IntroductionWelcome| 00:00 |
Hi, I'm Bonnie Biafore and welcome to
Managing Project Schedules.
| | 00:09 |
If you're new to project scheduling or
want to improve your scheduling skills,
| | 00:13 |
this course will give you the basics.
We'll begin by examining what project
| | 00:18 |
scheduling is.
And looking at the components that go
| | 00:21 |
into a schedule.
Then I'll guide you through identifying
| | 00:24 |
the work that needs to be done.
Estimating time and cost and putting
| | 00:29 |
tasks into the right order.
I'll describe how to build a project team
| | 00:34 |
and assign resources to tasks.
I'll also provide tips for working with
| | 00:39 |
part-time workers and remote teams.
We'll explore ways to fine-tune to
| | 00:44 |
schedule to balance people's work loads.
Finally, we'll go over methods for
| | 00:48 |
managing a schedule to deliver what's
important.
| | 00:52 |
And keep the project on track from start
to finish.
| | 00:56 |
Managing a project schedule successfully,
requires a well stocked tool box.
| | 01:01 |
I'll introduce you to these tools, and
show you how to use them, in Managing
| | 01:05 |
Project Schedules.
| | 01:07 |
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| What you need to know before starting| 00:00 |
Before we dive into project scheduling,
there are a few things you should be
| | 00:03 |
familiar with already.
In this course, I provide some background
| | 00:08 |
on projects, project management and the
factors that effect project schedules.
| | 00:13 |
But if you're new to managing projects,
consider taking my course Project
| | 00:17 |
Management Fundamentals first, and then
come back to this one.
| | 00:21 |
The first thing you need to know is what
a project is.
| | 00:25 |
A Project is a unique undertaking to
achieve a specific goal.
| | 00:29 |
A project is also temporary.
It has a definite beginning and end, and
| | 00:34 |
often has a budget.
In contrast, performing the same work day
| | 00:38 |
after day does not qualify as a project.
For example, an HR person processing forms.
| | 00:46 |
The forms are the same and the work
continues as long as the company is in business.
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And there's no specific budget, other
than the HR person's salary.
| | 00:56 |
It's also helpful to know the terminology
that project managers use and what those
| | 01:00 |
terms represent.
For example, things like scope,
| | 01:04 |
stakeholders and the critical path.
Several factors contribute to making a
| | 01:09 |
project successful.
Scope, time, cost, resources, and quality.
| | 01:16 |
It's important to understand what these
factors are and how they contribute to a
| | 01:20 |
project's success.
That's because the choices you make as
| | 01:24 |
you build and manage your project
schedule depend on the priority of these factors.
| | 01:29 |
If you're ready let's learn about
managing project schedules.
| | 01:33 |
If you feel like you need a refresher on
any of these topics, head over to my
| | 01:36 |
course, Project Management Fundamentals.
Then jump back to this one.
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| Showcase of the project schedule| 00:00 |
To give you a broad overview of
scheduling, I've used a Sample Project to
| | 00:03 |
show a schedule from start to finish.
The Sample Project used throughout this
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course is an employee orientation
training project for a midsize company.
| | 00:14 |
Business is booming and the company is
planning to hire a lot of new people.
| | 00:18 |
To get these folks on board and
productive as quickly as possible, the
| | 00:22 |
executive team has approved the employee
orientation training project.
| | 00:27 |
The executive team has set a deadline of
January 1st for the employee handbook, an
| | 00:32 |
HR website and live training.
The project may include the development
| | 00:37 |
of orientation videos if the schedule and
budget will allow.
| | 00:42 |
They've set an initial budget of $100,000
for the project.
| | 00:46 |
The big hiring push is starting the last
quarter of 2013, so the new employees
| | 00:51 |
will start working after January 1st,
2014.
| | 00:56 |
The project work is organized around the
deliverables, such as the topic outline,
| | 01:00 |
employee handbook, HR website, and live
training.
| | 01:06 |
The project presents some challenges
during planning and after work gets under way.
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In this course, we'll look at techniques
for building the project schedule so it's realistic.
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Then, we'll examine other techniques for
keeping the project on schedule and
| | 01:20 |
within budget.
You can follow along using the sample
| | 01:24 |
project, or apply these techniques to
your own project.
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| Using the exercise files| 00:00 |
This title includes exercise files for
you to download.
| | 00:04 |
These exercise files include sample files
for the project showcased in this course,
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along with other files that help you
schedule projects.
| | 00:13 |
You can download them on the course page
on the lynda.com library.
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Feel free to use all of these files to
experiment with scheduling techniques.
| | 00:23 |
You can also use the files from your own
project to follow along.
| | 00:28 |
So let's start scheduling.
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1. Understanding a Project ScheduleAn overview of project scheduling| 00:00 |
Managing project schedules is a lot like
making soup.
| | 00:04 |
You gather ingredients while figuring out
what the project is about.
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Toss them into a big pot as you build the
schedule.
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Adjust the seasoning to get workloads,
dates, and costs right.
| | 00:16 |
Then you watch the schedule as it cooks,
and make adjustments until the work's
| | 00:19 |
completed and the project goal is
achieved.
| | 00:23 |
The primary reason you build a project
schedule is to identify what things have
| | 00:27 |
to get done and when.
A project schedule also shows how all the
| | 00:32 |
pieces of the project fit together.
That way the people working on the
| | 00:36 |
project see how their work affects
others.
| | 00:39 |
Which helps the team work together toward
the common goal.
| | 00:43 |
A project schedule makes the work that
has to be done, easy to understand and manage.
| | 00:49 |
The schedule details help team members
understand what they're supposed to do
| | 00:53 |
and when it needs to be done, and the
details help you keep everything moving.
| | 01:00 |
Managing a project schedule isn't a one
shot deal.
| | 01:03 |
It's something you work on over most of
the life of the project.
| | 01:07 |
Your scheduling work starts as you plan
your project.
| | 01:11 |
You take the work you identify, time and
cost estimates, the people and other
| | 01:15 |
resources you need And build an initial
schedule.
| | 01:21 |
During planning, you learn more about the
project, like the resources you can get,
| | 01:25 |
or deadlines that the initial schedule
doesn't meet.
| | 01:29 |
So you fine-tune the schedule again,
again, and again.
| | 01:33 |
During this fine-tuning, it's important
to consider risks.
| | 01:39 |
Schedule changes, like shortening a
schedule to meet deadlines, bringing in
| | 01:43 |
additional and unfamiliar resources, and
other types of changes, can introduce risk.
| | 01:49 |
Be sure to update your risk management
plan as you build, fine tune, and manage
| | 01:53 |
your schedule.
If you're new to risk management, see my
| | 01:58 |
course, Project Management Fundamentals.
Eventually, you have a good-looking
| | 02:02 |
schedule to work with.
Once the project work gets going, you
| | 02:07 |
switch to managing your project schedule.
This is where the value of a schedule
| | 02:12 |
really shines.
A project schedule helps you keep things
| | 02:16 |
on time and within budget.
You can check on what's really happening
| | 02:21 |
in your project and compare that to your
schedule.
| | 02:24 |
If progress or costs aren't what they
should be, or issues arise, you can make
| | 02:28 |
adjustments before things get out of
hand.
| | 02:32 |
Sometimes changes to the project are
required, such as change requests or new requirements.
| | 02:39 |
In that case, you can evaluate the impact
of those changes and adjust the schedule accordingly.
| | 02:45 |
In this chapter, we'll take a look at the
components that contribute to a project schedule.
| | 02:50 |
The rest of this course will show you how
to play these components off one another
| | 02:54 |
to make your schedules work.
| | 02:56 |
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| Components of a project schedule| 00:00 |
Now let's look at the ingredients that go
into a project schedule.
| | 00:04 |
Tasks are the foundation of a schedule.
They represent the work that has to be
| | 00:09 |
done to deliver the project's results.
So the project isn't done until all its
| | 00:15 |
tasks are done.
Time Estimates are a big part of the
| | 00:18 |
schedule, because they help determine how
long tasks should take.
| | 00:23 |
As you'll see when we discuss assigning
resources to tasks, time estimates and
| | 00:27 |
resources go hand in hand.
You can fine-tune your initial estimates
| | 00:32 |
when you find out what resources you
have, to work on your project.
| | 00:36 |
When you add your time estimates to your
tasks, and put them into sequence, you'll
| | 00:40 |
find out how long the entire project is.
Cost Estimates can affect the schedule,
| | 00:47 |
particularly if the price tag comes in
too high.
| | 00:51 |
When the budget is important, which it
almost always is, you can juggle the
| | 00:55 |
schedule to trade off between time and
money.
| | 00:59 |
Resources, like people and equipment, are
a huge factor in schedules.
| | 01:04 |
They cost money, they're usually in short
supply, and they might not be available
| | 01:08 |
when you need them.
A good chunk of your work will revolve
| | 01:12 |
around balancing the project dates and
cost with the realities of which
| | 01:16 |
resources you get and when they're
available.
| | 01:21 |
Now that we've got the ingredients that
go into a project schedule, we can look
| | 01:24 |
at how they work together.
| | 01:26 |
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|
2. Identifying and Sequencing TasksIdentifying the work that needs to be done| 00:00 |
Just about everything on a project runs
more smoothly if you start by identifying
| | 00:04 |
what work needs to be done and break it
down to the right level of detail.
| | 00:09 |
For most projects, the best way to
identify work is to start at the top with
| | 00:13 |
the high level project deliverables and
work your way down.
| | 00:18 |
First, make a list of the high level
deliverables.
| | 00:21 |
In our example, the high level
deliverables are orientation topic
| | 00:25 |
outline, employee handbook, videos, a
website and live training.
| | 00:32 |
Each of these deliverables can be put
into a section of the overall project.
| | 00:37 |
Don't forget to add in work like the
project management you do, reporting and communication.
| | 00:42 |
Then identify what needs to be done to
produce each of these deliverables.
| | 00:47 |
This means breaking the work down into
smaller pieces, until you have tasks that
| | 00:51 |
are easy to estimate, assign and track.
Once you have a section for each high
| | 00:57 |
level deliverable, the next step is to
look for lower level deliverables.
| | 01:02 |
In our example a few lower level
deliverables are, the train the trainers
| | 01:05 |
materials, and a training schedule.
For each of these lower level
| | 01:09 |
deliverables, identify the tasks that
will deliver them.
| | 01:14 |
The next step is to review the tasks to
see if they look like they're the right size.
| | 01:20 |
The way to tell if the task is the right
size, is if you can estimate it and track
| | 01:24 |
it easily.
A common rule of thumb is between 8 and
| | 01:28 |
80 hours, anywhere from 1 day to two
weeks.
| | 01:33 |
Here are a few methods you can use to
evaluate the size of your tasks: Break
| | 01:36 |
down tasks so that they're duration
represents a small percentage of your
| | 01:39 |
projects length.
Like 5% or less.
| | 01:45 |
Break down work into short tasks for
short projects, longer tasks only on
| | 01:49 |
longer projects.
For example, if a project is only a month
| | 01:54 |
or two, say 40 business days, keeps task
duration up to two days long, or 5% of
| | 01:59 |
the project length.
When a project is 18 months long, task up
| | 02:05 |
to a one or two week duration is fine.
You can gauge whether task are small
| | 02:11 |
enough to estimate with reasonable
accuracy.
| | 02:15 |
See if task can be assigned to a single
person, or a small team.
| | 02:19 |
Estimate, roughly, whether task will be
shorter than your reporting period, so
| | 02:23 |
you get timely status updates.
See if tasks have distinct beginnings and
| | 02:28 |
ends, like being triggered by another
task or delivering something at the end.
| | 02:33 |
That makes it easy to track status.
If the task is the right size, you can
| | 02:38 |
stop right there.
If the task is too big, repeat these
| | 02:41 |
steps until the task is the right size.
For larger projects work with a small
| | 02:46 |
planning team to break down the first
level or two of tasks.
| | 02:51 |
Then you can hand off tasks to other
teams to flesh out the lower level work
| | 02:54 |
that has to be done.
For instance you might give the task of
| | 02:58 |
creating an orientation website to a
small web development team.
| | 03:02 |
If you get tasks from the lower level
teams add those to your overall project.
| | 03:08 |
After you have the task list completed
Get together with your planning team, and
| | 03:12 |
make sure each task is correct.
If you get duplicate tasks from a couple
| | 03:16 |
of teams, make sure that you include the
work only once in your list.
| | 03:22 |
You also might decide to reorganize
things, so you can hand off an entire
| | 03:25 |
chunk of work to a single team.
When you're done, you have something that
| | 03:30 |
looks like an organization chart.
This breakdown of tasks is called a work
| | 03:34 |
breakdown structure.
Top down isn't the only way to identify tasks.
| | 03:39 |
If you work by yourself or on very small
projects, a few dozens tasks and a couple
| | 03:43 |
of people, say, you might work at the
detailed level until the entire list is done.
| | 03:50 |
If you take this approach, you can still
organize the tasks into groupings of work.
| | 03:55 |
As you'll see when we organize work with
summary tasks.
| | 03:58 |
At other times, you might work your way
from side to side.
| | 04:03 |
Take the first high-level deliverable,
and flesh out all the tasks for that
| | 04:06 |
aspect of the project before you move to
the next.
| | 04:10 |
This approach works with well if
different teams take on each part of the
| | 04:13 |
project with well-defined hand-offs from
team to team.
| | 04:17 |
With this work breakdown structure in
place, you're well on your way to
| | 04:20 |
building your initial schedule.
| | 04:22 |
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| Organizing work with summary tasks| 00:00 |
There are three main ways to organize the
tasks in your project.
| | 00:04 |
By deliverable, by phase or by group.
You can choose one approach or a
| | 00:09 |
combination of methods based on how
you're going to plan and manage your project.
| | 00:15 |
Let's take a look at each of the three
main methods.
| | 00:19 |
Organizing work by deliverable, lends
itself to identifying tasks from the top down.
| | 00:24 |
You can organize work by the phase in
which it occurs.
| | 00:27 |
If your project has distinct phases, such
as planning, and developing training.
| | 00:32 |
Organizing work by phase is a good
choice, if you have go, no go decisions,
| | 00:35 |
at different points in the project.
For example, you can group all the tasks
| | 00:41 |
for a pilot project to prove the benefits
of the employee orientation project.
| | 00:46 |
Then the next phase includes tasks for
planning the full-blown project.
| | 00:51 |
You can organize work by the groups,
departments or teams that do the work.
| | 00:56 |
If different groups perform distinct
portions of the project.
| | 00:59 |
If you organize by group, you can ask
team leads to identify work, so you, can
| | 01:03 |
focus on how each team's work contributes
to the overall project.
| | 01:08 |
This approach works well if you farm
portions of your project out to different
| | 01:12 |
vendors and contractors.
The end result looks like an organization
| | 01:16 |
chart, except that the hierarchy shows
how you summarize tasks, instead of who
| | 01:20 |
manages whom.
Regardless of how you organize your
| | 01:25 |
project, the underlying work tasks stay
the same.
| | 01:29 |
There isn't one right way to organize
work.
| | 01:32 |
Pick the approach that you feel will help
you make the project a success.
| | 01:35 |
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| Adding milestones| 00:00 |
Milestones are markers you add to your
schedule to flag events, highlight
| | 00:04 |
progress, or acknowledge achievements.
A milestone can represent a significant decision.
| | 00:10 |
It marks the point when you decide
whether to continue, or which solution
| | 00:14 |
you decide to go with.
If a decision is delayed, all you have to
| | 00:19 |
do is reschedule the milestone, and the
rest of your tasks move later in time.
| | 00:25 |
Milestones can also flag the beginning or
end of a project phase or portion of the project.
| | 00:31 |
Add a milestone to the beginning of a
phase to mark when it starts.
| | 00:35 |
That way, if earlier tasks are delayed,
the phase's starting milestone and task
| | 00:39 |
will move to later dates.
Add another milestone to the end of the
| | 00:44 |
phase to show when it ends.
Go ahead and add milestones to the
| | 00:47 |
beginning and end of the entire project.
All the tasks affected by the project
| | 00:52 |
start date are easy to identify.
The end milestone shows whether the
| | 00:57 |
project will be on time, late, or ahead
of schedule.
| | 01:00 |
By adding a milestone when you've
completed a deliverable, you can see the
| | 01:05 |
progress you've made, woo-hoo.
Add milestones to deliverables or other
| | 01:10 |
progress points every so often.
A good approach is to have at least a
| | 01:15 |
milestone or two during each reporting
period.
| | 01:18 |
For example, the outline of training
topics, the rough content for training
| | 01:22 |
and the final workbook all make great
milestones for the sample project.
| | 01:28 |
When the work leading up to that
milestone is done, the milestone is done too.
| | 01:32 |
And you can clearly identify the progress
you've made.
| | 01:36 |
Milestones are helpful when there's a
significant hand-off to another team.
| | 01:41 |
That way, you can keep track of when the
next team should expect to start work.
| | 01:46 |
Milestones also work to flag important
events, such as a delivery from the printer.
| | 01:51 |
You don't care what goes on at the
printer's location.
| | 01:54 |
You just want the notebooks delivered on
time.
| | 01:57 |
A milestone chart is a simple way to show
progress to your stakeholders.
| | 02:02 |
That way, they can see at a glance where
the project stands.
| | 02:05 |
The great thing about milestones is that
they don't take any time.
| | 02:10 |
They're usually set to a duration of zero
hours or days, so you can add as many as
| | 02:14 |
you want to the project without affecting
the amount of work Or the project duration.
| | 02:20 |
If your project schedule has long
stretches between milestones, add more to
| | 02:24 |
highlight progress that's being made.
For example, if the development of
| | 02:28 |
training content runs for several weeks,
you can add milestones for completing
| | 02:32 |
different modules, so that you have a
milestone each week.
| | 02:37 |
Milestones help you see decision points,
significant progress points, handoffs,
| | 02:42 |
and important events.
Because they don't take up any time, you
| | 02:46 |
can add all the milestones you want to
help you manage your project.
| | 02:50 |
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| Estimating time and cost| 00:00 |
When you start planning a project, you
need to estimate what it's going to take.
| | 00:05 |
Estimating can be tough, but there are
ways to make it easier.
| | 00:08 |
The first step is to get everyone to
agree on the level of accuracy for estimates.
| | 00:15 |
There are three levels of accuracy to
choose from.
| | 00:18 |
You can start with a rough estimate, plus
or minus 50%, to see if a project makes
| | 00:23 |
sense to pursue.
As you get additional details, you can
| | 00:27 |
put together more accurate estimates.
The second level of estimate is the
| | 00:31 |
mid-range estimate.
These are usually plus or minus 25%.
| | 00:37 |
When you finish one project phase, or a
pilot project, you can re-estimate the
| | 00:39 |
next phase based on what you've learned.
The third level is the detailed estimate.
| | 00:42 |
These take the longest to develop but
they should be really close to your final
| | 00:50 |
numbers, plus or minus 10%.
The second step is to estimate tasks.
| | 00:59 |
There are many ways to do this.
If you have information about a similar
| | 01:02 |
project in the past, or team member's
performance on other projects, by all
| | 01:06 |
means, put that data to use.
Estimating based on previous actual
| | 01:12 |
results is a great way to get an accurate
estimate in no time.
| | 01:17 |
Another way to obtain accurate estimates
is to get people who understand the work
| | 01:21 |
to estimate it.
For example, if you know your team
| | 01:25 |
members, give them the big picture of the
project and describe the tasks you need estimated.
| | 01:31 |
Have them estimate how long it would take
them to complete the work.
| | 01:35 |
Another option is to track down experts,
like senior people or external
| | 01:39 |
consultants and ask them for estimates.
There are two sensible actions to take
| | 01:45 |
when you get estimates from others.
One, you can trust that the estimates are
| | 01:52 |
good or two if you have your doubts, go
get a second opinion.
| | 01:58 |
Expanding on the concept of getting a
second opinion is an estimating technique
| | 02:01 |
called the Delphi method.
It's based on the idea that more heads
| | 02:06 |
are better than one.
You can ask several experts to estimate independently.
| | 02:12 |
You share the results with the group and
ask them to re-estimate.
| | 02:16 |
Repeat this step of sharing and
re-estimating a couple more times, and
| | 02:20 |
then use the average of the last round as
your final estimated value.
| | 02:26 |
Sometimes people share the reasoning the
experts give for their estimates, others
| | 02:30 |
simply share the estimate values.
Interestingly, the Delphi method seems to
| | 02:36 |
produce good estimates either way, so you
can use whichever approach makes sense to you.
| | 02:43 |
Here's an example of applying the Delphi
method.
| | 02:46 |
In the first round, one estimator comes
in on the high end with 200 hours.
| | 02:52 |
Another estimator is on the low end with
150.
| | 02:55 |
And the third estimator is almost in the
middle with 180 hours.
| | 03:00 |
In the second round, the high estimate
comes down to 190.
| | 03:04 |
The other two increase their estimates.
Maybe because they thought of some work
| | 03:09 |
they forgot.
The third round high and low estimates
| | 03:12 |
continue to move toward the middle.
While estimator three sticks with her
| | 03:16 |
second round number.
The estimates in the fourth round seem to
| | 03:20 |
be stabilizing, so we'll take the average
of this round as the estimate.
| | 03:25 |
Add the three estimates together and
divide by three to get 180 hours.
| | 03:30 |
Another way to get more accurate
estimates, is to take an iterative
| | 03:33 |
approach to the project work.
You start with a small piece of the
| | 03:38 |
project, estimate it.
Deliver the work, and see how long it took.
| | 03:43 |
That way you can come up with better
estimates on the next portion of the project.
| | 03:49 |
Another approach is PERT, which stands
for program evaluation and review technique.
| | 03:54 |
You ask people to produce optimistic,
pessimistic and most likely estimates.
| | 04:00 |
For example, the optimistic estimate for
a task is 16 hours.
| | 04:05 |
The pessimistic estimate is 32 hours.
The most likely estimate is 20 hours.
| | 04:12 |
The weighted average of these estimates
comes out to be 21 hours.
| | 04:17 |
However the PERT method also uses these
estimates to run multiple simulations of
| | 04:22 |
the project to determine possible
outcomes.
| | 04:26 |
With statistical analysis of these
outcomes, you can determine the
| | 04:29 |
probability of the project finishing
within a specific time frame.
| | 04:35 |
PERT is a good choice when a project is
unfamiliar or comes with a lot of uncertainty.
| | 04:41 |
It makes people think about risks and it
emphasizes the uncertain nature of estimates.
| | 04:47 |
These are just a few ways to estimate
tasks.
| | 04:50 |
There may be other methods specific to
your industry.
| | 04:53 |
Ask your colleagues for approaches they
recommend.
| | 04:57 |
Once you decide on an estimating method,
your next decision is whether to estimate
| | 05:01 |
from the bottom up or the top down.
Bottom-up estimating provides more
| | 05:06 |
accurate estimates, if your project is
broken down.
| | 05:11 |
Let's take a look at how you estimate
from the bottom up.
| | 05:14 |
You start by estimating the work tasks in
your task list.
| | 05:19 |
The next step is to add up the estimates
for the tasks within a summary task.
| | 05:24 |
The total is the estimate for that
summary task.
| | 05:29 |
Repeat this step for all the lowest level
summary tasks.
| | 05:32 |
Keep adding estimates together until you
reach the top of the project.
| | 05:37 |
The total for you highest level summary
task provides an estimate for the entire project.
| | 05:43 |
When you estimate from the bottom up, be
sure to add in time for communication,
| | 05:47 |
management, travel and so on.
Estimating from the top down, means that
| | 05:53 |
you start by estimating the top level
sections of your project.
| | 05:57 |
Like each project phase or the sections
for each high-level deliverable.
| | 06:02 |
Then you work your way down, breaking
down your estimates to allocate time and
| | 06:06 |
money to the lower-level tasks in each
phase or section.
| | 06:11 |
Top-down estimating is good for earlier,
rough estimates, when you don't have
| | 06:15 |
detail about the project or tasks.
Top down estimating also works when a
| | 06:20 |
project is similar to others you've done.
You also need to decide which measure of
| | 06:26 |
time you're going to estimate, duration
or work hours.
| | 06:31 |
Most people think in terms of duration
yeah, that materials going to take three
| | 06:35 |
days to write.
When you get duration estimates be sure
| | 06:39 |
to ask the people who provided the
estimates what assumptions they made.
| | 06:43 |
Is it three days full time for one
person?
| | 06:46 |
Or three days with the time that person
has available?
| | 06:49 |
Or is it three days for the entire team?
Instead of estimating duration,
| | 06:53 |
estimating work hours gives you a better
idea of what the work is going to take.
| | 06:59 |
Now a team member could say, that
material's going to take 24 hours to write.
| | 07:04 |
Once you know how many people you have to
do the work, you can figure out the duration.
| | 07:09 |
Three days for one writer, or one day for
a team of three writers.
| | 07:14 |
Estimates are an important part of a good
project plan, because they determine how
| | 07:18 |
long the project will take and what it
will cost.
| | 07:22 |
To give your project a good foundation,
pick the estimating method that fits your project.
| | 07:27 |
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| Putting tasks into the right order| 00:00 |
Putting tasks in order is another big
step toward completing your schedule.
| | 00:05 |
Once tasks are in the right order, you're
on your way to a smoothly running project.
| | 00:10 |
Order is important because some tasks
have an effect on others.
| | 00:14 |
Tasks can relate to each other on several
ways based on when they start and finish.
| | 00:19 |
These relationships are called task
lengths or task dependencies.
| | 00:24 |
The first step in identifying a task
dependency is to figure out which task is
| | 00:27 |
the trigger.
The task connected by a dependency are
| | 00:31 |
called predecessor and successor tasks.
The predecessor task trigger the successor.
| | 00:38 |
Let's take a look at how this works.
Because the employee handbook can't be
| | 00:43 |
proofread until the handbook is put
together, the prepare review copy task
| | 00:48 |
triggers the proofread handbook task.
So the predecessor is prepare review copy.
| | 00:55 |
And the successor is proofread handbook.
The second step is to determine whether
| | 01:00 |
the start or finish date of the
predecessor is the trigger.
| | 01:03 |
That identifies the first half of the
dependency type.
| | 01:08 |
The finish date of prepare review copy is
the trigger, so the dependency type
| | 01:13 |
begins with finish 2.
Right now, you can't tell if the
| | 01:17 |
dependency type is finish to start Or
finish to finish.
| | 01:20 |
The final step, is to determine whether
the first task triggers the start or
| | 01:24 |
finish of the second one.
That's the second half of the dependency type.
| | 01:30 |
The finish date of the prepare review
copy task triggers the start date of the
| | 01:34 |
proofread handbook task.
So the dependency time is finish-to-start.
| | 01:39 |
Task dependency types are based on the
way dates depend on each other.
| | 01:45 |
For example, the finish-to-start
dependency means the finish date of one
| | 01:48 |
task controls the start date of the other
task.
| | 01:51 |
Finish-to-start is the most common type
of dependency.
| | 01:55 |
Start-to-start is almost as common.
This dependency means that the start of
| | 02:00 |
one task triggers the start of the other.
Start-to-start tasks often have a bit of
| | 02:05 |
delay between the two tasks.
For example, the start of Write content
| | 02:10 |
triggers the start of Edit content,
except that the editing task will start a
| | 02:14 |
few days after the writing begins.
When the training content for the first
| | 02:19 |
training module is complete,
finish-to-finish is the third type of dependency.
| | 02:25 |
The finish of one task triggers the
finish of the other.
| | 02:28 |
This dependency type often includes a lag
between the two tasks, just like a
| | 02:32 |
start-to-start does.
For example, the finish of editing
| | 02:36 |
triggers the reviewing task's finish.
That's because the reviewers won't finish
| | 02:41 |
for a period of time after the last
training module is edited.
| | 02:46 |
The last type of dependency,
Start-to-finish doesn't come up very often.
| | 02:50 |
The start of one task determines when
another task finishes.
| | 02:54 |
For example, in a retail store, one
person's shift can't finish until the
| | 02:58 |
next person's shift starts.
Otherwise the cash register would be left unattended.
| | 03:05 |
Every work task in your project should
have a successor.
| | 03:09 |
At the very least, a task dependency with
a task or milestone that flags the end of
| | 03:12 |
the project.
By linking each work task to another
| | 03:16 |
task, you clearly indicate the part the
task plays in the project.
| | 03:22 |
The best way to build a schedule is to
add dependencies between individual work
| | 03:26 |
tasks, And to avoid adding dependencies
to summary tasks.
| | 03:31 |
By linking work tasks the flow of work is
easier to follow and your schedule will
| | 03:35 |
be more efficient.
| | 03:37 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Delaying or overlapping tasks with lag and lead time| 00:00 |
Some linked tasks have delays between
them, while others overlap.
| | 00:04 |
You use Lag Time, positive or negative,
to create these delays or overlaps.
| | 00:10 |
Positive lag time creates a delay between
linked tasks.
| | 00:15 |
Waiting for paint to dry before
installing carpet is one example of lag time.
| | 00:20 |
If you use a scheduling program you can
add lag time to any task dependency that
| | 00:24 |
needs it.
To add a two day lag, all you have to do
| | 00:27 |
is fill in two days in the lag field.
An Overlap is when two tasks run
| | 00:33 |
simultaneously for part of their
duration.
| | 00:37 |
The method you chose to create an overlap
really depends on how you view the
| | 00:41 |
relationship between the tasks.
Earlier we looked at the task dependence
| | 00:46 |
between Write content and Edit content.
If the Editor is ready to work the
| | 00:51 |
dependency can be Start to Start, but the
Editor needs something to edit.
| | 00:57 |
So the dependency needs some lag time to
allow the writers to complete a training module.
| | 01:01 |
What if you only bring in an editor when
there's editing to do?
| | 01:05 |
In that case, the dependency between the
tasks looks more like Finish to Finish.
| | 01:11 |
The editor finishes editing two days
after the writing is finished.
| | 01:16 |
Although you use a different type of
dependency, you would still use positive
| | 01:19 |
lag time.
If tasks overlap just a little, the
| | 01:23 |
relationship might be easier to follow if
you link the tasks finish to start.
| | 01:29 |
Then, negative lag creates the overlap
between the tasks.
| | 01:34 |
How do you start the second task before
the first one is done?
| | 01:37 |
By adding negative lag to the task
dependency.
| | 01:41 |
Here's an example of how negative lag
creates an overlap.
| | 01:44 |
You plan to test the orientation website
after it's built, so you link the tasks
| | 01:48 |
Finish to Start.
But the schedule is too long, so you
| | 01:52 |
decide to start testing s few days before
the website is finished.
| | 01:57 |
Lag time in task dependencies help you
model how work really occurs.
| | 02:02 |
It can also help you build a more
efficient schedule, or shorten one that's
| | 02:06 |
too long.
| | 02:07 |
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| Setting specific dates| 00:00 |
Some tasks have restrictions on when they
can occur, which are known as schedule or
| | 00:05 |
date constraints.
These schedule constraints reduce the
| | 00:08 |
flexibility of your schedule, so it's
important to use them onyl when they're
| | 00:11 |
really necessary.
Constraints can be flexible or inflexible.
| | 00:18 |
Most tasks need to start as soon as
possible.
| | 00:20 |
That's an example of a Flexible
Constraint and it's the one that you will
| | 00:23 |
use most often.
In this case, the start date is the
| | 00:27 |
earliest possible date, based on task
dependencies and resource availability.
| | 00:32 |
It's the inflexible constraints that
limits your projects schedule.
| | 00:36 |
You can't move constrained task around
freely, to manage resource workloads, or
| | 00:41 |
to shorten a schedule.
More importantly, they limit a scheduling
| | 00:45 |
programs ability to calculate the
schedule for you.
| | 00:49 |
Look at the task in your schedule, and
decide whether any of them have schedule constraints.
| | 00:54 |
For a task with a constraint, start by
identifying just how inflexible the
| | 00:58 |
constraint is.
Decide whether the constraint is totally inflexible.
| | 01:04 |
That is, the task must start or finish on
a specific day.
| | 01:08 |
For example, a live training class occurs
on specific days.
| | 01:13 |
So the trainer, and attendees, can plan
their time and travel.
| | 01:18 |
If the constraint isn't totally
inflexible, identify the level of
| | 01:21 |
flexibility it does have.
Start No Earlier Than, is a partially
| | 01:26 |
inflexible schedule constrain.
A task with this constrain, can start
| | 01:30 |
earlier, up to a point.
But it can start earlier than a specific
| | 01:35 |
date, even if predecessors are done and
resources are available.
| | 01:41 |
Here's an example of a Start No Earlier
Than constraint in the sample project.
| | 01:45 |
The company is building a special
sound-proof room that's going to be open
| | 01:49 |
for business on February 1st.
This construction isn't part of the
| | 01:53 |
employee orientation project.
But the orientation videos will be
| | 01:57 |
recorded in that room.
So the Record videos task has a start no
| | 02:02 |
earlier than date constraint of February
1st.
| | 02:06 |
Finish No Later Than is another partially
inflexible constraint.
| | 02:10 |
This one means that a task has to finish
on or before a specific date.
| | 02:15 |
For example, the employee handbook has to
be finished before December 31st.
| | 02:20 |
Because the company is hiring a bunch of
new people who will start coming onboard
| | 02:24 |
after that date.
A Deadline is another name for a Finish
| | 02:29 |
No Later Than constraint.
If you use a deadline, keep your eye on
| | 02:33 |
the task finish date during planning and
while the work is underway.
| | 02:38 |
If the task starts to get close to its
deadline, or flies past it, you have to
| | 02:42 |
jump in and do something to get it back
on track.
| | 02:46 |
We'll discuss ways to get the project
back on track, when we talk about
| | 02:49 |
optimizing our schedule.
Adding schedule constraints to tasks
| | 02:53 |
makes your project schedule more
realistic.
| | 02:56 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
3. Assigning Resources to TasksBalancing resource assignment variables| 00:00 |
When you assign resources to tasks,
issues like heavy work loads and late
| | 00:03 |
finish dates really start come into
focus.
| | 00:07 |
Fortunately, Resource Assignments are
made up of three variables.
| | 00:11 |
Duration, work, and rResource
availability.
| | 00:15 |
You can juggle these to meet schedule
objectives or resolve scheduling issues.
| | 00:21 |
Duration is the length of a task from its
start to its finish.
| | 00:24 |
Work, also called effort, represents the
persons hours it takes to complete the task.
| | 00:31 |
Resource availability is the amount of
time someone has available to work on a task.
| | 00:37 |
Relationship between these three
variables can be expressed as an equation.
| | 00:41 |
Duration is equal to Work, divided by
Resource Availability.
| | 00:46 |
Like any equation, you can change any two
of the three variables, but not all three.
| | 00:53 |
To see how this equation works, consider
a task that you estimate will take
| | 00:56 |
someone four hours to complete.
In this case, the work is four hours.
| | 01:03 |
If the person assigned is available
full-time, then four hours later the task
| | 01:06 |
should be done.
So the duration is also four hours.
| | 01:11 |
The amount of work for a task usually
stays the same.
| | 01:15 |
So playing with resource assignments
mostly boils down to two situations.
| | 01:20 |
If you know how much someone is
available, assign them with that resource availability.
| | 01:27 |
Then the task duration is based on the
work hours and availability.
| | 01:32 |
If you know how long you want the task to
take, change the duration.
| | 01:37 |
The resulting resource availability is
what's needed to finish the work in that duration.
| | 01:43 |
Not all tasks can be shortened by adding
resources.
| | 01:47 |
In our sample project, adding more people
to the task of driving to the live
| | 01:50 |
training site won't shorten it's
duration.
| | 01:54 |
The care can go only so fast and let's
hope it has only one driver.
| | 02:00 |
Let's look at an example where resource
availability changes.
| | 02:03 |
Say the person can only work on the task
half of their time, because they have
| | 02:07 |
another assignment.
You'd expect the task to take twice as long.
| | 02:13 |
The duration increases to eight hours.
On the other hand, if you add another
| | 02:18 |
person to help, then the task will take
half as long.
| | 02:22 |
In this case the duration decreases from
four hours, to two hours.
| | 02:27 |
Now lets look at an example where the
duration changes.
| | 02:31 |
Say you have a task assigned to one
person that's scheduled to run for two days.
| | 02:36 |
But you need it to finish in one, to keep
the project on time.
| | 02:39 |
The duration needs to be cut in half, so
you need two people working on the task.
| | 02:46 |
Occasionally the amount of work changes.
The most common example of this is meetings.
| | 02:52 |
You schedule a one-hour meeting, the
duration is one hour.
| | 02:56 |
The amount of work increases by an hour
for each person who's invited to the meeting.
| | 03:01 |
If six people attend, the duration is
still an hour, but the work is six hours.
| | 03:07 |
When you first assign people to tasks,
you find out how long tasks should take.
| | 03:12 |
But you don't have accept that first
answer.
| | 03:14 |
You can adjust assignments to reflect how
much time people are available, to meet
| | 03:18 |
deadlines, or to get a project schedule
back on track.
| | 03:22 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Planning resources at a high level| 00:00 |
If your project needs more than a handful
of people.
| | 00:03 |
A Staffing Plan can help you line up the
right folks.
| | 00:06 |
To build a staffing plan, you need to
know the skills required to perform
| | 00:09 |
project tasks.
And a high level estimated schedule of
| | 00:13 |
when tasks occur.
One way to build a staffing plan is in a Spreadsheet.
| | 00:19 |
You estimate how long you expect big
sections of the project to take, and the
| | 00:22 |
skills needed for each of those sections.
With this information, start by listing
| | 00:28 |
the skills needed in the cells in the
first column.
| | 00:31 |
Next, use the rest of the columns for
time periods.
| | 00:35 |
Typically weeks or months, depending on
the overall length of the project.
| | 00:40 |
Finally, you can fill in the cells at the
intersection of a skill and time period,
| | 00:44 |
with the number of people you need with
that particular skill during that time period.
| | 00:51 |
Another way to build a staffing plan is
with a scheduling program.
| | 00:54 |
With this approach, you set-up resources
based on the required skills you identified.
| | 00:59 |
With the employee orientation project the
skill based resources include an
| | 01:03 |
Instructional Designer, Content
Developers, an Editor, Web Developers,
| | 01:07 |
and so on.
Then you assign these skill based
| | 01:11 |
resources to the tasks in your schedule.
You can look at the schedule to see how
| | 01:16 |
many people you need with each skill,
during each time period.
| | 01:21 |
For example, this view, shows the number
of hours of work allocated, per month,
| | 01:25 |
for each skill based resource.
You can use a staffing plan to determine
| | 01:32 |
how many resources you need to find.
You can also use it to determine where to
| | 01:37 |
get your resources and when you need to
start the procurement process.
| | 01:43 |
First, review the staffing plan to look
for potential resource shortages.
| | 01:48 |
For instance, in the sample project, if
you expect to get two content developers.
| | 01:53 |
But the initial staffing plan shows that
you need three of them, you can adjust
| | 01:58 |
the duration of tasks to reflect the
resources you expect to get.
| | 02:03 |
Next, review the skills and timing in the
staffing plan to determine whether you
| | 02:07 |
can use resources in your organization,
or have to go outside the company.
| | 02:14 |
Third, work back from when resources
start their assignments to figure out
| | 02:18 |
when you need to start the procurement
process.
| | 02:23 |
A staffing plan is a work in progress.
As you get commitments for resources, you
| | 02:28 |
can add details like pay rate and
availability.
| | 02:32 |
Then you can use these details as you
fine-tune your schedule.
| | 02:36 |
A staffing plan provides a high-level
view of a project's resource requirements.
| | 02:41 |
This gives you the information you need
to develop a realistic project schedule.
| | 02:45 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Procuring resources| 00:00 |
The schedule you build isn't done, until
you know who's going to do the work and
| | 00:04 |
when they can do it.
Peoples availability and skill levels can
| | 00:08 |
significantly effect what your schedule
looks like.
| | 00:11 |
That's why, knowing how to find and
obtain the best resources for your
| | 00:14 |
project is a valuable business skill.
How you line up resources depends on
| | 00:19 |
where they come from, and the processes
your organization has for procurement.
| | 00:24 |
If you're new to Procuring Resources, ask
your HR department, your manager or other
| | 00:28 |
project managers, how long the process
usually takes.
| | 00:32 |
Add that amount of time to your plan,
before project task are supposed to start.
| | 00:37 |
If you're staffing your project with
in-house resources, start by identifying
| | 00:41 |
any existing processes for obtaining the
people, and other resources you need.
| | 00:46 |
In small organizations you might go
directly to the people who have the right skills.
| | 00:52 |
In larger organizations, you might ask
managers for commitments to provide those people.
| | 00:57 |
As the project start date approaches,
finalize those commitments by nailing
| | 01:00 |
down the specific people with the
required skills and experience.
| | 01:06 |
When you get resources from outside your
company, there could be a few more steps
| | 01:09 |
involved, like getting bids, choosing the
vendor and signing a contract.
| | 01:14 |
Many organizations set up standing
contracts with vendors, so getting
| | 01:18 |
resources from these preferred vendors
can happen pretty fast.
| | 01:22 |
Finally, build relationships with
resource managers and the people who
| | 01:25 |
might work on your project.
You'll stand a better chance of getting
| | 01:29 |
the best resources available when people
know who you are and what you're like.
| | 01:35 |
Getting to know your organization's
processes, planning for the time
| | 01:38 |
procurement takes, and building
relationships will help you to get the
| | 01:41 |
best resources possible.
| | 01:43 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Assigning resources that are available| 00:00 |
Task duration, work and resource
availability are intertwined.
| | 00:05 |
Which means that resource assignments are
the final piece of the task scheduling puzzle.
| | 00:10 |
For many projects, the people assigned to
your team aren't identified until
| | 00:13 |
planning is well under way.
So you have to build your initial
| | 00:18 |
schedule based on some guesses, like how
many resources are available and their
| | 00:22 |
level of experience.
To handle this situation, start by
| | 00:27 |
assigning resources only by the roles or
skills required.
| | 00:31 |
For the sample project, some roles and
skills include Training lead, Instruction
| | 00:36 |
designer and content developer.
How you assign these generic resources,
| | 00:41 |
depends on how you estimate your tasks.
If you estimate hours or days of work,
| | 00:46 |
assign the number of resources you expect
to get, then you can calculate the task duration.
| | 00:53 |
If you estimate the task duration
instead, assign the number of resources
| | 00:57 |
you'll need to finish in that duration.
In this case, the number of resources is
| | 01:02 |
based on an average level of experience
or skill.
| | 01:06 |
Bear in mind that the assumptions you
make in these estimates introduce risk.
| | 01:11 |
You might not get the number of resources
you expect, they don't have the skills or
| | 01:15 |
experience you need.
Or they're new to your team and need more
| | 01:19 |
time to get up to speed.
With these assumptions, there's a risk
| | 01:22 |
that your scheduled duration will
increase.
| | 01:27 |
The next step, is to replace those
generic resources with specific team
| | 01:30 |
member names.
Before you replace generic resources with
| | 01:35 |
specific people.
You need three pieces of information.
| | 01:38 |
First, ask the resource managers about
peoples level of experience.
| | 01:44 |
Second, find out when they are available
to your project.
| | 01:48 |
Third, find out how much of their time
you're getting.
| | 01:51 |
For example, someone is assigned to work
half-time on your project.
| | 01:56 |
Now you know how many people you're
getting, their experience and availability.
| | 02:01 |
Create or adjust resource assignments to
reflect reality.
| | 02:05 |
Here are some examples from the sample
project.
| | 02:09 |
Say you plan for four content developers,
but only got two.
| | 02:12 |
In this case, replace the generic
resources with the people you got.
| | 02:18 |
When you replace the four generic
resources with your two team members, the
| | 02:22 |
rate content task duration doubles, from
two weeks to four weeks.
| | 02:28 |
What if one of the content developers is
less experienced than you planned for?
| | 02:33 |
In this situation, increase the work
hours for the task, because it will take
| | 02:36 |
more for that person to get their work
done.
| | 02:40 |
For example, you might increase the
assignment hours by 50% for a junior
| | 02:43 |
level person.
And remember, those additional work
| | 02:47 |
hours, also increase the task duration.
Finally, adjust assignments to match when
| | 02:53 |
and how much people are available.
Suppose you planned for one editor and
| | 02:58 |
that's what you got.
However, she's assigned to your project
| | 03:02 |
half-time, and she has a one-week
vacation planned.
| | 03:06 |
In this case, assign four hours a day,
each work day, for the edit-content task.
| | 03:11 |
If her vacation occurs while she's
editing content, break the task into two pieces.
| | 03:17 |
As you learn more about the resources
assigned, you can adjust assignments and
| | 03:21 |
increase the accuracy of the schedule.
Once you've assigned resources to tasks,
| | 03:26 |
you can see whether you need to fine-tune
the schedule.
| | 03:29 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Working with part-time workers and teams| 00:00 |
Getting assignments right for part time
workers and teams is an important step
| | 00:04 |
toward forecasting a schedule with
accuracy.
| | 00:07 |
Part-time workers take longer to complete
work, because they don't work full time.
| | 00:11 |
If a task is estimated as one full work
day, someone working half time will need
| | 00:15 |
two workdays to finish.
When you assign a part time worker, the
| | 00:20 |
first step is specifying the person's
availability.
| | 00:24 |
For instance, four hours a day for
someone working half-time.
| | 00:28 |
The second step is specifying when the
part-timer works.
| | 00:32 |
When they work comes into play when a
task requires interaction, because you
| | 00:35 |
have to schedule it for a day and time
that they're available.
| | 00:39 |
Think about the editor who works
half-time.
| | 00:42 |
If you schedule a meeting with the editor
to review the training content, you have
| | 00:46 |
to schedule it during the editor's work
hours.
| | 00:49 |
An alternative approach is to ask a part
time worker if they can come in at the
| | 00:53 |
time when the task is scheduled.
This approach is a good thing to try when
| | 00:57 |
a meeting includes several people, and
most of them can already make it at the
| | 01:00 |
same time.
Another special case in assigning
| | 01:04 |
resources, is handling a team of workers
with the same interchangeable skills,
| | 01:07 |
like editors.
Assign the team by a team name, not
| | 01:11 |
individuals names.
In this case, it's more important to get
| | 01:16 |
the specified skill, than an individual
worker.
| | 01:19 |
For a team, the availability is more than
full time.
| | 01:23 |
For example, 400% for a four person team.
And because you're assigning a team, the
| | 01:29 |
task won't take as long.
In the sample project, the content
| | 01:33 |
developers are a team just like this.
Perhaps when you planned the project you
| | 01:37 |
assigned a single content developer to
write content, and task duration was
| | 01:41 |
eight weeks.
If you find out that you can get the
| | 01:44 |
entire four person content developer
team, you have four full-time workers, so
| | 01:48 |
the task shortens to two weeks.
Keep in mind that teams have overhead
| | 01:54 |
time that they spend in communication and
interaction.
| | 01:59 |
If you switch a single person assignment
to a team assignment, add 5 to 10% to
| | 02:02 |
your estimate to account for this
overhead.
| | 02:06 |
Then assign the team to the task.
Part-time workers and teams, don't work
| | 02:10 |
the same schedules or same number of
hours as full-time workers.
| | 02:14 |
By assigning part-time workers and teams
to reflect their availability.
| | 02:18 |
You can build a more accurate schedule
that makes it easier to keep your project
| | 02:22 |
on track when work is underway.
| | 02:25 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Working with remote teams| 00:00 |
When team members work in different
locations, there are additional factors
| | 00:03 |
to consider.
Taking the pros and cons of remote teams
| | 00:06 |
into account when you schedule and assign
resources will help keep your project
| | 00:10 |
running smoothly.
The first step in assigning members of
| | 00:14 |
remote teams should be familiar.
Set up team members' work schedules to
| | 00:19 |
reflect their working days and times.
If people work in different time zones,
| | 00:23 |
choose a primary time zone for the
project.
| | 00:27 |
The one where you work, or the one where
most people are located, for example.
| | 00:32 |
Then, define each person's working times
based on that time zone.
| | 00:36 |
Keep in mind that if people work in
different companies or countries, you
| | 00:40 |
need to identify holidays and other
non-working time that may differ from
| | 00:43 |
your company or country.
For international teams, it's often a
| | 00:48 |
challenge to find a good time for phone
calls, reviews and other interactions.
| | 00:53 |
Talk to the team members involved to
determine the most convenient time and
| | 00:56 |
schedule the task then.
After you get working and nonworking
| | 01:01 |
times in place, it's time to consider the
other ways that these teams can affect
| | 01:04 |
your project schedule.
International teams can give your project
| | 01:09 |
what seems like a longer workday.
You can assign tasks so that people in
| | 01:14 |
one part of the world complete work
before the end of their workday, and hand
| | 01:17 |
it off to people in another part of the
world who are just starting theirs.
| | 01:23 |
If this kind of hand-off is an option,
break work down into one-day chunks so
| | 01:27 |
the work can flow from time zone to time
zone.
| | 01:32 |
Expanding your resource pull to include
members of remote teams can help by
| | 01:36 |
providing more resources for tasks.
If these teams result in more people
| | 01:41 |
working on a task, the work can get done
more quickly.
| | 01:45 |
Be sure to add time, 5 to 10% for
example, for coordination, communication
| | 01:50 |
and resolving misunderstandings.
Another advantage of remote teams is that
| | 01:56 |
you aren't limited by distance, so you
can find the best people for an assignment.
| | 02:01 |
The right person can get work done in
less time, so you decrease the estimated
| | 02:04 |
work hours for a task and shorten its
duration.
| | 02:09 |
The bad news is that remote teams
sometimes aren't as productive, because
| | 02:12 |
distance can prevent team members from
building good working relationships.
| | 02:17 |
Or communicating as effectively as people
in the same location.
| | 02:22 |
Here are some steps you can take to
overcome distance issues.
| | 02:25 |
Set up conference calls or video calls so
team members can get to know one another.
| | 02:30 |
Hold regular online meetings to keep
everyone informed.
| | 02:34 |
Help team members communicate more
effectively over the phone and through e-mail.
| | 02:39 |
Consider offering diversity training to
help team members work better with people
| | 02:42 |
from other cultures.
Once you know how remote teams work, you
| | 02:47 |
can tweak your schedule to make the most
of the benefits and limit the impact of
| | 02:50 |
the challenges.
| | 02:53 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
4. Planning to Balance WorkloadsFine-tuning the schedule for resources| 00:00 |
After you assign people the tasks in your
project, you have to make sure that you
| | 00:03 |
aren't asking team members to do too much
at once.
| | 00:08 |
Several methods for balancing workloads
help you keep assignments in line with
| | 00:11 |
team member's availability.
The first method for balancing workloads
| | 00:15 |
is to extend the length of the
assignments.
| | 00:18 |
This approach makes the project longer of
course, but resources are often in short
| | 00:22 |
supply, so this is almost always the
first move toward making your project
| | 00:25 |
schedule really work.
There are methods we'll discuss shortly
| | 00:30 |
for bringing the project finish date back
in.
| | 00:33 |
The second method for balancing work
loads is delaying some assignment so that
| | 00:36 |
people could work on one assignment after
the other.
| | 00:39 |
When people work on several assignments
at the same time, they can end up with
| | 00:43 |
too much to do all at once.
Switching focus between too many
| | 00:48 |
simultaneous assignments can also hurt
their productivity.
| | 00:52 |
The third method for balancing workloads
is to reassign work from over-allocated
| | 00:56 |
people to the ones who have spare time.
This method only works if you have other
| | 01:01 |
people with the right skills available.
This not only reduces workloads, but you
| | 01:07 |
can also use it to shorten the schedule.
The fourth method for balancing resource
| | 01:12 |
workloads is to contour the amount of
work you allocate to someone over the
| | 01:15 |
course of an assignment.
The amount someone works on a task goes
| | 01:20 |
up and down over time.
For example, getting oriented at the
| | 01:23 |
beginning, cranking up the work in the
middle and tapering off to clean up lose ends.
| | 01:30 |
If someone has multiple assignments at
the same time, try to schedule them so
| | 01:33 |
that overlapping assignments all don't
require their full attention.
| | 01:38 |
These are several methods you can use to
even out people's work assignments.
| | 01:43 |
Using these, you can balance team
members' workloads and make the project
| | 01:46 |
schedule more realistic.
| | 01:48 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Determining the critical path| 00:00 |
The critical path is a connective
sequence of tasks that runs from the
| | 00:03 |
start of the project to the finish.
That means any changes to dates on the
| | 00:08 |
critical path change the project finish
date.
| | 00:11 |
Before you use the critical path to
manage your schedules, you should
| | 00:14 |
understand what makes tasks critical.
And how to identify them.
| | 00:19 |
The tasks on the critical path have one
thing in common.
| | 00:23 |
They have zero total slack.
Total slack, also called flow, is the
| | 00:27 |
amount of time that a task can move in
the schedule before it affects the
| | 00:30 |
project finish date.
So zero total slack means that the tasks
| | 00:36 |
are hemmed in by their predecessors and
successors.
| | 00:39 |
And can't move earlier or later.
In this example, tasks one, four, and
| | 00:45 |
five are critical because they make up
the sequence that runs from the project
| | 00:48 |
start date to its finish.
In this Microsoft project view, critical
| | 00:54 |
task bars are red.
And non-critical tasks are blue.
| | 00:57 |
In the old days, part of a project
manager's rite of passage was to
| | 01:01 |
calculate the critical path by hand.
All scheduling programs take care of
| | 01:07 |
calculating the critical path for you,
it's a good idea to do it yourself at
| | 01:10 |
least once.
It helps you grasp the concept of the
| | 01:14 |
critical path.
And it's a common question on project
| | 01:18 |
management certification exams.
There are three main steps to identifying
| | 01:24 |
the tasks on the critical path.
The first step is calculating the
| | 01:28 |
earliest possible start and finish dates
for every task in the schedule.
| | 01:33 |
Next calculate the latest possible start
and finish dates for every task in the schedule.
| | 01:39 |
Finally calculate total slack for each
task.
| | 01:44 |
We'll examine each step in detail.
In the first step the earliest possible
| | 01:50 |
start date is determined by the dates of
a task's predecessors.
| | 01:54 |
In this example, the project and its
first task, start on April 7th.
| | 02:00 |
That's the earliest possible start date.
The earliest possible finish date for the
| | 02:05 |
first task is the start date plus the
task duration.
| | 02:10 |
In this case, April 7th, plus two days
duration means the early finish is April 8th.
| | 02:16 |
The task starts in the morning on April
7th and finishes at the end of the day on
| | 02:20 |
April 8th.
Task two is linked to task one with a
| | 02:24 |
finish-to-start dependency.
So the earliest task two can start is
| | 02:29 |
right after task one finishes, in this
case the morning of April 9th.
| | 02:35 |
It finishes on April 10th.
Task five is also linked to task one,
| | 02:40 |
with a finish to start dependency.
So its early start is also April 9th.
| | 02:47 |
It's early finish is April 9th, plus five
work days duration, or April 15th.
| | 02:53 |
If you want to practice calculating early
start and finish dates, you can use the
| | 02:56 |
other tasks in this schedule to do that.
To calculate the latest start and finish
| | 03:02 |
dates, start with the latest task in the
schedule, and work backwards.
| | 03:07 |
Calculating the latest possible dates for
tasks until you reach the beginning of
| | 03:11 |
the project.
In this step, the project in this latest
| | 03:16 |
task, task four, finished on April 17th.
That's the latest possible finish date.
| | 03:23 |
The latest possible start date for task
four is the late finish date minus the
| | 03:27 |
task duration.
April 17th minus two days duration means
| | 03:32 |
late start is April 16th.
The latest task three can finish is right
| | 03:38 |
before task four starts.
So its late finish day is at the end of
| | 03:42 |
the day, April 15th.
Its duration is one day.
| | 03:46 |
So its late start is the beginning of the
day, April 15th.
| | 03:50 |
Task five is also linked to task four.
So its late finish is also April 15th.
| | 03:56 |
However, its late start is April 15th
minus five workdays duration or April 9th.
| | 04:04 |
You can calculate the late start and
finish dates for the other tasks if you
| | 04:06 |
want to practice.
Total slack is the late finish date minus
| | 04:11 |
the early finish date.
If the late finish date and the early
| | 04:16 |
finish date are the same.
Total slack is zero which means the task
| | 04:19 |
is on the critical path.
In our example, task one's early finish
| | 04:24 |
is April 8th.
Task one's late finish is also April 8th.
| | 04:30 |
If you subtract April 8th from April 8th
you get zero.
| | 04:35 |
As you would expect, total slack for task
one is zero, and the task bar is red to
| | 04:38 |
indicate that it's on the critical path.
Task two is a different story.
| | 04:46 |
Task two's early finish is April 10th,
but its late finish is April 14th.
| | 04:52 |
The difference between April 14th and
April 10th in work days is two days.
| | 04:57 |
So task two's total slack is two days.
The task bar is blue to show that it
| | 05:02 |
isn't critical.
Now that you know how to identify the
| | 05:07 |
tasks on the critical path, you can use
it to keep your project on schedule.
| | 05:12 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Putting the critical path to work| 00:00 |
The task on The Critical Path takes
longer, or gets delayed.
| | 00:04 |
Its late finish date pushes out finish
dates of all the other critical tasks,
| | 00:08 |
and eventually, the finish date of the
project.
| | 00:12 |
By managing the tasks on the critical
path, you can keep your project on schedule.
| | 00:18 |
Because tasks on the critical path
directly affect the project finish date,
| | 00:21 |
they should be your top priority for
keeping on schedule.
| | 00:26 |
In other words, if issues arise that
threaten to delay both critical and
| | 00:30 |
noncritical tasks, tend to the critical
task first.
| | 00:34 |
In our example, the tasks to develop
content are critical.
| | 00:39 |
They're the ones in red, while the tasks
to build the HR website are not, they're blue.
| | 00:45 |
If problems come up on both portions of
the project, focus on resolving the issue
| | 00:50 |
on developing content first.
And then turn your attention to the website.
| | 00:56 |
The critical path is also the place to
look for solutions if your project is
| | 01:00 |
already delayed, or needs to finish
sooner for any reason.
| | 01:04 |
If you're trying to shorten the project,
always shorten tasks on the critical path.
| | 01:10 |
If you can finish a critical task
earlier, then the project finishes earlier.
| | 01:15 |
Keep in mind, the resources assigned to
the task, have to be available when you
| | 01:18 |
need them, for this approach to work.
In our example, suppose the stakeholders
| | 01:23 |
want everything finished by December
24th.
| | 01:26 |
The employee handbook tasks are critical.
They determine the project finish date,
| | 01:32 |
December 30th, so they're the ones to
shorten.
| | 01:36 |
In this case, we shorten the schedule by
starting work on the employee handbook
| | 01:39 |
before the content is approved.
We'll discuss that technique when we talk
| | 01:44 |
about fast tracking tasks.
This change to the critical path, works.
| | 01:49 |
The employee handbook tasks now finish on
December 20th.
| | 01:53 |
And the project finish date has changed
from December 30th, to December 23rd.
| | 01:58 |
When you shorten a critical task,
recalculate the critical path before you
| | 02:02 |
make any more changes.
A shortened task could fall off the
| | 02:06 |
critical path, making other tasks
critical instead.
| | 02:10 |
Another example, The handbook tests are
no longer critical.
| | 02:14 |
Their task bars have changed from red to
blue to show that.
| | 02:18 |
If the schedule needs to be even shorter,
you would look at other critical tasks to shorten.
| | 02:24 |
Like writing and editing the content or
finalizing and publishing the website.
| | 02:30 |
Focusing on the tasks on The Critical
Path, is important, because they affect
| | 02:33 |
when the project finishes.
By making changes to those tasks, you can
| | 02:37 |
keep your project on time, or bring a
delayed project, back on track.
| | 02:43 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Lengthening, delaying, and splitting assignments| 00:00 |
There are three ways to even out the work
assigned to someone: lengthening,
| | 00:04 |
delaying and splitting assignments.
Lengthening the duration of assignments
| | 00:09 |
and letting them run simultaneously can
be an easy fix when someone is
| | 00:12 |
overloaded, because assignments are
scheduled at the same time.
| | 00:16 |
When you increase the duration of
assignments, the person works fewer hours
| | 00:20 |
on each assignment each day.
In this sample project, the instructional
| | 00:25 |
designer has two one-day tasks scheduled
at the same time.
| | 00:29 |
Review current training methods and
review training feedback.
| | 00:35 |
Increasing the duration of these tasks to
two days allows the instructional
| | 00:38 |
designer to work on both of them
half-time.
| | 00:43 |
Delaying one or two of the person's
assignments is another way to balance
| | 00:46 |
someone's workload.
This approach is helpful if someone has
| | 00:50 |
several assignments scheduled at the same
time.
| | 00:54 |
Delays also work well when assignments
are short.
| | 00:58 |
Assignment delays level out a team
member's workload.
| | 01:01 |
In addition, delays also help the person
stay focused and productive.
| | 01:05 |
That's because most people can only
juggle up to three assignments before
| | 01:09 |
their productivity starts to wane.
In the sample project, the training lead
| | 01:14 |
is assigned to identify the training
needs for six departments.
| | 01:18 |
Each assignment, a day or two in length.
Instead of assigning lead to work on all
| | 01:23 |
six tasks at once, you can delay them so
they occur once after the other, or maybe
| | 01:27 |
two at a time.
Splitting a longer assignment into pieces
| | 01:32 |
is the third technique for leveling
workload.
| | 01:35 |
This is a good solution when you need to
squeeze a short but important assignment in.
| | 01:40 |
For example, the content developers are
scheduled to write content for two weeks.
| | 01:45 |
Suppose there is a review scheduled in
the middle of that assignment.
| | 01:49 |
You can add a split to the two-week task,
so the content developers can spend the
| | 01:52 |
day on the review and then get back to
the original assignment.
| | 01:57 |
Lengthening, delaying and splitting
assignments all help even out people's
| | 02:00 |
work loads.
By understanding the benefits of each
| | 02:04 |
one, you can use them alone or together
to make your project schedule as
| | 02:07 |
effective and realistic as possible.
| | 02:10 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Adjusting the level of work over time| 00:00 |
Work contours help you even out people's
workloads, while improving your
| | 00:03 |
schedule's accuracy.
When you first assign people to task, the
| | 00:08 |
typical model is the tasks start and stop
abruptly.
| | 00:13 |
But how much someone works on an
assignment can vary day by day.
| | 00:16 |
Work contours put this varying work level
into your schedule.
| | 00:21 |
They do a better job of modeling how
people work on their assignments and they
| | 00:24 |
don't lengthen the schedule as much as
delays or splits do.
| | 00:28 |
Work levels can vary in several ways over
the duration of an assignment.
| | 00:32 |
However you've probably experienced a
work contour like a bell curve.
| | 00:37 |
Work starts off slow as someone gathers
the info they need and gets used to their assignment.
| | 00:43 |
Then they hit their stride and they're
completely productive through the middle
| | 00:46 |
of the work.
Finally, the effort tapers off near the
| | 00:49 |
finish while they tie up loose ends.
Another common contour is the late peak.
| | 00:56 |
This is the one for people who work well
on adrenaline.
| | 00:59 |
The work starts slow and continues to
build to a peak as the deadlines grow closer.
| | 01:05 |
These are just a few examples of work
contours.
| | 01:09 |
Some scheduling programs have work
contours you can apply to tasks.
| | 01:13 |
If the hours people spend on a task vary
day by day, find the contour that best
| | 01:17 |
reflects those varying work levels, and
assign it to the task.
| | 01:22 |
If you're unfamiliar with the type of
project you're working on, ask other
| | 01:25 |
project managers or your team members
which work contours make sense.
| | 01:30 |
Not every task needs a work contour,
you'll get better at deciding whether to
| | 01:34 |
use one and how to choose as you gain
more experience.
| | 01:38 |
A contour does increase the length of a
task, because the person doesn't work
| | 01:42 |
100% from start to finish.
For instance, a task might go from five
| | 01:47 |
days to eight days with a contour
applied.
| | 01:51 |
However, the less than full time
allocations mean that the person assigned
| | 01:55 |
can ramp up on one task, while they wrap
up on another.
| | 01:58 |
Contouring work helps even out workloads
without lengthening the overall schedule
| | 02:03 |
too much.
The added advantage of work contours is
| | 02:07 |
they provide a better picture of how work
really gets done.
| | 02:11 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Replacing overallocated resources| 00:00 |
Another way to balance workloads is to
reassign work to others who have more
| | 00:03 |
time available.
If you have someone who's over-allocated,
| | 00:08 |
and you have someone available with the
proper skills, this can be a good way to
| | 00:12 |
reduce their workload without lengthening
the project.
| | 00:16 |
First, look at the people who are over
allocated on your project.
| | 00:20 |
Then determine whether you can find
people with the same skills to take on
| | 00:23 |
some of the over allocated assignments.
Depending on the constraints on your
| | 00:29 |
project or your company, you can consider
other employees, contractors or third
| | 00:33 |
party vendors.
If you find people with the right skills
| | 00:38 |
who are available at the right time.
Go ahead and start the procurement
| | 00:42 |
process as soon as you can.
Once you're sure you have the
| | 00:46 |
replacements lined up, change your
schedule to reassign the over allocated work.
| | 00:51 |
Then, let your over-allocated resource
know you've gotten them some help.
| | 00:56 |
The upside to this approach is
significant.
| | 00:59 |
The work you reassign occurs when it was
originally scheduled.
| | 01:04 |
This approach looks like it won't
increase the length of the project.
| | 01:08 |
But this isn't always the case.
Here are some considerations to keep in
| | 01:13 |
mind when procuring replacement
resources.
| | 01:16 |
Replacements could be less experienced,
so they might take longer to complete the work.
| | 01:22 |
They could deliver lower quality.
Or they could need support from the very
| | 01:25 |
people you're trying to offload.
Or, if you find skilled replacements,
| | 01:29 |
they could come with a higher price tag.
When you're on the hunt for replacements,
| | 01:35 |
scrutinize their abilities and cost.
When you come up with options, evaluate
| | 01:41 |
each one to see which one is most
appropriate for your project.
| | 01:46 |
If a replacement will take longer, do a
what if change to your schedule to see if
| | 01:50 |
reassigning the work is better than
delaying or splitting the original
| | 01:53 |
person's assignment.
If the replacement costs more.
| | 01:58 |
Calculate the extra cost to see if it
fits within the project budget.
| | 02:04 |
Let's look at our sample project to see
how to evaluate options and choose the
| | 02:08 |
right one.
Suppose two content developers are
| | 02:11 |
assigned to right content and re-purposed
material for the HR website.
| | 02:16 |
At the same time.
The goal is to eliminate their over
| | 02:19 |
allocated time while keeping the project
on schedule.
| | 02:24 |
The current finish date is December 31st
and the development cost is about $86,000.
| | 02:29 |
One option for balancing the content
developer's workloads is to delay or
| | 02:33 |
split tasks so they can work on tasks one
at a time.
| | 02:38 |
Re-purposing content is scheduled to
occur near the finish of writing content.
| | 02:44 |
So you tried delaying the repurposing
task.
| | 02:47 |
The result with this option is that the
finish date pushes out to January 3rd.
| | 02:52 |
The cost doesn't change at all.
Another option is to assign the
| | 02:56 |
repurposing task to someone else.
Only one person in your company is
| | 03:00 |
available, a tech writer.
So, you have one person, not two, to work
| | 03:05 |
on the task.
In addition the tech writer is a new
| | 03:09 |
employee, so you expect it will take her
longer.
| | 03:12 |
The original estimate is 48 hours, so you
increase that to 60 hours.
| | 03:18 |
This option pushes the finish date out.
It delays from December 31st to January 7th.
| | 03:24 |
Because the tech writer's hourly rate is
lower than the content developer's rate,
| | 03:28 |
the cost decreases to 85,200.
Suppose you find out that a contractor
| | 03:34 |
you've worked with before is available.
Her hourly rate is higher than what you
| | 03:38 |
pay the content developers.
However, she's familiar with the project
| | 03:43 |
and works really fast.
So you estimate that she can finish the
| | 03:46 |
work in 32 hours, instead of the 48 hours
for the content developers.
| | 03:52 |
She's also willing to work longer days to
finish quicker.
| | 03:54 |
With this option, it takes her a little
longer to complete the task because
| | 03:58 |
there's only one person working on the
task, even though she takes fewer hours.
| | 04:04 |
So the project finishes only one day
later, on January 1st.
| | 04:09 |
Although the contractor has a higher
hourly rate, she works fewer hours so the
| | 04:13 |
cost actually decreases to 85,400.
In this example, the project finish date
| | 04:19 |
is the most important factor.
So hiring the contractor is the best alternative.
| | 04:26 |
The contractor option has an added
advantage of decreasing the cost.
| | 04:30 |
Reassigning work to other people who have
more time available is a great way to
| | 04:34 |
balance work loads without lengthening
the schedule.
| | 04:38 |
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|
|
5. Optimizing SchedulesAdding buffers to the schedule| 00:00 |
Adding buffers to the schedule can keep
the project on time, even if issues come
| | 00:04 |
up, without having to jump through hoops.
When you add buffers, it's a good idea to
| | 00:10 |
assign them for specific reasons.
For example, to educate project staff, or
| | 00:16 |
for the complexity of the recording
studio setup.
| | 00:21 |
That way you communicate your reasoning
to management, and assure them that you
| | 00:24 |
aren't just adding blank space to the
schedule.
| | 00:29 |
At first, you can guesstimate the size of
the buffers you add.
| | 00:32 |
Then, as you gain experience, you can
fine tune your buffer sizes to fit your
| | 00:36 |
projects and teams.
Start by adding a time buffer to the end
| | 00:42 |
of each sequence of tasks in the
schedule.
| | 00:46 |
That way, all the tasks in the sequence
share one buffer.
| | 00:51 |
And only the tasks that need more time,
take it from that buffer.
| | 00:56 |
In the sample project, one of the test
sequences is for the orientation topic outline.
| | 01:02 |
This part of the project has 12 short
task, and the whole sequence takes a
| | 01:05 |
little less than 16 days.
Instead of some extra hours added to each
| | 01:11 |
task, we'll add a buffer of, say, two
days, a little bit more than 10%, at the
| | 01:16 |
end of the sequence.
Once you've added buffers to the
| | 01:22 |
sequences, next, add buffers to the end
of each phase or major portion of the project.
| | 01:29 |
And finally, add one more buffer at the
very end of the project.
| | 01:34 |
Continuing with the example, there's a
five-day buffer at the end of the
| | 01:37 |
training/planning phase.
In addition, there's an eight day buffer
| | 01:42 |
at the end of the project.
What's nice about adding buffers in this
| | 01:46 |
way is that you don't have to jump into
action at the first sign of a problem.
| | 01:51 |
You can remain focused on keeping the
overall project running smoothly.
| | 01:56 |
If a task experiences a delay, big deal.
You give it some of the buffer at the end
| | 02:01 |
of the sequence.
If a third of the buffer gets used up,
| | 02:05 |
start watching tasks more closely.
But you still don't have to take any action.
| | 02:12 |
When half the buffer gets used up, put
plans in place for what you'll do to
| | 02:15 |
correct course if the delays continue.
Finally, if 2 3rds of the buffer gets
| | 02:21 |
eaten up, implement the plans you made.
If a task sequence extends beyond its
| | 02:28 |
buffer then you can start using the phase
buffers in the same way to protect the
| | 02:33 |
project finish date.
For example, if a delayed task sequence
| | 02:38 |
consumes more than a third of a phase
buffer.
| | 02:41 |
You would evaluate additional options to
get the problem under control.
| | 02:45 |
By adding buffers to your schedule, the
projects dates are more likely to stay on track.
| | 02:51 |
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| Adding a baseline to the schedule| 00:00 |
After the stakeholders approve the
project plan, it's important to save that plan.
| | 00:06 |
That version of the project plan is
called the baseline.
| | 00:11 |
That's because it's the measuring stick
you use once work begins to compare
| | 00:15 |
actual progress to what you planned.
Whatever you include in the baseline
| | 00:21 |
should go into your change control
process, then when you make changes to
| | 00:25 |
the baseline, they're recorded as change
requests.
| | 00:31 |
A project plan is more than a schedule,
so there are several methods you can use
| | 00:34 |
to save a baseline.
Depending on the type of files you are
| | 00:38 |
trying to save.
If you're trying to save documents like
| | 00:41 |
specifications or requirements, you can
store the original versions in a
| | 00:45 |
designated baseline folder.
Then, if somethign changes, you can edit
| | 00:50 |
a copy of the baseline document and flag
the revisions as change requests.
| | 00:58 |
Saving baseline values for your project
schedule is a different story.
| | 01:02 |
Project scheduling programs usually have
a feature for saving a baseline.
| | 01:07 |
When you save a baseline in this way, the
program saves the current, that is
| | 01:11 |
approved, values.
Like start and finish dates, task
| | 01:16 |
duration, work hours, cost, and so on.
As you can see here.
| | 01:23 |
The benefit of saving a base line becomes
apparent as you record your progress or
| | 01:27 |
adjust the schedule.
Once you start recording, what actually
| | 01:32 |
occurs, or make changes to the approved
schedule.
| | 01:36 |
You can compare your planned values and
current values to look for changes in
| | 01:40 |
dates and costs.
For example, in this view a task that
| | 01:45 |
took longer than planned, has delayed the
tasks that follow.
| | 01:50 |
The start variance field show how much
tasks have been delayed.
| | 01:55 |
In addition, the grey task bars in the
time scale are the baseline for when
| | 01:58 |
tasks were supposed to occur.
The blue and red task bar show the
| | 02:02 |
current schedule.
You can see the delays in the timeline,
| | 02:06 |
because the blue and red bars are further
to the right in the time scale.
| | 02:11 |
Cost is another measure in a baseline.
In our example, the extra hours of work
| | 02:15 |
that made the task longer also increased
its cost.
| | 02:20 |
So the current cost is greater than the
baseline.
| | 02:23 |
If you see that tasks are delaying, or
costs are increasing compared to the
| | 02:27 |
baseline, you can identify changes to
bring the project back in line.
| | 02:32 |
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|
|
6. Managing SchedulesProactively managing a schedule| 00:00 |
Managing a project schedule means
balancing scope, time, cost, resources
| | 00:05 |
and quality.
The changes you make to the schedule
| | 00:10 |
depend on which factors are important to
the stakeholders.
| | 00:13 |
Because schedule changes can introduce
risk, you also have to consider the level
| | 00:17 |
of risk stakeholders are willing to
accept.
| | 00:22 |
Time is often a big one, because the
stakeholders have a project finish date
| | 00:25 |
in mind.
Once work starts, part of your job is to
| | 00:29 |
watch for schedule problems brewing.
If delays begin to threaten the finish
| | 00:33 |
date, you can use techniques like fast
tracking and crashing tasks to shorten
| | 00:37 |
the remaining schedule.
If money is more important than time,
| | 00:42 |
there are a few ways to change the
schedule to reduce costs.
| | 00:46 |
Such as hiring less expensive resources,
even if they take longer to complete work
| | 00:50 |
or shortening the schedule to reduce
overhead costs.
| | 00:56 |
Cut some of the project's scope, if the
finish date, budget, and resources aren't negotiable.
| | 01:02 |
This is another way to shorten the
schedule and reduce cost.
| | 01:06 |
The key is to cut the least important
parts, so the project still delivers the
| | 01:09 |
benefits it's supposed to.
Quality is the one factor it's often best
| | 01:14 |
to leave the way it is.
Reducing quality can lead to problems
| | 01:18 |
that take time and money to fix,
offsetting any savings you hoped for.
| | 01:25 |
Juggling all the project variables is an
ongoing activity.
| | 01:29 |
The rest of this chapter explains the
techniques you can use to keep the
| | 01:32 |
project on track.
| | 01:34 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Finding schedule problems| 00:00 |
After your team members start working on
their tasks, it's time to start managing
| | 00:03 |
the schedule.
Because projects never go completely
| | 00:07 |
according to plan, you need to watch for
schedule problems in the making.
| | 00:12 |
That way you can do something about them
before they get out of hand.
| | 00:15 |
First, look for tasks whose start dates
are later than you originally planned.
| | 00:22 |
Or have already started late.
Here you can see the gray task bars are
| | 00:27 |
where everything should have been, and
the red and blue task bars are where
| | 00:30 |
everything is now.
If a task doesn't start when it's
| | 00:34 |
supposed to, there's a good chance it
won't finish when it's supposed to either.
| | 00:40 |
If a task with a late start isn't on the
critical path.
| | 00:44 |
Then it has some room to delay before it
affects the project finish date.
| | 00:49 |
In this case, flag the task as one to
keep your eye on.
| | 00:53 |
If the task is on the critical path and
the project finish date is at risk,
| | 00:57 |
consider whether you can shorten the task
or tasks that follow it.
| | 01:01 |
At the same time, look into why the task
has a late start.
| | 01:07 |
See if the predecessor tasks finished
late, or have scheduled to finish late,
| | 01:11 |
and if so, why.
If possible, resolve the issue that's
| | 01:15 |
causing delay so tasks in the future
aren't affected as well.
| | 01:19 |
In our example, suppose the instructional
desginer tells you that the sales
| | 01:23 |
training is more complicated than
expected.
| | 01:26 |
And that the training planning tasks are
taking longer than estimated.
| | 01:31 |
You and the designer might come up with
an alternative to break out the sales
| | 01:34 |
training tasks from the topics that apply
to all employees.
| | 01:37 |
That way, work can proceed on the rest of
the training materials, and the sales
| | 01:41 |
training topics can be finished a little
later.
| | 01:45 |
The next scheduling issue to look for is
tasks that are slipping.
| | 01:48 |
That is, tasks whose finish dates are
currently scheduled later than planned.
| | 01:54 |
Because late starts are one reason for
late finishes, some of these tasks could
| | 01:58 |
already be on your radar.
To help uncover tasks like these, look
| | 02:03 |
closer at the hours of work spent
compared to what you planned.
| | 02:07 |
If the hours worked are less than you
planned by this date, the task could be
| | 02:10 |
headed for a late finish.
For example, according to your plan, your
| | 02:15 |
team should of worked 40 hours on a task
through today.
| | 02:19 |
However, they've only worked 20 hours so
far.
| | 02:23 |
They're 20 hours behind where they should
be.
| | 02:26 |
In this case, the work estimate is fine.
The problem is team members aren't
| | 02:30 |
devoting the time you planned.
Ask them why they aren't getting as many
| | 02:34 |
hours in so you can figure out what to do
about it.
| | 02:38 |
For example, if administrative tasks
consume more time than expected, see if
| | 02:41 |
there's a way to streamline those
activities.
| | 02:45 |
Another issue to look for is task whose
estimated work hours has increased beyond
| | 02:48 |
their original values.
Suppose the task's original estimate is
| | 02:53 |
40 hours, the team member assigned works
20 hours so the task should be half done.
| | 03:00 |
But your team member tells you she is a
third done and she now estimates it's
| | 03:04 |
going to take 60 hours, not 40.
That means the task duration will
| | 03:09 |
increase, and possibly delay other tasks.
In addition to looking for schedule symptoms.
| | 03:14 |
It's a good idea to head off a common
people problem.
| | 03:18 |
Team members not admitting that they're
running behind, or need more hours.
| | 03:22 |
They might say everything's fine.
And then right before they're supposed to
| | 03:26 |
be done, tell you what's really going on.
Tell your team up front that you would
| | 03:30 |
rather hear about issues early on, than
get blindsided.
| | 03:34 |
Then, be sure to keep your word, and
thank them for telling you about the
| | 03:37 |
problems that do arise.
Watching for signs of schedule issues is
| | 03:42 |
the first step to keeping your schedule
on track.
| | 03:46 |
When you see early warnings of delays,
you can be proactive to head them off.
| | 03:50 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Fast-tracking tasks to shorten a schedule| 00:00 |
Remember those tasks that you linked
together so one starts after the previous
| | 00:03 |
one finishes?
Once a project is under way, you can bend
| | 00:07 |
the rules a little for those dependencies
to shorten the schedule.
| | 00:11 |
It's called fast-tracking, because you're
pushing tasks to occur faster than they
| | 00:15 |
normally would.
The concept behind fast-tracking tasks is simple.
| | 00:21 |
Overlap tasks that would normally run in
sequence so that the second task starts
| | 00:24 |
before the first one is finished.
To do this, all you have to do is adjust
| | 00:29 |
the task dependency to include negative
live time as discussed when we covered Live.
| | 00:36 |
Because the goal is shortening the
project schedule, candidates for fast
| | 00:39 |
tracking are the tasks on the critical
path.
| | 00:42 |
That's because shortening tasks on the
critical path shortens the entire schedule.
| | 00:47 |
Here's an example from the sample
project.
| | 00:50 |
Initially, laying out the employee
handbook doesn't start until the content
| | 00:54 |
has been revised and approved, but the
schedule needs to be a few days shorter.
| | 01:00 |
One option is to fast track the revised
content task, and the layout employee
| | 01:04 |
handbook task, and overlap them by two
days.
| | 01:08 |
As one person revises the content,
another person lays out the revised
| | 01:11 |
content in the handbook file.
By overlapping these tasks, the project
| | 01:16 |
finish date is an entire week earlier.
The disadvantage to fast tracking is it
| | 01:21 |
adds some risk to the project.
In the sample project, there's a risk
| | 01:25 |
that changes to the content will be
identified after work has begun on laying
| | 01:29 |
out the handbook.
If that happens, the corrected content
| | 01:33 |
has to be reinserted into the handbook
file.
| | 01:37 |
A little extra work.
To make the most of fast tracking, choose
| | 01:40 |
tasks that present the least amount of
risk.
| | 01:44 |
For example, fast tracking laying out the
handbook is less risky than fast tracking
| | 01:48 |
the task to identify courses and
duration.
| | 01:51 |
When you fast-track tasks, fast-track one
pair of tasks at a time, that's because
| | 01:56 |
the overlaps you add can change the tasks
on the critical path.
| | 02:02 |
For example, in our sample project, after
fast-tracking, revising content, and
| | 02:06 |
laying out the handbook, the task for
developing orientation content are no
| | 02:10 |
longer on the critical path.
And because of the dependency between
| | 02:16 |
build template and layout employee
handbook, the task to design the employee
| | 02:20 |
handbook are now on the critical path.
If you need to fast track more tasks, be
| | 02:25 |
sure that they're on the critical path so
the fast tracking shortens the project schedule.
| | 02:32 |
If you're willing to accept some
additional risk, fast-tracking is an easy
| | 02:35 |
way to shorten the project schedule.
| | 02:38 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Paying more to shorten a schedule| 00:00 |
If the project finish date is more
important than the budget, spending money
| | 00:03 |
to shorten the schedule is an option.
This is known as crashing.
| | 00:08 |
Most common crashing technique is adding
more resources to a task.
| | 00:13 |
This approach is effective, up to a
point.
| | 00:16 |
If you add too many resources, work
starts to slow down as people get in each
| | 00:20 |
other's way.
Other options for spending more money
| | 00:25 |
include paying for overtime, paying fees
for faster delivery of materials.
| | 00:30 |
Or paying for more expensive people, who
can complete work quicker.
| | 00:34 |
Like any technique for shortening the
schedule, the tasks you want to crash are
| | 00:38 |
on the critical path, because they're the
ones that directly determine the duration
| | 00:42 |
of the project.
First look for the longest tasks on the
| | 00:47 |
critical path.
Crashing can increase the risk for those tasks.
| | 00:52 |
For instance, when you hire unfamiliar
workers.
| | 00:55 |
That's why it's good to keep the number
of crash tasks to a minimum.
| | 00:59 |
Crashing part of one long task duration
might cut all the time you need out of
| | 01:03 |
the schedule.
By crashing longer tasks, you don't have
| | 01:08 |
to crash as many of them.
After you have crashing candidates,
| | 01:12 |
evaluate those tasks to find the ones
that are most cost-effective.
| | 01:17 |
The trick is to find the tasks that offer
the lowest cost for each week they
| | 01:19 |
shorten the project's schedule.
Let's look at how this works using the
| | 01:24 |
sample project.
Suppose the stakeholders say the project
| | 01:27 |
needs to finish a week earlier.
The first step is to find the longest
| | 01:31 |
tasks on the critical path.
In this view, the task list is filtered
| | 01:36 |
to show only the critical tasks, and
they're sorted from longest duration to shortest.
| | 01:42 |
It turns out that write content and edit
content are linked start to start, so
| | 01:46 |
shorting write content doesn't shorten
the schedule.
| | 01:50 |
So the tasks from edit content to layout
employee handbook are the best candidates.
| | 01:55 |
They have durations from ten days down to
four days.
| | 01:59 |
Crashing the schedule with shorter tasks
might mean crashing more tasks.
| | 02:03 |
For example, if tasks are one day in
duration and you crash them to half a
| | 02:07 |
day, you'd need to crash ten tasks.
The next step is figuring out the most
| | 02:13 |
cost-effective tasks to crash.
That means estimating how much each
| | 02:17 |
candidate can be shortened and how much
it will cost.
| | 02:21 |
From that, you can calculate how much it
costs to crash per day.
| | 02:26 |
The crash table here shows crash info for
the five candidates from the sample project.
| | 02:32 |
The candidates are sorted first by the
crash length, so you can see the tasks
| | 02:35 |
that shorten the schedule the most.
Then they're sorted by cost per day, so
| | 02:40 |
you can pick the most cost effective
candidates.
| | 02:44 |
In this case, the first three candidates
shortened the schedule by five and a half days.
| | 02:49 |
Total crash cost is $2000.
In comparison, if you crashed revised
| | 02:54 |
content through layout employee handbook,
the schedule would be five days shorter,
| | 02:59 |
but the crash cost would increase to
$2600.
| | 03:04 |
So, let's see what happens to the
schedule when we crash the first three tasks.
| | 03:09 |
Here is the schedule before crashing.
The project finish date is December 31st.
| | 03:15 |
After changing edit content to seven and
a half days, review content to three days
| | 03:20 |
and revise content to three days, the
project finish date changes to December 24th.
| | 03:27 |
Five work days earlier.
If the project still needs to be shorter,
| | 03:32 |
repeat these steps, starting with
reexamining the critical path.
| | 03:38 |
That's because you need to make sure that
the next task to crash is also on the
| | 03:41 |
critical path.
If the finish date is more important than
| | 03:46 |
the price tag Crashing tasks is an
effective way to shorten the schedule
| | 03:51 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Changing the schedule to reduce costs| 00:00 |
If cost is more important than the
schedule, there may be ways to change a
| | 00:04 |
schedule to reduce a project's cost.
Start by looking for less expensive resources.
| | 00:10 |
The best case scenario is that they can
get the task done in the same amount of time.
| | 00:15 |
In that case, the cost goes down.
Unfortunately, it's usually the case that
| | 00:20 |
less expensive resources will take
longer.
| | 00:24 |
For example, there's a writer who costs
$100 per hour and it will take 20 hours
| | 00:27 |
to do the work.
There's another writer that will work for
| | 00:32 |
$50 an hour.
As long a cheaper writer can do the
| | 00:35 |
project in less than 40 hours, you'll
save money.
| | 00:39 |
Again, this is a balancing act, because
oftentimes the cheaper labor will take longer.
| | 00:44 |
Another approach is to reduce the cost of
overtime by lengthening tasks to
| | 00:47 |
eliminate the overtime surcharge.
For example, say the writer is scheduled
| | 00:53 |
to work 20 hours of overtime to finish a
task on time.
| | 00:57 |
And that writer gets paid $20 more per
hour for overtime.
| | 01:01 |
If you opt to delay the task finish date
to eliminate overtime, the cost of the
| | 01:06 |
task decreases by $400.
On the other hand, shortening the
| | 01:10 |
duration might save money if you have a
project with high overhead cost, such as
| | 01:13 |
leased office space or expensive rented
equipment.
| | 01:18 |
For example, suppose the recording studio
for the employee orientation videos cost
| | 01:23 |
$2000 per day.
If you can record the videos in fewer
| | 01:27 |
days, the overall cost decreases.
You might have to experiment with
| | 01:32 |
different schedule changes to figure out
whether shortening or lengthening the
| | 01:35 |
project will reduce its cost.
| | 01:38 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Reducing scope| 00:00 |
When the finish date is crucial and the
budget is set in stone, project scope is
| | 00:03 |
the other variable you can adjust to make
everything balance.
| | 00:09 |
Reducing scope translates to cutting the
tasks associated with delivering that scope.
| | 00:15 |
So, the time and cost for those tasks get
subtracted from the schedule.
| | 00:20 |
Fewer tasks on the critical path mean a
shorter schedule.
| | 00:24 |
Fewer work hours means lower labor cost
and other cost reductions like overhead.
| | 00:30 |
Reducing project scope is a last resort,
because the scope is intimately tied to
| | 00:34 |
the project goal and objectives.
In many projects, the stakeholders decide
| | 00:39 |
which parts of scope to cut.
However, if the stakeholders ask you for
| | 00:44 |
suggestions, revisit the project
objectives to see which is the least important.
| | 00:49 |
In our sample project, the employee
handbook and HR website are both top
| | 00:53 |
priority and help new and existing
employees alike.
| | 01:00 |
The orientation videos are the next
highest priority, because employees have
| | 01:03 |
given feedback that they prefer to get
their training when they need it.
| | 01:07 |
For that reason the live training is the
part of the project that gets cut to meet
| | 01:10 |
the deadline.
Reducing scope doesn't have to be
| | 01:14 |
traumatic or permanent.
One option is to break the project into pieces.
| | 01:19 |
The essential scope is delivered in the
first iteration of the project, then when
| | 01:23 |
that's complete you can begin a second
round to deliver the scope that remains.
| | 01:30 |
The advantage to reducing scope is that
it can shorten the schedule and reduce cost.
| | 01:35 |
Although it's best to adjust scope after
you've tried everything else.
| | 01:39 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
ConclusionNext steps| 00:00 |
In this course, I've covered many
techniques for setting up and managing
| | 00:03 |
project schedules.
However, there are many other topics and
| | 00:07 |
sources of information you can explore to
learn more.
| | 00:12 |
If you're new to project management,
there are a couple of courses in the
| | 00:14 |
lynda.com library.
My course, Project Management
| | 00:18 |
Fundamentals, is a good place to start.
And if you'd like to dive deeper into one
| | 00:23 |
of the standard project scheduling tools,
you can check out Project Essential Training.
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There are many other great resources to
research.
| | 00:31 |
The Project Management Institute is a
Not-For-Profit organization that promotes
| | 00:36 |
the project management profession.
PMI is a globally recognized center for
| | 00:42 |
project management, an offers
certification.
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Their certifications include the Project
Management Professional, and the Project
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Scheduling Professional credentials.
To obtain these credentials you need to
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have a number of hours of experience in
project scheduling.
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Complete accredited training, and pass a
certification exam through PMI.
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PRINCE2, is another project management
methodology, which originated in the
| | 01:08 |
United Kingdom and is used throughout the
world.
| | 01:13 |
It states for Projects In Controlled
Environments.
| | 01:18 |
The prince2.com website includes links
for training options.
| | 01:21 |
You can also become certified in this
methodology.
| | 01:25 |
If you go for certification, you need to
document the number of hours you've spent
| | 01:29 |
managing projects over several years.
Here's a spreadsheet from the exercise files.
| | 01:35 |
You can use it to document the hours
you've worked as a project manager,
| | 01:40 |
leading and directing projects.
If you don't have work logs for the past,
| | 01:45 |
you can guessitmate the time you spent in
the past, based on the number of months
| | 01:48 |
you worked on each project.
Going forward, you can track your project
| | 01:54 |
management hours in detail.
There are also specialized approaches, to
| | 01:58 |
scheduling, that you can explore.
Critical chain project management using
| | 02:02 |
the theory of constraints and buffers, to
deliver projects on time.
| | 02:08 |
Alternatives to the waterfall
methodology, that are growing in
| | 02:11 |
popularity, are interative, rolling wave,
and agile approaches to scheduling.
| | 02:17 |
Project Schedules sit at the heart of
project plans.
| | 02:20 |
So you can become a better scheduler by
building your skills in other areas of
| | 02:24 |
project management.
Such as managing risk, resources, cost,
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quality, and so on.
Many universities and colleges offer
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courses in these skills.
Managing project schedules is a skill and
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an art that develops over time.
Learn from each project you schedule, and
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apply what you've learned to make future
projects even better.
| | 02:49 |
Thanks for joining me in Managing Project
Schedules.
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I hope the techniques I've shown here,
will help you with scheduling your next project.
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