PLAYBOOKhq.co

Let’s play a game.

PLAYBOOKhq.co

Let’s try to find the bottleneck in production…

PLAYBOOKhq.co

A B

C

Our company makes this.

PLAYBOOKhq.co

A B

C

It has 3 parts.

PLAYBOOKhq.co

A B

C

Each part goes through 5 steps.

PLAYBOOKhq.co

A B

C

So production looks like this.

PLAYBOOKhq.co

A B

C

So production looks like this.

3 lines

A

B

C

PLAYBOOKhq.co

1 2 3 4 5

A B

C

So production looks like this.

3 lines

5 work cells

A

B

C

PLAYBOOKhq.co

1 2 3 4 5 $$$$$

A B

C

Then we sell it…!A

B

C

PLAYBOOKhq.co

A

B

C

1 2 3 4 5 $$$$$

A B

C

We start with a purple one.

PLAYBOOKhq.co

A A

B

C

B

C

1 2 3 4 5 $$$$$

A B

C

Then an orange one.

PLAYBOOKhq.co

A A A

B

C

B

C

B

C

1 2 3 4 5 $$$$$

A B

CThen green.

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A A A A

B

C

B

C

B

C

B

C

1 2 3 4 5 $$$$$

A B

C

Then blue.

PLAYBOOKhq.co

A A A A A

B

C

B

C

B

C

B

C

B

C

1 2 3 4 5 $$$$$

A B

C

And red.

PLAYBOOKhq.co

A B

C

A A A A A

B

C

B

C

B

C

B

C

B

C

A B

C

1 2 3 4 5 $$$$$

And we finally get to sell the purple one…!

PLAYBOOKhq.co

1 2 3 4 5 $$$$$

A B

C

So next I’m going to show a slide with a bottleneck on it.

A

B

C

PLAYBOOKhq.co

1 2 3 4 5 $$$$$

A B

C

Your job is to find it.

A

B

C

PLAYBOOKhq.co

1 2 3 4 5 $$$$$

A B

C

As fast as you can.

A

B

C

PLAYBOOKhq.co

1 2 3 4 5 $$$$$

A B

C

Because it’s holding up progress and costing us money.

A

B

C

PLAYBOOKhq.co

1 2 3 4 5 $$$$$

A B

C

A lot of money!

A

B

C

PLAYBOOKhq.co

1 2 3 4 5 $$$$$

A B

C

As soon as you see it, yell out the line (A, B or C) and cell (1‐5) that it’s in.

A

B

C

PLAYBOOKhq.co

1 2 3 4 5 $$$$$

A B

C

For example, “A2!”

A

B

C

PLAYBOOKhq.co

1 2 3 4 5 $$$$$

A B

C

Ready?

A

B

C

PLAYBOOKhq.co

A A A A A

B

C

B

C

B

C

B

C

B

C

Where is it?

1 2 3 4 5 $$$$$

A

C

A B

C

B

PLAYBOOKhq.co

A A A A A

B

C

B

C

B

C

B

C

B

C

Exactly…! B3

1 2 3 4 5 $$$$$

A

C

A B

C

B

PLAYBOOKhq.co

1 2 3 4 5 $$$$$

A B

C

That was easy, and probably took about one second. Right?

A

B

C

PLAYBOOKhq.co

1 2 3 4 5 $$$$$

A B

C

That’s impressive for not being a Manufacturing Engineer…!

A

B

C

PLAYBOOKhq.co

1 2 3 4 5 $$$$$

A B

C

So now let’s find the bottleneck in R&D.

A

B

C

PLAYBOOKhq.co

1 2 3 4 5 $$$$$

A B

C

To make it easier, we’ll do it at the same company.

A

B

C

PLAYBOOKhq.co

A B

C

But instead of production lines and cells, we’ll look at the floorplan for R&D.

PLAYBOOKhq.co

A B

C

Ready?

PLAYBOOKhq.co

Where is it?

PLAYBOOKhq.co

Does that help?

ME EE

SW FWMfgE

PM

Mktg PurchasingQA

Lab Test

CC

Sr. Mgmt

PLAYBOOKhq.co

Not so easy now, is it?

ME EE

SW FWMfgE

PM

Mktg PurchasingQA

Lab Test

CC

Sr. Mgmt

PLAYBOOKhq.co

That’s because the work is invisible...

PLAYBOOKhq.co

To solve this problem, we have to think differently.

PLAYBOOKhq.co

First we have to answer three questions.

PLAYBOOKhq.co

What represents the “work” in R&D?

PLAYBOOKhq.co

What impacts the throughput of that work?

PLAYBOOKhq.co

And where are those tasks?

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The “work” are projects.

PLAYBOOKhq.co

Project CProject BProject A

Usually a lot of them...

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But the throughput is ONLYaffected by the critical path.

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Pause and think about that for a minute.

PLAYBOOKhq.co

What if you worked on 100 things for a week, but not the one thing that was on 

the critical path?

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How much did your project slide?

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One week.

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Not a single thing you did mattered!

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Every day you don’t work on the critical path task, the project gets a day longer. 

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That’s important.

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So I’ll say it again.

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Every day you don’t work on the critical path task, the project gets a day longer...! 

PLAYBOOKhq.co

And how often do you really know where the critical path tasks are?

PLAYBOOKhq.co

Consider this.

PLAYBOOKhq.co

If you’re only wrong half the time, your project will double in duration.

PLAYBOOKhq.co

Even if you’re only wrong one day per week, a 12 month project will be 

3 months late…!

PLAYBOOKhq.co

(How good are you at guessing where the critical path tasks are?)

PLAYBOOKhq.co

Let’s look at this from a different perspective.

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How many people are in R&D?

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For easy math, let’s say 100.

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How many things could each of them be working on right now?

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Let’s say 20.

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100 x 20 = 2,000

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There could literally be 2,000 tasks to sort through each day!

PLAYBOOKhq.co

But, if only the critical path affects the project’s completion date…

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Those are the only tasks we have to get done today…!

PLAYBOOKhq.co

How many of those are there?

PLAYBOOKhq.co

Probably 5 to 10.

PLAYBOOKhq.co

Think about that.

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Only 10 of those 2,000 tasks are important each day.

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But where are they?

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Let’s make the critical path pink.

Critical Path

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And since some tasks are almost on the critical path, we should watch those too.

PLAYBOOKhq.co

So they don’t slide and cause delays later.

PLAYBOOKhq.co

Let’s make those orange.

1‐5 Days of Slack

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So what would that look like?

PLAYBOOKhq.co

Project A

1‐5 Days of SlackCritical Path

A

A

These are the two important tasks for Project A.

PLAYBOOKhq.co

Project B

1‐5 Days of SlackCritical Path

B

B

B

Project B has two critical path tasks. (And one orange.)

PLAYBOOKhq.co

Project C

1‐5 Days of SlackCritical Path

C

C

These are the two important tasks for Project C.

PLAYBOOKhq.co

Project CProject BProject A

1‐5 Days of SlackCritical Path

A

AB

C

C

B

B

So, of the 2,000 tasks, these are the only important ones.

PLAYBOOKhq.co

Project CProject BProject A

1‐5 Days of SlackCritical Path

A

AB

C

C

B

B

We can get those done. No problem.

PLAYBOOKhq.co

Project CProject BProject A

1‐5 Days of SlackCritical Path

A

AB

C

C

B

B

What about tomorrow?

PLAYBOOKhq.co

Project CProject BProject A

1‐5 Days of SlackCritical Path

A

AB

CC

B

B

Tuesday might look like this.

PLAYBOOKhq.co

Project CProject BProject A

A

A

B

C

C

B

B

Wednesday

1‐5 Days of SlackCritical Path

PLAYBOOKhq.co

Project CProject BProject A

1‐5 Days of SlackCritical Path

A

A

B

CC

B

Thursday

PLAYBOOKhq.co

Project CProject BProject A

1‐5 Days of SlackCritical Path

AB

CCB

Friday

A

PLAYBOOKhq.co

Project CProject BProject A

1‐5 Days of SlackCritical Path

AB

CCB

Uh oh. Look what happened.

A

PLAYBOOKhq.co

Project CProject BProject A

1‐5 Days of SlackCritical Path

AB

CCB

A bottleneck formed…!

A

PLAYBOOKhq.co

Project CProject BProject A

1‐5 Days of SlackCritical Path

AB

CCB

But we saw it immediately. 

A

PLAYBOOKhq.co

Project CProject BProject A

1‐5 Days of SlackCritical Path

AB

CCB

So we fixed it right away. 

A

PLAYBOOKhq.co

Project CProject BProject A

1‐5 Days of SlackCritical Path

AB

CCB

And now it looks like this. 

A

PLAYBOOKhq.co

Project CProject BProject A

1‐5 Days of SlackCritical Path

AB

CCB

None of the projects slid.

A

PLAYBOOKhq.co

Project CProject BProject A

1‐5 Days of SlackCritical Path

AB

CCB

And no one had to work over the weekend.

A

PLAYBOOKhq.co

Project CProject BProject A

1‐5 Days of SlackCritical Path

AB

CCB

It doesn’t take a hero.

A

PLAYBOOKhq.co

Project CProject BProject A

1‐5 Days of SlackCritical Path

AB

CCB

Just a simple tool.

A

PLAYBOOKhq.co

So what is PLAYBOOK?

PLAYBOOKhq.co

It’s a simple planning tool.

PLAYBOOKhq.co

That gives everyone clear and correctpriorities each day.

PLAYBOOKhq.co

So no one has to be a hero.

PLAYBOOKhq.co

As a result…

PLAYBOOKhq.co

Sr. Mgmt gets predictable (and faster!) projects.

PLAYBOOKhq.co

Project Managers get to do strategic work.

PLAYBOOKhq.co

Team Members don’t have to multitask.

PLAYBOOKhq.co

(Or work weekends.)

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And everyone is happier.

PLAYBOOKhq.co

Get PLAYBOOK so no one has to be a hero.

Watch the Demo