Why Engineering Projects are Late( and How to Prevent Them from Being So)

Visual Project Managementhttp://pinnacle-strategies.com

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What are these people doing?

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About Projects

• It’s hard to get a project team to work together

• Projects will be better if our resources are fully utilized

• Start the project sooner, you’ll finish it sooner

• Planning is the key to project success

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Why Are Projects Late?

You are the new Director of Engineering - What is the status of the project work?

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Project Teams Cannot See

Where are we?

Where is the path?

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Three Keys

ALIGNMENT

CONTROL WIP

COLLABORATION

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Project teams don’t work together.

• Is this collaboration?– Protecting reputations– Defending original delivery promises– Giving “reasons” for why

things haven’t quite worked out

– Focus on the past, not the future

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Project Team Members have Different Goals

• Resource utilization?• Earned hours?• Budget compliance?• Get promoted?• Avoid punishment?

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It Doesn’t Have to be Lose-Lose

• Resource utilization?

• Earned hours?• Budget

compliance?• Get

promoted?• Avoid

punishment?

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PROJECT MANAGEMENT MYTHOLOGY

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The prevailing notion is that to finish early, one should start early.

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Everyone Starts Early

Here’s the project manager

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Too much work creates confusion about priorities.

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Confusion Breeds Multitasking

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Multitasking Adds Excess Time

Day 42

Task 1 Task 2 Task 3

12 days 12 days 12 days

Task 2 Task 3 Task 1 Task 2 Task 3

7 days 7 days 7 days 7 days 7 days 7 days

Day 28

Setu

p

Setu

p

Setu

p

Setu

p

Task 1

Setu

p

Setu

p

Setu

p

Setu

p

Setu

p

Day 35

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Collaboration Summary

• Lack of view of path forward– Conflicting priorities

among members– Shifting priorities from

managers– What is the most

important thing now?

• Conflicting objectives• Defensive posture

among team members

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Too Much WIP Summary

• Haystack Syndrome blocks effective management

• Lost capacity increases costs and delays– Tasks out of sequence– Rework due to

incomplete information– Multitasking

Conventional Approach to Projects

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Make a Good Plan

Execute the Plan Success

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Project Failures are Commonplace

“A staggering 39% of projects with budgets over $10 million USD failed.”

Standish Group Research Exchange

To Be Successful

• Get control of the work• Focus on execution behaviors • Use the team (or structure) that already exists

to make room for proper planning

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Get Control

Execute Well

Release Capacity Success

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Foundation of Execution Maturity

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HOW TO PREVENT PROJECTS FROM BEING LATE

3 Keys

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Improve Visibility

1. Improve Teamwork and Collaboration during execution

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Align the Team

2. Establish a common goal for the team

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Manage the Flow

3. Control the amount of work in the system

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COLLABORATION IN EXECUTIONThe First Step

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Collaboration During Execution

• Provide visibility• Focus on the future– Stop blaming and get moving

• Focus on the right things• Bust the bottlenecks• Establish common goals• Solving the team’s problems

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Make it Visible – Like This…

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Or…Like This….

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Engage The Team – Focus on the Future

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Standup Meeting

• 10 minutes• Analysis• Assignment

of Action• Adjourn

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Person to Person Accountability

Team members know who has the ball and their scope of action.

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Focus on the Right Things

Project X

Project YY

Project XX

Project Z

Project Y

Estimate Select Engineering Procurement

Good Flow

Gap in Flow

Gap in Flow

Bottleneck

Bottleneck & Gap

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Accelerate Flow

Project X

Project YY

Project XX

Project Z

Project Y

Estimate Select Engineering Procurement

Stopped!

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Functional Synchronization

Portfolio ManagementIndividual Project

Procurement

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ALIGN THE TEAM The Second Step

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Establish Common Goals

Performance Management:The process by which organizations align their resources, systems and employees to strategic objectives and priorities

Completing Projects is Behavior

How to create the right behavior to drive the project in the right direction?

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Behavior is a Function of Consequences

• You have everything you need to understand people– What is the behavior?– What are the consequences of that behavior?

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“Show me how you measure me, I’ll show you how I’ll behave”

("If you measure me in an irrational way, don't complain about irrational behavior.")

Eli Goldratt

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“People do what they do because of what happens to them when they do it”

Aubrey Daniels

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What do we want our people to do?

Move the project to completion (as fast as possible)

Measurements Help Drive Consequences

• Health function– Should I do something?

• Diagnostic function– What should I do?

• Managers use measurements to determine when and on what to act

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Different Behaviors at Different Levels

Increase Throughput

Decrease WIP

Release on Time

Decrease Cycle Time

Reduce Work Blockages

Reduce Rework

Prioritize Projects

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Metrics in Vertical Alignment

Increase Throughput

Decrease WIP

Release on Time

Decrease Cycle Time

Reduce Work Blockages

Reduce Rework

Prioritize Projects

TP

WIP Target % CT TP

Days in WIP Rework Days by Reason

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Metrics Driving the Right Behavior

More Projects Completed

Should I act?

Escalation of Work Stoppages

Where to act?

Getting More Done in Less Time

Should I act?

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Leadership Reinforcement

Throughput Report

Trend Analysis

Escalation Summary

Escalation Pareto Analysis

Leadership Action

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Gaining Collaboration Summary

• Make the process and the work visible• Agreement on way forward• Person to person accountability• Common Goals– Metrics to reinforce the right behavior– Horizontal and vertical alignment

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MANAGE THE FLOWThe Third Step

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The Objective of the System?

Flow

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Control the work in the system

The Constraint sets the rate for the entire system.

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To Increase the Rate, Eliminate the Bottlenecks

• Create process momentum during execution• Focused effort to solve problems

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MOVING AHEADImplementation

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Going Visual

1. What is your execution maturity?2. Map the project process3. Define the team4. Build a draft of the board– Refine board

5. Begin standup meetings– Refine process

6. Implement measures & controls– Refine process

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Foundation of Execution Maturity

• The Project Team:– Works together – Has a common goal– Controls the WIP

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Map the Project Process

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Define the Team

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Build the First Board

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Begin Standup Meetings

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Implement Measures and Controls

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Why does project performance suffer?

Lack of Collaboration

Too Much Work in Process

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3 Steps to Deliver More Projects On Time

1. Visual Execution to facilitate collaboration2. Common Purpose / Alignment on the team3. Control the amount of work in the system to

maximize flow

We’re not driving cars, we’re managing traffic

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ViewPoint Execution Maturity

ViewPoint Visual

Single Priority System

Control WIP

Measurement Alignment

Collaboration

ViewPoint Electronic

Remote Collaboration

Measurement Automation

Buffer Management

Resource loading

Date promising

ViewPoint EasyChain

Probabilistic Planning

Resource Management

“What if” capability

ViewPointtm Visual Results

• 433% increase in effective capacity• 326% increase in units shipped• Lead-time reduced from 31 to 8 days• Revenue increased $4MM/month

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Practical Ideas for Improving Project Execution

• Start projects as late as possible• Cut the number of projects in the portfolio by

half (don’t start a new one until you finish one)• One person decides work priorities• Don’t start a task unless you can finish it

completely

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Next…

• Consultation – evaluate for your organization– More practical advice

• LinkedIn Group– Visual Project Management