CCPM is Implementing Critical Chain Project Management Hard

Since Eli Goldratt's book Critical Chain was published in 1997, there has been more and more interest in the Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM) method. The project management world seems to be ready for new ways of looking at old problems. The logic of the approach, coupled with some of the more publicized successes, have spread interest rapidly. And there have been some impressive successes, in many different kinds of projects.

For example:

• A large semiconductor manufacturer completed construction of a new plant in 13 months (compared to their benchmark of 29 months) while meeting spec and staying within 4% of the conventional budget.
• A small software developer applied CCPM to two crucial projects that were hopelessly behind schedule. To the astonishment of everyone, they delivered both projects on time.
• A large telecommunications company applied the approach and realized remarkable reductions in product development times. The company now has hundreds of project managers using the Critical Chain method.

Such reports clearly tell only a small part of the story. How did they do it? What were the critical factors in their successes? How can we duplicate those successes in our own companies? You may already know this, but a CCPM implementation is not much to fear. Think of it this way: "CCPM is a disciplined approach to managing the work we already do."

The reality is, that the work of your firm does not change. CCPM is simply addition and subtraction.

You're adding some new behaviors:

• Planning with different task estimates
• A slightly different approach to planning your projects (moving the buffer)
• Focusing execution effort on buffer penetration, instead of the telephone

You're stopping others:

• Multi-tasking
• Expediting
• Planning without considering resource capacity

It seems more daunting than it really is. The risk of failure is very low. Even if you do a little or partial implementation, you get results.

The most significant thing in these implementations is not the technology, but managing the change; dealing with changing behavior in the face of an uncertain (in the minds of your team, anyway) outcome.

The technology is well understood, you can use a simple tool to get moving and later implement a more robust software solution.

The culture change for your business is moving to one where managers quickly respond to problems that may occur. It's primarily a leadership challenge, rather than a technical one. So if you feel you have a handle on this, you can implement quite easily. If not, that's the biggest battle you'll fight.

For his entire career Mark Woeppel has been challenging the status quo in organizations, helping to make changes that matter. He is founder and president of Pinnacle Strategies, a consulting firm delivering Critical Chain CCPM implementation and training. He is the author of "Projects in Less Time: A Synopsis of Critical Chain".