PROJECT
TIME
MANAGEMENT
Ryan M. Agsaluna
Assoc. Prof. II
1 1-1
Importance of Project Schedules
Managers often cite delivering projects on time as
one of their biggest challenges
Time has the least amount of flexibility; it passes
no matter what happens on a project
Schedule issues are the main reason for conflicts
on projects, especially during the second half of
projects
Project Time Management
Individual Work Styles and Cultural
Differences Cause Schedule Conflicts
One dimension of the Meyers-Briggs Type
Indicator focuses on peoples attitudes toward
structure and deadline
Judgment type people prefer to follow schedules,
meet deadlines and have closure. Perception
types prefer to keep things open and flexible;
deadlines are a signal to start rather than to
complete a project
Different cultures and even entire countries have
different attitudes about schedules
Project Time Management
Media Snapshot
In contrast to the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympic
Games, planning and scheduling was very different for the
2004 Summer Olympic Games held in Athens, Greece
Many articles were written before the opening ceremonies
predicting that the facilities would not be ready in time
Many people were pleasantly surprised by the amazing
opening ceremonies, beautiful new buildings, and state-ofthe-art security and transportation systems in Athens
The Greeks even made fun of critics by having construction
workers pretend to still be working as the ceremonies
began
Project Time Management
Project Time Management Processes
Activity definition: identifying the specific activities/tasks that the
project team members and stakeholders must perform to produce the
project deliverables
Activity sequencing: identifying and documenting the relationships
between project activities
Activity resource estimating: estimating how many resources a
project team should use to perform project activities
Activity duration estimating: estimating the number of work periods
that are needed to complete individual activities
Schedule development: analyzing activity sequences, activity
resource estimates, and activity duration estimates to create the
project schedule
Schedule control: controlling and managing changes to the project
schedule
Project Time Management
Project Time Management Summary
Project Time Management
Activity Definition
Project schedules grow out of the basic
documents that initiate a project
Project charter includes start and end dates and budget
information
Scope statement and WBS help define what will be
done
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
Project Time Management
Activity Definition
The basis for creating a project schedule is
derived from four project time management
processes
Activity definition further defining the scope
Activity sequencing further defining the time
Activity resource and activity duration (further defining
the time and cost)
Project Time Management
Activity Lists and Attributes
An activity list is a tabulation of activities to be
included on a project schedule that includes:
The activity name
An activity identifier or number
A brief description of the activity
Activity attributes provide more information such
as predecessors, successors, logical relationships,
leads and lags, resource requirements, constraints,
imposed dates, and assumptions related to the
activity
Project Time Management
Milestones
A milestone is a significant event that normally has
no duration
Not every deliverable or output created for a project is a
milestone
It often takes several activities and a lot of work to
complete a milestone
Theyre useful tools for setting schedule goals and
monitoring progress
Examples include obtaining customer sign-off on key
documents or completion of specific products such as
software modules or the installation of new hardware
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What Went Wrong?
At the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), poor
time management was one of the reasons behind the
failure of Trilogy, a disastrous, unbelievably expensive
piece of vaporware, which was more than four years in
the (un)making. The system was supposed to enable FBI
agents to integrate intelligence from isolated information
silos within the Bureau.*
In May 2006, the Government Accounting Agency said
that the Trilogy project failed at its core mission of
improving the FBIs investigative abilities and was
plagued with missed milestones and escalating costs
*Roberts, Paul, Frustrated contractor sentenced for hacking FBI to speed deployment,
InfoWorld Tech Watch, (July 6, 2006).
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Activity Sequencing
After defining project activities, the next step is
activity sequencing
Involves reviewing the activity list and attributes,
project scope statement, milestone list and approved
change requests to determine the relationships
between activities
A dependency or relationship is the
sequencing of project activities or tasks
You must determine dependencies in order to
use critical path analysis
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Three Types of Dependencies
Mandatory dependencies: inherent in the nature of
the work being performed on a project, sometimes
referred to as hard logic
Discretionary dependencies: defined by the
project team; sometimes referred to as soft logic
and should be used with care since they may limit
later scheduling options
Dont start detailed design work until users sign-off on all
the analysis good practice but can delay project
External dependencies: involve relationships
between project and non-project activities
Delivery of new hardware; if delayed can impact project
schedule
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Network Diagrams
Network diagrams are the preferred technique for
showing activity sequencing
A network diagram is a schematic display of the
logical relationships among, or sequencing of,
project activities
Two main formats are the arrow and precedence
diagramming methods
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Sample Activity-on-Arrow (AOA)
Network Diagram for Project X
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Arrow Diagramming Method (ADM)
Also called activity-on-arrow (AOA) network
diagrams
Activities are represented by arrows
Nodes or circles are the starting and ending points
of activities
Can only show finish-to-start dependencies
Can omit activities that have no dependencies
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Process for Creating AOA Diagrams
1. Find all of the activities that start at node 1: Draw their finish nodes
and draw arrows between node 1 and those finish nodes; put the
activity letter or name and duration estimate on the associated arrow
2. Continue drawing the network diagram, working from left to right: Look
for bursts and merges
Bursts occur when a single node is followed by two or more activities
A merge occurs when two or more nodes precede a single node
3. Continue drawing the project network diagram until all activities are
included on the diagram that have dependencies
4. As a rule of thumb, all arrowheads should face toward the right, and
no arrows should cross on an AOA network diagram
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Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM)
More popular than ADM method and used by
project management software
Activities are represented by boxes
Arrows show relationships between activities
Better at showing different types of
dependencies
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Task Dependency Types
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Sample PDM Network Diagram
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Activity Resource Estimating
Before estimating activity durations, you must have a good
idea of the quantity and type of resources that will be
assigned to each activity
Consider important issues in estimating resources
How difficult will it be to do specific activities on this project?
What is the organizations history in doing similar activities?
Are the required resources available or need to be acquired?
A resource breakdown structure is a hierarchical
structure that identifies the projects resources by category
and type
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Activity Duration Estimating
Duration includes the actual amount of time
worked on an activity plus elapsed time
Effort is the number of workdays or work hours
required to complete a task
Effort does not normally equal duration
People doing the work should help create
estimates, and an expert should review them
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Three-Point Estimates
Instead of providing activity estimates as a discrete
number, such as four weeks, its often helpful to
create a three-point estimate
An estimate that includes an optimistic, most likely, and
pessimistic estimate, such as three weeks for the
optimistic, four weeks for the most likely, and five weeks
for the pessimistic estimate
Three-point estimates are needed for PERT and
Monte Carlo simulations
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Schedule Development
Uses results of the other time management
processes to determine the start and end date
of the project
Ultimate goal is to create a realistic project
schedule that provides a basis for monitoring
project progress for the time dimension of the
project
Important tools and techniques include Gantt
charts, critical path analysis, critical chain
scheduling, and PERT analysis
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Gantt Charts
Gantt charts provide a standard format for
displaying project schedule information by listing
project activities and their corresponding start
and finish dates in a calendar format
Symbols include:
Black diamonds: milestones
Thick black bars: summary tasks
Lighter horizontal bars: durations of tasks
Arrows: dependencies between tasks
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Figure 6-5: Gantt Chart for Project X
Note: Darker bars would be red in Project 2007 to represent critical tasks
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Gantt Chart for Software Launch Project
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Adding Milestones to Gantt Charts
Many people like to focus on meeting milestones,
especially for large projects
Milestones emphasize important events or
accomplishments on projects
Normally create milestone by entering tasks with a
zero duration, or you can mark any task as a
milestone
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SMART Criteria
Milestones should be:
Specific
Measurable
Assignable
Realistic
Time-framed
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Best Practice
Schedule risk is inherent in the development of
complex systems
Luc Richard, the founder of
www.projectmangler.com, suggests that project
managers can reduce schedule risk through
project milestones, a best practice that involves
identifying and tracking significant points or
achievements in the project
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Best Practice (continued)
The five key points of using project milestones
include the following:
1. Define milestones early in the project and include them in
the Gantt chart to provide a visual guide
2. Keep milestones small and frequent
3. The set of milestones must be all-encompassing
4. Each milestone must be binary, meaning it is either
complete or incomplete
5. Carefully monitor the critical path
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Sample Tracking Gantt Chart
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Critical Path Method (CPM)
CPM is a network diagramming technique used
to predict total project duration
A critical path for a project is the series of
activities that determines the earliest time by
which the project can be completed
The critical path is the longest path through the
network diagram and has the least amount of
slack or float
Slack or float is the amount of time an activity
may be delayed without delaying a succeeding
activity or the project finish date
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Calculating the Critical Path
First develop a good network diagram
Add the duration estimates for all activities on each
path through the network diagram
The longest path is the critical path
If one or more of the activities on the critical path
takes longer than planned, the whole project
schedule will slip unless the project manager takes
corrective action
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Determining the Critical Path for Project X
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More on the Critical Path
A project team at Apple computer put a stuffed
gorilla on the top of the cubicle of the person
currently managing a critical task
The critical path is not the one with all the critical
activities; it only accounts for time
Remember the example of growing grass being on the
critical path for Disneys Animal Kingdom
There can be more than one critical path if the
lengths of two or more paths are the same
The critical path can change as the project
progresses
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Using Critical Path Analysis to Make
Schedule Trade-offs
Free slack or free float is the amount of time an
activity can be delayed without delaying the early
start of any immediately following activities
Total slack or total float is the amount of time an
activity may be delayed from its early start without
delaying the planned project finish date
A forward pass through the network diagram
determines the early start and finish dates
A backward pass determines the late start and
finish dates
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Calculating Early and Late Start
and Finish Dates
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Free and Total Float or Slack for Project
X
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How to Find the Critical Path
General Foundrys network with expected activity times
Start
2
Finish
Figure 13.3
How to Find the Critical Path
1.
2.
3.
4.
To find the critical path, need to determine the following quantities for
each activity in the network
Earliest start time (ES):
ES the earliest time an activity can begin without
violation of immediate predecessor requirements
Earliest finish time (EF):
EF the earliest time at which an activity can end
Latest start time (LS):
LS the latest time an activity can begin without
delaying the entire project
Latest finish time (LF):
LF the latest time an activity can end without
delaying the entire project
How to Find the Critical Path
In the nodes, the activity time and the early and late start and
finish times are represented in the following manner
ACTIVITY
ES
LS
t
EF
LF
Earliest times are computed as
Earliest finish time =
Earliest start time
+ Expected activity time
EF = ES + t
Earliest start = Largest of the earliest finish times of
immediate predecessors
ES = Largest EF of immediate predecessors
How to Find the Critical Path
At the start of the project we set the time to zero
Thus ES = 0 for both A and B
A
ES = 0
t=2
EF = 0 + 2 = 2
B
ES = 0
t=3
EF = 0 + 3 = 3
Start
How to Find the Critical Path
General Foundrys ES and EF times
A
0
2
2
C
2
2
4
F
4
E
4
Start
B
0
Figure 13.4
3
3
D
3
4
7
3
7
4
8
H
13
G
8
5
13
2
15
Finish
How to Find the Critical Path
Latest times are computed as
Latest start time =
Latest finish time
Expected activity time
LS = LF t
Latest finish time = Smallest of latest start times
for following activities
LF = Smallest LS of following activities
For activity H
LS = LF t = 15 2 = 13 weeks
How to Find the Critical Path
General Foundrys LS and LF times
A
0
0
2
2
2
C
2
2
2
4
4
F
4
10
E
4
4
Start
B
0
1
Figure 13.5
3
3
4
D
3
4
4
7
8
3
7
13
4
8
8
H
13
13
G
8
8
5
13
13
2
15
15
Finish
How to Find the Critical Path
Once ES, LS, EF, and LF have been determined, it is a simple
matter to find the amount of slack time that each activity has
Slack = LS ES, or Slack = LF EF
From Table 13.3 we see activities A, C, E, G, and H have no slack
time
These are called critical activities and they are said to be on the
critical path
The total project completion time is 15 weeks
Industrial managers call this a boundary timetable
How to Find the Critical Path
General Foundrys schedule and slack times
ACTIVITY
EARLIEST
START,
ES
EARLIEST
FINISH,
EF
LATEST
START,
LS
LATEST
FINISH,
LF
SLACK,
LS ES
ON CRITICAL
PATH?
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
10
13
No
13
13
Yes
13
15
13
15
Yes
Table 13.3
How to Find the Critical Path
General Foundrys critical path
A
0
0
2
2
2
C
2
2
2
4
4
F
4
10
E
4
4
Start
B
0
1
Figure 13.6
3
3
4
D
3
4
4
7
8
3
7
13
4
8
8
H
13
13
G
8
8
5
13
13
2
15
15
Finish
Using the Critical Path
to Shorten a Project Schedule
Three main techniques for shortening schedules
Shortening durations of critical activities/tasks by adding
more resources or changing their scope
Crashing activities by obtaining the greatest amount of
schedule compression for the least incremental cost
A 2 week task with one person working 50% could be shortened
to 1 week if the person is assigned 100% - no increase in cost
Or, a temporary worker could be hired to work in parallel with the
other worker to speed up the task (at a cost)
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Project Time Management
Project Crashing
Projects will sometimes have deadlines that are impossible to meet
using normal procedures
By using exceptional methods it may be possible to finish the
project in less time than normally required
However, this usually increases the cost of the project
Reducing a projects completion time is called crashing
Project Crashing
Crashing a project starts with using the normal time to create
the critical path
The normal cost is the cost for completing the activity using
normal procedures
If the project will not meet the required deadline, extraordinary
measures must be taken
The crash time is the shortest possible activity time and will
require additional resources
The crash cost is the price of completing the activity in the
earlier-than-normal time
Four Steps to Project
Crashing
1. Find the normal critical path and identify the critical activities
2. Compute the crash cost per week (or other time period) for all
activities in the network using the formula
Crash cost Normal cost
Crash cost/Time period =
Normal time Crash time
Four Steps to Project
Crashing
3.
4.
Select the activity on the critical path with the smallest
crash cost per week and crash this activity to the
maximum extent possible or to the point at which your
desired deadline has been reached
Check to be sure that the critical path you were crashing
is still critical. If the critical path is still the longest path
through the network, return to step 3. If not, find the new
critical path and return to step 2.
General Foundry Example
General Foundry has been given 14 weeks instead of 16
weeks to install the new equipment
The critical path for the project is 15 weeks
What options do they have?
The normal and crash times and costs are shown in Table
13.9
Crash costs are assumed to be linear and Figure 13.11
shows the crash cost for activity B
Crashing activity A will shorten the completion time to 14
but it creates a second critical path B,D,G,H because when
you recalculate the LF and LS times for B and D they now
match the EF and ES
Any further crashing must be done to both critical paths
General Foundry Example
Normal and crash data for General Foundry
TIME (WEEKS)
COST ($)
ACTIVITY
NORMAL
CRASH
NORMAL
CRASH
CRASH COST
PER WEEK ($)
22,000
23,000
1,000
Yes
30,000
34,000
2,000
No
26,000
27,000
1,000
Yes
48,000
49,000
1,000
No
56,000
58,000
1,000
Yes
30,000
30,500
500
No
80,000
86,000
2,000
Yes
16,000
19,000
3,000
Yes
Table 13.9
CRITICAL
PATH?
General Foundry Example
Crash and normal times and costs for activity B
Activity
Cost
Crash
$34,000
Crash
Cost
Crash Cost/Week =
$33,000
Crash Cost Normal Cost
Normal Time Crash Time
$34,000 $30,000
31
$4,000
= 2 Weeks = $2,000/Week
=
$32,000
$31,000
$30,000
Normal
Normal
Cost
|
0
Figure 13.11
|
1
Crash Time
|
2
|
3
Normal Time
Time (Weeks)
Using the Critical Path
to Shorten a Project Schedule
Fast tracking activities by doing them in parallel or
overlapping them instead of doing them in sequence
Instead of waiting for all analysis to be completed
before starting coding, some coding could begin for
those tasks that have been fully analyzed
Drawback starting a task too soon could lengthen
the project because other tasks whose analysis has
not been completed could impact this task and cause
rework
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Project Time Management
Importance of Updating
Critical Path Data
It is important to update project schedule
information to meet time goals for a project
The critical path may change as you enter actual
start and finish dates
If you know the project completion date will slip,
be proactive and negotiate with the project
sponsor and stakeholders
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Critical Chain Scheduling
Critical chain scheduling
A method of scheduling that considers limited resources when
creating a project schedule and includes buffers to protect the
project completion date
Based on the Theory of Constraints (TOC)
A management philosophy developed by Eli Goldratt and
introduced in his book The Goal and Critical Chain
Like a chain with its weakest link, any complex system at any point in
time often has only one aspect or constraint that limits its ability to
achieve more of its goal
For the system to attain any significant improvements, that constraint
must be identified and the whole system must be managed with it in
mind
For example, two tasks originally scheduled to be done in parallel,
require the same resource 100% of the time. CCS acknowledges
that either one of the tasks must be delayed or a similar resource
must be found in order to keep to the original schedule
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Critical Chain Scheduling
Attempts to minimize multitasking
When a resource works on more than one task at a
time people are assigned to multiple tasks within the
same project or different tasks on multiple projects
Someone assigned to three tasks, tries to please
everyone and works a little on each task and then goes
back to finish the first one
This can actually delay the completion of tasks as compared to
working on each task in sequence
Multitasking also often involves wasted setup time, which
increases total duration
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Project Time Management
Multitasking Example
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Critical Chain Scheduling
Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM), developed by
Eliyahu M. Goldratt, is a method of planning and managing
projects that puts more emphasis on the resources required
to execute project tasks.
This is in contrast to the more traditional Critical Path and
PERT methods, which emphasize task order and rigid
scheduling.
A Critical Chain project network will tend to keep the
resources levelly loaded, but will require them to be flexible
in their start times and to quickly switch between tasks and
task chains to keep the whole project on schedule.
Typically, CCPM case studies report 95% on-time and on-budget
completion when CCPM is applied correctly.
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Project Time Management
Buffers and Critical Chain
In traditional estimates, people often add a
buffer to each task and use it if its needed or
not
A buffer is additional time to complete a task
This time is added to when there is
multitasking, distractions, interruptions, fear
that estimates will be reduced and Murphys
Law
Murphys Law states that if something can go
wrong, it will
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Buffers and Critical Chain
Critical chain scheduling removes buffers from individual
tasks and instead creates:
A project buffer or additional time added before the projects due
date
Feeding buffers or additional time added before tasks on the critical
path that are preceded by non-critical-path tasks
The tasks estimates in critical chain scheduling should be
shorter than traditional estimates because they do not
include their own buffers
Not having tasks buffers should mean less occurrence of
Parkinsons Law - work expands to fill the time allowed
Feeding and project buffers protect the date that really needs to be
met the project completion date
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Example of Critical Chain Scheduling
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Example of Critical Chain Scheduling
Critical Path = Task1+Task2+Task3+
Lag+ Task6 =
5+4+2+1+8 = 21 Days.
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Project Time Management
Example of Critical Chain Scheduling
Critical Path = Task1+Task2+Task3+
Lag+ Task6 =
5+4+2+1+8 = 21 Days.
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Project Time Management
Example of Critical Chain Scheduling
69
Remove safety time and reduce tasks durations by 50%.
Project Duration = Task1+Task2+Task3+ Task6 = 3+2+1+4 = 10 Days.
Note:
All safety time durations are removed. For example 1 day lag after Task 2 and
4 days after Task5 are removed.
All tasks durations are reduced to half (50%). For example Task 1 is 3 Days
instead of 6 days.
Project Time Management
Example of Critical Chain Scheduling
70
Create schedule on Late Finish dates and Remove resource constraints and
identify critical chain.
Project Duration = Task1+Task2+Task5+ Task6 = 3+2+2+4 = 11 Days.
Note:
Task3, Task4 and Task 5 are moved to start from Late Finish dates.
Task2 and Task5 are to be done by resource R2 and so that aligned to
remove resource constraints.
Project Time Management
Example of Critical Chain Scheduling
Add Project Buffer of 50% of the tasks duration and add Feeder buffer to non critical chain.
Project Duration = Task1+Task2+Task5+ Task6 + PB = 3+2+2+4+5 = 16 Days.
Note:
Project Buffer (PB) = 50% of Project Duration (11 Days) = 5.5 Days = 5 Days (Rounded).
Feeder Buffer (FB) for non critical tasks on chain. For example Task 4 is added 2 days FB.
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Comparison of CPM and CCPM results
According to the results we found above, project
duration by CPM traditional approach is 21 days and
the project duration for the same amount of work by
using CCPM is 16 Days.
Using CCPM:
Project Duration can be reduced by 25-40%.
Resources can be utilized effectively.
Project is fully focused on both critical and non critical
tasks
Program Evaluation and Review
Technique (PERT)
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
PERT uses probabilistic time estimates
Duration estimates based on using optimistic, most likely, and
pessimistic estimates of activity durations, or a three-point
estimate
PERT attempts to address the risk associated with duration
estimates by developing schedules that are more realistic
It involves more work than CPM since it requires several
duration estimates
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PERT Formula and Example
PERT weighted average =
optimistic time + 4X most likely time + pessimistic time
6
Example:
PERT weighted average =
8 workdays + 4 X 10 workdays + 24 workdays = 12 days
6
where optimistic time= 8 days,
most likely time = 10 days, and
pessimistic time = 24 days
Therefore, youd use 12 days on the network diagram instead of 10
when using PERT for the above example
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Schedule Control
Perform reality checks on schedules
Allow for contingencies
Dont plan for everyone to work at 100%
capacity all the time
Hold progress meetings with stakeholders
and be clear and honest in communicating
schedule issues
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Schedule Control (continued)
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
Tools and techniques include:
Progress reports
A schedule change control system
Project management software, including schedule comparison
charts like the tracking Gantt chart
Variance analysis, such as analyzing float or slack
Performance management, such as earned value (chapter 7)
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Reality Checks on
Scheduling
First review the draft schedule or estimated
completion date in the project charter
Prepare a more detailed schedule with the project
team
Make sure the schedule is realistic and followed
Alert top management well in advance if there are
schedule problems
Verify schedule progress just because a team
member says a task was completed on time doesnt
always mean that it was
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Working with People Issues
Strong leadership helps projects succeed more
than good PERT charts
Project managers should use:
Empowerment
Incentives
Discipline
Negotiation
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What Went Right?
Chris Higgins used the discipline he learned in the U.S.
Army to transform project management into a cultural force
at Bank of America; he used the same approach he did for
packing tents when he led an interstate banking initiative
He made the team members analyze, plan, and document
requirements for the system in such detail that it took six
months just to complete that phase
However, because of his discipline with time management
and planning, the software developers on the team
finished all of the coding in only three months, and the
project was completed on time*
*Melymuke, Kathleen, Spit and Polish, ComputerWorld (February 16, 1998).
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Using Software to Assist
in Time Management
Software for facilitating communications helps
people exchange schedule-related information
Decision support models help analyze trade-offs
that can be made
Project management software can help in
various time management areas
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Words of Caution on Using
Project Management Software
Many people misuse project management
software because they dont understand
important concepts and have not had training
You must enter dependencies to have dates
adjust automatically and to determine the critical
path
You must enter actual schedule information to
compare planned and actual progress
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