Project Focus Planning and Execution

Some businesses "do projects" for customers.

Every business "does projects" to improve operations.

Do your projects deliver what you want,
when you want it, and at the cost you want?

Make promises to your customers (and to your bottom line), and keep them.

Is your business based primarily on uncertain or variable activities, often changing from customer to customer, or relying on design or trouble-shooting as a major first step? Do you employ a limited number of resources that need to be shared across these endeavors? Then you, my friend, are in the day-to-day business of "doing projects."

On the other hand, maybe your business produces products or services that are based on fairly consistent and predictable operations like manufacturing or information processing. But to grow means you need to carve out time to develop new products or improve operations. If that's the case, your long-term survival depends on "doing projects."

Project Focus offerings from Focused Performance can help you look at projects in a new light, and improve your ability to make and keep the promises associated with them.

Project Performance Starts with Rational Promises

The first major process associated with projects is that of planning them and using those plans to make promises. Useful plans first require a focus on the objectives, deliverables, and success criteria — Goal Focus Planning. Too many projects suffer from "fuzzy front ends." Without clarity of true goals, the process of identifying work to be done and resources to do it will be for naught.

Once tasks and resources are identified, a rational promise depends on addressing the fact that Murphy's Law has not yet been repealed. Projects are efforts rife with uncertainty, and promises need to take that into consideration.

The last hurdle to address before making promises is to make sure you do so with an eye toward your resources' capacity to deliver. Too many project organizations suffer from trying to put 10 pounds of projects through a 5-pound pipeline, and as a result, getting 3-pound performance.

Keeping Promises Requires Single Focus Attention on Clear Priorities

Once launched, timely completion of projects requires an interesting mix of focus and flexibility. Rapid completion of a project task involves sticking with it until done, and then handing outputs off to the next resource so they can do their part for the project. This desired "relay race" mentality inherent in Single Focus Execution is too often compromised by a false sense of "progress" that comes from multi-tasking, as well as from project tracking mechanisms that drive a "good enough, on-track" attitude. These too common, but flawed approaches actually sub-optimize project speed and the benefits of its completion.

On the other hand, project resources, especially in leanly staffed organizations, need to be able to shift gears when necessary (but then again, only when necessary). Project management mechanisms need to provide clear priorities when there is more than one task to choose to focus on. That clarity of priority needs to be easily understood and able to predict the effects of choosing to work on one thing over another.

Turn a Big Backlog of Projects into a Few Real Priorities with the Latest Breakthrough in Modern Project Management

Focused Performance provides education in and implementation of Critical Chain-based project management processes, for both single projects and multi-project operations. Introduced in 1997, these approaches are revolutionizing traditional project environments like Engineering, R&D, and IT, custom and design-to-order manufacturing, and even the management of clinical health care operations.

The Goal Focus Planning, resulting in robust Critical Chain Schedules and Single Focus Execution practices supported by Buffer Management priority setting provide a coherent, common sense approach to minimizing the wasteful impact of Murphy's Law and multi-tasking.

Call today!

If you want to turn get more done, and keep more promises by turning your project efforts into world-class relay races, call Focused Performance at 908-874-8664 for a chat about what Critical Chain-based project management can do for your organization.