Essentials of Successful Project Schedule Planning: Part I
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, Lenka Pincot, cyndee miller, Jorge Martin Valdes Garciatorres, Marat Oyvetsky
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.
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
Lenka Pincot
cyndee miller
Jorge Martin Valdes Garciatorres
Marat Oyvetsky
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
Recent Posts
Beyond the Basics: Essential Topics to Address When Forming a Scrum Team
How to Create Effective Exit Criteria
10 PM Frustrations…and How to Solve Them
Harnessing the Best of Both Worlds: A Guide to Hybrid Project Management
How to Escape Functional Fixedness
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,
Careers,
Careers,
Careers,
Categories: Career Help,
Change Management,
Cloud Computing,
Collaboration,
Collaboration,
Collaboration,
Collaboration,
Communication,
Communication,
Communication,
Communication,
Complexity,
Conflict,
Conflict Management,
Consulting,
Continuous Learning,
Continuous Learning,
Continuous Learning,
Continuous Learning,
Cost,
COVID-19,
Crises,
Crisis Management,
critical success factors,
Cultural Awareness,
Culture,
Decision Making,
Design Thinking,
Digital Transformation,
digital transformation,
Digitalisation,
Disruption,
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 Resources,
Inclusion,
Innovation,
Intelligent Building,
International,
Internet of Things (IOT),
Internet of Things (IoT),
IOT,
IT Project Management,
IT Strategy,
Knowledge,
Leadership,
Leadership,
Leadership,
Leadership,
lean construction,
LEED,
Lessons Learned,
Lessons learned;Retrospective,
Managing for Stakeholders,
managing stakeholders as clients,
Mentoring,
Mentoring,
Mentoring,
Mentoring,
Methodology,
Metrics,
Micromanagement,
Microsoft Project PPM,
Motivation,
Negotiation,
Neuroscience,
neuroscience,
New Practitioners,
Nontraditional Project Management,
OKR,
Online Learning,
opportunity,
Organizational Project Management,
Pandemic,
People,
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 Project Management Office,
portfolio,
Portfolio Management,
portfolio management,
Portfolios (PPM),
presentations,
Priorities,
Probability,
Problem Structuring Methods,
Process,
Procurement,
profess,
Program Management,
Programs (PMO),
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,
Risk Management,
Risk management,
risk management,
ROI,
Roundtable,
Salary Survey,
Scheduling,
Scope,
Scrum,
search,
SelfLeadership,
SelfLeadership,
SelfLeadership,
SelfLeadership,
Servant Leadership,
Sharing Knowledge,
Sharing Knowledge,
Sharing Knowledge,
Sharing Knowledge,
Social Responsibility,
Sponsorship,
Stakeholder,
Stakeholder Management,
stakeholder management,
Strategy,
swot,
Talent Management,
Talent Management,
Talent Management,
Talent Management,
Talent Management Leadership SelfLeadership Collaboration Communication,
Taskforce,
Team Building,
Teams,
Teams in Agile,
Teams in Agile,
teamwork,
Tech,
Technical Debt,
Technology,
TED Talks,
The Project Economy,
Time,
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
Technically speaking, the project schedule is a key project planning component. But practically speaking, simply creating a project schedule does not guarantee project success. Project success requires the project manager to plan out a reliable, comprehensive and realistic schedule.
The following three-pronged approach helps in creating such a schedule: set up a schedule planning framework, master schedule basics and run the project avoiding the classic schedule planning pitfalls.
In this post, I will shed some light on a simple schedule planning framework. Effective schedule planning boils down to five basic steps:
- Plan. Identify which sources and resources will provide the project schedule information, such as the scope baseline, scheduling takeaways from similar previous projects and subject matter experts. Select the appropriate software tool to manage the schedule. This could be a standard project management tool used by your company, or it can be one you have selected considering your project's level of complexity, reporting automation needs and team collaboration requirements.
- Develop. Break down the work packages and deliverables into actionable tasks. Identify key milestones, such as completion of major deliverables or project phases. Sequence tasks logically, depending on their execution order and dependency on other tasks. Match team members to each task with their corresponding skills. Assess task efforts and all project time based on historical data from a similar project, or using techniques such as the Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT).
- Validate. Work with subject matter experts to review and validate the developing schedule.
- Follow through. After creating a baseline project schedule, track the completed tasks and achieved milestones. Developing a project schedule is not a final destination -- it has to be maintained.
- Adjust. You will rarely finish the project by following the exact schedule plan you began with. Adjust the schedule as you go by exploiting the opportunities that arise (such as fast-tracking activities or finishing work earlier, if possible), or taking corrective actions when faced with delays or unexpected activities (such as enlarging the team or "crashing" activities).
What are your must-do steps when creating a project schedule? What scheduling framework has been successful for you?
Posted
by
Marian Haus
on: April 10, 2013 11:13 PM |
Permalink
Comments (13)
Please login or join to subscribe to this item
George Lewis
Program/Project Manager| DXC Technology Company
Heredia, Costa Rica
Artem Sukhoroslov
Project / Program Manager, PMP| (Telecom, Software Development, Digital Marketing)
Kiev, Ukraine
Thanks for sharing.
Unfortunately, most of the rookies think that schedule development is the only thing that should be done for the successful planning
JL Jiménez
Project Manager Sr.| EMSI
México, Distrito Federal, Mexico
I like it. In general terms, is a good proposal that must be tropicalized for each organization, depth of detail according to the type of project and contract, as well as the maturity that the organization has in project management...
I would add a key step as part of Validation, that is Team Buy-in. It is important every team member own their piece of the integrated schedule and develop next level tasks to achieve the schedule. I always stress on one thing to my team, Scheduler is a facilitator he dont own the schedule. It is responsibility of the individual team member to provide the right inputs and own the schedule.
Hitesh Patel
Senior Manager (PMO & Business Development| Meinhardt EPCM India Private Limited
Rajkot, Gujarat, India
I do believe that the role of Project Scheduling is essential and even critical.
Best scheduling practice will lead your project to the success.
Schedule always provide the major focus area to the Project Manager...i.e. Activity on the critical path, resource availability, budget/cost performance or variance / Project delays...
But I would like to say that It's not the Project Management....it's a part of Project Management...
I do believe that for the successful completion of your project... roles and responsibility of every individual stakeholder are more important...
Thanks for the article
Best scheduling practice will lead to project success
Thanks for sharing the article and i do agree with previous comment from Krishna Pakki that it is important to get team buy in and own their piece, rather than to push down the schedule to them.
Shanos Kunhahamu
Product Manager, Mobile Wallet| First Abu Dhabi Bank
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Thank you for sharing the framework.
Binay Samanta
Director| Project & Environment Consultants
Dhanbad, Jharkhand, India
Project scheduling and monitoring is critical for project success
Please Login/Register to leave a comment.
|
"What is the voice of song, when the world lacks the ear of taste?"
- Nathaniel Hawthorne
|
