Project Management Chapter 7 Project Time Management Part
- Slides: 37
Project Management Chapter 7 Project Time Management Part 1 Dr. Jana Jagodick Polytechnic of Namibia, 2012
Project time management • What’s time management • Why is time management important • Time management – explained! Dr. Jana Jagodick Polytechnic of Namibia, 2012
Project time management is… • Determining the time needed to complete the project and scheduling activities to meet that time • Critical to the success of the project • Without careful scheduling and planning, a project is at risk of failure • Often regarded as the hardest part of project management Dr. Jana Jagodick Polytechnic of Namibia, 2012
Project time management It includes: • Activity definition • Activity sequencing • Activity duration estimating • Schedule development • Schedule control Dr. Jana Jagodick Polytechnic of Namibia, 2012
Elements to Time Management • Analyse the organisation’s cost of time • Project planning • Scheduling • Job clarification • Monitor progress Dr. Jana Jagodick Polytechnic of Namibia, 2012
Elements to Time Management • Analyse the organisation’s cost of time • Project planning • Scheduling • Job clarification • Monitor progress Dr. Jana Jagodick Polytechnic of Namibia, 2012
Analyse Cost of Time • How much does time cost for the organisation? • Take into account project team salaries, office space, equipment, expenses, admin support etc • Will give an hourly or daily rate Dr. Jana Jagodick Polytechnic of Namibia, 2012
Elements to Time Management • Analyse the organisation’s cost of time • Project planning • Scheduling • Job clarification • Monitor progress Dr. Jana Jagodick Polytechnic of Namibia, 2012
Laws of Planning Murphy’s Law: • Anything that can go wrong will go wrong • Everything takes longer than you think it will Parkinson’s Law: • Work expands to fill the time allotted Dr. Jana Jagodick Polytechnic of Namibia, 2012
Project Planning • How you work out who, what, when, where, why and how of achieving the goal in the most effective manner Dr. Jana Jagodick Polytechnic of Namibia, 2012
Elements to Time Management • Analyse the organisation’s cost of time • Project planning • Project specifications • Scheduling • Job clarification • Determining the milestones • Monitor progress • Compiling a task list • Estimating time Dr. Jana Jagodick Polytechnic of Namibia, 2012
Elements to Time Management • Analyse the organisation’s cost of time • Project planning • Scheduling • Project specifications • Job clarification • Monitor progress • Determining the milestones • Compiling a task list • Estimating time Dr. Jana Jagodick Polytechnic of Namibia, 2012
Project Specification • Used as the basis for planning • Specification – is the definition of your project (often in the charter) • Will probably need to be refined as many errors are likely to exist from when 1 st put together Dr. Jana Jagodick Polytechnic of Namibia, 2012
Project Specifications - Errors • Errors can arise from • Holistic perspective • The interfaces • Timescales • External dependencies • Resources Dr. Jana Jagodick Polytechnic of Namibia, 2012
Holistic Perspective • May have taken too narrow a perspective • May duplicate or impact other work carried out • May be incompatible with other work Dr. Jana Jagodick Polytechnic of Namibia, 2012
Interfaces • Transfer points • Agree on what, how and when • It is a well known fact that most miscommunications occur at the interfaces Dr. Jana Jagodick Polytechnic of Namibia, 2012
Timescales • People who draw up specifications often underestimate time involved for tasks • Remember the Sydney Opera House example Dr. Jana Jagodick Polytechnic of Namibia, 2012
External dependencies • Project tasks may depend on the tasks of others • Make this clear so people involved know in advance of your needs – and are able to meet them! Dr. Jana Jagodick Polytechnic of Namibia, 2012
Resources • People tend to ignore resources • Most projects need materials, equipment and staff • Check that the numbers are practical and correct Dr. Jana Jagodick Polytechnic of Namibia, 2012
Elements to Time Management • Analyse the organisation’s cost of time • Project planning • Project • Scheduling specifications • Job clarification • Determining the • Monitor progress milestones • Compiling a task list • Estimating time Dr. Jana Jagodick Polytechnic of Namibia, 2012
Determining Milestones An activity with zero duration usually marking the end of a period i. e. the completion of a number of activities Come up with some milestones you will pass in doing the Project Management course Dr. Jana Jagodick Polytechnic of Namibia, 2012
Elements to Time Management • Analyse the organisation’s cost of time • Project planning • Project • Scheduling specifications • Job clarification • Determining the • Monitor progress milestones • Compiling a task list • Estimating time Dr. Jana Jagodick Polytechnic of Namibia, 2012
Compile a task list Once the milestones have been determined, a project task list can be put together, giving the task a number and description and a time period Dr. Jana Jagodick Polytechnic of Namibia, 2012 1 Plan out work Working out all major tasks and milestones 3 days – June 07 2 Buy text book Getting the text book 1 day – so that I can read up July 07 on the detail required 3 Prepare for class test Revise chapters 1 to 5 and all the exercises we have done in class 3 days – Aug 07 4 Prepare individual assignme nt Review chapters 1 to 7, plan how I am going to do this activity 7 days – Sept 07
Elements to Time Management • Analyse the organisation’s cost of time • Project planning • Project • Scheduling specifications • Job clarification • Determining the • Monitor progress milestones • Compiling a task list • Estimating time Dr. Jana Jagodick Polytechnic of Namibia, 2012
Estimating Time “An overestimate of the time for the project is crucial for its success” Healy Estimating time can be done in 3 different ways: 1. Time comparison (being able to compare tasks with similar tasks that have been done before) 2. Setting a time on the basis of milestones (based on the date of expected launch – so when is it needed) 3. Build up a picture of durations using detailed expanation of how the project comes together Dr. Jana Jagodick Polytechnic of Namibia, 2012
Contingency You cannot predict everything that will happen in your project, so you need to build in ‘contingency’ or buffer This is a way of treating risk! Dr. Jana Jagodick Polytechnic of Namibia, 2012
Elements to Time Management • Analyse the organisation’s cost of time • Project planning • Scheduling • Job clarification • Monitor progress Dr. Jana Jagodick Polytechnic of Namibia, 2012
Schedule • Schedules show the task name and start and finish date for each task • Schedules are only estimates • They will have to change with time but are useful starting points Dr. Jana Jagodick Polytechnic of Namibia, 2012
Examples of Schedules GANTT charts are created in packages such as Microsoft Project But schedules can also be created in Excel or in MS Word Dr. Jana Jagodick Polytechnic of Namibia, 2012
Examples of Schedules Dr. Jana Jagodick Polytechnic of Namibia, 2012
Elements to Time Management • Analyse the organisation’s cost of time • Project planning • Scheduling • Job clarification • Monitor progress Dr. Jana Jagodick Polytechnic of Namibia, 2012
Job Clarification Ask the questions: • • What is the purpose of the job/task/activity? What are the measures of success? What are priorities and deadlines? What is exceptional performance? What resources are available? What costs are acceptable? How does this relate to other people and tasks? Getting answers will help clarify the job Dr. Jana Jagodick Polytechnic of Namibia, 2012
Elements to Time Management • Analyse the organisation’s cost of time • Project planning • Scheduling • Job clarification • Monitor progress Dr. Jana Jagodick Polytechnic of Namibia, 2012
Monitor Progress • Helps to ensure that the project is on schedule and is progressing according to plan • Goals and milestones help to ensure this Dr. Jana Jagodick Polytechnic of Namibia, 2012
Mock Test Q 1: What are the 5 important elements of Project Time Management? Q 2: What do you define as project planning? Q 3: In reviewing a specification, where or what could be the source of errors? Q 4: What is integrated change control? Dr. Jana Jagodick Polytechnic of Namibia, 2012
Mock Test Q 1: What are the 5 important elements of Project Time Management? Analyse the organisation’s cost of time Project planning Scheduling Job clarification Monitor progress Q 2: What do you define as project planning? How you work out who, what, when, where, why and how of achieving the goal in the most effective manner Dr. Jana Jagodick Polytechnic of Namibia, 2012
Mock Test Q 3: In reviewing a specification, where or what could be the source of errors? Holistic perspective The interfaces Timescales External dependencies Resources Q 4: Explain the different ways of estimating time? Estimating time can be done in 3 different ways: Time comparison (being able to compare tasks with similar tasks that have been done before) Setting a time on the basis of milestones (based on the date of expected launch – so when is it needed) Build up a picture of durations using detailed expanation of how the project comes together Dr. Jana Jagodick Polytechnic of Namibia, 2012