Deadline-Orientated Projects
A project schedule should be a reflection of the WBS, the
accumulation of all of the work packages within the project, and then the
assignment of resources for each task. Most new project managers work around
specific target dates for milestones, phases, and a completed project. This
makes the most sense, right? IT professionals are used to working from a
specific calendar for so much of their lives that this next concept can be a
little confusing at first: do not schedule project tasks to happen on a specific
date if at all avoidable.
Project managers should not work around specific dates when
creating the project plan, but instead should initially work around units of
time—for example, one day, two weeks, three months, and so on. Rather than
saying a specific work unit will take place next Thursday and Friday, it’s
better to say that a specific task will take two days to complete. Why? Isn’t
next Thursday and Friday the same as two days? Yes, and no. Assigning two days
to complete a task rather than two specific days allows
you to move the task around within your project plan. Figure 7-1 demonstrates the concept of working in
units of time rather than specific dates. This little trick allows for a process
you’ll learn more about later in this chapter: project compression.
Working with units of time rather than specific dates for each of
the tasks within your project plan allows you to tally your plan to a specific
amount of time—regardless of when the actual project is implemented. For
example, if tasks within your project were all assigned a deadline based on the
project start date of July 9 and end date of November 2, each task is very time
constrained and date specific. However, this same project takes 90 workdays
(depending on the year and allowing for weekends). When you assign tasks units
of time within the span of 90 workdays, regardless of when the actual start date
commences, the project can shift 90 days into the future from the start
date.
As you learned during the creation of the WBS, certain work units
can be tackled simultaneously with others. Rather than assigning dates to
specific tasks, assigning time units to tasks allows the project manager to move
activities closer to the start or finish of the project. For some tasks that are
effort driven, a project manager can assign additional resources to reduce the
amount of elapsed time required to complete the task. Of course, the task still
takes the same number of work hours to complete, it is just being accomplished
faster as more people are working together on the work unit to complete it.
Often, however, project schedules and deadlines are determined
before the project even begins. We’ve all been there, right? You’ve been handed
a project to create an application that must be delivered by April 1. There
hasn’t been real reflection on the needed time to create a quality application
by the given date. In these instances the project manager needs to still address
the project, the work decomposition, and the assignment of resources to complete
the work just as with a project where the end date is not known.
Once the project manager has determined how long the project
will really take, based on accurate time estimates, activity sequencing, and
identified resources, he can make realistic decisions about scheduling the work,
assigning resources, and, ultimately, negotiating for more time, more resources,
or less scope to complete the project by the preset deadline.
Sections
Syndication
