A Capacity Based Governance Method for Improving Engineering Performance

There have been countless papers written on improving the execution of individual projects; however, relatively few provide guidance to manage resource conflicts arising in multi-project environments. In fact most new product development efforts suffer from serious resource shortfalls, and many of the symptoms that beset New Product Development (NPD) can be traced to capacity overloads (American Productivity and Quality Center (APQC) benchmark study, 2003).

This presentation will introduce a novel decision-support process that dramatically improves development performance through management of engineering capacity and constraints. It applies Eli Goldratt’s Theory of Constraints to aggregate project portfolios and describes a capacity modeling method to anticipate upcoming constraints and over-committed groups.

Please join us for an exclusive 90-minute audio-session (60 minute presentation plus 30 minutes for Q&A) as respected expert, Ross Seider, discusses applying Eliyahu Goldratt's Theory of Constraints to project portfolio management. This presentation describes an effective, efficient and practical method that Seider has used and successfully implemented at dozens of companies.

You will learn:

• Methods to manage over-commitments that reduce engineering’s ability to deliver.

• An easy to understand decision support method that models project portfolio/asset utilization scenarios in a way that allows other functions (and senior executives) to buy into the tactical tradeoffs.

• Methods to scale the process to fit all organizations

This novel approach is especially valuable in multi-project, shared resource environments, especially where overloaded development teams have chronically missed delivery expectations. If you are an executive struggling to reconcile high project demands and scarce resources, if you are responsible for the effectiveness of your engineering development teams, or if you worry about the implications of your corporate strategy on your engineering budget, this session will provide great insight and value.

Invite your whole team to join you - the fee is the same as long as you are on one line, just put it on speakerphone! Since multi-project management typically involves cross-functional decision-making, we recommend listening with others from your organization. (For team members in different locations, it is well worth adding line(s).)

Can't make the time and date of the call? Join FastTrack and receive the transcript and download the mp3 of this and other audio sessions.

Ross Seider is a 30-year veteran in New England's high-technology engineering community, and a well known industry executive and entrepreneur.

Ross founded On-Fire Associates in December 2001. His previous role was with Akamai Technology Inc. where he served as Vice President Engineering and Network Operations. At Akamai, Ross was responsible for the development and operational integrity of a dozen revenue services that help fuel Akamai's growth from $4.5 million to over $160 million. Prior to Akamai, Ross held a variety of engineering and management positions with Motorola Inc. most notably the Vice President and General Manager of the Transmission Products Business Unit.

Other positions held by Ross include:

• Vice President Engineering for Motorola's Networking Products Group,

• Vice-President Engineering and co-founder Concord Communications Inc.

• Vice President Engineering and co-founder of Concord Data Systems

Ross holds a BSEE from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an MBA from Northeastern University.