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 °


ë nderstand the importance of project schedules and good
project time management.
ë Define activities as the basis for developing project
schedules.
ë Describe how project managers use network diagrams
and dependencies to assist in activity sequencing.
ë nderstand the relationship between estimating resources
and project schedules.
ë Explain how various tools and techniques help project
managers perform activity duration estimating.

Information Technology Project Management, Fourth Edition 2

 °


ë se a Gantt chart for planning and tracking schedule
information, find the critical path for a project, and
describe how critical chain scheduling and the Program
Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) affect
schedule development.
ë Discuss how reality checks and people issues are
involved in controlling and managing changes to the
project schedule.
ë Describe how project management software can assist in
project time management and review words of caution
before using this software.

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ë Managers often cite delivering projects on time as one of
their biggest challenges.
ë Fifty percent of IT projects were challenged in the 200£
CHAOS study, and their average time overrun increased
to 82 percent from a low of 6£ percent in 2000.*
ë Schedule issues are the main reason for conflicts on
projects, especially during the second half of projects.
ë Time has the least amount of flexibility; it passes no
matter what happens on a project.
*The Standish Group, ³Latest Standish Group CHAOS Report Shows Project Success
Rates Have Improved by 50%,´ (GGG



) (March 25, 200£).
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ë One dimension of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
focuses on people¶s attitudes toward structure and
deadline.

ë Some people prefer to follow schedules and meet

deadlines while others do not.

ë Different cultures and even entire countries have

different attitudes about schedules.

Information Technology Project Management, Fourth Edition 5

 
 

 

ë r

 

÷ Identifying the specific activities that the
project team members and stakeholders must perform to
produce the project deliverables.
ë r

   ÷ Identifying and documenting the
relationships between project activities.
ë r


 

 ÷ Estimating how many resources
a project team should use to perform project activities.
ë r

 



 ÷ Estimating the number of work
periods that are needed to complete individual activities.
ë -  

÷ Analyzing activity sequences, activity
resource estimates, and activity duration estimates to create the
project schedule.
ë -  


÷ Controlling and managing changes to the
project schedule.
Information Technology Project Management, Fourth Edition 6
 r
 
ë An 

 or
 is an element of work normally found
on the WBS that has an expected duration, a cost, and
resource requirements.
ë Project schedules grow out of the basic documents that
initiate a project.
ë The project charter includes start and end dates and budget
information.
ë The scope statement and WBS help define what will be done.
ë Activity definition involves developing a more detailed
WBS and supporting explanations to understand all the
work to be done, so you can develop realistic cost and
duration estimates.

Information Technology Project Management, Fourth Edition ]

 r
°  
r
ë An 


is a tabulation of activities to be included
on a project schedule. The list should include÷
ë The activity name
ë An activity identifier or number
ë A brief description of the activity
ë r




 provide more information about each
activity, such as predecessors, successors, logical
relationships, leads and lags, resource requirements,
constraints, imposed dates, and assumptions related to the
activity.

Information Technology Project Management, Fourth Edition 8

  
ë A 

 is a significant event that normally has no
duration.

ë It often takes several activities and a lot of work to

complete a milestone.

ë Milestones are useful tools for setting schedule goals

and monitoring progress.

ë Examples include completion and customer sign-off on

key documents and completion of specific products.

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 r
  

ë Involves reviewing activities and determining
dependencies.

ë A    or 

 relates to the
sequencing of project activities or tasks.

ë wou 
 determine dependencies in order to use

critical path analysis.

Information Technology Project Management, Fourth Edition ë0

  

 

ë ` 

  ÷ Inherent in the nature of
the work being performed on a project; sometimes
referred to as hard logic.
ë 0 

  ÷ Defined by the project
team; sometimes referred to as soft logic and should be
used with care because they may limit later scheduling
options.
ë ë
   ÷ Involve relationships between
project and non-project activities.

Information Technology Project Management, Fourth Edition ëë

 Õ 


ë Õetwork diagrams are the preferred technique for
showing activity sequencing.

ë A 

 is a schematic display of the
logical relationships among, or sequencing of, project
activities.

ë Two main formats are the arrow and precedence

diagramming methods.

Information Technology Project Management, Fourth Edition ë2

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r!rr 
Õ 


"

Information Technology Project Management, Fourth Edition ë£

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ë Also called activity-on-arrow (AOA) network diagram.

ë Activities are represented by arrows.

ë Õodes or circles are the starting and ending points of

activities.

ë Can only show finish-to-start dependencies.

Information Technology Project Management, Fourth Edition ë

 

rr


ë. Find all of the activities that start at node ë. Draw their finish
nodes and draw arrows between node ë and those finish
nodes. Put the activity letter or name and duration estimate on
the associated arrow.
2. Continuing drawing the network diagram, working from left
to right. Look for bursts and merges. A  
occurs when a
single node is followed by two or more activities. A 
occurs when two or more nodes precede a single node.
£. Continue drawing the project network diagram until all
activities that have dependencies are included in the diagram.
. As a rule of thumb, all arrowheads should face toward the
right, and no arrows should cross in an AOA network
diagram.
Information Technology Project Management, Fourth Edition ë5
 
 


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ë Activities are represented by boxes.

ë Arrows show relationships between activities.

ë More popular than ADM method and used by project

management software.

ë Better at showing different types of dependencies.

Information Technology Project Management, Fourth Edition ë6

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Information Technology Project Management, Fourth Edition ë8

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ë Before estimating activity durations, you must have a
good idea of the quantity and type of resources that will
be assigned to each activity.
ë Consider important issues in estimating resources÷
ë How difficult will it be to complete specific activities on
this project?
ë What is the organization¶s history in doing similar
activities?
ë Are the required resources available?

Information Technology Project Management, Fourth Edition ëM

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ë 0 

includes the actual amount of time worked
on an activity 
the elapsed time.

ë ë

is the number of workdays or work hours
required to complete a task.

ë Effort does not normally equal duration.

ë People doing the work should help create estimates,

and an expert should review them.

Information Technology Project Management, Fourth Edition 20

 
    

ë ses results of the other time management processes
to determine the start and end dates of the project.

ë ltimate goal is to create a realistic project schedule

that provides a basis for monitoring project progress
for the time dimension of the project.

ë Important tools and techniques include Gantt charts,

critical path analysis, critical chain scheduling, and
PERT analysis.

Information Technology Project Management, Fourth Edition 2ë

 º


ë º

 
 provide a standard format for
displaying project schedule information by listing
project activities and their corresponding start and
finish dates in a calendar format.
ë Symbols include÷
ë o 
÷ Milestones
ë u  ÷ Summary tasks
ë °



÷ Durations of tasks
ë r
÷ Dependencies between tasks

Information Technology Project Management, Fourth Edition 22

 j ' º


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Õote÷ In Project 200£ darker bars are red to represent critical tasks.

Information Technology Project Management, Fourth Edition 2£

 r% 

ë Milestones should be÷

ë -pecific

ë `easurable

ë rssignable

ë Ñealistic

ë uime-framed

Information Technology Project Management, Fourth Edition 2

 


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ë | ` is a network diagramming technique used to
predict total project duration.
ë A 
 
 for a project is the series of activities that
determines the m m
m by which the project can be
completed.
ë The critical path is the 
m
 through the network
diagram and has the least amount of slack or float.
ë - or 

is the amount of time an activity can be
delayed without delaying a succeeding activity or the
project finish date.

Information Technology Project Management, Fourth Edition 25

 


 



ë Develop a good network diagram.

ë Add the duration estimates for all activities on each

path through the network diagram.

ë The longest path is the critical path.

ë If one or more of the activities on the critical path takes

longer than planned, the whole project schedule will
slip m

the project manager takes corrective action.

Information Technology Project Management, Fourth Edition 26

 j (     




"

Information Technology Project Management, Fourth Edition 2]

  


r
  
 

  
 
ë j or 

is the amount of time an
activity can be delayed without delaying the early start
of any immediately following activities.
ë u

 or




is the amount of time an
activity can be delayed from its early start without
delaying the planned project finish date.
ë A 
 through the network diagram
determines the early start and finish dates.
ë A   determines the late start and finish
dates.
Information Technology Project Management, Fourth Edition 28
   


 



 
ë Three main techniques for shortening schedules÷

ë -

   the duration of critical activities or tasks by
adding more resources or changing their scope.

ë |  activities by obtaining the greatest amount of

schedule compression for the least incremental cost.

ë j

   activities by doing them in parallel or

overlapping them.

Information Technology Project Management, Fourth Edition 2M

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ë It is important to update project schedule information
to meet time goals for a project.

ë The critical path may change as you enter actual start

and finish dates.

ë If you know the project completion date will slip,

negotiate with the project sponsor.

Information Technology Project Management, Fourth Edition £0

 



 
ë |
       is a method of scheduling
that considers limited resources when creating a project
schedule and includes buffers to protect the project
completion date.

ë ses the u


|


 u
|, a
management philosophy developed by Eliyahu M.
Goldratt and introduced in his book um
.

ë Attempts to minimize  

 , which occurs

when a resource works on more than one task at a time.

Information Technology Project Management, Fourth Edition £ë

 
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Information Technology Project Management, Fourth Edition £2

 o  




ë A   is additional time to complete a task.
ë ` ° states that if something can go wrong, it
will.
ë  
° states that work expands to fill the time
allowed.
ë In traditional estimates, people often add a buffer to each
task and use the additional time whether it¶s needed or not.
ë Critical chain scheduling removes buffers from individual
tasks and instead creates÷
ë A 

  or additional time added before the project¶s
due date.
ë j  or additional time added before tasks on the
critical path.
Information Technology Project Management, Fourth Edition ££
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Information Technology Project Management, Fourth Edition £

 
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ë PERT is a network analysis technique used to estimate
project duration when there is a high degree of
uncertainty about the individual activity duration
estimates.

ë PERT uses 

 


÷

ë Duration estimates based on using optimistic, most

likely, and pessimistic estimates of activity durations, or
a three-point estimate.

Information Technology Project Management, Fourth Edition £5

 &%j 

&)


ë PERT weighted average R
optimistic time +  most likely time + pessimistic time
6
ë Example÷
PERT weighted average =
8 workdays +  ë0 workdays + 2 workdays = ë 
6
where÷
optimistic time= 8 days
most likely time = ë

pessimistic time = 2 days
Therefore, you¶d use ë  on the network diagram instead of ë0 when
using PERT for the above example.

Information Technology Project Management, Fourth Edition £6

 
  
ë Goals are to know the status of the schedule, influence
factors that cause schedule changes, determine that the
schedule has changed, and manage changes when they
occur.
ë Tools and techniques include÷
ë Progress reports.
ë A schedule change control system.
ë Project management software, including schedule comparison
charts, such as the tracking Gantt chart.
ë Variance analysis, such as analyzing float or slack.
ë Performance management, such as earned value (see Chapter ]).

Information Technology Project Management, Fourth Edition £]

  
 i 
ë Strong leadership helps projects succeed more than
good PERT charts do.

ë Project managers should use÷

ë Empowerment

ë Incentives

ë Discipline

ë Õegotiation

Information Technology Project Management, Fourth Edition £8

 

 

ë Project time management is often cited as the main
source of conflict on projects, and most IT projects
exceed time estimates.
ë Main processes include÷
ë Activity definition
ë Activity sequencing
ë Activity resource estimating
ë Activity duration estimating
ë Schedule development
ë Schedule control

Information Technology Project Management, Fourth Edition £M

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