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Can a float be negative? how?

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Samer Alhmdan Senior Project Manager, PMP, PMI-RMP, LEED AP, EDGE Expert| dar Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Can a float be negative? how?
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John Aucoin Sr. Project Controls Specialist| Critical Path Planning, llc Geismar, Louisiana, United States
Thomas, good input.
But as an owner's rep I beg to differ......You need to see the subpar quality of some subcontractor's schedules that come thru our doors! Negative float is only one of many issues that I regularly come across when performing a routine schedule analysis / quality check.
There's never only one mouse. If I find any negative float within a baseline or working schedule I start digging deeper. It's just part of helping them keep their schedule functional and steer them away from any schedule disputes later into the project. Most of the time due to inexperience in scheduling or just a smaller company having growing pains in their project controls dept.
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1 reply by Thomas Boyle
May 23, 2018 6:38 PM
Thomas Boyle
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Hi John, thanks for the dialog. Also as a (sometime) owner's rep... I've seen my share of junk schedules.... I think when I made my point I was thinking about the proliferation of "schedule integrity" checkers that make the colored pass/fail charts based on the "DCMA 14-point" assessment. DCMA's 7th metric is "Negative Float," and its basis has nothing to do with schedule logic integrity. It simply prompts the analyst to ask the right question, "is the contractor planning to fail?" (The problem with such pass/fail checkers is there's a built-in incentive to game them to get all green across the board. Still junk, but green junk, so it must be good, right?)
There are not enough competent schedulers, and AI is not going to solve this....
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Thomas Boyle Charlotte, Nc, United States
May 23, 2018 4:57 PM
Replying to John Aucoin
...
Thomas, good input.
But as an owner's rep I beg to differ......You need to see the subpar quality of some subcontractor's schedules that come thru our doors! Negative float is only one of many issues that I regularly come across when performing a routine schedule analysis / quality check.
There's never only one mouse. If I find any negative float within a baseline or working schedule I start digging deeper. It's just part of helping them keep their schedule functional and steer them away from any schedule disputes later into the project. Most of the time due to inexperience in scheduling or just a smaller company having growing pains in their project controls dept.
Hi John, thanks for the dialog. Also as a (sometime) owner's rep... I've seen my share of junk schedules.... I think when I made my point I was thinking about the proliferation of "schedule integrity" checkers that make the colored pass/fail charts based on the "DCMA 14-point" assessment. DCMA's 7th metric is "Negative Float," and its basis has nothing to do with schedule logic integrity. It simply prompts the analyst to ask the right question, "is the contractor planning to fail?" (The problem with such pass/fail checkers is there's a built-in incentive to game them to get all green across the board. Still junk, but green junk, so it must be good, right?)
There are not enough competent schedulers, and AI is not going to solve this....
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