Critical Chain, Agile, and the Power of NO

Rob Newbold
May 12-13, 2020

Copyright © by ProChain Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved. This document contains confidential and proprietary
information and may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without express written permission from ProChain Solutions, Inc.
 Levels of Focus
➢ Portfolio Level

➢ Project Level

➢ Team Level

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 Background
➢ Prioritize. Focus. Finish.
➢ Multitasking has huge costs.
▪ Research
• Media multitasking
• Brain research
• Costs
▪ Books, explanations, task switching games

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 The Problem: Lack of Focus
Tasks assigned to Task A 3 days
3 days Lost
a resource
Task B 3 days Productivity

Task C

Should happen: Task A Task B Task C

3 days 3 days 3 days

Could happen:
A B C A B C

6 days

6 days

6 days

Does happen:
A B C A B C ABC/123
7 days

7 days Circa 2006 https://www.prochain.com/resources/res

7 days

Blocks of Work ource-center/multitasking-game/

2008 Circa 2008

= Task 1 working hours

= Non-working hours
= Email
= Calls/interruptions
= Meetings
Confetti Factory =
=
Task 2 working hours
Ramp-up
= “Personal time”
Circa 1998

Color Wheel
Circa 2017
1998 2011 2019
2014
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 Nobody Disagrees!
➢ YOU CAN’T MULTITASK.
➢ Trying drives us crazy.
➢ Why do we keep doing it?
▪ Not enough training.
▪ Not enough messaging.
▪ BECAUSE WE MUST.
“ This project is so important that we can’t let anything
more important interfere with it. ”

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 Single-Tasking: The Power of NO
➢ Make a choice: prioritize, and then focus until you finish. Say NO
to lower-priority work.
➢ Reduce the number of choices. Say NO to things you can’t do
NOW.
▪ Gating (don’t start what you don’t need NOW)
▪ Full kitting (don’t start what you don’t have the necessary pieces to finish)
▪ Pacing (don’t start projects you don’t have enough resources to work on)
➢ Remove dependencies. Say NO to things that slow you down.

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 Dependencies
1. Path dependency: I must do A before B, where
A and B are tasks.
2. Resource dependency: I must do A and B
using C, where A and B are tasks, and C is a
limited resource.
3. Process dependency: I want to do A before B Includes things we shouldn’t do
(and/or using C). “Dark matter” ~ 80% of project time

▪ Multitasking: the choice to switch from B to A delays B.

▪ Overcommitment: the choice to start project Q may delay project P.
▪ Stage gates: the choice to wait until all factors in a stage are complete can delay
the next stage.
▪ Deadlines: the choice to set a date when something must be completed
incentivizes safety time, reduces the chances of completing early, and often creates
delays.
▪ Transfer batches: the choice to finish a manufacturing step on several parts before
moving them to the next step can delay everything.

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 We Must Multitask Because …
➢ It’s not OK to say NO.
▪ Making choices
▪ Reducing choices
▪ Eliminating dependencies (especially process dependencies)
➢ We are expected to focus on YES. It’s the positive attitude of:
▪ Dreams
▪ Imagination
▪ Ambition
▪ Accomplishment
▪ Continued employment
➢ To be valued, WE MUST DO EVERYTHING.

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 How to Say NO
➢ Know what you’re saying “yes” to: have a clear vision and plan.
➢ Accept the value of teams.
▪ 1 person = renegade, several is a movement, lots is a revolution
▪ Tiger Teams, Red Teams
➢ Create standard processes with feedback loops, for example:
▪ Agree: understand, as a group, what you’re saying YES to
▪ Align: understand, as a group, what you need to achieve YES
▪ Advance
▪ Assess/Adapt: Feedback loops. Constantly reevaluate to remove ineffective process dependencies
➢ Find terminology that says what’s important.
▪ Prioritize. Focus, Finish.
▪ Process dependencies
▪ A5? Agile, sprint, backlog?

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 Agile Is a Way to Say NO
➢ Characteristics that allow “NO”
▪ Teamwork: Emphasize communication, empowerment, trust, common goals
▪ Feedback loops: Learning through quick iterations and releases
▪ Reduced dependencies through thoughtful processes
• Reduce resource dependencies (cross-functional teams, frequent team meetings)
• Reduce path dependencies (feature-based, modular, bite-sized development)
• Ruthlessly attack process dependencies (lower work in process (WIP), develop iteratively, deliver incrementally, review what happened)
➢ Advantages
▪ Speed
▪ Productivity
▪ Flexibility to handle variation
▪ High quality
▪ Ownership/morale/innovation
➢ Disadvantages
▪ Lack of predictability
▪ Difficulty in handling real dependencies
▪ Hard to scale

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 Team Level (Critical Chain/Scrum)
➢ Culture of focus: Prioritize. Focus. Finish.
▪ Attack work in process (WIP)
▪ Attack process dependencies (teams have responsibility and authority to get work done)
▪ “Quality speed”
➢ Agree:
▪ Define the teams
▪ What are the goals of the team?
➢ Align: Team planning (“Sprint planning”) every 2 to 4 weeks (4 hours)
▪ Prep: product owner (PM) identifies highest priority items from the critical chain schedule, makes sure key
criteria are in place (“done”, required inputs)
▪ Select backlog items to do during the planning period
▪ Rough plan of what will happen (breaking out tasks, checklists) → User assignment
➢ Advance: “Daily standups” (15 minutes)
▪ Three questions: What did you do yesterday, what will you do today, are there any obstacles in your way
▪ Team Lead analyzes and prioritizes
➢ Assess/Adapt: “Sprint retrospective” ~monthly
▪ Review processes and how to improve
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 ProChain Fusion™ Agile Elements
➢ Unstructured “free” tasks
▪ Can be associated with a project, endpoint, or resource/team
▪ May or may not be committed to
▪ Easy to add
➢ Backlogs: all the stuff you might want to do
▪ Contain free and “structured” (network) tasks
▪ Attach to projects, endpoints, resources
➢ Sprints: commitments to do certain tasks in a certain time frame
➢ Improved Fusion user interface for task assignment/updating
➢ Jira/Rally interfaces

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 Resource Scheduling

Now

Structured Work A A

A A

Unstructured Work Sprint 1 B1A

B1A
Priority 3: Release Backlog
Priority 2: Network Tasks
Priority 1: Sprints

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 Takeaways
➢ The Power of NO
▪ Reduce the choices. Say NO to things you don’t need NOW.
▪ Choose: Prioritize, and then focus until you finish. Say NO to lower priorities.
▪ Remove process dependencies: Say NO to things that slow you down.
➢ Create the ability to say NO.
▪ Empowered teams
▪ Processes with feedback loops
• A5
• Critical Chain scheduling
• Team meetings
➢ Agile tools can help teams say NO.
➢ Questions??
▪ You can also email me at rnewbold@prochain.com.

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