In the last minute, we discussed how to prioritize and manage tasks. However in the uncertain world of projects that is often not enough. Scope changes, technical glitches and other uncertainties that cannot be accommodated through Task Management happen in projects. This time we will discuss how Buffer Management can be used to manage such uncertainties.

Project Control
Comparing the rate of buffer consumption (% buffer consumed) against the rate of project progress (% work completed on the longest chain) is a reliable way to assess project health. If buffer is being consumed at a slower rate than the rate at which work is getting completed, it means that the project is on track and vice versa.

If the rate of buffer consumption is too high, then project managers find out which chains are in the “red” and develop and execute recovery plans for them. Recovery plans can consist of run of the mill items like scope adjustments and overtime as well as brilliant solutions for specific situations.

Pipeline Control
While project managers can keep the buffers within individual projects in control, it works when only some projects are “red”. What to do when most projects are running behind schedule? Probably there is a more systemic or global issue at play that is affecting all projects in the pipeline. This is where senior managers step in and make global decisions like putting some projects temporarily on hold, renegotiating due-dates, reprioritizing projects or authorizing across the board overtime.

When managers consider their major job in execution as one of conserving buffers rather than firefighting, they quickly realize that while uncertainties cannot be eliminated, chaos does not have to be the modus operandi.

And that's the Execution Management Minute for this week.