I am working as a software project manager for autonomous driving.
Recently I had to plan a project with external dependencies.
I needed to check if the available ressources were sufficient, so after the scope I started defining the work packages.
The problem was scheduling the activities because I didn't knew when to stop breaking down into smaller packages and it became complicated to have a clear schedule with this amount of dependencies.
I didn't want either to miss the dead line nor commit with something impossible.
In the end I spent a lot of hours doing the schedule and I couldn't magade the complexity well.
I red there are people with schedules with 1000 activities in it.
How do they do that?
Perhaps in developing sw is not that easy?
Having a lot of dependencies is only a problem if you have a lot of parallel work.
As you decompose your work packages, try to find the level where you can assign one owner to a work package.
As an example, on my ERP upgrade project, we have a test manager. I help out as needed, but the test manager owns planning, coordinating, and executing the testing. He has a test plan that he created and is following. My project schedule covers the test cycles, but doesn't come anywhere near individual test case execution.
You don't want your schedule to be too simple to manage the work, but the more you can do to reduce unnecessary complexity, the more effective you can be. Saving Changes...
Lonnie PacelliAuthor & President| ProjectManagementAdvisor.comBellevue, Wa, United States
I use 1/1/1: One person, one task, no more than one week in duration. Also for external dependencies be careful to not replicate the project schedule for the external project in your plan. Identify the key dependency milestones then work with the project manager of the other project to status the dependency milestones. Saving Changes...
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