Mastering Focus: Unlock Your Capacity by Cutting Multi-Tasking
In today’s fast paced world, multi-tasking can be seen as a badge of honour – a demonstration of high efficiency and productivity. However, we are here to tell you that this assumption could not be more wrong…
For those who practice the Theory of Constraints (TOC) and Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM), it is understood that multi-tasking significantly undermines an organisation’s capacity. When individuals split their attention across several tasks and projects, there are several negative repercussions including reduced quality, rework, and extended lead-times. Understanding the detrimental effects of multi-tasking is crucial for organisations striving to optimise their processes and achieve sustainable growth.
Dr. Eli Goldratt, founder of the Theory of Constraints (TOC) once declared that “probably, it is possible to condense all of TOC not into one sentence, but into one word… Focus.”?
At Goldratt UK we promote a 'focus and finish' mindset which looks to speed up the rate of task completion through the creation of focused windows of time to work quickly through a task - without interruption.
Often we don't appreciate the damage done by interruptions. We consider them a fact of life but they have significant negative consequences. To use a common example we can all relate to, let's consider a night's sleep. We understand that in order to reach a deep sleep, we must first transition through the initial phases. If you are interrupted during that initial phase of sleep, you have to start again - it will take you longer to reach that restorative deep sleep. Nobody would claim that an interrupted sleep is a good one...
This principle can be applied to a working environment, particularly within cerebral or creative work. It takes time for your concentration to ramp up and down. If you want to complete tasks quicker, you need to be left to focus and finish.
"Probably, it is possible to condense all of TOC not into one sentence, but into one word... Focus." - Dr. Eli Goldratt.
Cutting Multi-Tasking Out of Your Project Environment
Life is busy. There are a hundred and one things you need to get done in a day – so, what do you do? Tackle one thing at a time. The same should be true for your project department. Whether you work in software, pharmaceuticals, financial services, law or something else entirely, projects should be delivered in the same way.
Think about your project department; how many projects are running? How many of those have been running for longer than you anticipated? Project managers face the same challenges irrespective of industry.
To deliver projects – and deliver them faster – you need to allow your resources to ‘focus and finish’. This mindset will allow output to skyrocket whilst simultaneously crashing lead-times. You can achieve faster delivery of more projects by limiting the number of tasks your resources are working on and reducing?interruptions.
Allow your people to be effective – make sure they have everything they need to finish a task, from the start. If they have a ‘full-kit’ (everything required to finish) at the beginning of the project, not only will they be able to deliver it in full, but they’ll deliver it in better time.
This method ensures maximum output, especially if you only ask people to focus on one thing at a time! This means protecting your resources from interruption. Every time a key resource is interrupted, capacity is lost, and the project lead time extends, so introduce a protection mechanism. This will identify where interruptions occur and stop them at the?source.
This all makes sense – but, watch?out!
Limiting the number of projects running will mean that not everyone will be equally loaded. This means that, at times, some people won’t be busy. This has more negative impacts than are immediately apparent. One of the most dangerous being job dissatisfaction. If your people are not motivated at work, they might leave, and nobody wants that. But you still want your projects delivered in full and on-time – and there’s a way! There’s one more?step.
In any business, there are always things that need doing which are not time-bound or dependent on other project tasks. These are stand-alone pieces of work, examples of which include: improvements, fixes, documentation, upgrades, upcoming designs, scoping future projects… the list goes on. These value-added pieces of work should be used to fill the gaps in the load. This will still adhere to the ‘focus and finish’?mentality.
This is a win-win! You’ll have fewer unhappy people and more projects being delivered in full, on-time. There will be reduced delays, less stress and more opportunity to increase your business’ profitability.
“The way networks are built with CCPM provide much more focus and allow the teams to develop them together which results in less confusion during implementation.” – Maggie Bowlam – Programme Manager, NATS.
Cutting Multi-Tasking Out of Your Production Environment
The Theory of Constraints (TOC) dictates that the Constraint (or bottleneck) operation should remain the focus of improvement initiatives until it has been broken and the Constraint has moved elsewhere. In a Production environment, identifying the bottleneck allows teams to concentrate their efforts on that specific area. Through reducing multi-tasking workers can dedicate more time and resources to optimising the Constraint – as opposed to splitting their attention across multiple jobs.
One effective way to cut multi-tasking out of your Production environment is to control the release of work. ?It is common knowledge that queues equate to delays; the shop floor is no exception to that rule. Large queues on the shop floor means that new orders being launched go straight to the back of the queue and become ‘delayed’; the bigger the queue, the bigger the delay. Whilst you can chop and change priorities at the front-end to ensure a particular order is able to flow through the system more quickly, that doesn’t change the fact that what lies behind it is a large queue of other customers’ orders.
It is worth noting that queues, lead-times, and Work-In-Process (WIP) are inextricably linked – they are bound together by cause and effect. When there are high levels of WIP, queues are high; when queues are high, lead-times are?long.
The next improvement to consider is to implement a single priority system. If you don’t have a good priority system then you likely have many resources spread across many departments working on different projects and tasks at different times. If this is the case, activities and ultimately customer orders don’t get completed quickly…
领英推荐
When workers have multiple options available, they are forced to make choices. This can lead to them working out of sequence. They start multiple jobs without finishing any of them.
Limit the WIP and enforce a single priority system to reduce the need for multi-tasking in your manufacturing plant and ultimately improve visibility, increase workflow, and deliver to customers.
What's New With Goldratt UK?
TOCICO
It’s a big week for those who practice the Theory of Constraints (TOC) – we are in the middle of the TOCICO annual conference. Our Managing Director, Andy Watt , has been looking forward to his talk on Wednesday the 2nd of October where he will be sharing exciting case studies from Goldratt UK TOC implementations over the years.
The TOCICO Innovation Summit is a great opportunity for forward-thinking professionals and scholars to share stories, insights, and learnings. Andy is a founding member of this important TOC organisation and speaks annually – we hope to see you at his talk this year in Germany!
Project Controls Expo UK - Award Nomination
Goldratt UK has been nominated alongside BAE Systems and Hawk MRO as a finalist for Innovation of the Year. This is the second year running we have been nominated for this award with BAE Systems. Last year, we won alongside Rheinmetall BAE Systems Land (RBSL) for their successful implementation of Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM) within the Challenger 3 Tank programme.
This year, it's an MRO (Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul) environment being recognised for their hard work and success - Hawk MRO 'Flying Through the Hangar'.
It's fantastic to be nominated and celebrate the wins. Congratulations to the other finalists nominated this year. We're looking forward to the event at Wembley in November!
The Prince’s Trust – Sponsored Charity Cycle
Last year two of our team members, Martin Powell and Maria Cristina Sierraalta Aranguren , participated in a highly successful charity cycle for Prostate Cancer.
This year, they have decided to dedicate their time and energy to cycling for the Prince’s Trust to help to transform young people’s lives. On the 6th of October, they are riding from Buckingham Palace to Windsor Castle. Join us in supporting them by donating where you can!
Martin’s donation page: The Prince's Trust - M D Powell (princes-trust.org.uk)
Maria’s donation page: The Prince's Trust - Maria Sierraalta (princes-trust.org.uk)
Good luck to you both, and well done!
We're always looking for new UK-based talent in both Sales and Operations.
Thank you for reading this month’s newsletter.
Don't miss out on any company updates, valuable content, or exciting opportunities...
Subscribe to the Goldratt UK newsletter and follow the company page.
1st October 2024