Are you multitasking too much as a project professional?

People tend to believe that failure to hit deadlines is mostly caused by unforeseen delays during the project. But usually, delays arise from inherent obstacles that are embedded in the way we manage our projects’ flow. No matter how much we invest in planning, unexpected delays are bound to happen.

When using critical chain project management (CCPM), the theory of constraints (TOC) approach for managing multi-projects, we use time buffers to protect against delays. These buffers should be closely monitored. Whenever someone asks for additional time from the project’s buffer, they are granted it. But, to hold them accountable, they are also required to explain the reason.

Pulled in too many directions

In large, multi-project organisations, the documentation of these delay reasons can amount to hundreds of incidents a year. Analysing this data reveals that uncertainty is often not the main reason for delays. The most frequent cause for a delay in a project is that key people were working on other projects.

Consider three projects, each taking nine days to complete. If we work on them sequentially, we will finish the first project in nine days, the second in 18 days and the third in 27 days. But, in reality, most people have to multitask. For instance, what if, after completing only a third of the first project (three days), we are pressured to switch and start working on the second one, and after completing a third of this project, we switch to work on the third one? After nine days, we have only completed a third of each project; we end up with nothing ready to deliver.

Multitasking is the biggest killer of time

We think that multitasking helps us make progress across multiple projects, and we’re unaware of the heavy price we are paying in their lead time. Dr Eliyahu Goldratt, the founder of TOC, used to say: “Multitasking is the biggest killer of time in projects.” In most multi-project environments, this invisible element is the primary cause for delays.

While it may seem that multitasking is unavoidable, if we want to significantly speed up project completion, we should control the number of active projects at any given time and minimise multitasking. Controlling the number of projects we work on in parallel is not to be taken lightly. We have to make sure that we complete all active projects as fast as possible to protect our throughput. Unnecessary delays cannot be tolerated. Therefore, we need to identify other invisible elements that consume our buffers.

Begin with a full kit

Another common reason for delay is: ‘we couldn’t proceed because something essential was missing’. People may prepare all the materials but get stuck waiting for confirmation or authorisation. Or everything is ready except for one resource that is tied up elsewhere, etc. To prevent such delays, we need to ensure we have ‘full kits’ before starting any major part of the project.

This means verifying that we have all the materials, authorisations, resources and everything else we need in order to complete it. If we are not diligent about maintaining full kits, we risk getting stuck mid-project, waiting for essential things. When such delays happen, to avoid standing idle, we start multitasking and the chaos returns. Diligently managing full kits before starting a project is a powerful way to speed up flow and ensure projects are completed on time.

Multitasking and lack of full kits are two of the common obstacles embedded in the way we manage projects that lead to significant delays, but they are not the only ones. Lack of synchronisation, lack of standardisation, rework and other field-specific reasons can also cause delays. These issues have nothing to do with uncertainty. In fact, we typically anticipate them.

CCPM is not for everyone; it requires discipline and a long-term commitment. However, if you are determined to accelerate your projects’ flow and avoid missing due dates, it is a powerful way to manage your operation. By utilising buffer management, you can protect your projects from unforeseen delays, identify the invisible causes of delays and effectively address them.