Schedule Management
line
All projects must adhere to schedules. Sometimes they are determined by arbitrary means and sometimes they are the result of careful planning. In either case, the Project Manager must provide a detailed schedule and ensure that all team members are not only aware of it, but working hard to meet it.
Scheduling means breaking the project down into manageable project units, putting the units into logical sequence and assigning time for the completion of each. Many units can be done simultaneously and some will overlap. The complexity of interacting relationships requires working experience to put together a realistic project schedule.
The project schedule should be developed at inception on an easy-to-read Gantt chart using information supplied by various project team members. The team should evaluate the schedule to ensure adequate time is allocated for each task. The schedule should be reviewed in project meetings and adjustments made as necessary.
A more detailed schedule should be developed once design development is completed. Unless there are major scope changes, it should be used for the remainder of the project.
The Project Manager and the project team should have a simple set of alternatives to follow if the project is delayed for any reason:
- Try to make up for lost time on subsequent work. This may simply mean increasing staff or prioritizing work.
- Schedule overtime until the delay is made up.
- If a material supplier causes the delay, find an alternate supplier who can deliver. It may increase cost, but not as much as a delay could.
- Reduce the scope of the project to what can be accomplished in the time and budget available.
- Work with the client to extend the schedule. It may be possible to complete enough work on schedule to allow partial occupancy.