Tools and Tips for Today's Project Manager

OVERCOMING BOTTLENECKS

A bottleneck is a snag in the business process, or a way of doing business, that causes work to pile up. When work piles up, little progress occurs because the bottleneck acts as a traffic jam, preventing any further movement forward. So what do you do?

You analyze the problem and determine the cause of the bottleneck. A good way to do this is to view the bottleneck as a car on a highway that stalls and blocks the autos behind it. You should fix the cause of the traffic jam, but the tendency is to go around the stalled car rather than fix it, which may get the traffic moving again but will not eliminate the cause of the jam. Sooner or later the traffic jam will occur again, perhaps at a less opportune time, such as when ...