Do You Have Time For Project Time Management? You May Not Be Able To Do Without It.

A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result. That is the definition as contained in the PMBOK guide v4. Because each project is unique, and has never been done before by the performing organization, then it is safe to say that managing the time required and the schedule are among the most difficult things that a project manager will do.

The work of project time management begins in the planning phase. There is a schedule management plan that is part of the project management plan that develops the framework for how the organization will plan, execute, and manage the project schedule. This critical piece of the puzzle is often left out, or left to chance as the project progresses. It is easy to believe that the planning of schedule management could be done a little at a time as the project progresses. Some would even call this “progressive elaboration” and not worry about it, but showing that the methodologies and the metrics that will be measured have been completely thought through is the hallmark of a good project manager and may solve a number of problems before they become issues. The schedule management plan may be as simple as stating how the schedule and milestones will be created, measured, and reported—but this little bit of information will guide the creation and maintenance of the schedule for the entire project.

After the creation of the schedule management plan, time management may be looked at through the following six processes.

· Define Activities
· Sequence Activities
· Estimate Activity Resources
· Estimate Activity Durations
· Develop Schedule
· Control Schedule

These processes are all of the processes contained in the project time management knowledge area. They are used sequentially, starting with Define Activities, and ending with Control Schedule. For the Project Management Professional (PMP) exam, it is helpful to remember this order. Learning the order may not be as difficult as it looks because, if you think about the progression it is somewhat logical. Before you can have a schedule, you first must know what activities you will putting in the schedule. The list of activities will have come from the Work Breakdown Structure(WBS), and the Activity list that is the final outputs of the Scope Management Knowledge Area. Defining the Activities is where the details about the activity is actually put on paper and explained. This is the place where the work is described well enough to know exactly what needs to be done. Once the activities are fully defined, then we can sequence the activities, the next important part is to know when an activity has to be done, and which ones have to be done first.

Now that we know what the activities are and when they have to be done, we can begin to estimate who (or what level of skilled labor) we will need to do the job. Which activities can we give to the junior engineers, and which ones do we need senior engineers for, etc. At this point we can Estimate the Activity Resources. A second consideration will be how long will we need each of these people or resources? What parts of the activities do we need them for? Finally we can begin to work on the schedule, we know what resources we have and we can apply company calendars to people and equipment. We finally have something that looks like a schedule. The finalized and approved schedule will be the baseline that we will use in the final activity, Control Schedule. Controlling the schedule will take the most time and will require all of your skills, technical and soft (personal) skills, to make it work. You will have to revise the schedule as the project progresses, because unique projects have unique hick-ups, but controlling the schedule will yield great results. Use the schedule management plan to determine when to assess the schedule status. Communicate early to stake holders when problems begin to arise with the schedule. Schedule slippage and budget overruns are the biggest risks to projects of every kind. Begin with a plan, measure often, and communicate often to let stake holders know what to expect. You will begin to see the fruits of project time management from an early date in your project if you work hard to do it right.

Related Subjects

PMBOK guide v4
Project Management Process Groups
PMP Process Definition
Schedule Crashing

Other products you may be interested in: