It was a normal day, and as usual, I was heading to work. And suddenly, before I could even realise it, I got stuck in a traffic jam. Traffic jams have become a way of life in metros and are mostly unpredictable. It is a pain, disrupts schedules, and is a common excuse that people give for coming late to work. But have you ever wondered what causes these traffic jams? On one such day, I decided to get out of my car and observe the various events that led to this event.  A bird’s eye view shows you that the road is packed with vehicles, and there is no place for movement. This is true in most traffic jams (if not at a signal, where the movement is predictable). It can often be noted that the vehicles are positioned in a way that they block any possible exit. It may be one large vehicle that has broken down midway, one parked in an awkward position, or a car trying to turn, blocking the road for further movement.  But this incident (e.g. a truck breaking down) in isolation is never the reason for a traffic jam. It is the course of events that follow that leads to a traffic jam. As soon as there is an obstacle on the road, people start to move their vehicles ahead in a haphazard way with no consideration for the vehicles coming behind them.  This is because of two reasons: 1. Everyone wants to get their vehicle as ahead as possible in the queue 2. Nobody has any idea about how the other vehicles are positioned on the road and what is the best that they can do to ensure smooth flow on the road (provided someone has the intention of the greater good) An added factor is the absence of a traffic controller who sometimes, even if present, has no idea how to disperse the vehicles and ensure a smooth flow. Road rage, when vehicles hit or brush against each other, is most common in traffic jams. These quarrels form intermediate blockades, which may further block any movement of vehicles behind them.  Now, since the traffic was at a standstill, I started thinking about what could be done about traffic jams so that either they could be prevented from happening in the first place or quickly resolved when they occur. I then realised that a traffic jam is nothing but a situation where the roads have more vehicles than their average capacity, i.e. a capacity that can ensure smooth flow. In addition, whenever there is an obstacle, drivers start taking local decisions (that will suit them) with no consideration for others’ movements, only to realise very soon that they too are stuck.  It then dawned upon me that the multi-project environments we usually see are not different from traffic jams. These environments, too, are chaotic, and every project is perpetually stuck. The respective project managers have very little control over the completion of their projects.  For a better understanding, let us consider this corollary. Every project in project management is like a vehicle travelling on the path towards completion, and every project manager is its driver. But the path towards completion is shared – projects share the same resources similar to how vehicles in traffic share the same path. Every project manager wants to move his project ahead, and there often is a quarrel over resources as to who gets it first. Like in every traffic jam scenario, in organizations, too, it’s the one who shouts the most gets to go ahead. Just as the whole place around a jam is polluted with smoke and noise, mismanaged multi-project environments also create a chaotic work environment, bringing down the morale of those who work, thereby making the execution even slower.  Now, for the traffic jam to be resolved, three things would be necessary:  1. A system to prevent further entry: Apps like Google Now indicate or forewarn us from entering traffic-prone zones so that we can choose an alternative route or even postpone our trip. Similarly, a system is needed in organisations to forewarn firms from committing project deadlines to customers when they are already working on more projects than can be executed in that time frame. If they do, they will eventually fail to deliver and lose money in the form of penalties.  A system of WIP control serves this purpose. Projects beyond the WIP limit are frozen and any further project is taken only when a project from the existing WIP is completely flushed out. Based on this WIP information the management can decide on whether to commit to a project or not. Obviously, they may lose out on some projects, but that’s the only way to get out of the traffic or the chaotic situation they are in.  2. Change in behaviour of people: People must realise that by trying to move their vehicle ahead, they are intensifying the jam by leaving no space for flow to happen. Many times, if vehicles wait for their turn to move out, they would realise that they can move out much faster rather than trying to move ahead and blocking others’ movement. Sadly, a change in just one person’s attitude alone will never bring about this change, and it requires the wholehearted cooperation of everyone to work towards this goal.  In <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.vectorconsulting.in/en/scientific-system-thinking/">TOC</a> parlance, this is what we call subordination. For projects to move faster in multi-project management, it is essential to have a priority list of projects, which dictates who gets to work with the shared resources first and so on. But what is most essential is subordination to this priority list at all times.  3. A system to remove blockades as and when it arises: The capacity of a traffic controller is limited, and he cannot be in more than one place at a time. How nice it would be if he had a system that lets him manage the traffic remotely by providing information on where he has to focus based on the blockades as and when they arise.  Sadly, projects are not managed so. The traditional <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.vectorconsulting.in/en/research-and-publication/blogs/beating-project-deadlines-the-ccpm-way/">Project management software</a> focuses only on activities on the critical path and ignores those activities that are not on it. But if these are ignored for long, they will become the biggest blockades hampering the project's progress. Hence any IT/project management system that is deployed for monitoring projects must give:  a) A holistic picture in the form of a snapshot depicting the progress of projects across the shared resources. b) An issue resolution mechanism that highlights the issues as and when they arise. An escalation mechanism can then be set up so that these issues, based on their severity, can, if necessary, be escalated. If a project manager or the portfolio manager cannot resolve an issue for a considerably long time, it can be addressed by the top management. Thus, we can see that projects can be managed effectively in a multi-project environment if the simple principles of flow management are followed while managing them.

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Problem:  Traffic jams happen when vehicles exceed road capacity, causing delays. Similarly, in multi-project environments, projects vie for limited resources, causing delays and inefficiency. Project managers, like drivers in a traffic jam, struggle to move their projects forward, often leading to chaos, confusion, and low productivity. Solutions: To prevent and clear traffic jams, systems (like real-time congestion updates) prevent increased in flow into congested areas and improve flow. Similarly, in project management, implementing Work-in-Progress (WIP) limits helps control project load on teams. A clear priority system, along with daily issue-tracking and resolution prevents bottlenecks in execution. Benefits: By controlling traffic flow is smooth, makes travel faster. Similarly, in project management, managing resource load and priorities leads to faster project completions, fewer delays, and more efficient use of resources, ultimately boosting productivity and reducing risk.

Key Takeaways

Find out in this piece why there is a surprising parallel between traffic jams and many multi-project environments. Principles of flow management can effectively manage projects in such chaotic multi-project settings.