Chapter 7 ideas – Realistic scheduling

A realistic schedule:

·         Includes a detailed knowledge of the work to be done

·         Has task sequences in the correct order

·         Accounts for external constraints beyond the control of the team

·         Can be accomplished on time, given the availability of skilled people and enough equipment

6 steps of Project Planning

1.       Create the project definition

2.       Develop a risk management strategy

3.       Build WBS

4.       Identify task relationships

5.       Estimate work packages

6.       Calculate initial schedule

7.       Assign and level resources

Identify task relationships: any time a series of tasks is performed, there will be sequence constraints – that is, certain tasks that must be performed before others.

There are just two basic rules when graphing task relationships with a network diagram:

1.       Define task relationships only between work packages

2.       Task relationships should reflect only sequence constraints between work packages, not resource constraints.

Milestones are useful markers

Finish to start is most common

Start to start, Finish to finish are also possible.

Estimate work packages

1.       Cost: labor, equipment, materials

2.       Time:

How productivity relates to duration: when estimating the number of people needed for a task, you will need to consider their productivity. Adding people to simple tasks always reduces the duration. However, in the case of tasks involving knowledge workers, adding more workers does not always result in greater productivity and a shorter duration of a task.

Calculate an initial schedule:

Early start – the earliest date a task can begin, given the tasks preceding it.

Early finish – the earliest date a task can finish, given the tasks preceding it.

Late start – the latest date a task can begin without delaying the finish date of the project.

Late finish – the latest date a task can finish without delaying the finish date of the project.

Step one: Forward pass à Step two: backward pass à Step three: calculate float

Critical path: when the initial schedule has been calculated, the project schedule begins to take shape. One of the key features of the initial schedule is the critical path (is one of the most widely used & misunderstood of all project management terms). Critical path is defined as all of the tasks with zero or negative float.

Assign and level resources: the goal of resource leveling is to optimize the use of people and equipment assigned to the project. It begins with the assumption that, whenever possible, it is most productive to have consistent, continuous use of the fewest resources possible.