The project work plan is the next step after the project charter and includes the following:
◗ Detailed specification of the project scope;
◗ A WBS to organize the project scope;
◗ Assignment of responsibility to the WBS;
◗ A resource-loaded (critical chain) project schedule;
◗ The project budget;
◗ Definition of the project team;
◗ Procedures for operation of the project team;
◗ Plans for project closeout.
Figure 9.11 illustrates the WBS for the project to implement CCPM.
The WBS reflects the changes necessary for CCPM. The PRT considered both resource behavior and the technical injections of critical chain, including the following:
◗ Project plans follow the TOC paradigm (i.e., 50% task times, critical chain, and properly sized buffers).
Project Charter
Project: Implement Critical Chain Project Management Revision: 0 Date: 2/6/99
Approved by:_____________________
Project Purpose
Customer and Stakeholders
Project Team
Scope
Schedule
Cost
Special Considerations
Acceptance_____________________________, Project Manager The critical chain project management (CCPM) implementation project will install CCPM for management of all projects performed by the Southwestern Division of ACME Products Supply Corporation.
The primary individual customer for this project is Wiley E. Coyote, director of ACME Products, Southwestern Division. The customer group is all employees, including managers, of the division. Client customer involvement, such as R. Runner, can be included in this project if client involvement is necessary to implementation.
Cynthia Standish is the project director. She will select three to five team members, as necessary, to assist in planning, scheduling, and other implemen- tation project activities. All managers in the division are to support the
implementation project as required.
This project includes all the planning, procedure development, training, and software tools necessary and sufficient to install CCPM into the division. It does not include technical work on the projects nor work with the project customers.
The use of CCPM is expected to be substantially complete within 90 days of the approval of this charter. Quarterly progress reviews are to be held for the following three quarters (i.e., the final one on February 6, 2000).
The overall cost of this project, including expenditures for training (not including employee time), consulting support, procedure development, and the software tool, shall not exceed $250,000 without additional management authorization. Cost associated with the replanning of projects using CCPM and buffer management are not included in this cost, because they are part of the respective projects.
Procedures and software tools should comply with company format and computing capability.
Figure 9.10 Sample critical chain implementation project charter.
◗ The drum manager creates the drum schedule to accommodate management’s project priority.
◗ Project managers schedule projects to the drum schedule.
◗ Resources work to the roadrunner paradigm.
◗ Resources provide accurate input to the buffer report.
◗ Every manager does buffer management.
The work plan tasks developed following the WBS must create those results.
Consider the seven-S model and the actual behavior in your organi- zation to complete your plan. Try to separate fact from fiction. For example, many people initially believe that all tasks in their organization are underestimated. That is often in an organization with extensive
Critical chain implemented
1 Implementation
plan
2 Procedures
and tools
3
Behavior changed
3.1 People trained
3.2 Drum schedule
managed 3.3 Buffers managed 2.1
Schedule tool 2.2 Critical chain
procedures implemented
2.3 Individual projects planned 1.1
Charter developed
1.2 Workplan issued
1.3 Performance
monitored
Figure 9.11 The WBS to implement CCPM identifies the work package deliverables.
multitasking and interruptions. In some cases, they have data on actual reported task completion for previous projects. It usually requires only a quick check to find that they are similar to most organizations, showing extensive date-driven behavior.
The sample WBS in Figure 9.11 also considers the layers of resistance.
Experience demonstrates that two-day critical chain training can effec- tively overcome layers 1, 2, and 3 of resistance. WBS element 3.1 thus includes the plan tasks to overcome those layers of resistance. The work plan elements supporting WBS element 1.2 must overcome layers 4 and 5. A work plan task to identify obstacles and potential negative conse- quences is one way to accomplish that, but it has a potential negative outcome.
WBS elements 2.2, 2.3, 3.2, and 3.3, once completed, give evidence that resistance layer 6 has been overcome, but they do not explicitly overcome layer 6.
Notice that the WBS in Figure 9.11 focuses on the required behavior change, not on changes in the underlying beliefs or culture. That accom- plishes the most direct change, although it may not lead to lasting change.
While some of the feedback from CCPM is self-reinforcing, it is legitimate, in many organizations, to fear that management’s exploitation of the method will extend to exploitation in a negative sense, for example, over- loading the drum resource. If your organization is misaligned with the principles underlying TOC, you should take this opportunity to begin the culture and belief changes you need to continue with ongoing improvement. Otherwise, improvement will stop as soon as the imple- mentation project ends.
The responsibility matrix shows responsibility for each of the work packages in the WBS. You can assign responsibility at multiple levels in the WBS, but you must assign it to the lowest, or work-package, level.
Note that the person responsible for the work package is not necessarily the same as the resources required to perform the work contained in the work package. The responsible and accountable work package manager may be one of the resources that works on the project and may show up in their own work package and in other work packages. Work package managers plan and estimate the work package and then are accountable to manage its performance.
Figure 9.12 illustrates a schedule for implementing CCPM. It is in the critical chain format, as illustrated by the ProChain software–modified
Microsoft Project Gantt chart. The format illustrates all the tasks on the project but identifies the critical chain tasks by shade. Many of the plan bars are split horizontally, which supports showing status on the Gantt chart as the project progresses. It also shows the tasks that can be performed early without an adverse resource conflict on the project. Do not start those tasks early in a multiproject environment, because you may cause unnecessary schedule conflicts during project performance.
The letters adjacent to the bars indicate a specific type of resource.
This chart shows only the end dates of the buffers. The plan, starting on January 2, 2000, predicts completion (end of the project buffer) on February 12. The project and feeding buffers are 50% of the preceding chain. Notice that the project plan does not develop this critical chain plan
ID Task name
1 1 Implementation plan 2 1.1 Charter developed 3 Develop charter 4 Distribute charter 5 1.2 Workplan issued 6 Draft workplan 7 Distribute workplan 8 Revise workplan to CC
9 FB
10 1.3 Performance monitored 11 Plan performance monitoring 12 Monitor performance
13 PB
14 2 Procedures & tools 15 2.1 Schedule tools 16 Decide schedule tools 17 Acquire schedule tools 18 Train to schedule tools 19 2.2 CC PROCs implemented 20 Issue PLAN PROC
21 FB
22 Issue measure & control PROC
23 FB
24 2.3 Individual projects planned 25 Plan individual projects 26 3 Behavior changed 27 3.1 People trained 28 Two-day training 29 Implementation session 30 Roadrunner training 31 Buffer management training 32 3.2 Drum schedule managed 33 Select drum
34 Prioritize projects 35 Develop drum schedule 36 FB|Develop drum schedule 37 Schedule individual projects 38 3.3 Buffers managed 39 Buffer meeting sch & agenda 40 Initial buffer meeting
S A
P A
S P
P A
P S
S
P
P,S,A P,S,A
P,S,A P,S,A
P,S P,S
P,S
P S
P,S
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 Jan 2, '00 Jan 9, '00 Jan 16, '00 Jan 23, '00 Jan 30, '00 Feb 6, '00 Feb 13, '00 Feb 2
Figure 9.12 Critical chain plan to implement critical chain, shown in ProChain Gantt format.
until about halfway through the project; it is the output of task 8, “revise work plan to critical chain.” The plan assumes need for critical chain training, the software tool, and training on the software tool before completing the critical chain plan. You may choose to generate a critical chain plan from the outset. However, note that the critical path plan, which you would have used prior to the critical chain plan, has a later completion date without a buffer.
Note that the WBS elements include from one to four tasks. That is by no means a limit; work packages often have up to 25 tasks.
Because the complete critical chain plan makes it somewhat difficult to focus on the critical chain (especially if you cannot see the color difference), most project software allows you to filter the project tasks to display only the critical chain tasks. Figure 9.13 illustrates the critical chain for our implementation project. Notice that the critical chain includes both resource and path dependency. (The critical path plan previously referred to did not include leveling of the resources and therefore would have had resource conflicts.)