The Point

Be Fast Or Be Gone

The idea of my newest book “Be Fast Or Be gone” came to me while working on a contribution for my blog “The Point”. I have posted a number of contributions talking about the reasons why Critical Chain is a very effective approach. I explained how it works. I elaborated on the impact that I have seen in varous industries such as large Fortune 500 pharmaceuticals.  I thought, “Wouldn’t it be nice to tell the entire story of a Critical Chain rollout?”

Up to this point I used various methods to educate people on Critical Chain: presentations, group exercises, case studies and blogs – just to name a few. Still, at the end of the day, it is not simple for people to fully grasp the Critical Chain concepts and their impact, if they haven’t seen them at work first hand. People need to experience the power of planning, the relentless focus on project execution to understand what is possible. Typically it takes eight to twelve months observing an implemenation to fully understand what I had talked about in all the discussions leading up to an engagement. Very often, executives come to me a year into a rollout and tell me that now they understand what I was talking about when we started our relationship.

Hence, this book.

With “Be Fast Or Be Gone” I wanted to give an insight into the dynamics of a Critical Chain rollout. I wanted to tell the story about the road blocks that typically need to be overcome. I wanted to talk about the possibilities that are opening up. I wanted to talk about the behaviors that are changing. In short, I wanted to talk about everything that goes on beyond the technicalities of the scheduling software.

This book is about a father, Mike Knight, who learns that his eight-year-old son Tim has a rare form of brain cancer. He makes the agonizing decision to quit his job and go to work for Altus Labs, a pharmaceutical company developing a possible treatment. Mike is in for the challenge of his life as he races against time to implement Critical Chain Project Management at Altus Labs. Critical Chain Project Management is an enterprise solution that incorporates methodology and software tools to help organizations move to a relay-race “faster and better” paradigm. Companies that implement the Critical Chain approach routinely experience off-the-chart returns on investment.

A few of my peers and colleagues were so kind to publicly comment on the book. I am humbled by their testimony.

Be Fast or Be Gone is a fascinating treatment of the power of focus, applied to the often complex world of project and strategy management. The answers to increased productivity, though simple, are often subtle and hidden beneath old and accepted practices, requiring an incisive and radically rational viewpoint. Scherer’s book (and the ProChain process it reflects) beautifully illumines such a process.
— David Allen, Author, Getting Things Done: the Art of Stress-Free Productivity

Andreas Scherer provides a highly engaging explanation of Critical Chain and describes its application to development projects. Every R&D director should read this book and every project manager should become a Critical Chain expert. Be Fast or Be Gone will open your eyes to the possibilities of realistic schedules and on-time project completion.
— Dr. Steven D. Eppinger, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management

Using the principles espoused in Andreas Scherer’s book Be Fast or Be Gone, pharmaceutical companies can substantially shorten their research and development timelines, allowing drugs to be available to patients much more quickly.
— Dr. Hugh Davis, Vice President, Centocor – a Johnson and Johnson company

I found this heartfelt tale to be a grabber. What a powerful way to illuminate that racing the clock is of vital import, not only to a company’s leadership posture, but ultimately to the huge impact it can have on customers’ and patients’ well-being!
— Dr. Fred Wiersema, Customer Strategist and Author, The Discipline of Market Leaders

Be Fast or Be Gone puts “meaning” into accelerating projects. Better yet, it puts METHOD into achieving Dramatic, Reliable improvements in speed and quality content in any project management environment. A gripping , understandable, helpful novel for every person wanting to get things done!
— Professor James R. Holt, Engineering & Technology Management, Washington State University

Riveting. Finally, a book that shows us in a practical and engaging way the real impact project management and Critical Chain concepts can have. This story of a father’s quest to save his little boy is extremely real; you will easily identify with the book’s characters. A must read.
— Eric Morfin, Ph.D., PMP; Founder, BioPharmaPM; Partner, Critical Skills Inc.

I hope you enjoy reading the book as much as I enjoyed writing it. You can read a sample chapter here. The book is available at an internet book store near you.

Critical Chain at the 6th Annual Biopharmaceutical Project Management Conference

The biopharmaceutical industry is progressing through significant change and this “metamorphosis” will surely continue for some time. In recognition of the status of the industry, the 2011 PMI Pharmaceutical Community of Practice (CoP) Biopharmaceutical Project Management Conference will be focusing on how project managers and the project management function as a whole can help organizations successfully navigate through this metamorphosis. The conference will include presentations, tutorials, and posters on a broad range of topics. These topcis are relevant to project management professionals seeking to become as effective as possible in the tools, techniques, and approaches that will help them lead their organizations in the new decade.

At this event there will be two possibilities to learn more about Critical Chain in this context. On Monday, March 7, 2010, there is a tutorial on “Critical Chain in the Life Science Industry: The Next Level”. The attendees will learn about :
1. Critical Chain concepts: Key elements of the Critical Chain methodology
2. Implementation: How does Critical Chain improve cycle times and on-time delivery of projects
3. Advanced topics such as Clinical Trial Management, Pipelining, Facilitation of Cultural Change

The presentation will have four elements:
1. Critical Chain – a quick tutorial: This will give attendees new to Critical Chain to follow the rest of the session. Andreas Scherer will cover the key principles of the Critical Chain methodology as well as the basics of buffer management. He will review the usage of Critical Chain on the team level. Towards the end of this element we will discuss some advanced topics (executive sponsorship, sustainability, scalability, change management etc.). Interactive exercises will be used to demonstrate the negative impact of multi-tasking towards overall organizational throughput
2. Andreas Scherer will present strategies how Critical Chain can improve the execution of projects in a large scale portfolio.
3. Real life case studies will be reviewed to discuss opportunities and challenges for the advanced implementor of Critical Chain. He will show examples from the Clinical Trial management world, application of pipelining techniques in the pharmacokinetics area.
4. Q&A session: There will be a the opportunity to have a more in-depth dialog with the speaker. Depending on the size of the audience we plan to keep the session interactive throughout. This element makes sure that the attendees have the opportunity to apply critical thinking to what the content they just learned.

Also, at this event there will be a session with the title “Accelerating Clinical Trials – Is it possible?”.  this session will take place on March 9, 2011. Andreas Scherer will give a speech entitled “Speeding up Clinical Trials” which was co-authored by Wendell Simpson, PhD. Here is a short synopsis of this presentation: The financial prospects for pharmaceutical companies have been under pressure for years. Patent expirations, aggressive litigators, the demise of the blockbuster, and rising operating costs continue to put pressures on out-year revenue projections and force companies to consider bold new strategies. One little-explored avenue has recently been receiving more attention acceleration of the new drug pipeline by driving operational excellence. Clinical trials are the centerpiece of the drug development process. Trials generate data, and data are what prove safety and efficacy. As new drugs progress through the phases of development, the critical path at every stage passes right through one or more clinical trials. The overall cycle time through theses phases can be affected by well thought-out clinical strategies, but regardless of how clever the clinical design, it will be the execution of clinical trials that will determine how soon a new product gets to market. Drug development cycle time is and always will be a function of clinical trial cycle times. In this presentation we show how a) Detailed Cross-Functional Planning b) Proactive Project Management c) Aggressive Management of Hand-Offs operational excellence of clinical trials can be accomplished. We will present examples that show how detailed, cross functional planning, and a thorough execution.

Additional details about the program and how to register can be found here.

DIA Webinar on Critical Chain in the Pharmaceutical Industry

Date: September 23, 2010

Time: 11:00 AM -12:30 PM ET

MODERATOR:

John Sun, PhD, MBA, PMP
Global Program Team Director, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation
Global Development Franchise, Established Medicines

PRESENTER:

Andreas Scherer, PhD
General Manager, ProChain Solutions Inc.

Explore the Key Principles of the Critical Chain Methodology as Well as the Basics of Buffer Management.

This highly interactive webinar will provide attendees with an opportunity to fully explore how Critical Chain improves the execution of projects in the pharmaceutical industry, particularly in the areas of project management, R&D functions, and executive sponsorship.

FEATURED TOPICS

• Critical Chain at the team level
• Executive sponsorship
• Sustainability
• Scalability
• Change management

WHO SHOULD ATTEND
Pharmaceutical executives, functional managers, and project managers involved in:

• Information technology
• Product development
• Clinical research

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

At the conclusion of this webinar, participants should be able to:

• Explain the key elements of the critical chain methodology
• Describe the impact of critical chain at the team, functional and executive levels

Registration details can be found here!