Theory of Constraints Handbook - James Cox Iii [86]
Sometimes it seems that senior people set up initiatives and make promises without providing the wherewithal to actually make things happen. To avoid that, we recommend a significant planning effort, beyond any generic plans that may already exist. This has two benefits. First, it makes sure that specifics of the environment are taken into account so that they do not cause problems later. For example, the organization’s structure will likely have a significant impact on the sequence of implementation activities. Second, people are much more likely to take ownership over things that they have had influence on. That is true whether you are creating gardens, businesses, or implementation plans. When it comes to organizational change, people in the organization are either part of the problem or part of the solution.
The planning process, along with related activities such as interviews with stakeholders, helps to build an initial Commitment to move forward. It won’t get everyone off the fence, but it will help start the key individuals moving.8 With that in mind, we will often start a major implementation with both a senior leadership group or Steering Team and a slightly lower-level Implementation Team. The Steering Team gives planning advice and approval, the Implementation Team does the more detailed planning. They all have a say in what happens.
After some level of commitment comes implementation work, in order to create Value. Creation of value for all the key stakeholders seems to be straightforward for Critical Chain implementations because so many kinds of value can be created. Table 5-2 presents some examples of the benefits of a full enterprise implementation of Critical Chain to the different players.
We have seen these types of value repeatedly. However, this brings us to the top of the cycle: how do we know that the value was achieved? It must be measured. Table 5-2 includes some sample implementation measurements.9 One that we have found to be of great value but not commonly used is the last in the table: checklists to determine process adherence. During a weekly buffer update meeting, one would expect certain topics to be discussed: buffer consumption, recovery plans, key tasks, and so on. During functional staff meetings, one would expect discussions about how to work one task at a time. Why not use a checklist to track whether these things are happening? We have found this to be a great way to learn where help is needed.
It is never enough just to measure. The measurements must be validated against different people’s expectations. In addition, once that Validation has taken place, the results must be communicated with key stakeholders. If the results are what we expect, we will reinforce that what was promised is coming true. People are much more likely to acknowledge value and continue with changes if the value is shown to them explicitly. For example, if senior leaders are consistently shown the value captured by project teams in applying Critical Chain scheduling, they will be far less likely to cut PMO funding. They will better understand the connections between continued funding and success.
If expectations are not being met, they may need to be reset. In that case, the implementation should be re-evaluated. It is important to fix problems early on. It is also important not to pretend that things are fine when they aren’t. You won’t be able to fool all of the people all of the time.
TABLE 5-2 Critical Chain Benefits
The line from Validation to Urgency in Fig. 5-4 indicates the ongoing need to understand and analyze the level of urgency. If people say that one thing is important (for example, cycle times) but behave as if another is important (for example, costs), we may need to re-think the implementation. If the implementation produces value and apparently reduces the level of urgency, we