主题：Maximizing Business Value Through Projects:Doing less and achieving more
报告人：Dr. Thomas Lechler，ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR; DIRECTOR OF PHD PROGRAM，STEVENS INSTITUTE of TECHNOLOGY
Thomas Lechler，博士，史蒂文斯理工学院技术管理学院终身副教授，学院博士项目负责人。毕业于德国卡尔斯鲁厄大学，获商业管理博士学位。自2000年开始任教于史蒂文斯理工学院，主要研究兴趣为：项目管理、创新管理、创业管理。在《IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management》、《Research Policy》等学术期刊上发表论文10多篇。
报告摘要：Empirical data show that projects remain over time and over budget. In this paper we argue that many of the delays and ultimate failures are related to common problems in resource allocation strategies. Managers too often tend to allocate all available resources to projects until full capacity is reached. Or to say it differently: they try to implement as many projects as possible with a given amount of resources.
In an economic climate where managers are forced to do more with fewer employees and smaller budgets, this sometimes feels like the only solution. But how, then, do you react when problems arise? If all resources are allocated, there is no possibility to react when the unforeseen happens in one of the projects. Other projects inevitably suffer, as delays to the one project trickle down to everything else in the company’s pipeline, resulting in less value produced from the project portfolio.
The solution may be as simple as it is unintuitive: In planning projects, managers are better off having a reserve of idle resources available than they are allocating 100% of resources to the portfolio at the start.
Applying simulation studies, we compared the value contribution of different resource allocation strategies and determined, in particular, conditions to maximize the realized value of given project portfolios. Our research found that having a buffer of idle resources yields substantially higher value and return on investment than full allocation of resources. Those extra resources are utilized when problems build due to the inevitable risk (variation) inherent in project execution, obviating the need to divert resources from other projects to meet deadlines, which leads to value destruction.
Buffers don’t come without cost, of course — managers are essentially managing for risk in projects by building into their budgets extra resources to be made available on a contingency basis — but our research demonstrates that having a buffer ultimately results in much higher value overall.
In the hypothetical case of no project risk, where future resource requirements are known with certainty, the highest project value is of course produced when there is no buffer and 100% of resources are utilized from the start, with resources allocated to every project in the portfolio. In the real world, however, where risk is a given, project value decreases sharply as risk (variation) is introduced. We find, however, that by employing a 10% buffer (resources allocated initially to 90% of the projects), overall value hardly changes with increasing risk.
In addition, during the execution of a project, when a task is “stuck”and requires more resources, buffers can “make up” the slack, allowing for better project execution. Consequently, the schedule variance of the entire project portfolio can be minimized, as well as the number of projects that get behind schedule due to delayed tasks.
Our study also shows that another contributor to value creation is the avoidance of multitasking. Contrary to popular belief, the higher the level of multitasking within a multi-project system, the less value could be created.
Ultimately, it’s higher-level planning and resource allocation by managers that winds up saving costs and delivering more predictable results, leading to projects that are on time and within budget, and that deliver improved returns on investment.
时 间：2014年6月3日 14:00-16:00
地点：威斯尼斯人wns2233m学术会堂603会议室
[编辑]：孙颖
