Projects: Where is the weakest link?

Delivering projects typically involves a team of experts and potentially a large group of stakeholders. Projects can be delayed in many ways, often unintentionally but also intentionally. In Critical Chain project methodology (see 'Theory of Constraint' by Eliyahu Goldratt), a core technique is to continually search for constraints to fix in order to keep the project flowing with minimal resistance.

If you imagine a project as a chain pulling a load, the strength of the chain is determined by the weakest link in the chain. The chain here represents the network of tasks from beginning to end in your project. In projects, the overall timescale is determined by the completion of the tasks on the critical path.
The weakest link is therefore the critical task that is currently holding up progress, i.e. stopping the next task in the chain to commence.

If the critical task is sitting in your in-tray or is otherwise waiting whilst you or a team member is distracted with a lower priority activity, then you are the weakest link! (In terms of priority, remember that the weakest link task is probably delaying the whole project and not just the task - that's why they are on the critical path.)
To find out more about Critical Chain or how to complete projects more quickly, contact us at Caleidoscope Associates on 00-44-845-519-4850 - we get a kick out of helping others achieve success.