Radical Reduction in Project Cycle Time

Projects in today’s world rely heavily on time to gain a competitive advantage. This has created an increased demand for high performance delivery of a project with a drastic decrease in actual project delivery time. Radical reduction of cycle time refers to the reduction of 25% or more in project cycle time compared to industry norms for similar projects.

To address this radical reduction in project cycle time, CII established the Radical Reduction in Project Cycle Time Project Team (RT-193) to investigate the reality, requirements, and barriers to this topic. Through surveys and follow-up in-depth case studies of projects covering a cross section of the industry, the team identified the CII best practices and other techniques most commonly used to achieve radical cycle time reductions. The team also developed tools to optimize the implementation of these techniques/best practices. These include the Project Manager’s Game Planner (IR193-2) and Project Manager’s Playbook (IR193-3).

The research also noted several common themes involved in such projects. The four main drivers for radical reduction were: a compelling business need, owner commitment, a high performing team, and detailed project planning and execution. Of the four drivers, owner commitment is key to successful cycle time reduction. Other themes include the selective employment of management techniques, schedule reduction techniques, and best practices. Furthermore, projects with radical cycle time reduction often experienced collateral benefits, including improved safety and quality, as well as reduced costs.

Although radical reduction is not possible on every project, if the necessary drivers can be put in-place and the identified best practices and techniques are available for utilization, radical cycle time reduction can be considered a plausible strategy. (RS193)