Electronics projects need to be managed differently - Design Strategies: Comment - using Theory of Constraints

Electronic News, July 29, 2002 by Eric Thune

LET'S FACE IT-MOST projects are late Despite how much we plan (or don't) something always seems to come up that blows up the project.

The key reasons for these delays can be summed up as follows: the uncertain nature of tasks, aggressive schedules and constrained resources. Traditional project management is built on the notion of deterministic schedules that do not exist in the high-tech electronics industry. Tasks in the electronic design cycle can vary widely and lead to uncertainty in project schedules. Unknowns with respect to new technology, changing specs, design tools and unplanned design spins all add to the uncertainty.

When schedules become unstable, companies can suffer huge losses in productivity along with rampant multitasking. No wonder projects are in a constant fire-fighting mode.

Typically a project schedule is built early in the process and posted on the wall. As the project starts to execute, the project gets out of sync with the schedule and is either rescheduled on a regular basis or abandoned. Worse yet, new projects are thrown into development without the understanding of whether or not the organization has the capacity to execute it.

In engineering organizations, project managers tend to be the best engineers who are promoted to this role with little experience in running projects. They become firefighters because they spend most of their time collecting data, in meetings, adjusting schedules, or on other nonproductive issues.

What is needed is a dramatic new way to manage the planning and execution of electronic design projects. This breakthrough comes from the use of the Theory of Constraints (TOC), which was developed by Eli Goldratt. You also may have heard of TOG because of the way it revolutionized the manufacturing and distribution world. These same principles can be applied to solving the uncertainty within projects. TOC uses many of the same optimization principles available in today's synthesis tools. Instead of optimizing gates and delays, it optimizes resources and schedules. TOC adds a control loop during the execution of a project-if schedules start to slip, problems are quickly highlighted and recovery action plans developed. Since engineers can focus instead of always being in fire-fighting mode, design quality is improved. Cycle times are reduced while throughput goes up. One company that has implemented this technique just completed its 150th project using Theory of Constraints, with 141 of these projects completed on time to their original schedules.

A Web-based system exploits the power TOC by providing real-time control, real-time feedback and distribution of information in a uniform manner to multiple managers. All information on projects is stored in a central database on the server. Project managers can use this real-time information (with minimal data input) to make important decisions, to get early visibility into projects that are slipping and to focus only on the problem areas. This enables them to build recovery plans so that the project can be brought back on track without reschedule after reschedule. Priorities are clearly set by the system so that multitasking is dramatically reduced. Project reviews focus only on the tasks that are in trouble, leaving the others who are on track to continue working. The amount of time spent in review meetings is dramatically reduced.

In today's business environment companies need to do more with less. The constant chaos in engineering organizations of today cannot continue if companies want to beat market windows and their competitors to market. TOC-based scheduling techniques make it possible to deliver complex electronic projects on time. The companies that are changing their new product development processes today will be the successful companies of tomorrow.

Eric Thune is the VP of sales and marketing at Speed to Market Inc.