Say there are three new projects – Project A, Project B and Project C, each takes two weeks to complete and we work on each project for a week over a three week cycle and then repeat the cycle.
- Project A will be worked on in weeks 1 and 4, so benefit realisation/additional profit will start in week 5; so by the end of 6 weeks there are 2 weeks benefits.
- Project B will be worked on in weeks 2 and 5, so benefit realisation/additional profit will start in week 6; so by the end of 6 weeks there is 1 weeks benefit.
- Project C will be worked on in weeks 3 and 6 so benefit realisation/additional profit won’t materialise until week 7. So over a 6 week period there’s a total of 3 weeks benefit realisation/additional profits from Projects A and B and none from C.
- Whereas if each project was completed before starting the next one there’s a total of 6 weeks benefit realisation/profit (Project A weeks 3 to 6 and Project B weeks 5 and 6).
- Switching focus from project to project, as we all know, means we have to get back into the swing of the project and so aren’t as effective immediately – perhaps even more so when balancing with business as usual. And its highly likely we’ll get distracted by outstanding matters from the other projects too.