Project Management

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Does a Project Office or Progam Managment Office apply to Consul

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Anonymous
Does a Project Office or Progam Managment Office apply to Consulting Models? I've read several articles here on program management and project offices, etc. I typically view these as applicable to "non-consulting" organizations, ie., as a consultant, that is more characteristic of what my client would need. In the case of Program management, does it make sense to have a "program" to manage resources that are working on projects that have no business/technical relation to each other? For example, if I own a consulting firm with 100 developers, and they are spread out over 15 different projects for 15 different customers (and therefore 15 different IT solutions), the only common denominators among them might be the need to multi-task, as well as consulting revenue for my company. That is, each and every one of the projects is independent of each other, except when it comes to managing utilization for maximum profit.
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Frank Patrick Boonton, Nj, United States
Stuart also asked . . .

1. Production management theory (throughput theory) requires that the 'bottle neck' feed has a higher capacity then the 'bottle neck' to maximise the throughput - can one use this spare capacity and at what rate should it be costed? [Clearly any 'non production line' work taken on by these 'multi skilled', 'non-multi tasking' resources carries priority 2 and must be dropped when the 'production line' demands their attention.]

I'm not really clear on the idea on costing spare capacity. In any multi-project organization, there is beaucoups spare capacity and the allocation of specific costs to specific throughput events is a common source of bad decisions. Therefore I'm having trouble with the question.

Of course the "spare capacity" can be used for other purposes. Buffer management and relay-runner work practices guide them on the best use of their time and attention at any point in time.

I probably need a bit more clarity on the question you are asking.

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Stuart Penning Wellington, New Zealand
Frank,

I had this exact discussion with a prominent leader in the TOC world in South Africa, and my suggestion was the same as yours (the formula differed a bit, but not much) - the response that I got was that the buffer should not and could not be costed. I am pleased that my instinct was correct.

The main reason that was given was that this approach was contrary to the requirements of throughput accounting, which was supposedly required to get the approach to deliver maximum benefit.
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