Untitled Quiz

Lecture 4, Chapter 6: Project Time Management - Part 1

• Project managers often cite delivering projects on time as one of their biggest challenges.
• Time has the least amount of flexibility; it passes regardless of project events.
• Schedule issues are the primary cause of conflicts in projects, particularly during the latter stages.

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

• A WBS is a fundamental project management technique.
• It defines and organizes the total scope of a project.
• It uses a hierarchical tree structure.

Building House WBS Example

• Shows a breakdown of tasks for building a house, from project management to landscaping.
• It lists specific tasks, materials, and activities (e.g., laying foundation, constructing walls, designing interiors, etc.).

Project Time Management Processes

• Various processes are used to manage time effectively in a project.
• Processes include planning, controlling, developing the schedule, defining activities, sequencing activities, estimating activity durations, and estimating activity resources.

Project Time Management - Processes Breakdown

• Planning schedule: Includes determining policies, procedures, and documentation for planning, executing, and controlling project schedules.
• Defining activities: Identifying specific activities needed to deliver project deliverables from stakeholders and the project team.
• Sequencing activities: Identifying and documenting relationships between project activities.
• Estimating activity resources: Estimating the quantity of resources (people, equipment, and materials).
• Estimating activity durations: Assessing work periods needed to complete activities.
• Developing the schedule: Analyzing activity sequences, resource estimates, and duration estimates to develop the project schedule.
• Controlling the schedule: Managing and controlling changes to the project schedule.

Schedule Management Plan

• Project schedule mode: Contains project activities with estimated durations, dependencies, and planning information to create project schedules.
• Level of accuracy and units of measure: Defining the accuracy requirements and time units (hours, days, etc.) for estimates.
• Control thresholds: Establishing variance thresholds (e.g., ±10%) for monitoring schedule performance.
• Rules of performance measurement: Specifying how team members track work completion percentages.
• Reporting formats: Defining the format and frequency of schedule reports.
• Process descriptions: Describing how all schedule management processes will be carried out.

Defining Activities

• An activity or task is an element of work within a project's work breakdown structure (WBS).
• Defining activities involves detailed WBS explanations to establish realistic cost and duration estimations.
• These activities need resources, expected duration, and costs.

Activity Lists and Attributes

• Activity lists tabulate activities to be included in project schedules.
• Attributes include the activity name, identifier, description, predecessors, successors, logical relationships, leads/lags, resource requirements, constraints, dates, and assumptions related to the activity.

Sequencing Activities

• Sequencing activities involves reviewing activities and dependencies.
• A dependency or relationship sequences project activities or tasks.
• Understanding dependencies is vital for critical path analysis.

Types of Dependencies

• Mandatory dependencies: Inherent in the nature of the work, can't be performed until a prior step is complete (e.g., writing code before testing).
• Discretionary dependencies: Defined by the project team based on good practices.
• External dependencies: Involve relationships between the project and non-project activities, often involving external suppliers.

Task Dependency Types

• Finish-to-Start (FS): Task B begins after Task A is finished.
• Start-to-Start (SS): Task B begins simultaneously with Task A.
• Finish-to-Finish (FF): Task B ends when Task A ends.
• Start-to-Finish (SF): Task B ends after Task A has started.

Network Diagrams

• Network diagrams graphically illustrate logical project activity relationships.
• The preferred method of illustrating project activity sequencing.

Arrow Diagramming Method (ADM)

• Also known as Activity-on-Arrow (AOA) network diagrams.
• Activities are represented by arrows, and nodes represent starting/ending points.
• ADM diagrams can only showcase finish-to-start dependencies.
• An example of an AOA Network Diagram shows activities with durations, and node connections, illustrating activities and dependencies within a project.

Creating AOA Diagrams

• Construct the diagram by identifying activities starting at node 1.
• Indicate dependencies with arrows and include activity names/duration estimates.
• Analyze for "bursts" (single node leading to multiple activities) and "merges" (multiple nodes uniting into a single activity).

Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM)

• Activities shown as boxes.
• Relationships shown via arrows connecting activities (predecessors, successors, etc.).
• PDM is more popular than ADM. Preferred for illustrating various dependencies.

PDM Network Diagram

• Visual example of how the precedence diagram method is represented for project activities, including task-names, and durations.

Estimating Activity Resources

• Understanding resource quantities and types is crucial before duration estimations.
• Crucial questions include activity difficulty, organizational history, material/resource availability, and potential needs for additional resources.

Estimating Activity Durations

• Duration considers both work time and elapsed time.
• Effort differentiates itself from duration and is measured in work days or hours.
• Estimates created by those directly involved in activities should be reviewed by an expert.

Three-Point Estimates

• This approach offers optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic estimates for a more nuanced understanding of task durations that is needed for PERT (Program Evaluation and Review Technique).

Schedule Development

• Schedule development uses results from time management processes to determine project start and end dates.
• The goal is to construct a realistic schedule that monitors progress.
• Important tools include Gantt charts, critical path analysis, critical chain scheduling, and PERT analysis.

Gantt Charts

• Standardized format for displaying project schedules, representing tasks and their start and finish dates in a calendar-based format.
• Arrows indicate dependencies between tasks.
• A Gantt chart example is provided, illustrating how tasks are linked and scheduled.