Josh MoreeSr Executive Coach| Pax8 AcademyAtlanta, Ga, United States
I am a PM at an IT company. We have a team of engineers and numerous projects happening at once. For the 8+ years I've been a project manager, we've set deadlines for milestones of a project, but allow the engineers to work on what they choose when they choose as long as they meet deadlines. Senior management is discussing having us schedule every task in every project for every engineer. For example, if a project has 20 tasks, they want every task with a day scheduled the engineer should be working on it. Now multiply that by over 50 active projects.
To me, this seems like horrible idea b/c 1) it doesn't allow flexibility in scheduling, 2) doesn't account for issues that may arise, 3) seem very much like micro-management, 4) would have someone whose main job is to update dates in the projects as exceptions arise.
I'm curious on other working PM's opinions on this. Please share! Saving Changes...
Eric SimmsSenior Program ManagerBaltimore, Maryland, United States
I use both methods, depending on the type of project and the preferences of the engineers on the team.
Did senior management give a reason why it wants to schedule every task? Is it to make calculating earned value management easier? Saving Changes...
Ed Tsyitee JrConsultant | Consultant Tucson, Az, United States
Sounds like you are transitioning from an agile approach to a predictive (waterfall) approach.
My suggestion is to incorporate a hybrid approach. Keep the agile by letting the engineers continue their work like they do, and create a WBS for senior management so they can see the task activities and dates.
A kanban board can also help visualize the start and end dates of work, backlog, and who is working on what and the expected time frame of completion. Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
One thing is to have a activity duration and the other is to have tasks that as part of the activity and must be performed into an specific time by an specific person. So, you can send a note to your engineer calendars about into an specific date the have to complete a task.
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1 reply by Diogo Simoes
May 22, 2018 5:54 PM
Diogo Simoes
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I agree with Sergio. It resumes my point of view. And don't forget that you can not plan with same detail in far future as in near future.
Uncertanty also plays a role there :)
Sounds like they have trust issues. Has the projects not been going well until now? Why break what's fixed? Saving Changes...
Drake SettsuProject Manager / BloggerHi, United States
I have every task scheduled and milestones dates to check off to indicate that every task has been completed. I create waterfall timelines that allow flexibility to work on tasks out of order. The begin dates and end dates for tasks are guidelines for the team. They know the milestone date is the drop dead date to hit. Saving Changes...
Anonymous
Milestones only, but I'm always checking on tasks. Saving Changes...
Josh MoreeSr Executive Coach| Pax8 AcademyAtlanta, Ga, United States
Thank you all for the feedback and suggestions. As the question has raised a few times, senior management suggesting this doesn't have to do with any issues or distrust. A consulting company was hired to look at each department and see where improvements could be made. This was a suggestion by the consulting company to better manage projects. It's offered up an improvement in process rather than 'fixing' anything. Myself and the other PM (2 in our company currently) disagree with the consultant. I'm open to having my mind changed, but curious what other professionals are seeing as well. Saving Changes...
How much detail will be meaningful for senior management? If your milestones take more than a few weeks, they might need a little more detail to see that progress is being made. Can you break the milestones down into work packages? You may not need to go down to the task level. Saving Changes...
John DuncanRetired| RetiredLebanon, Tn, United States
If people are feeling stressed over having multiple projects (and deadlines) but no visibility of overlapping tasks required to meet those deadlines, then some high level view of tasks, just to show when someone is expected to be working on 10 things at the same time, could be helpful.
Summary level, with start and end dates, may be enough. For example, if project B doesn't start for two more weeks, then I have a little breathing room until then. But if project B needs to start now, that's a different story, if I'm also trying to deliver project A and C this week.
Or the consulting company had to suggest something, just like a home inspector has to find something... :-) Saving Changes...
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