Note: This is part 2 of a 3 part series about the “process interlock dilemma.”

This post addresses how to solve the Process Interlock dilemma I identified in part 1. It is critical to understand the failure of Process Interlock comes because the interlocks turn assumptions into facts. We must accept that any forward looking schedule is a guess. If your guesses are accurate then your schedule should be accurate. That type of insight and $5 will get you a Venti Carmel Frappuccino.

The problem of predicting the future and promising to deliver on that schedule results in one of two poor outcomes.

1. The better poor outcome is that you are accurate and committed to a schedule.
   

   To keep on the schedule, you must focus on the committed deliverables. While this sounds ideal, there an opportunity cost to staying focused. Opportunity cost means that while your team is busy delivering on schedule, it is not doing work to pursue other opportunities. In a perfect world, your team picked the most profitable option before it committed the schedule. If you don’t live in a perfect world then it’s likely that while you are working on deliver you’ve learned about another opportunity. You may make your schedule but miss a more lucrative opportunity.

2. The worse poor outcome is that you are not accurate and committed to a schedule.

   In that case, you miss both the opportunity you thought you had and the ones that you could not pursue while staying dedicated to your planning assumptions.

Let’s go back to our G.Mordler example and look at some better outcomes:

The “we’re going to try outcome.”

The Trans Ma’am team, Alpha, Omega and the supplier all get together and realize that the current design is not shippable; however, they realize that each team’s roadmaps converge within target time. To reduce interlocks, Omega takes Alpha in the low power form and begins integration. During integration, Omega identifies that Alpha can produce sufficient power for short periods of time travel but causes the exhaust vent of the power module to melt. Alpha determines that a change to the cooling system will address the problem. In consulting with their supplier, Alpha asks them to stop design on the new supply and adjust the current design as needed. The resulting time drive does not meet GM’s initial design for 4 hour time jumps, but is sufficient for lead footed mommies to retroactively avoid speeding tickets. GM decides it can still market the limited design.

The “we’re not ready outcome. ”

The Trans Ma’am team, Alpha and Omega all get together and realize that the current design is not shippable in their current state. While they cannot commit each realizes that there is a different market for their products: Alpha pursues dog poop power generation for high rises condo towers (aka brown energy) and Omega finds military applications for time travel nuclear submarines. In the experience gained from delivering products to these markets, Alpha improves power delivery by 20% and Omega improves efficiency by 20%. These modest mutual improvements allow Alpha to meet Omega’s requirement. While the combined product is too late for the target date, GM is able to incorporate the design into next design cycle.

While neither outcome delivers the desired feature at the original schedule, both provide better ROI for the company. One of the most common problems with process interlock is that we lost sight of ROI in our desire to meet an impractical objective.

Process interlock is a classic case of point optimization driving down system-wide performance.

If you’re interested in this effect, I recommend reading Eli Goldratt’s The Goal.

In the part, I’ve discussed some ways to escape from Process Interlock. I’ll talk about four alternative approaches in part 3 (to be published 3/16).