Managing Resolutions Is Like Managing Float

 

The canned strategies that Work Package or Control Account Managers (WPM/CAM) use when determining how to handle any float associated with their project activities in a Critical Path Methodology (CPM) network are highly analogous to how most people deal with their New Year’s resolutions, proving once again that PM techniques are far more closely associated with real life than their Asset Management counterparts.

Take, for example, the timing of when we begin to pursue our New Year’s resolutions. Many of my past resolutions dealt with diet or exercise regimens, so I’ll use those as comparison points to how WPGs/CAMs manage float. For those PMs who don’t deal with Critical Path Methodology schedule networks on a regular basis, “float” is the amount of time non-critical activities have in excess of their originally estimated durations before a late finish can be expected to cause the entire project to finish late. There are several ways of managing float in an activity, but many parameters go in to informing the best way of approaching it.

PMs who tend to want to begin their activities at the earliest possible opportunity (meaning all predecessor activities are complete, and the resources for the activity are available), should consider the following:

• If the actual output of the task is a tangible object, and it gets finished early, will it need to be stored somewhere in-between the time it’s ready, and the time when that activity’s successor is ready to receive it?
• If the answer to the previous question is “yes,” is there a facility or area where this thing can be stored, without cost or penalty? If your project is to add to the population of a zoo, and the acquisition of the tigers activity has some float, you might want to make sure that that procurement activity’s successor, finish the tiger enclosure, is 100% done prior to completing this activity. Putting them in with the great apes would be a really bad idea.
• Those resources you are tapping – are they also needed in other activities happening at the same time? Few things get uglier in Project Portfolio reviews than the conflicts over resource availability, but one of those things occurs when the other CAMs realize that you are, in fact, in a position to wait a bit before laying claim to said resources.
• Are there any references to your activity in the risk register (no initial caps)? Not that it matters, I just don’t want to give the risk managers any “I told you so” moments should your activity go long, with a “risk event” having been pinned to it.

Now, let’s contrast these strategies to how we manage our New Year’s resolutions.

• Did you resolve to actually create an object? If you begin too soon, and finish before, say, Labor Day, your spouse may be led to believe that your objective was too easily attained. Best to wait for a while before beginning!
• If the answer to the previous question is “yes,” what does that portend for expected follow-on projects? For example, if the object that you made was an archway trellis for your back yard, will the aforementioned spouse also expect a flower garden, or water fountain?  Best to wait until the growing season is over prior to even starting the arch!
• Your resolutions no doubt require your time and energy. What of the other things that require your time and energy? Why are you spending time and energy at the gym when there are parties to host and attend? Caution with your resource utilization decisions can benefit overall resolution portfolio performance significantly (you can quote this line verbatim to sound like you are truly managing your resolutions).

In those instances where you may be falling behind in attaining your New Year’s resolutions, another PM-themed remedy is available. Whenever a WBS element at the reporting level has an out-of-threshold negative cost or schedule variance, the analyses provided in the Variance Analysis Reports almost never go straight to “poor performance.” Instead, the following are usually cited:

• Poor original estimates in the baseline(s).
• Subcontractor unavailability.
• Material/Equipment/Parts rate changes.
• Poor or sub-standard conditions (e.g., weather for construction projects).

Did you resolve to lose weight or exercise to get in better shape, but aren’t advancing as you had planned? Consider offering the following explanations:

• “I didn’t realize that losing one pound per week was considered unnecessarily aggressive.”
• “The gym I wanted to use isn’t open when I’m available to work out.”
• “The whole COVID thing has made workout equipment, especially free weights, prohibitively expensive.”
• “I was going out for a jog this morning, but the temperature is 25 degrees!”

Conversely, if these management approaches to handling your New Year’s resolutions strike you as being inferior to, say, calculating the Return on Investment (ROI) for them, you’re an Asset Manager, aren’t you?