Theory of Constraints

Chapter 11 of the Book Critical Chain throws light on the Theory of Constraints which is a must learning phenomenon for a Project Manager. Knowing that Constraints are any sort of hurdles that limit the scope or expand the time or cost of a project, we must take some preliminary steps to cater the Constraints including the Identification of the system and its purpose and Determination of the Systems Measures which are the abilities of the project team to complete the project within time and cost. There are five steps a Project Manager and the Team must follow, while dealing with the constraints namely: Identification of the Systems Constraints determining the sequence of dependent steps, with regard to the time and resource sharing of their completion, forming the critical chain/path. Exploitation of the Systems Constraints how the time gained from the critical path can be utilized to neutralize the effects of delays in the critical path to exploit the Systems Constraints and reap maximum benefits out of them. This can be done by calculating the amount of resources and time allocated to each step, accurately and appropriately. Three barriers in this process are: the Students Syndrome, Multitasking of the Manager and the Team and the Interdependencies of the Projects various steps. The war between efficiency (time, cost, resources) and effectiveness (scope/purpose) can be won by using Project buffers that imply on the Steps in Critical Chain and Feeding buffers that imply on the Steps in Non-Critical Chain. The Safety Times on both chains are summed to achieve accuracy. The critical path is surprisingly reduced using these buffers. Subordination of every other thing than the above decisions by starting immediately a task after its prerequisite task is completed, in light of the above taken decisions and by using the Golden Rule of Subordination, we can utilize the additional time covering the time lost by leaps and bounds. Resource requirement notifications should be readily generated and communicated across the chain. Elevation of the Systems Constraints by making the longest path the shortest one. This can be achieved by reducing the number of tasks, number or dependencies, resource sharing and the time of completing a task. Stop the Inertia - from becoming hurdle in your application of the above mentioned four steps by reducing risks of disruption, subordinate the non-critical events to critical ones and through continuous improvement. To be remembered, invalid policies, rules and assumptions make the project longer instead of shortening it so do not make a part of this theory application process.

At last, according to my view there are many theories and philosophies still to come on reducing the length of the Critical path. Look for and incorporate new tools and techniques of reducing the project length remaining within the project scope.