Embodiments of the invention, given a conventional makefile which builds targets in serial mode, will process (e.g., compile, link, pre-process, execute, etc.) commands in parallel on those targets which, as a result of a lack of interdependency, can be built in any order. Embodiments may first identify one or more targets (i.e., object files) which are candidates for parallel compilation ("parallelization"). From the targets identified instructions are generated, which may be stored in a file, which provides the identity of targets for parallelization and the order in which these targets should be built. The instructions may then be executed (resulting in some instructions being executed in parallel) thus providing reduced compiling time and, thus, improving productivity.