Re-thinking Scheduling
Parkinson's Law Inverted
The Empire State Building was designed to meet two goals: First, it had to be the taller than the Chrysler Building, which was under construction at the time (so the necessary height was uncertain). Second, it had to be ready in 18 months, because office leases all started on May 1st in New York in those days. Demolition started on September 22, 1929, excavation started four months later on January 22, construction started March 17, and the 102 story exterior was completed on November 13, eight months later. 13½ months after construction began, the building was opened on May 1st, 1931 – exactly on time and 18% under budget.
This may seem like quite an engineering feat, except that the same construction firm built the 85 story 40 Wall Street building in 12 months the year before, completing it on May 26, 1930. The Chrysler Building, which was just a bit taller, took about the same amount of time to build and was open one day later, on May 27, 1930. The practice at the time was to build a skyscraper exterior from spring to fall, and then complete the interior over the winter, having the building ready for lease in May. Can you imagine building a skyscraper in one year these days?
Parkinson's Law says that work will expand to fit the time allocated. The inversion of Parkinson's Law is this: when the right thinking is in place, work will *contract* to fit the time allotted. This talk will discuss scheduling approaches that focus on "timebox" rather than "scopebox" and use "pace" and "flow" to organize work. Although time-based scheduling is counterintuitive, it nevertheless has a proven track record of delivering superior results faster and cheaper than traditional scheduling approaches.
Presentación
Idioma: Inglés
Día: 22/10
Horario: 14:30 - 16:00
Sala: Bolivar
