Project Schedule Strategies: Helpful Hints for Project Managers and Team Members

Managing the project schedule is one of the primary responsibilities of the project manager. All major projects in today’s market require a project schedule that is actively monitored. These ubiquitous documents not only drive the work being performed by team members, but also serve as the basis for communicating progress or risks to project stakeholders. Despite this important role, managing a project schedule remains a process shrouded in assumptions, systematic automation, personal judgment, and a lack of consistent standards. Thus, this article provides the recommended best practices for creating and managing a project schedule that will help ensure that the executed work minimizes inefficiency while maximizing the potential to achieve the project’s objectives.

Project management is an immense discipline that cuts across all industries and encompasses many functional areas; however, there is one critical tool that every project manager and team member is required to be familiar with on each and every project: the project schedule.

A project schedule’s ubiquitous nature renders it a critical tool for project managers to ensure commitment to the right objectives, set the appropriate course of action, and quickly raise issues to stakeholders. When used properly, a project schedule can be a project manager’s best friend. Conversely, …