Revolutionizing Project Management: The Power of Cycle Time
As a seasoned project manager, I’ve had my fair share of challenges. But one particular experience stands out – taking over a struggling team with a history of missed deadlines and low morale. The project was a massive undertaking, building a platform to integrate and modernize newly acquired marketplaces worldwide. The team was talented, but the project was plagued by inefficiencies, and the cycle time was a staggering three weeks.
Identifying the Root Cause
To tackle the issue, I conducted a thorough analysis of our process, breaking down the cycle time into smaller, manageable metrics. The data revealed two major bottlenecks: an extremely long code review process and a slow time to first review. Additionally, junior developers were spending three times as much time on code reviews as senior developers. Individual interviews with team members validated these findings, highlighting issues with ticket vagueness, context-switching, and inefficient code reviews.
Solutions that Worked
To address these problems, we introduced several changes:
- Estimation caps on tickets: We limited tickets to five story points, ensuring smaller, more manageable work items.
- Limiting work items per developer: We restricted developers to three work items simultaneously, encouraging them to focus on unblocking their work rather than switching between tasks.
- Dedicated code review slots: We allocated a daily hour-long slot for code reviews, making the process more efficient and engaging the entire team.
- Reduced PR approvals: We lowered the required approvals from three to two, streamlining the code review process.
- Clearer policy on code reviews: We emphasized the importance of code reviews, especially for senior developers, and restricted junior developers from reviewing code.
- Slack alerts: We set up automated alerts to notify the team when a pull request was open for over three working days, ensuring timely action.
- Onboarding an additional QA: We added more QA resources to prevent bottlenecks in the testing phase.
Results and Key Takeaways
After six weeks of implementing these changes, our cycle time decreased by 66%, and work-in-progress items dropped by 50%. We saw significant improvements in predictability, estimation accuracy, productivity, and team happiness. The experience taught me valuable lessons:
- Cycle time is the most holistic metric to track: It encompasses various aspects of the development process, making it an excellent indicator of team health.
- Small, incremental changes can add up: We didn’t need a complete overhaul; instead, we introduced small improvements on a weekly cadence.
- Repository-level data is invaluable: It provides detailed insights into the development process and individual performance, even for non-technical project managers.
- People usually know what the problem is: It’s essential to listen to team members and take action on their feedback.
By focusing on cycle time and addressing the underlying issues, we transformed our project management approach, leading to significant improvements in productivity, predictability, and team morale.