Project Management
Suppose that you are a project manager, and you face the challenge — to complete the project in a very short period of time. In case the usual working schedule will not allow you to finish a project before the deadline, you will be forced to search for a way out of this complicated situation. One of the possible solutions is increasing the amount of resources to be spent on the development of the project. A project manager can reduce the expected duration of the project by assigning more workers, overtime work, or by assigning additional materials and equipment (Project Crashing and Time-Cost Trade-Off, n.d.). However, such a rush may either save the project manager, or spoil the final product. Is it worth the risk? Project crashing is one of the possible solutions to the problem of the lack of time, which has its risks and virtues.
What is "project crashing"?
According to Sparrow (2015), project crashing is the process, which reduces the duration of project by the increase of available resources. The increase in resources spent on the project can take different forms. The first solution that comes to mind as to increasing the amount of resources is to attract a larger number of people to perform the work. We can say that crashing strictly obeys mathematical laws and can be approximately calculated.
When might it be appropriate to utilize project crashing?
Some of the reasons that can lead to a project crashing are unrealistic schedule, promised resources were not received in time, unexpected incident or force majeure occurrence. A situation may also arise, when a customer wants to complete the project earlier, or a new competing product appears in the market, and you must release your product as soon as possible. These are only a few of reasons to compress the schedule.
What are the potential downfalls of project crashing?
There are a number of risks in project crashing, which should be carefully evaluated before deciding to do it. First of all, crashing involves high costs (Are You Planning to Crash?, 2015). If there would be a penalty for project delay by the customer, then you should compare the costs of crashing with a penalty and calculate what costs less. If the cost of project crashing is less than the penalty on the delay of the project, then the crashing is definitely worth it. Additional risks include an increased cost in case of the project failure, making a product of bad quality because of poor coordination work, worsening of workers’ performance due to demoralization and stress (Hut, 2010).
You should carefully evaluate all cons and pros before deciding to crash a project. Several factors may increase the likelihood of success. Crashing the activity that is not critical for the entire project is probably a waste of money and resources. If the task is short, you will gain no benefit from crashing it. A project manager should also have some reserved skilled workers for crashing, because the recruiting of skilled workers is time-consuming and quite costly. Crashing makes no sense if the new team members do not have the knowledge in a specific industry, which may be required for some projects. It is also better to start crashing as earlier as possible, since it would not benefit much if the project is not far from completion. Finally, a project manager should consider if the new team members would really help or they will cause an unnatural sharing of roles in the team. If the situation fits these conditions, then crashing would definitely help to complete the project in time.
Have you seen it used at your place of employment? If so, to what extent was it successful?
Here is one good example: one employee translates a book for one full week of working, spending eight hours a day on translation. If he will draw his two colleagues to the translation of the book, then they will be able to finish it on the third day! Thus, in the case of rapid approach of deadline, as well as for any special reasons, it makes sense to increase the manpower. An example of book translation was taken from a real life experience. Many people may be faced with such a situation sooner or later, and it can be solved with the help of project crashing. In most cases, employees are involved if they have the necessary skills to perform the work, or if there is enough time to train them.
What would you recommend as the first/best alternative to project crashing?
Overtime may be a way out. The number of workers may not vary greatly, but each worker spends more hours a day for execution of the project. However, overtime has some obvious shortcomings — high financial costs and decrease in the efficiency of the employees. One hour of overtime equals one and a half hours of normal working schedule. Consequently, overtime is usually paid 50% more (Usmani, 2012). Moreover, after eight working hours, the productivity of an employee drops dramatically (The Relationship Between Hours Worked and Productivity, n.d.). Fast-tracking can also be an alternative to this method. As an example, Usmani gives the construction of a building. Assume that the construction of building is behind the schedule. The construction work is already finished, but it is necessary to start the carpentry work, and then the electrical works. You decide to perform these works at the same time, because they do not interfere with each other. If this is possible, it makes sense to resort to fast-tracking, as it will reduce the time spent by 33%. The risk is that poorly created fast-tracking plan may cause possible rework.
Conclusion
Project crashing is one of the possible solutions to the problem of the lack of time, which has its risks and virtues. This method is appropriate to apply if there is enough money and resources to implement the project in the shortest time. Otherwise, you can resort to the alternative methods, or accept that the project cannot be completed in time.
References
Are You Planning to Crash? (2015, June 01). Retrieved April 29, 2016, from http://www.cedarpointconsulting.com/delivery/articles/are-you-planning-to-crash
Hut, P. M. (2010, November 8). Crashing in Project Management: A Comprehensive Guide. Retrieved April 29, 2016, from http://www.pmhut.com/crashing-in-project-management-a-comprehensive-guide
Project Crashing and Time-Cost Trade-Off. (n.d.). Retrieved April 29, 2016, from http://www.prenhall.com/divisions/bp/app/russellcd/PROTECT/CHAPTERS/CHAP17/HEAD05.HTM
Sparrow, P. (2015, May). Project Crashing & Fast Tracking in Project Management. Retrieved April 29, 2016, from http://www.ianswer4u.com/2012/05/project-crashing-fast-tracking-in.html#axzz47CZ8L6zv
The Relationship Between Hours Worked and Productivity. (n.d.). Retrieved April 29, 2016, from https://cs.stanford.edu/people/eroberts/cs181/projects/crunchmode/econ-hours-productivity.html
Usmani, F. (2012). Fast Tracking and Crashing – Schedule Compression Techniques in Time Management. Retrieved April 29, 2016, from http://pmstudycircle.com/2012/09/fast-tracking-crashing-schedule-compression-techniques-in-time-management/
