Chapter4 Project Time Management

8/10/2019 Chapter4 Project Time Management

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Importance of Project Schedules

Managers often cite delivering projects on time aof their biggest challenges

Time has the least amount of flexibility; it passes

matter what

Schedule issues are the main reason for conflictsprojects, especially during the second half of proj


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Project Time Management Process

Project time management involves the processesrequired to ensure timely completion of a project.

Processes include:

Activity definition

Activity sequencingActivity duration estimating

Schedule development

Schedule control


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Activity Definition

Project schedules grow out of the basic document th

initiate a projectProject charter includes start and end dates and

budget information

Scope statement and WBS help define what will be

doneActivity definition involves developing a more detaile

WBS and supporting explanations to understand all twork to be done so you can develop realistic duratioestimates


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Activity Sequencing

Involves reviewing activities and determining

dependenciesMandatory dependencies: inherent in the nature of

the work; hard logic

Discretionary dependencies: defined by the project

team; soft logicExternal dependencies: involve relationships

between project and non-project activities

You mustdetermine dependencies in order to usecritical path analysis


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Figure 4-1. Sample Activity-on-Arrow (AOA) Netw

Diagram for Project X


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Arrow Diagramming Method (ADM)

Also called activity-on-arrow (AOA) project networkdiagrams

Activities are represented by arrows

Nodes or circles are the starting and ending points

activities Can only show finish-to-start dependencies


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Process for Creating AOA Diagrams

1. Find all of the activities that start at node 1. Draw their finish nodes and

draw arrows between node 1 and those finish nodes. Put the activity l

or name and duration estimate on the associated arrow2. Continuing drawing the network diagram, working from left to right. Lo

for bursts and merges. Burstsoccur when a single node is followed by

two or more activities. A mergeoccurs when two or more nodes prece

a single node

3. Continue drawing the project network diagram until all activities areincluded on the diagram that have dependencies

4. As a rule of thumb, all arrowheads should face toward the right, and no

arrows should cross on an AOA network diagram


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Precedence Diagramming Method (PD

Activities are represented by boxes Arrows show relationships between activities

More popular than ADM method and used by project

management software

Better at showing different types of dependencies


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Sample PDM Network Diagram

4-2


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Figure 4-3. Task Dependency Types


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Activity Duration Estimating

After defining activities and determining their sequencethe next step in time management is duration estimating

Duration includes the actual amount of time worked on activitypluselapsed time

Effort is the number of workdays or work hours requiredcomplete a task. Effort does not equal duration

People doing the work should help create estimates, anan expert should review them


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Schedule Development

Schedule development uses results of the other timemanagement processes to determine the start and enddate of the project and its activities

Ultimate goal is to create a realistic project schedule thaprovides a basis for monitoring project progress for thetime dimension of the project

Important tools and techniques include Gantt charts,PERT analysis, critical path analysis, and critical chainscheduling

Gantt Charts


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Gantt Charts

Gantt charts provide a standard format for displayingproject schedule information by listing project activities

and their corresponding start and finish dates in acalendar format

Symbols include:

A black diamond: milestones or significant events on a projewith zero duration

Thick black bars: summary tasks

Lighter horizontal bars: tasks

Arrows: dependencies between tasks


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Figure 4-4. Gantt Chart for Project X


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Milestones

Milestones are significant events on a project that normahave zero duration

You can follow the SMART criteria in developing milestothat are:

Specific

MeasurableAssignable

Realistic

Time-framed


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Critical Path Method (CPM)

CPM is a project network analysis technique used to

predict total project duration A critical path for a project is the series of activities that

determines the earliest timeby which the project can be

completed

The critical path is the longest paththrough the networkdiagram and has the least amount of slack or float


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Finding the Critical Path

First develop a good project network diagram

Add the durations for all activities on each path throughproject network diagram

The longest path is the critical path

Simple Example of Determining th


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Simple Example of Determining th

Critical Path

Consider the following project network diagram. Assum

times are in days.

2 3

4

5

A=2 B=5

C=2

D=7

1 6

F=2

E=1

start

a. How many paths are on this network diagram?

b. How long is each path?

c. Which is the critical path?

d. What is the shortest amount of time needed to complete this project?

Figure 4-5 Determining the Critical P


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Figure 4-5. Determining the Critical Pfor Project X

More on the Critical Path


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More on the Critical Path

If one or more activities on the critical path takes longer planned, the whole project schedule will slip unlesscorr

action is taken Misconceptions:

The critical path is not the one with all the critical activities; iaccounts for time. Remember the example of growing grasbeing on the critical path for Disneys Animal Kingdom Park

There can be more than one critical path if the lengths of twomore paths are the same

The critical path can change as the project progresses

Using Critical Path Analysis to Ma


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Using Critical Path Analysis to Ma

Schedule Trade-offs

Knowing the critical path helps you make schedule trade-offs

Free slack or free floatis the amount of time an activity can bedelayed without delaying the early start of any immediately folloactivities

Total slack or total floatis the amount of time an activity may bedelayed from its early start without delaying the planned project

finish date A forward passthrough the network diagram determines the ea

start and finish dates

A backward passdetermines the late start and finish dates

Project 2002 Schedule Table View Sho


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Project 2002 Schedule Table View Sho

Free and Total Slack

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Techniques for Shortening a Proje


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Techniques for Shortening a ProjeSchedule

Shorten durations of critical tasks by adding more resou

or changing their scope

Crashing tasks by obtaining the greatest amount of

schedule compression for the least incremental cost

Fast trackingtasks by doing them in parallel or overlapp

them

C hi d F T ki


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Crashing and Fast Tracking

Overlapp

Tasks or tracking

Shorten

duration

crashing

Original

schedule

C iti l Ch i S h d li


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Critical Chain Scheduling

Technique that addresses the challenge of meeting or beatingproject finish dates and an application of the Theory of Constra

(TOC)

Developed by Eliyahu Goldratt in his books The Goaland CriticChain

Critical chain scheduling is a method of scheduling that takeslimited resources into account when creating a project schedule

and includes buffers to protect the project completion date Critical chain scheduling assumes resources do not multitask

because it often delays task completions and increases totaldurations

Program Evaluation and Review


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Program Evaluation and ReviewTechnique (PERT)

PERT is a network analysis technique used to estimate

project duration when there is a high degree of uncertain

about the individual activity duration estimates

PERT uses probabilistic time estimates based on using

optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic estimates of activ

durations

Controlling Changes to the Projec


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Controlling Changes to the ProjecSchedule

Perform reality checks on schedules

Allow for contingencies

Dont plan for everyone to work at 100% capacity all the

time

Hold progress meetings with stakeholders and be clear honest in communicating schedule issues

Chapter4 Project Time Management

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