To finish projects on time, start every single step as late as possible
Here is the full text:<p>1&#x2F; The key to finishing projects on time is to start every single step as late as possible (exactly the opposite of what most PMs do)<p>2&#x2F; First, because only progress on the critical path matters for final delivery, therefore all other starts are distractions<p>3&#x2F; It would be like spending hrs on a huge dinner prep by making all the side dishes, only to realize u forgot to pre-heat oven<p>4&#x2F; Second, starting early doesn&#x27;t mean you&#x27;ll finish early. Parkinson&#x27;s Law: the task simply expands to fill the extra space<p>5&#x2F; Third, even if u do finish a step early, that gain will be wasted: next person won&#x27;t be ready<p>6&#x2F; Starting a step early actually has all sorts of negat conseq, which is why procrastination is evolutionarily &amp; logically a good strategy<p>7&#x2F; Starting early increases likelihood u don&#x27;t have all info and prereqs, making rework likely (i.e. estimate blowout)<p>8&#x2F; Starting early increases the surface area for interruption attacks (internal &amp; external), since u &quot;have plenty of time&quot;<p>9&#x2F; Starting early explodes the amt of lead time not spent actually working (i.e. Touch time)<p>10&#x2F; 70-99% of task lead time is waiting time, queueing, pending confirmation, waiting on approval, learning, rampup, setup, etc<p>11&#x2F; Ppl complain about estimation being hard, but it&#x27;s not &quot;uncertainty&quot;. It&#x27;s them starting things early due to supposed uncertainty!<p>12&#x2F; But maybe the worst effect of starting early is that ppl start late anyway. Who actually begins a step before they have to?<p>13&#x2F; So you get worst of both worlds: a LONG plan with huge lead times, which are ignored as ppl do everything last minute. Vicious cycle<p>14&#x2F;Last reason early starts suck, is they give illusion of safety. But Murphy doesn&#x27;t hit everywhere evenly, he concentrates chaos at 1 spot<p>15&#x2F; Irony is this is self-reinforcing: did you hit the deadline because u executed well, or because you had excessive safety (100-200%)?<p>16&#x2F; So person who adds the most excessive safety is rewarded for &quot;hitting their estimate,&quot; as if estimating and executing are independent<p>17&#x2F; Late starts fix all this: when the step is &quot;released,&quot; they have barely enough time to finish if they go at full speed<p>18&#x2F; This pressure helps them focus, get into flow, ignore distractions&#x2F;interruptions, optimize for 1 thing, get it done!<p>19&#x2F; Procrastination isn&#x27;t an issue, because they&#x27;re already behind, since u also cut their estimated lead time in half (oops!)<p>20&#x2F; If they finish on time it&#x27;s actually a cause for celebration, and the next person can actually take advantage of the time gained<p>21&#x2F; The PM knows what to focus on, since u start with few steps (critical path ones) and only gradually begin new ones as late as possible<p>22&#x2F; Another benefit: once crit path person passes hot potato, they&#x27;re free! U don&#x27;t assign them new work, that would be punishing perform.<p>23&#x2F; Late starts also help with resource contentions (the same person doing 2 steps), esp important in cross-funct creative teams<p>24&#x2F; Instead of &quot;start everything NOW!&quot; You&#x27;re saying &quot;U must not start anything until the last poss moment. Focus on the current task!&quot;<p>25&#x2F; This helps ppl not multitask, since they only have one task at any given time, and it&#x27;s late!<p>26&#x2F; Ppl are generally happier: focus + flow + roadrunner mode (only 2 speeds, 100% &amp; 0%) + fast results = happiness for both emp &amp; co<p>27&#x2F; ANOTHER benefit of late starts: u have much better estimation data, since lead time now more closely approximates touch time<p>28&#x2F; 3 main results of all this: throughout (output x sales) explodes, lead time per project plummets, and huge excess capacity is revealed<p>29&#x2F; U read that right: earlier u start steps, the later u deliver projects, the more excess capacity you&#x27;re likely to have<p>30&#x2F; Why? Because the almost universal response to late projects is &quot;we need more capacity!&quot; False. U need to use what u have<p>31&#x2F; The busier everyone in your co seems to be, the more confident I am that you have tremendous, double-digit excess capacity<p>32&#x2F; To add insult to injury, emps in such companies also say they&#x27;re &quot;too busy to invest in productivity.&quot; Speed up the hamster wheel!<p>33&#x2F; BUT to use late starts, u also need buffers. Bec some steps do in fact go late, just not as many and not as late as u think<p>34&#x2F; And I don&#x27;t mean buffers as a general concept, u need very precisely placed and sized buffers divided into zones, updated daily<p>35&#x2F; There is a buffer for every purpose: project buffers, feeding buffers, iteration buffers, bottleneck buffers. Gotta know which 1 to use<p>36&#x2F; The PM&#x27;s job becomes easy: just watch the buffer penetrations. No need to do anything until it gets to Zone 3 or 2, all else is noise<p>37&#x2F; If u want to know where all this comes from, Critical Chain Project Mgmt: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Critical_chain_project_management" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Critical_chain_project_managem...</a>