Should I Invest In “CCPM”?

CPPM is an example to explain how you can, should you wish to do so, look at any decision to change (or not). CCPM (Critical Chain Project Management) is a project management methodology that claims to bring very significant benefits to those that choose to use it. The benefits claimed are so high that they must look like marketing hype to those just discovering it. The paragraphs below look at the decision for or against CCPM from 4 perspectives:
1. The potential positives of an investment in CCPM (“The Pot of Gold”).
2. The potential negatives of the investment (“The Crutches”).
3. The positives of NOT investing (“The Mermaid” you want to keep”).
4. The negatives of NOT investing (“The Crocodile” that is already snapping at your heels).
To learn more about the 4 aspects of a decision and resistance to change please click here.

The Pot of Gold

Critical Chain Project Management promises some significant benefits to you, your business and the community.

1. Projects, especially in multi-project environments, take much less time (25 -50% shorter) to complete.
2. Projects can meet their due dates much more often (>90% on time). Those that are late are much less late than current experience.
3. The project organisation can complete many more projects (without adding resources) than is currently possible (25 to 50% and sometimes even more).
4. People’s motivation and harmony in the workplace increases dramatically. This is the benefit that Japanese organisations apparently value the most - they certainly value this a lot.
5. Your business can (should management wish) take advantage of speed, reliability and capacity to transform these benefits into a winning strategy and greater sales. Throughput can grow much faster than operating expenses.
6. …

The “Pot of Gold” does not explain how and why CCPM works. To learn more please attend a CCPM workshop (More Projects in Less Time OR The 2-Day Critical Chain Workshop)

The Crutches

To adopt the CCPM methodology requires paradigm shifts. Each of these paradigm shifts is based on common sense, but they are diametrically opposed to common practice. This will of course cause people in project environments (team-members and management) to worry about the consequences and dangers of the change.
While the methodology deals with the potential negatives and practitioners have learned the ways to deal with others, you must evaluate the risk for yourself. A significant thing to think about is that the work to be done remains the same. CCPM does not change the work, only the way it is organised, sequenced and synchronised. Situations and risks that may worry you include

1. Projects are supposed to take less time, workload does not change and I know from experience there is never enough time. Our (my) performance levels will be at risk.
2. Tasks are cut by 50% - what will that do to my performance?
3. If we can do more with the same resources, then management might decide to do the same with fewer resources. My job is at risk!
4. To invest in Critical Chain will mean a lot time and money to make the change. We need to invest in software, consultants and a lot of time to learn.
5. Project team members may not behave, as they should.
6. …

If you want to learn more about Critical Chain and the risks involved please follow this link or attend one of our workshops.

Your Mermaid

The current environment is fine. We (I) know what we are doing and are comfortable in our current process. Our clients and we are comfortable with the current process (they and we do not know anything else). Expectations are being met. If this is so and the results you achieve are good enough, then you have less reason to change. You need to evaluate whether or not the Pot of Gold is as big as promised, whether the risks of change (Crutches) are too big and the risks of not changing (the Crocodile) are small enough and whether your current environment (your Mermaid) is nice enough. You know your Mermaid the best! You know how well your current situation meets the requirements of your business. If there is no need, then do not invest!

But maybe you should watch what your competitors (crocodiles) are doing.

The Crocodile

The way your projects are managed today might already cause you and your business to suffer from crocodiles:

1. Customers threaten to go to competitors because your lead-times are too long or too unreliable.
2. Investment projects may be unattractive because project costs are too high and lead-times too long. Potentially attractive projects are not pursued.
3. New product developments take too long and consume too much of your capacity. Competitors are gaining on you.
4. If the Critical Chain promises are valid, then you will have a new crocodile from those competitors that have adopted it.
5. Margins are under huge pressure from clients.
6. …

You need to understand your crocodiles currently threatening you and your business. As crocodiles grow and become more aggressive something will have to be done.

What is the Right Solution for YOU?

CCPM might be the solution, although Agile, Scrum, Reliable Scrum, Kanban and Spider project management are all methods you probably should evaluate. They all are ways to address the problems of current common practice and the problems most businesses have with late, over budget and missing content in their projects. To learn more see Speed4Projects.
Join us in workshops to look at ways to combine ideas from all of these so that you can guarantee reliability and speed. Click on the Workshop to follow the link.

1. More Projects in Less Time; Simplified Resource Management;
2. The basics of Critical Chain;
3. 2-Day Critical Chain Workshop (A); The Path to Success for Project Organisations (B)
4. Practical Project Control
5. Evaluate your Risks and Benefits with Critical Chain
6. Critical Chain as a Business Strategy
7. Software to Support Critical Chain
8. Comparison of Project Management Methodologies

The workshops are in German. If you prefer these workshops can be presented as private events in both German and English.