The good folks at Barbecana shared this great article on cost vs schedule risk analysis highlighting their differences as well as the pros and cons of each. Risk plays a critical role in improving project success and ultimately profitability. Project Risk Analysis There are two important outcomes for most projects beyond the obvious scope and […]
To Shorten The Critical Path
Project Managers are typically under great pressure to complete the project in as little time as possible. It is therefore imperative that project managers become familiar with the basic techniques to shorten the critical path and the many different ways to do this. One of the primary benefits of Gantt charts is that they tell […]
Forecast Scheduling
Forecast scheduling is the practice of periodically updating your project schedule in order to keep your project end dates current. This is a discussion about why forecast scheduling provides the most relevant prediction of schedule end dates. “Change is inevitable – except from a vending machine.” – Robert C. Gallagher Nothing goes according to plan! […]
Understanding the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
If you are confused about what is involved in creating a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), you are not alone. Come along as we define the WBS and look at some of the nuances in WBS terminology. One of five keys to project success is to have agreement among stakeholders on the goals or end product […]
Schedule Time Buffers
In the world of project management, things go wrong! This is an inherent characteristic of schedules. This is why good project managers will list and track risks associated with activities and the project. Still, it is difficult to find all the risks that may be hidden within the project schedule. This is why some project […]
The Cause and Effect Task Dependency Paradigm
Do you understand task dependency relationships? If you’ve ever become confused when trying to decipher the predecessor from the successor in task relationships, you are not alone. Read on to discover a helpful paradigm for understanding task dependencies. The terminology used in task dependency relationships breeds misunderstanding. The terms predecessor and successor to describe task […]
The Value of Milestones in Project Scheduling
Let’s assume you have your project mapped out! You have your list of deliverables and you know the activities required to produce those deliverables. Is there something missing? Like a hiking trail with markers telling you definitively where you are on the trail wouldn’t it be helpful to have markers in your project schedule telling […]
Questions You Should Ask When Implementing A PMO
Implementing a Project Management Office (PMO) is often not as simple as it might seem. As noted in this article, politics, organizational dynamics, history, personalities, etc. often come into play. When a client asks us to help “right the ship” of a struggling PMO implementation, one of the first things we want to understand, is […]
Why Schedule Risk Analysis is a Good Idea
Our friends at Barbecana submitted this interesting article explaining why Schedule Risk Analysis is a good idea. The Value As part of the project management process, a project schedule will be defined, typically using the Critical Path Method (CPM) technique, that identifies the activities (tasks) that need to be performed to fulfill the project objectives, […]
Start to Finish Relationships – to use them, or not?
Of the four standard activity relationship types you can define in most half decent scheduling tools, the Start to Finish relationship is the least used, but the one responsible for most of the puzzled looks I get when training new schedulers. Admittedly in my 25 years of working with schedules on various systems, I’ve used […]