Every great project manager
has a solid understanding
of critical path.
She plots out the steps
of a project
and determines
the order the steps
must be taken in.
Unfortunately,
not everyone in the organization
realizes how important
the critical path is.
Seth Godin
has a great method
for showing people visually
the importance.
“We did some critical path analysis
and pretty quickly identified
the groups of people
that others would be waiting on
as each stage of the project developed.
It’s a relay race,
and right now,
these four people are carrying the baton.
I went out and got some buttons
–green and red.
The deal was simple:
If you were on the critical path,
you wore a green button.
Everyone else wore red.
When a red button meets a green button,
the simple question is asked,
“how can I help?”
The president will get coffee
for the illustrator
if it saves the illustrator
three minutes.
In other words,
the red button people
never (ever) get to pull rank
or interrupt a green button person.
Not if you care about critical path,
not if you care about shipping.”
The critical path incorporates
the word ‘critical’ for a reason.
Communicate how important it is.