Multi-project support issues: cycle time and schedule effects when people support multiple concurrent projects

In many companies, engineers often support multiple development projects at the same time, with the belief that this will speed up time to market. This paper examines this perception, and seeks to identify the pros and cons of multi-project support in product development. Typical situations and factors of influence on product development cycle time are examined, with a focus on productivity issues. From a workflow and utilization perspective, the effects of multi-project tasking are then analyzed, using both analytical approaches and data observations. The results are used to evaluate the typical impact on a project schedule. The information provides insight into ways to increase the effective utilization of resources, situations where multi-project support can be beneficial, as well as situations where the effects of concurrent multi-project support are detrimental to time to market. Finally, an overview of methods to minimize the detrimental effects is provided.