About this Presentation
Even in organizations that implement Critical Chain, project results are inconsistent, project management processes do not sustain and there is heavy reliance on exceptional managers. Spreadsheets, To-do lists and PowerPoint slides remain the preferred tools for real project management while formal systems are only used to comply with corporate and customer policies. The underlying problem is that Gantt Charts, on which both traditional project management and CCPM rely, are complex and subjective. Gantt Charts inhibit planning because they are incomprehensible and error prone—it's very difficult to analyze plans and very easy to forget tasks and dependencies between tasks. Moreover, if you give five project managers the same project, chances are you will get five different plans—each with different tasks and dependencies. Gantt Charts cannot be used for execution either, because they provide inflexible schedules and are costly to maintain. (Yes, buffer management solves the problem, but only partially.) Sanjeev Gupta, CEO of Realization Technologies, will show that Gantt Charts are not only impractical but also unnecessary for most projects. He will present an emerging alternative, workstream-based project management, that makes project planning and execution simpler, better and repeatable. Workstream-based project management enables standardization of tasks and dependencies, visual decision making, flexible and easy-to-maintain plans, and DBR scheduling. It reduces planning errors and project management costs while making it easy to adopt best practices like Agile and Kanban.
What Will You Learn
To help you get the most value from this session, we’ve highlighted a few key points. These takeaways capture the main ideas and practical insights from the presentation, making it easier for you to review, reflect, and apply what you’ve learned.
Instructor(s)
Sanjeev Gupta
Sanjeev Gupta Bio Most recently, Sanjeev Gupta was the CEO of Vulcan Mozambique, Africa’s largest coal mine. Within the first 90 days, he led impressive improvements in profitability, mining production, and logistics, setting the mine on a path to sustained success. Sanjeev’s journey in turnarounds began early in his career at Xerox, a Fortune 100 company, where, as a junior manager, he turned around its worst-performing factory and made it the best-performing one. This initial success led him to found Throughput Technologies, where his team provided software based on the Theory of Constraints for factories. He worked with companies ranging from $5 million to $5 billion, improving throughput by 20% to 50% and reducing lead times by over 50%.
He later founded Realization Technologies, offering similar software and consulting services for project-based organizations. There, he achieved comparable throughput improvements, with lead time reductions varying between 25% to 75%. His clients included organizations such as ABB, BHP Billiton, Boeing, L & T, Medtronic, Siemens, and the U.S. Armed Forces (Air Force, Army, Marine Corps, and Navy). Sanjeev is a graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, Virginia Tech, and Carnegie Mellon University.
Ms Alka Wadhwa
Alka Wadhwa is an experienced consultant and process improvement expert with over 24 years of expertise in the Theory of Constraints (TOC), Lean Six Sigma, and organizational performance optimization. She has successfully led projects in healthcare, financial services, and manufacturing, driving significant improvements such as a 67% boost in hospital operations and a 140% increase in outpatient visits.
Previously, Alka Wadhwa spent 17+ years at GE Global Research Center, where she led initiatives to enhance various GE businesses through advanced technologies, process redesign, and system optimization. Founder of Better Solutions Consulting, LLC, she specializes in using TOC, Six Sigma, and data analytics to streamline operations and build high-performance teams.
Her work has earned her multiple accolades, including the Empire State Award of Excellence in healthcare.
Dr Gary Wadhwa
Dr. Gary Wadhwa is a Board Certified Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeon with extensive experience in the field. He completed his Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery training at Montefiore Hospital, Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, NY, and has served as an Attending at prestigious institutions like St. Peters Hospitals, Ellis Hospital, and Beth Israel Hospital in NY. With a career spanning over two decades, he was the former CEO and President of a group specialty practice in NY from 1994 to 2015. Dr. Wadhwa holds an MBA from UT at Knoxville, TN, and has undergone additional training in System Dynamics at MIT, Health System Management at Harvard Business School, and Entrepreneurship and healthcare innovations at Columbia Business School. Committed to expanding access to Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery care, he is currently engaged in a meaningful project to provide healthcare services to underserved populations in inner city and rural areas through non-profit Community Health Centers.