Project Schedule Management Importance

Project Schedule Management Importance

• Delivering projects on time is a major challenge for managers.
• Schedule issues can lead to conflicts, especially during the later stage of projects.
• Individual work styles and cultural differences can cause schedule conflicts.
  • Some people prefer schedules and deadlines while others don’t.
  • Cultures have varying attitudes towards deadlines and work ethics.

Overall Project Schedule Management

• The process ensures timely project completion.
• Planning processes include scheduling methodologies, defining activities, sequencing activities, estimating durations, and developing the project schedule.
• Documents produced include a schedule management plan, activity lists, milestone list, activity duration estimates, schedule baseline, project schedule, and project calendars.

Planning Schedule Management

• This process determines policies, procedures, and documentation for schedule management.
• Key outputs include:
  • Scheduling methodologies and tools used
  • Release and iteration lengths
  • Level of accuracy required for duration estimates
  • Units of measure
  • Organizational procedure links
  • Project schedule model maintenance
  • Control thresholds for monitoring schedule performance

Activity Definition

• This involves identifying and documenting the specific activities to be performed to complete the project.
• Outputs of this process include an activity list, activity attributes, and a milestone list.
• An activity list describes what needs to be done to complete the project.
• Activity attributes are details relevant to each activity.
• A milestone list is a list of significant events in the project schedule.

Sequencing Activities

• This determines the order in which activities need to be performed.
• Outputs include a project schedule network diagram and a schedule baseline.
• A schedule network diagram shows the sequence of project activities.
• A schedule baseline is a plan for the project schedule that can be used for comparison.
• Schedule relationships can be: finish-to-start, start-to-start, finish-to-finish, and start-to-finish.

Duration Estimates

• Effort is the number of workdays or work hours required to complete a task.
• Effort does not always equal duration.
• Estimates should include optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic estimates.
• PERT uses a three-point estimate to account for uncertainty in activity duration estimates.

Critical Path Analysis (CPA)

• CPA identifies the longest path in a project network diagram, which represents the critical path.
• Activities on the critical path cannot be delayed without delaying the entire project.
• If activities on the critical path take longer than planned, the project schedule will slip unless corrective action is taken.
• There might be more than one critical path if the duration is the same.
• CPA aids decision-making for schedule trade-offs.

Agile/Hybrid Project Schedule Management

• Agile teams use timeboxing, or pre-defined intervals called sprints, with a duration of 30 days or less.
• Scrum teams perform detailed schedule planning during sprint planning meetings.
• Sprint teams may not always finish all user stories within a sprint; unfinished items move to the next sprint.
• Gantt charts can be used in an Agile/Hybrid context but are updated after each sprint to reflect work desired by the customer.
• Scrum teams are cross-functional and aim for independence.
• Dependencies should be identified and addressed, potentially through a "Scrum of Scrums" for multiple teams.

This quiz explores the significance of project schedule management, focusing on challenges faced by managers in delivering projects on time. Participants will learn about the factors leading to schedule conflicts, including individual work styles and cultural differences, as well as the key processes involved in overall project schedule management.