Theory of Constraints Handbook - James Cox Iii [63]
Show appreciation for a crisis-free work environment. (That is, top management will not single out individual “heroes,” who may have solved some crisis, for special recognition.)
Give attention to sustainable ongoing improvement of project management for the enterprise.
Use CC schedules and reporting mechanisms to evaluate the implementation of organization strategy and determine required changes.
Resource Manager Responsibilities
Resource managers generally have considerable power in a traditional project management system because they have been able to influence, and perhaps control, project priorities. In a CCPM system, resource managers will:
Be fully educated in CC concepts so they can make appropriate priority decisions according to buffer consumption reports from PMs.
Outwardly and continuously support the implementation of CC concepts.
Work closely with a PMO or similar body in establishing project priorities and selecting a SR.
Help enforce the ban on unproductive multitasking.
Reinforce FIFO work rules.
Emphasize fast turnover of work (analogous to relay race transfers) when a task is completed.
Enforce the policy of not stopping work once started until it is finished, unless workers receive orders from management (change of priorities) or project status reports indicate that they should work elsewhere.
Include team performance on projects assigned to individual resources in their overall evaluation.
Project Manager Responsibilities
As front-line managers, PMs should be both capable and creative. PMs will:
Be available to help any resource that needs help.
Carefully track all active tasks and immediately record all buffer quantity changes.
Provide appropriate notice to resources required for upcoming work on a Critical Chain or required to start the first task on a non-critical path.
Resist the impulse to interfere with the work on a task while buffer consumption is in the “expected” (first third, or green) or “normal” (second third, or yellow) portions of a buffer.
Formulate an action plan to reverse an unfavorable trend in buffer consumption prior to entering the last third of a project’s buffer.
Implement planned actions immediately when the remaining buffer is one-third of its expected size according to remaining CC tasks.
Respect the project priority sequence established by the organization and assist other PMs when possible.
Enforce the discipline required to protect the project staff from unnecessary multitasking interruptions.
Importance of Trust
Trust is earned slowly and lost quickly. You cannot expect workers who distrust management to welcome any change. A change to CC concepts may be especially difficult if many project workers have considerable experience with traditional project management. With traditional project management systems, tasks appear to require all the time they have been allotted. Estimated task times are a self-confirming prophesy. When people have been scrambling to meet many deadlines, multitasking like crazy, and you tell them they are now working under a new system that requires even shorter durations, they quite naturally will be concerned, if not alarmed. A full explanation of the anticipated implementation plan, including environmental and other policy changes, is required.
The next topic presents an organizational system to implement change in a way that addresses employee concerns.
Implementing a Critical Chain Project Management System
There is always resistance to change—sometimes for very good reasons. TOC proponents have developed six “layers of resistance” to change (for example, see Kendall, 2005, Chapter 11; Goldratt, Chapter 20, this volume), a familiar topic in behavioral psychology and many other circles. Based on the TOC six layers of resistance, previous behavioral research, and the Budd Innovation Empowerment Model (Budd and Budd, 2010), Fig. 3-12 shows a 10-step process for incorporating