It's that time of year again here in Colorado. Skiing is done, the Bolder Boulder has been run, with Moroccan Ridouane Harroufi running a 28m 32s 10K. Now the cycle season starts. I was supposed to ride Elephant Rock Century, but did not train enough to risk getting stranded on the Black Forest loop 40 miles from the main route, so I didn't go. Our son (17) is not raging on me to "get with it dad." So my motivation is back on The Tour. The Tour is Tour de France.
THE race of the year. Ignoring all the "bad boy" issues, it's still the one an only demonstration of all out physical strength, mental fortitude and strategy. This year the "local" team is headed to France. Chipotle-Slipstream from Boulder, Colorado has been invited to the Tour. Chipolte Mexican Grill is a home grown burrito store. All of this sounds dull to most people, but the project connection is - fielding a Tour Team means $11.2 of budget and coordination.
That means project management in motion. Training schedules, equipment maintenance, advertising cycles, all the activities of a $11.2M project. The other exciting thing for me and our crew of over 50 riders (OK, over 60 riders as well), is sharing the road with the pros. We share the road all the time with the pros, but not Tour Pros. Real Pros. Pro Pros. For a road rider of "Pooh" class skill, there is nothing more exciting than to round the corner from our 20 miles out leg turning onto the 10 mile flat return to the house and be joined by the peloton coming out of Boulder on their way up north and discover they are the "real deal." Always a friendly nod, a short pause to let the pace line sort itself out, and then always a passing nod with the intention of "see you guys later, we gotta go now." Riding at our all day pace of 18, the peloton pulls away at a slow but accelerating pace as the road opens up headed out of town. In 3 minutes they're at the horizon, and we're still peddling at our 18MPH pace. My only joy is that the logo on my bike is the same logo on theirs - Felt.
Mine is a store bought 2006 F4C, their's of course cannot be purchased at any store. But the logo match is cool all the same. My bike is right at the limit of my skill. In the 80's I was an OK Cat 4 racer in Southern California. Today, I'm just happy to finish a century and be able to smile like I actually enjoyed it and have another 100 miles in me for tomorrow. But the machines are light years away from that 1982 Orange Eddy Merckx Motobecane, which our son now rides as his "retro" machine.
The connection to projects goes like this. It's an Earned Value connection, a To Complete Performance Index (TCPI) calculation from EV.
- We're producing value at a certain pace, time and cost consumption matching the produced value. This could be our "all day" pace. The pace at which could produce value or ride in the group all day long.
- Then something happens we fall off the pace. We - meaning me - starts riding slower. Say 16MPH average. Nice little Garmin Nav computer squeaks at me when I fall off the running average pace, so there's more information than just seeing the ass of the peloton moving ahead.
- After a few minutes the spirit kicks back in, maybe a GU package of Chocolate Outrage helps. 0g Trans Fat, 2 Vente Late's of caffeine in 1 oz package, I get back on my 18MPH pace.
- But that's not going to cut it. I need to ride faster to close the gap with the group, who is now asking "should we slow down a bit," or "shoudl we speed we up just to mess with those that have fallen off the back. This BTW is a primary strategy for going faster. When someone is dragging, pick up the pace. If they're hurting now, make it hurt even more. It demoralizes them at the least and makes them burn out faster at the best.
- So what pace needs to be peddled to get back on the peloton?
This is the To Complete Performance Index (TCPI). It's the pace that needs to be performed to get back on schedule. It will always cost more money - or energy. But getting back on schedule is critical to rod riding as well as project value delivery. To compete the TCPI you need the Earned Value numbers and their indices's.
TCPI = (BAC - BCWP) / (EAC - ACWP)
BAC = Budget at Completion
BCWP = Budgeted Cost of Work Performed (the Earned Value)
EAC = Estimate at Complete
ACWP = Actual Cost of Work Performed
TCPI is a management measure. When someone comes to my office and says, "we'll get back to green by next Friday," I ask "what's the TCPI to do that?" In other words is your goal of getting back on schedule even credible? With no information forthcoming, the answer is usually "not likely" - "you've been dropped bud, see ya at the house."
