Productivity Mining: Executive Summary
Productivity Mining identifies and unlocks hidden productivity in project portfolios.
You don’t need sophisticated PM tools, frameworks, or deep project management knowledge to get started.
Productivity Mining is based on the simple principles of the Execution Excellence Manifesto and is the ideal starting point to build a culture of trust, empowerment, and commitment.
Productivity Mining removes productivity barriers and gets execution flow moving. The impact is almost immediate.
The Challenge: Project Overload
Organizations across every industry are battling a hidden enemy: the loss of productive time. The leading cause? Project Overload. Too many parallel initiatives overwhelm teams. Focus and effectiveness get diluted. This overload triggers a vicious circle:
Too many projects running in parallel
→ Resources spread too thin
→ Projects lack the attention they need
→ Deadlines slip
→ Scramble for scarce resources intensifies
→ Escalations and micromanagement cascade
→ Even less time for real project work
→ Delays get worse
Once this cycle takes hold, it drains organizations of momentum, energy, and success. Our experience shows: Project switching, waiting for or competing over resources, top management escalations, and micromanagement can consume 30% or more of productive time.
When execution speed defines competitiveness, lost productivity isn’t just a cost factor – it’s a massive strategic risk.
The Solution: Productivity Mining
The good news: Eliminate the root cause, and productivity gains show up immediately. The root cause is Project Overload. Stop the project overload, and you unlock hidden potential right away.
Build an overview of your project landscape. Apply the principles of the Execution Excellence Manifesto. Done – you’re doing Productivity Mining.
Short-term Effects
- Fewer parallel projects – less context switching
- Fewer escalations – top management can focus on strategy
- Less time in steering committees
- Less planning and monitoring effort
Mid-term Effects
Your bottom line improves measurably. Beyond this, closing the gap between strategy and execution is an invaluable competitive advantage.
How Productivity Mining Works
Build an overview of your project landscape – within days:
- Describe every project with just a few key data points
- Describe your organizational structure: departments, people, skills
- Visualize for everyone – low barrier, so shared understanding emerges.
Prioritize – and reduce projects in progress:
- Give each project the capacity it needs to get into flow
- Ask your project managers to update key data regularly
- Monitor projects, people, workloads, progress, and value contribution – but avoid micromanagement.
Use automation and AI:
- Create new projects with AI-suggested schedules and resource estimates
- Start new projects so they finish as fast as possible while considering all active projects
- Eliminate the slow and cumbersome resource request and approval process.
The Results
- More projects get finished
- Strategic transformations run faster
- More business value, stronger outcomes.
Why Productivity Mining is Essential
- Unlocks capacity immediately: You don’t need more people. Productivity increases anyway.
- Increases agility and resilience: You react faster to market and internal changes.
- Boosts profitability: Portfolios deliver measurable value.Accelerates strategic initiatives: The gap between strategy and execution closes.