After a board meeting at Genemodem, a company that makes modems, the CEO, Daniel Pullman, assigns the Executive Vice President of Engineering, Isaac Levy, the task of shortening project development times. Levy and Pullman agree that outside consulting does not yield the results they need, and they organize a think tank with three members. Mark Kowalski is a project leader for the A226 modem due to release in 16 months, and he is the leader of the think tank. Ruth Emerson is a brand manager in marketing, who organized the introduction of the current, most successful modem, the A106. Fred Romero is an accountant known for his skills as a project auditor.

Levy explains that new modems need to be released every six months to remain competitive, noting that, unlike most products that exist in the market for a period before becoming obsolete, modems are readily replaced by newer and better technology. However, Genemodem takes two years of development to release a new modem, meaning they are likely to fall behind the market if they cannot speed up development times. The A226, under Mark, is the experimental project for the think tank, and Ruth, Fred, and Mark have an unlimited budget to figure out a more efficient project management technique.