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Larry Leach, President

Advanced Projects, Inc.

www.advanced-projects.com 208-345-1136

Larry@Advanced-projects.com

Getting Results With

Lean Project Management

© API, 2012

© API, 2012 2

�Critical Chain/LPM

�Multitasking

�Next Steps

Today’s Path

CCPM/LPM Case Results

(% Improvement)

3© API, 2012

Approach to Improve Project Delivery

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Project Delivery

Improvement Objective

More Detail

LPM:

Three New Rules

�Focus

�Buffer

�Pipeline

© API, 2012

© API, 20125

Is the critical path the constraint to

project success?

© API, 2012 6

Resource Leveled Critical Path

© API, 2012 7

Critical Chain

© API, 2012 8

EXPLOIT variation by taking contingency out

of each task, and moving it to the end of the

chain…and BUFFERING.

Task 1 Task 2 Task 3 Task 4

BUFFER

Task 1 Task 2 Task 3 Task 4

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

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� ��� � ��� � ������������������������ ��!��"�

� ��� � ��� � ���0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

© API, 2012 9

Subordinate Merging Paths With

‘Feeding Buffers’

FB

FB

Project Buffer

© API, 201210

Example Project As CCPM/LPM Schedule

Project

Buffer

Feeding

Buffer

Reduced

Duration

(Mean)

Begin With The End In Mind

Its all about EXECUTION:

� Relay race task behavior.

� Buffer management.

Enabling behavior:

� Individual project critical

chain plans.� Variation and dependent

events (task networks).

� Resource feasible.

� Pipelined project portfolio.

� Management actions to

design and support the

system.

ACT!

Alpha

Beta

Gamma

Epsilon

Sigma0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

% B

uff

er

Use

d

% Project Work Complete

Multiproject Buffer Chart

11© API, 2012

LPM Focuses On Removing Waste

� Waste that causes tasks to take longer:

– Multitasking

– Parkinson’s Law

– Student Syndrome

– Queuing waste (input ready, resource busy)

� Waste of desynchronization (resource ready, no input)

� Quality defects

� Managing variation

12© API, 2012

Consequences

25 dead

49 injured

13© API, 2009© API, 2012

Growing Research Base

employees of Fortune 1,000

companies send and receive

178 messages a day and are

interrupted an average of at

least three times an hour.

However, recent research shows that multitasking has a dark side. Multitasking is

taking a toll in our society, according to researchers at the University of California at

Irvine. They found workers take an average of 25 minutes to recover from

interruptions, such as phone calls or e-mail, before returning to their original task.

In a 2007 interview with The New York Times, Jonathan B. Spira, an analyst at the

business research firm Basex, said, “Extreme multitasking -- information overload --

costs the U.S. economy $650 billion a year in lost productivity.” © API, 2012 14

Multitasking: The major cause of waste

in project execution!

� Increased project duration: (can reduce by 1/n)

� Lost Throughput due to task switching (up to 40%).

� Quality loss due to task switching: up to 25%.

� Throughput loss due to rework.

� Additional increases in project duration, leading to (more and

more):

– Increased Work In Progress (WIP) inventory.

– STRESS due to perception of work overload/chaos.

– Increasing loss of task synchronization.

– Difficult priority decisions, leading to frequent

priority switching. (Back to 1)

– Waste.

15© API, 2012

The Confetti Factory

© API, 2012

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Exercise Results

Time Number Defects Number Defects

00:00-00:30

00:30-01:00

01:00-01:30

01:30-02:00

02:00-02:30

02:30-03:00

03:00-03:30

© API, 2012

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Multitasking Pipelining

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Task A Task B Task C

Task A

Task B

Task C

© API, 2012

FOCUS: On the highest priority task.(But in the beginning, don’t fret too much if you don’t know

which that is!)

PIPELINE: Delay start of some

projects to complete all sooner!

© API, 201219

Capacity

Buffer

�FOCUS:– Complete tasks sooner by starting later.

– Over-run about ½ the estimated task

durations to reduce overall project duration.

�BUFFER:– Add time buffers to reduce duration.

�PIPELINE:– Complete all projects sooner by starting

some later.

– Increase project flow by planning less than

100% utilization of most loaded resource. 20© API, 2012

LPM:

Three New Rules

�Focus

�Buffer

�Pipeline

These are not

intuitive to me!

© API, 201221