The Boundary between Good and Bad Multitasking in CCPM

Authors

  • Mahdi Ghaffari University of Manchester - School of MACE United Kingdom
  • Margaret W Emsley University of Manchester United Kingdom

Keywords:

Scheduling, Critical Chain, Multitasking, Multi-Project, Resource Availability, Monte Carlo, Relay Race

Abstract

Elimination of bad multitasking, as one of the main features of Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM), implies that there is also a good level of multitasking that can be retained in such environment. Although there have been attempts to define good and bad multitasking, the boundary between them is not yet lucid in practical terms. The present study intends to clarify this boundary for multi-project environments with ten different rates of resource availability using Monte Carlo simulations of randomly generated project data. The conclusions drawn from results of simulations of ten portfolios with similar size, variability and complexity levels, each containing four projects, show that while no level of multitasking is good for portfolios with resource availability rates of 170% of all resource requirements or higher, for lower rates, a good multitasking of up to two tasks at the same time can be distinguished from multitasking of 3 tasks and more as bad multitasking. This is a significant contribution to the theory of CCPM because of its implications for the roadrunner mentality recommended by CCPM and the fact that for the first time a boundary is suggested for determination of good and bad multitasking in multi-project environments.

Author Biographies

  • Mahdi Ghaffari, University of Manchester - School of MACE United Kingdom

    Mahdi Ghaffari is a PhD candidate at The University of Manchester undertaking his research on resource availability issues in Critical Chain Multi-Project Management and their effects on sizes of buffers in such environments. He has achieved a Bachelors degree (BSc) in Industrial Engineering and Master of Science in Management of Projects. His experience includes working as a project manager of maintenance projects for about three years. He is also certified as PRINCE2 Practitioner by OGC based in the UK and PMP by PMI based in the USA.

  • Margaret W Emsley, University of Manchester United Kingdom

    Dr. Margaret Emsley is a civil and structural engineer who joined what was then UMIST in 1986, and she is now a Reader in the School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering in The University of Manchester. Previously she had carried out research at Loughborough University and worked as an engineer for Tarmac Construction. She was involved in setting up the MSc in Construction Project Management in 1987 and has contributed to the teaching of many courses at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. She has supervised 13 PhD students and over 150 MSc students and has 7 current PhD students. She is currently the Programme Director of the MSc Management of Projects Group of Programmes (which also includes Commercial Project Management, Construction Project Management and Engineering Project Management).

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Published

2022-05-20

Issue

Vol. 4 No. 1 (2016): The Journal of Modern Project Management

Section

Articles-JMPM

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Copyright (c) 2022 Mahdi Ghaffari, Margaret W Emsley

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

The Boundary between Good and Bad Multitasking in CCPM. (2022). The Journal of Modern Project Management, 4(1), 178. https://journalmodernpm.com/manuscript/index.php/jmpm/article/view/222

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