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July - 2003 - issue > Technology
Don’t Have Time To Do Projects?
Sanjeev Gupta
Tuesday, July 1, 2003
Upon readers’ requests, siliconindia asks Sanjeev Gupta CEO, Realization Technologies, Inc. to present a technology outline of the Realization suite of project management software (see June 2003 cover story).

Organizations that do projects increasingly find themselves in a situation where available time and capacity are not enough to meet their commitments – projects are consistently late, scope is compromised too often, and people are burnt out.

There are two alternatives to deal with this situation:
Accept that time and capacity constraints are real, and cut projects/scope, extend lead times or add resources, or
Challenge the assumption that available time and capacity are not enough.

Realization’s project management software is about the second option. It leverages the insight of Dr. Goldratt (whose earlier work spawned the multi-billion dollar market for supply chain management software and consulting) that uncertainties multiply in projects and waste precious time and capacity. Realization’s software stops uncertainties from multiplying, thus helping organizations deliver more projects with same resources, and deliver them faster.

How uncertainties multiply and wreak havoc
Projects, by definition, have high uncertainties. Requirements change. Vendors are late. Work goes slower than expected. Approvals are held up. Priorities change. In such situation, delays start propagating and multitasking becomes rampant.
• Cascade Effect: delays propagate but gains do not add up
Because of the integration dependencies and resource dependencies, delays quickly propagate. However, the dependencies in projects also mean that local gains do not add up. Projects lose precious time on their critical path due to the Cascade Effect.
• Multitasking: stretches project time, wastes capacity
When all projects are running behind, people get pulled in multiple directions at once and start multitasking. We all understand that multitasking is bad (it stretches each task, and reduces the productivity of people), but do not fully appreciate the extent of damage caused by multitasking. If you consider that multitasking is most rampant in areas where resources are already constrained, and that multitasking is forced mostly on the critical paths of projects, you will realize that multitasking takes time and capacity away from where you need them the most.

In addition to wasting precious time and capacity, project plans also become unstable and unreliable when uncertainties multiply. Managers get bogged down in firefighting. Tracking projects becomes a nightmare.

How Realization’s software stops uncertainties from multiplying
• Contains the Cascade Effect: Realization’s software builds room for uncertainties with buffers (blocks of unscheduled time). These buffers absorb and lessen the shocks of uncertainties. They are placed at the end of non-critical paths, and thus protect the Critical Path from delays on non-critical paths.

In multi-project environment, instead of stacking projects on top of each other, projects are staggered; new project is released for execution based on the availability of constraining resources. Staggering of projects contains delays on one project from cascading onto other projects.
• Cuts multitasking: During execution, consumption of buffers is monitored and used to calculate task priorities (across projects for shared resources). Tasks with least amount of buffer remaining ahead of them are given highest priority. Clear priorities cut multitasking. Our customers have proven that this approach works, and that available time and capacity are more than enough, no matter what type of projects you do.

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