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Introduction to PM: What's So Great About Project Management
I. Contents of project management scheduling software
===============
Planning the Timing and Sequence of Project Activities
Can you
imagine starting a long car trip to an unfamiliar destination without a map or
navigation system? You're pretty sure you have to make some turns here and
there, but you have no idea when or where, or how long it will take to get
there. You may arrive eventually, but you run the risk of getting lost, and
feeling frustrated, along the way.
Essentially,
driving without any idea of how you're going to get there is the same as
working on a project without a schedule. No matter the size or scope of your
project, the schedule is a key part of project management. The schedule tells
you when each activity should be done, what has already been completed, and the
sequence in which things need to be finished.
Luckily, drivers have fairly accurate
tools they can use. Scheduling, on the other hand, is not an exact process.
It's part estimation , part prediction, and part 'educated
guessing.'
Because
of the uncertainty involved, the schedule is reviewed regularly, and it is
often revised while the project is in progress. It continues to develop as the
project moves forward, changes arise, risks come and go, and new risks are
identified. The schedule essentially transforms the project from a vision to a
time-based plan.
Schedules
also help you do the following:
·
They provide a basis for you to
monitor and control project activities.
·
They help you determine how best to
allocate resources so you can achieve the project goal.
·
They help you assess how time delays
will impact the project.
·
You can figure out where excess
resources are available to allocate to other projects.
·
They provide a basis to help you
track project progress.
With
that in mind, what's the best way of building an accurate and effective
schedule for your next project?
Project managers have a variety of
tools to develop a project schedule – from the relatively simple process of action planning for small projects, to
use of Gantt Charts and
Network Analysis for large projects . Here, we outline the key tools you
will need for schedule development.
Schedule Inputs
You
need several types of inputs to create a project schedule:
·
Personal and project calendars – Understanding working days, shifts, and resource availability
is critical to completing a project schedule.
·
Description of project scope – From this, you can determine key start and end dates, major
assumptions behind the plan, and key constraints and restrictions. You can also
include stakeholder expectations, which will often determine project
milestones.
·
Project risks – You need to understand these to make sure there's enough extra
time to deal with identified risks – and with unidentified risks (risks are
identified with thorough Risk Analysis).
·
Lists of activities and
resource requirements – Again, it's
important to determine if there are other constraints to consider when
developing the schedule. Understanding the resource capabilities and experience
you have available – as well as company holidays and staff vacations – will
affect the schedule.
A
project manager should be aware of deadlines and resource availability issues
that may make the schedule less flexible.
Scheduling Tools
Here
are some tools and techniques for combining these inputs to develop the
schedule:
·
Schedule Network Analysis – This is a graphic representation of the project's activities,
the time it takes to complete them, and the sequence in which they must be
done. Project management software is typically used to create these analyses – Gantt charts and PERT
Charts are common formats.
·
Critical Path Analysis – This is the process of looking at all of the activities that
must be completed, and calculating the 'best line' – or critical path – to take
so that you'll complete the project in the minimum amount of time. The method
calculates the earliest and latest possible start and finish times for project
activities, and it estimates the dependencies among them to create a schedule
of critical activities and dates. Learn more about Critical
Path Analysis .
·
Schedule Compression – This tool helps shorten the total duration of a project by
decreasing the time allotted for certain activities. It's done so that you can
meet time constraints, and still keep the original scope of the project. You
can use two methods here:
·
Crashing – This is where you assign more resources to an activity, thus
decreasing the time it takes to complete it. This is based on the assumption
that the time you save will offset the added resource costs.
·
Fast-Tracking – This involves rearranging activities to allow more parallel
work. This means that things you would normally do one after another are now
done at the same time. However, do bear in mind that this approach increases
the risk that you'll miss things, or fail to address changes.
Use of Project Stages:
One of the biggest reasons that
projects over-run is that the 'final' polishing and error-correction takes very
much longer than anticipated. In this way, projects can seem to be '80%
complete' for 80% of the time! What's worse, these projects can seem to be on
schedule until, all of a sudden, they over-run radically.
A good way of avoiding this is to
schedule projects in distinct stages, where final quality, finished components
are delivered at the end of each stage. This way, quality problems can be
identified early on, and rectified before they seriously threaten the project
schedule.
Project Review
Once
you have outlined the basic schedule, you need to review it to make sure that
the timing for each activity is aligned with the necessary resources. Here are
tools commonly used to do this:
·
'What if' scenario analysis – This method compares and measures the effects of different
scenarios on a project. You use simulations to determine the effects of various
adverse, or harmful, assumptions – such as resources not being available on
time, or delays in other areas of the project. You can then measure and plan
for the risks posed in these scenarios.
·
Resource leveling – Here, you rearrange the sequence of activities to address the
possibility of unavailable resources, and to make sure that excessive demand is
not put on resources at any point in time. If resources are available only in
limited quantities, then you change the timing of activities so that the most
critical activities have enough resources.
·
Critical chain method – This also addresses resource availability. You plan activities
using their latest possible start and finish dates. This adds extra time
between activities, which you can then use to manage work disruptions.
·
Risk multipliers – Risk is inevitable, so you need to prepare for its impact.
Adding extra time to high-risk activities is one strategy. Another is to add a
time multiplier to certain tasks or certain resources to offset overly optimistic
time estimation.
After
the initial schedule has been reviewed, and adjustments made, it's a good idea
to have other members of the team review it as well. Include people who will be
doing the work – their insights and assumptions are likely to be particularly
accurate and relevant.
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