Planning is the single most important thing a project manager can do to ensure a successful project that meets its goals. The Project Management Institute suggests that planning should ideally consist of about 20 – 30% of the time required to perform the project work. This is substantially more than most project managers actually spend on project planning. … [Read more...]
With little exception, missing deadlines reflects poorly on the project manager and sometimes has financial consequences too. Because projects are by definition temporary, someone has authorized the project and expects its deliverables in a timely fashion. To meet the deadlines, a schedule management plan is produced which is a subset of the project management … [Read more...]
Earned value analysis is a project management method used to calculate the project status from two perspectives: Schedule. Is the project ahead of or behind schedule? Cost. Is the project over or under budget? Let's say you are the project manager for the renovation of 3 hotel rooms. The tasks are as follows: Preparation. Jan. 1 - Jan. 10, … [Read more...]
Total Float is a concept within the Critical Path Method which tells the project manager how much a task can be delayed without impacting the project completion date. Float is the final product of the project network diagram. The network diagram is used to determine two things: Tasks which are on the critical path Float (total) of each task The Two … [Read more...]
Because a project is defined as a temporary endeavor (PMBOK 1.1), deadlines are baked into the success criteria of all projects. Since all projects have a defined end point, the circumstances around this end point can result in project success or failure. Managing the project schedule can be one of the most formidable parts of project management. I've seen more … [Read more...]
Earned Value is a method used by project managers to calculate the current project status and predict future project performance. In this post we will outline each earned value formula. Planned Value (PV) Earned Value (EV) Actual Cost (AC) Schedule Variance (SV) Schedule Performance Index (SPI) Cost Variance (CV) Cost Performance Index (CPI) … [Read more...]
The Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) is an important step in project scheduling. PERT charts are a central part of any project management course. They are quick to draw and intuitive to use. How to Draw a PERT Chart There are two rules: Tasks (activities) are represented as arrows Milestone dates are nodes PERT charts are also called … [Read more...]
The real benefit of the earned value method is in the early warning signal it provides. In my previous life at a large engineering company, I saw many project managers get to a monthly billing cycle before they realized the project was behind, and even then they would rationalize it by deciding their project team was going to be more efficient in the next cycle. … [Read more...]
In its most basic form a project schedule is a list of tasks with assigned start and finish dates. It can also be a graphical bar chart produced with project management software or in a spreadsheet. In professional schedule development, a critical path analysis using a network diagram produces the critical path tasks and their floats. Since a graphical bar … [Read more...]
Once the project has been divided into tasks and resources assigned to those tasks, the next step is to determine the task durations. This may seem trivial, but its importance cannot be understated because these durations will be used to construct the project schedule. Just like the tiny O-rings that brought down the space shuttle Challenger, one small underestimation … [Read more...]
