Critical Chain

In the next class, Richard leads a class discussion on Fred’s report on a project to open a factory in Malaysia. The top management reported that the issues in the project were related to weather, vendors, and government negotiations, while workers reported issues in management’s expectations, vendor supervision, and excess time devoted to synchronization. The class agrees that top management’s reasons point externally to factors outside their control, while workers’ complaints are internal, taking issue with management. They conclude that the project needs better management, and Ruth asks how they could accomplish that goal. Richard points out the addition of safety in time estimates, and Mark confirms that time estimates are usually excessive, protecting the team if something goes wrong and causing late delivery. Richard shows how the distribution curve of expected timing on a task includes a lot of safety, with most estimates fixed around 80-90% certainty, when 50% is the median. The next assignment is for students to interview managers and workers to find out what amount of safety was included in different tasks within their projects.

Ruth, Fred, and Mark discuss the assignment after class, and Fred asserts that no safety is added, noting that deliverables often come in along the expected timeline.