Essentials of Successful Project Schedule Planning: Part II

From the Voices on Project Management Blog
by Cameron McGaughy, Lynda Bourne, Kevin Korterud, Conrado Morlan, Peter Tarhanidis, Mario Trentim, Jen Skrabak, David Wakeman, Wanda Curlee, Christian Bisson, Ramiro Rodrigues, Soma Bhattacharya, Emily Luijbregts, Sree Rao, Yasmina Khelifi, Marat Oyvetsky, Lenka Pincot, Jorge Martin Valdes Garciatorres, cyndee miller

Voices on Project Management offers insights, tips, advice and personal stories from project managers in different regions and industries. The goal is to get you thinking, and spark a discussion. So, if you read something that you agree with--or even disagree with--leave a comment.

About this Blog

RSS

View Posts By:

Cameron McGaughy
Lynda Bourne
Kevin Korterud
Conrado Morlan
Peter Tarhanidis
Mario Trentim
Jen Skrabak
David Wakeman
Wanda Curlee
Christian Bisson
Ramiro Rodrigues
Soma Bhattacharya
Emily Luijbregts
Sree Rao
Yasmina Khelifi
Marat Oyvetsky
Lenka Pincot
Jorge Martin Valdes Garciatorres
cyndee miller

Past Contributors:

Rex Holmlin
Vivek Prakash
Dan Goldfischer
Linda Agyapong
Jim De Piante
Siti Hajar Abdul Hamid
Bernadine Douglas
Michael Hatfield
Deanna Landers
Kelley Hunsberger
Taralyn Frasqueri-Molina
Alfonso Bucero Torres
Marian Haus
Shobhna Raghupathy
Peter Taylor
Joanna Newman
Saira Karim
Jess Tayel
Lung-Hung Chou
Rebecca Braglio
Roberto Toledo
Geoff Mattie

Categories

2020, Adult Development, Agile, Agile, Agile, agile, Agile management, Agile management, Agile;Community;Talent management, Artificial Intelligence, Backlog, Basics, Benefits Realization, Best Practices, BIM, business acumen, Business Analysis, Business Analysis, Business Case, Business Intelligence, Business Transformation, Calculating Project Value, Canvas, Career Development, Career Development, Career Help, Career Help, Career Help, Career Help, Careers, Careers, Careers, Careers, Categories: Career Help, Change Management, Cloud Computing, Collaboration, Collaboration, Collaboration, Collaboration, Collaboration, Communication, Communication, Communication, Communication, Communications Management, Complexity, Conflict, Conflict Management, Consulting, Continuous Learning, Continuous Learning, Continuous Learning, Continuous Learning, Continuous Learning, Cost Management, COVID-19, Crises, Crisis Management, critical success factors, Cultural Awareness, Culture, Decision Making, Design Thinking, Digital Project Management, Digital Transformation, digital transformation, Digitalisation, Disruption, Diversity, Diversity, Documentation, Earned Value Management, Education, EEWH, Enterprise Risk Management, Escalation management, Estimating, Ethics, execution, Expectations Management, Facilitation, feasibility studies, Future, Future of Project Management, Generational PM, Governance, Government, green building, Growth, Horizontal Development, Human Aspects of PM, Human Aspects of PM, Human Aspects of PM, Human Aspects of PM, Human Aspects of PM, Human Resources, Inclusion, Information Technology, Innovation, Intelligent Building, International, International Development, Internet of Things (IOT), Internet of Things (IoT), IOT, Knowledge, Leadership, Leadership, Leadership, Leadership, Leadership, lean construction, LEED, Lessons Learned, Lessons learned;Retrospective, Managing for Stakeholders, managing stakeholders as clients, Mentoring, Mentoring, Mentoring, Mentoring, Mentoring, Methodology, Metrics, Micromanagement, Microsoft Project PPM, Motivation, Negotiation, Neuroscience, neuroscience, New Practitioners, Nontraditional Project Management, OKR, Online Learning, opportunity, Organizational Culture, Organizational Project Management, Pandemic, People management, Planing, planning, PM & the Economy, PM History, PM Think About It, PMBOK Guide, PMI, PMI EMEA 2018, PMI EMEA Congress 2017, PMI EMEA Congress 2019, PMI Global Conference 2017, PMI Global Conference 2018, PMI Global Conference 2019, PMI Global Congress 2010 - North America, PMI Global Congress 2011 - EMEA, PMI Global Congress 2011 - North America, PMI Global Congress 2012 - EMEA, PMI Global Congress 2012 - North America, PMI Global Congress 2013 - EMEA, PMI Global Congress 2013 - North America, PMI Global Congress 2014 - EMEA, PMI Global Congress 2014 - North America, PMI GLobal Congress EMEA 2018, PMI PMO Symposium 2012, PMI PMO Symposium 2013, PMI PMO Symposium 2015, PMI PMO Symposium 2016, PMI PMO Symposium 2017, PMI PMO Symposium 2018, PMI Pulse of the Profession, PMO, PMO, pmo, PMO Project Management Office, portfolio, Portfolio Management, Portfolio Management, portfolio management, presentations, Priorities, Probability, Problem Structuring Methods, Process, Procurement Management, profess, Program Management, project, Project Delivery, Project Dependencies, Project Failure, project failure, Project Leadership, Project Management, project management, project management office, Project Planning, project planning, Project Requirements, Project Success, Ransomware, Reflections on the PM Life, Remote, Remote Work, Requirements Management, Research Conference 2010, Researching the Value of Project Management, Resiliency, Risk Management, Risk Management, Risk management, risk management, ROI, Roundtable, Salary Survey, Schedule Management, Scheduling, Scope Management, Scrum, search, SelfLeadership, SelfLeadership, SelfLeadership, SelfLeadership, SelfLeadership, Servant Leadership, Sharing Knowledge, Sharing Knowledge, Sharing Knowledge, Sharing Knowledge, Sharing Knowledge, Social Responsibility, Sponsorship, Stakeholder Management, Stakeholder Management, stakeholder management, Strategy, Strategy, swot, Talent Management, Talent Management, Talent Management, Talent Management, Talent Management, Talent Management Leadership SelfLeadership Collaboration Communication, Taskforce, Teams, Teams in Agile, Teams in Agile, teamwork, Tech, Technical Debt, Technology, TED Talks, The Project Economy, Timeline, Tools, tools, Transformation, transformation, Transition, Trust, Value, Vertical Development, Volunteering, Volunteering #Leadership #SelfLeadership, Volunteering Sharing Knowledge Leadership SelfLeadership Collaboration Trust, VUCA, Women in PM, Women in Project Management

Date

Categories: Project Planning

In my previous post on project schedule planning, I referred to a five-step approach to setting up a schedule planning framework.

In this post, I offer seven tips on creating a schedule for any project:

Focus on action. A project schedule is all about how deliverables will be produced. So after you break down work packages and deliverables, use active verbs to describe the smaller work tasks. For example, say "design webpage" instead of just "webpage designed."
Keep tasks simple and compact. For a clear, clean project schedule, make task names short. If necessary, go into more details in an appendix or separate document to elaborate on each task and its outcomes.
Create context. Also in a separate log, briefly document assumptions and constraints that accompany tasks. This helps in sequencing, linking and managing the tasks. For instance, if you know that a task needs to be executed in a certain timeframe, then you can better link, sequence or parallelize tasks.
Diagram. A visual illustration of the task sequencing and relationship will help the team understand the task dependencies and anticipating when these dependencies should kick in. Additionally, a visual breakdown can help identify tasks that can be done in tandem (i.e., those that have no dependencies).
Use the critical path. Apply information gleaned from the critical path to the schedule. The critical path is most helpful in monitoring delays or identifying opportunities to accelerate the schedule. If a task located on the critical path slips, the project can be delayed. If a task on the critical path can be shortened, the project schedule can get shorter. If the critical path's duration exceeds the project deadline, then reduce scope, reassess durations, improve estimates or increase team resources.
Assess duration properly. When estimating task duration, distinguish between effort, duration and required calendar time to complete a task. The effort relates to the actual work required to complete the task (i.e., How many hours?). The duration refers to how many work periods are required to complete the effort (i.e., How many work days?). The required calendar time means mapping the work days on a calendar that includes holidays and vacation periods.
Combine duration methods. Related to the sixth tip, combine multiple methods to assess duration. Take into account estimations from past projects and apply parametric estimation. For instance, if you use the three-point estimation (i.e., pessimistic, optimistic and most likely), find the theoretical estimation based on current expectations — but in addition, incorporate estimates from similar past tasks or projects.

What other tips help you when building a project schedule that can apply to any project?

Posted by Marian Haus on: May 21, 2013 09:39 AM | Permalink

Comments (8)

Please login or join to subscribe to this item

Krishna Pakki Project Services Manager| Rio Tinto Gilbert, Az, United States

Good one Marian. Few other things i would add are, checking for 100% rule.. that is the entire scope is complete and not missed any activities. A schedule will be developed top down and verified bottoms up. It is important the teams don't get too optimistic or biased while assessing the duration. Due to consideration should be given to project risks and have a schedule contingency in the end.
Create Context is a key one too... any schedule should always be read in combination with this document.

Posted: Nov 13, 2017 1:15 PM