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The concurrent project management methodology is a collaborative approach. It can significantly accelerate a project as compared to the sequential approach, but it is much more difficult to project manage.
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Quick reference
Concurrent Methodology
The concurrent project management methodology is a collaborative approach. It can significantly accelerate a project as compared to the sequential approach, but it is much more difficult to project manage.
When to Use Concurrent Methodology
The concurrent approach can work well with large complex projects that are under stringent time constraints. It works best when you are able to create a co-located or at least closely located Core Team. It requires project Core Team members to have strong technical and leadership skills. If your organization fits these criteria, the concurrent approach is appropriate.
Instructions
The concurrent methodology maintains functional specialization, but it encourages collaboration. The project activity between functions is intentionally overlapped so that two or more functions are working concurrently on the same aspect of the project. This collaboration can lead to a lower cost and better performing solution. However, it is also much more difficult to keep activities in sync and to negotiate between the often competing needs and desires of the functions. An illustration of this approach is shown below for a generic software development project.
This approach relies on a cross functional Core Team that manages the project. The project manager role is one of facilitating and coordinating the Core Team as they plan and manage the project. Each Core Team member has a voice so both internal and external customer needs are considered when managing the project. This team resolves the project issues in a manner that is best for the business, not just one function.
The advantages of this approach are related to the fact that this approach is focused on communication. This leads to better handoffs between team members and better understanding of the customer needs and expectations. Issue resolution considers the entire business not just one function which often leads to lower cost and better quality solutions. Finally, when the approach is working well, this will be 40% faster than the sequential approach.
However, there are also some significant challenges when using this approach. It is management by committee and if the committee members do not work well together, it can turn into disaster. The project management effort is more difficult because there are so many activities happening at the same time. These require good up-front planning and close monitoring of progress.
Another problem that sometimes arises is that there is a high level of rework of prototypes and costs due to changes. This is due to the iterative nature of the work. For organizations that were accustomed to sequential where this cost is often very low, it can be a surprise. The overall project cost will be less, but this one set of accounts will be higher. The other challenge will occur when an organization is resource constrained, such as a start-up. Compressing the work to complete in 40% less time did not eliminate 40% of the work, therefore there will be more people working on the project at one time. If there are not enough resources available, the advantages of concurrency are lost.
Hints and Tips
- The most difficult project management activity in this approach is scheduling. I encourage project managers to use a network diagram schedule to understand the interdependencies.
- Project Core Team members must be both technical experts and have strong cooperative leadership qualities. They must lead their function to support the project and lead the project to ensure functional standards are maintained.
- 00:03 Hi, this is Ray Sheen.
- 00:04 Let's now talk about the Concurrent Project Management Methodology.
- 00:08 This is a collaborative approach that will require stronger project management skills
- 00:12 than the sequential approach.
- 00:14 You can see in this diagram that we still have functions, and
- 00:18 we still have a wall, but the wall is lowered.
- 00:21 Team members still represent their functional areas, but
- 00:24 they now collaborate with each other.
- 00:27 That means that the work that was being done in one function
- 00:30 can be shared with another function, and feedback can be obtained.
- 00:34 This can approve the output of the activity in the first function.
- 00:37 And allow the second function and
- 00:38 opportunity to get a head start on the work that they must do.
- 00:43 Let's look at that same software development project that we use with
- 00:46 the sequential approach.
- 00:47 As you can see, there's an overlap between the activities of the different functions.
- 00:51 This is the reason for the name, concurrent.
- 00:54 Requirements are gathered, but
- 00:55 even before that activity is done, concepts are being generated.
- 00:59 Which may lead to a more detail or deeper look at some of the customer requirements.
- 01:04 Once the concept is well under way design starts.
- 01:07 This allows the design to test some of the concept ideas And
- 01:10 feed that information back to the product architect.
- 01:14 As portions of the design come into focus, coding is started.
- 01:17 And as soon as some software is developed, testing, and integration is performed.
- 01:21 While there are still technical milestones like design freeze and
- 01:24 code freeze, these are often soft milestones.
- 01:28 With open items that are not finalized until well after the milestone event.
- 01:33 The project is planned and managed by a multi-functional core team.
- 01:37 Each individual is a technical expert from their function, and is responsible for
- 01:40 the overall project success.
- 01:42 It's not a case of the project manager is king or queen.
- 01:46 Rather, they are facilitators of the process.
- 01:49 The multi-functional team strives to meet all customer needs,
- 01:52 both internal and external.
- 01:54 Every core team member has a voice, and a vote on the core team.
- 01:59 Issues are resolved by the team.
- 02:01 A problem in one function maybe more easily accommodated
- 02:04 in the work by another function.
- 02:06 The team then constantly works to seek an optimal solution for the business.
- 02:12 Again, there are pros and cons with this approach.
- 02:14 The big difference between this approach and sequential is that sequential focused
- 02:18 on risk management, and this approach focuses on communication.
- 02:23 First, the advantages.
- 02:25 An obvious advantage is the improved coordination and hand-off of activities.
- 02:29 Because the team is interacting with each other frequently
- 02:31 the chance of something being missed or overlooked is reduced.
- 02:36 In a similar vain, there's better communication of customer needs.
- 02:39 Dialogue is used to augment documentation and
- 02:42 points of confusion are quickly cleared up.
- 02:45 Issues are resolved with the solution that is best for the business not just for
- 02:49 one function.
- 02:50 The production cost and
- 02:52 sustaining costs are usually much lower because the cost impact of early decisions
- 02:56 is much clearer through the cross functional communication and review.
- 03:00 Finally when it is working well,
- 03:03 research shows that this approach is 40% faster than sequential.
- 03:07 But this doesn't come free.
- 03:09 There are some cons.
- 03:10 First, project management is much more difficult.
- 03:13 There are many inter-related activities that are happening simultaneously.
- 03:17 The project planning and tracking tasks are complex and just one core team member
- 03:22 not participating fully will totally screw up the project.
- 03:26 Next, the decision making process is more difficult.
- 03:29 You're now managing by committee.
- 03:31 The decisions are often a better decision from a business perspective.
- 03:34 But if some of the core team members are not good at team participatory decision
- 03:38 making this can create delays, confusion and frustration for the entire team.
- 03:43 Although the total project cost is often lower.
- 03:46 One are will be higher and that is the cost of reworking prototypes and
- 03:51 changing documentation as the project evolves.
- 03:54 When a team starts to target these costs they force themselves back to sequential.
- 04:00 Finally, there is a higher resource peak on the project.
- 04:03 Compressing work into a shorter time does not decrease the work
- 04:06 it just means that more people are needed for that short time.
- 04:10 In a resource constrained organization,
- 04:11 such as a start up, these resources may not be available.
- 04:17 The concurrent approach focuses on the core team and
- 04:20 cross-functional communication.
- 04:22 It often leads to better decisions,
- 04:25 although project management is much more complex, and often feels bureaucratic.
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