on critical path.
Ensure tools and supplies are available at start of each task.
Other?

17. Project Management - Tools
Software
Most Popular (Listed by Yahoo.com)
Blue Angel Technologies, Inc. - provider of metadata management tools.
Niku Corporation (Nasdaq:NIKU) - develops enterprise application software that cuts costs and
increases productivity by automating the work of internal service organizations.
eRoom Technology, Inc. - makers of a browser-based product used to manage projects,
collaborate on documents, share information, and hold discussions. Formerly Instinctive Technology.
Mindjet - developers of software to help business people organize information into visual maps
which display relationships among diverse information.
eProject - specializes in web-based project management and team collaboration software that
includes integration with WAP and palm-held devices. Available on-site or as a hosted service.
Primavera Systems, Inc - Software tools for managing both small and large projects.
Elite.com - offers web-based project management and time and billing software.
Welcom Software Technology - provides project management, collaboration, and cost management
solutions.
Scitor Corporation Business Solutions Group - provides project and process management software
solutions and services.
116 additional sites listed in alphabetical order (did not include MicroSoft Project)

18. Project Management - Tools
Manual Method
Can you manage projects manually?
Absolutely, who managed the building of the Egyptian pyramids and what software did they use?
I have used Excel to “manually” track projects.

19. Applying Project Management
Initial Setup
Identify task and task precedence
Estimate task cost and timing
Identify critical path
Modify resource allocation to adjust task timing and costs
Continuous Monitoring
Update if timing has changed
Identify if still on time
Identify if critical path has shifted
Modify costs as “real” costs are realized

20. Applying Project Management
Personal Experience – Windsor Engine Plant
Products – 4.6L, 5.4L, 6.8L Ford Truck Engines
Location – Windsor, Ont.
Budget - $1.2 billion
Timing – Plant Engineering (Summer 1993)
Job 1 (March 1996)
Volume – Engines / day
Launch Staff – approx. 150 personnel
Project Management – 1 person dedicated to timing, Primavera software, Gantt charts hung around “war room”, cost management by individual team managers (with “help” from Finance dept.).

21. Applying Project Management
Personal Experience – Windsor Engine Plant (cont.)
My Responsibilities – team manager of information systems and communications (PCs, networks, phones, pagers, radios, computer room, PFIS, etc…)
Timing Tracking Method – Used Excel (problem deck), White Board (primary projects), and note pad (to do list).
Problem Deck – Some projects tracked closely some loosely dependent on who was lead analyst.
Primary project status – updated weekly.
To do list – updated daily.

22. Applying Project Management
Personal Experience – Windsor Engine Plant (cont.)
Cost Tracking Method - $8million budget, itemized by primary projects (e.g. PCs, Networks, Radios, Computer Room, etc…).
Used Excel and reports from Finance office to track line items, monitored on a weekly or bi-monthly basis

23. Project Management – Further Reading
Critical Chain – Eliyahu M. Goldratt

24. Theory of Constraints (TOC)
Overall Idea – The goal of a company is to make money. The theory of constraints is a methodology to help identify what might be hindering a company from obtaining its goal, and how to achieve the goal.
The Goal is a fictional account of a manufacturing plant which significantly improves its production capacity (and other measures) through the application of TOC.

25. Theory of Constraints (TOC)
Identify the system’s constraint/bottleneck
Exploit the constraint (squeeze the maximum capacity out of it without altering capacity capability)
Subordinate everything else, don’t put improvement efforts into non-constraints, focus on bottleneck
Elevate if still needing more throughput (add more capacity to constraint)
Go back to Identify, (continuous improvement)

26. Back to Critical Chain
Production World – production throughput is like a chain. Production flows from one operation to the next.
Op 10
Op 20
Op 30
Op 40
A chain is only as strong as its weakest link
The weakest link is the bottleneck operation
No value in improving other links of the chain (e.g. Subordinate everything else)

27. Chain Physics
If chained machines all working at full capacity, and capacity is equivalent on each machine, and if there exists any variance in production, the chain will never produce at capacity.
The greater the variance, the less the production.
The longer the chain, the less production.
Op 10
Op 20
Op 30
Op 40
Manufacturing managers/engineers attempt to mitigate the chaining effects

28. Critical Chain and Project Management
Current State of Project Management World –
Only way to protect the whole (project) is through protecting the completion date of each step.
Therefore, we pad each step with safety time.
We then suffer from three mechanisms, when combined, waste most of the safety time.
Student syndrome (start as late as possible)
Multi-tasking (switching between tasks without completing)
Delays accumulate, advances do not
Thus, projects tend to complete late.

29. Critical Chain and Project Management
Why Current State of Project Management?
Cause and Effect:
Wrong measurement, each task’s (or manager’s) performance is measured to their specific task.
No incentive to finish early since re-budget of time/dollars based on “last time” will result.
A delay in one step is passed to the next, while an advance in one step is usually wasted before the next.

30. Critical Chain and Project Management
Project Management World – so what is the bottleneck operation in project management?
Ans. – the critical path.
D,12
H,5 7
J,2
M,5
K,8
A,5
B,8
C,15
G,11
E,10 1 2 3 4 5 6 9 10 11
L,14
N,5
F,8
I,4 8

31. Critical Chain and Project Management
Thus, TOC applies to project management where:
The bottleneck/weakest link of the chain is the critical path.
Identify the critical path
Exploit
Subordinate
Elevate
Go back to Identify,

32. Critical Chain and Project Management
Thus, TOC applies to project management where:
The bottleneck/weakest link of the chain is the critical path.
Identify the critical path
Exploit the constraint – ensure the critical path is never compromised
Subordinate
Elevate
Go back to Identify,

33. Critical Chain and Project Management
How do you Exploit the constraint?
One way in manufacturing:
Ensure the bottleneck operation is never idle by maintaining inventory in front of it.
Bottleneck Operation X
Inventory

34. Critical Chain and Project Management
How do you Exploit the constraint?
On the critical path:
Original:
With all safety moved to end of project:
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Addresses Student Syndrome and Tendency to pass on delays and not advances.
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Safety Buffer
Note, only 50% chance of finishing each task on time,
Management must change way of thinking, i.e. OK to
be late some times.

35. Critical Chain and Project Management
Thus, TOC applies to project management where:
The bottleneck/weakest link of the chain is the critical path.
Identify the critical path
Exploit the constraint – ensure the critical path is never compromised
Subordinate – everything else
Elevate
Go back to Identify,

36. Critical Chain and Project Management
How do you Subordinate everything else?
To the critical path:
Restate task times for non-critical steps, removing safety time and starting them such that safety is at the end.
Step a1
Step a2
Feeding
Buffer
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Safety Buffer
Step b1
Step b2
Step b3
Feeding
Buffer

37. Critical Chain and Project Management
Impact of new way of approaching project management -
Step a1
Step a2
Feeding
Buffer
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Safety Buffer
Step b1
Step b2
Step b3
Feeding
Buffer
Need new performance measures –
Performance of critical path (e.g. % completion of c.p.)
Measure provided by person working on current critical path task, estimating number of days until finished
also monitor remaining days in feeder buffers (modify buffers as actual times realized in preceding steps)
Use relative buffer consumption to synchronize priorities and make early course corrections.

38. Critical Chain and Project Management
Thus, TOC applies to project management where:
The bottleneck/weakest link of the chain is the critical path.
Identify the critical path
Exploit the constraint – ensure the critical path is never compromised
Subordinate everything else,
Elevate reduce task times,
Go back to Identify,

39. Critical Chain and Project Management
How do you reduce task times?
Training
Improved methods / technology
Improved designs
Motivate employees
Provide incentives – reward early completion, penalize being late
Others?

40. Critical Chain and Project Management
Thus, TOC applies to project management where:
The bottleneck/weakest link of the chain is the critical path.
Identify the critical path
Exploit the constraint – ensure the critical path is never compromised
Subordinate everything else,
Elevate reduce task times,
Go back to Identify, are there other constraints?

41. Critical Chain and Project Management
Is the critical path the only constraint? - X
Feeding
Buffer X
Feeding
Buffer X
Safety Buffer
Critical path X
Feeding
Buffer
Resource X in this case could cause all or some feeding buffers to become exhausted, would this cause all paths to become critical?
Hopefully not, must be a better way to manage.

42. Critical Chain and Project Management
Call the resource constraint a critical chain? -
Critical chain X
Feeding
Buffer X
Feeding
Buffer X
Safety Buffer
Critical path X
Feeding
Buffer
This critical chain could be a longer path than the original critical path.

43. Critical Chain and Project Management
Feeding buffers have moved before critical path -
Critical chain
Feeding
Buffer X
Feeding
Buffer X X
Feeding
Buffer
Safety Buffer
Critical path
Feeding
Buffer X
Still a problem for X, top two feeding buffers have X scheduled at the same time. What to do?

44. Critical Chain and Project Management
Feeding buffers have moved before critical path -
Critical chain
Feeding
Buffer X
Feeding
Buffer X X
Feeding
Buffer
Safety Buffer
Critical path
Feeding
Buffer X

45. Conclusions Critical Chain Management - explores why projects tend to
be late, and develops an interesting approach to mitigating
this problem.
Move safety to end of project and to feeding buffers
Manage feeding buffers
Remove multi-tasking
Critical Chain Management – uniquely positioned to manage
variability and help reduce length of projects.