Introduction to Project Time Management
TL;DR
Project time management is crucial for successful project completion, involving processes like scheduling, estimating activity durations, and managing deadlines. You'll learn how to overcome common scheduling limitations and use techniques like PERT and Monte Carlo Simulation for better time estimation. These processes help you create realistic project schedules and anticipate potential issues.
1. The Mental Model
Think of project time management as mapping out your journey. You need to know where you're going, the stops along the way, how long each leg will take, and what might cause delays. This helps you get to your destination effectively and on time.
2. The Core Material
Project time management involves several processes to ensure your project finishes on schedule. It's about defining activities, sequencing them, estimating their durations, developing the schedule, and then controlling changes to it.
5 Factors Limiting Project Schedule Success
Your project's schedule isn't limitless; several factors can constrain it:
* Imposed dates: Specific deadlines you have to meet.
* Key resource allocation: How many essential people or tools are available at certain times.
* Logical activity order: Some tasks must happen before others.
* Activity time estimation: How long you think each individual task will take.
* Cash flow accuracy: How well you estimate and plan your project budget.
Project Time Management Processes
There are key processes involved in managing project time:
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Plan Project Schedule Management: This initial step sets the strategy for how you'll manage your schedule throughout the project. It addresses questions like:
- When can an activity start/end?
- What if a material delivery is late?
- Which activities must precede others?
- What happens if one worker has two activities?
- When will the project be done?
- Who or what is slowing things down (a bottleneck)?
- Can a key worker take time off?
- What's the impact of a client adding a new feature?
- Can we finish faster by spending more?
- How many hours do we need from staff?
- Are all activities completed on time?
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Define Activities: This means breaking down the project deliverables into specific work activities. You're asking, "What work needs to happen to create each part of the project?"