The document discusses event-based scheduling as an alternative to traditional project scheduling based on time and costs. It defines key terms like events, significant accomplishments, and accomplishment criteria. Events mark transitions in a project's maturity. Significant accomplishments are discrete tasks that must be completed for an event. Accomplishment criteria provide measurable indicators that an accomplishment is complete. The document provides examples applying these concepts to organizing a family project of painting a garage floor and onboarding a new employee. It emphasizes defining clear accomplishments and criteria to measure progress toward completion.

1. +
Event Based
Scheduling
OK kids,We’re gonna
paint the garage floor.
Everyone off the couch
and in the garage with
smiles on your little faces
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Dad’s gonna “program manage” your efforts to a
successful outcome using Event Based Scheduling
10 November 2006

2. +
Core Problem of all Project’s
n Collecting project costs is relatively easy
n Obtaining real physical progress status of ongoing activities is
much more difficult
n This is the 90% syndrome – or in some cases the 80% syndrome
n When physical progress is reported by the activity owners,without a
way to cross check of the achievement – true progress is often hidden
n Om many cases progress is equated to the passage of time and
consumption of money
n Replacing this progress–oriented reporting with deliverables–
oriented reporting is the starting point of real performance
management – an authentic,trusted and verifiable performance
measurement
1 Nov 06V7
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Failed or underperforming projects are more common than not. Learning how to address one of the
problems found in troubled projects is the topic of this Brown Bag session

3. +
Themes of Event Based Scheduling
n Progress is measured by the completion of Significant
Accomplishments (SA)
n The evidence of this progress is provided by the
Accomplishment Criteria (AC)
n Task progress is only measured as 0% or 100%. No partial
credit,no percent complete – either its done or it’s not done,
either we’ve accomplished our accomplishment or we haven’t
n The “architecture”of the project describes the increasing value
maturity of the deliverables through the completion of the
Significant Accomplishments
n Defining what “done” looks like and scheduling backward,
tells us when we should have started the project
1 Nov 06V7
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4. +
Events For Our Family Garage
Project
n When asked to “make a plan,” our first impulse is to make a list for all the
work to be performed.Here’s a list of the garage floor painting work …
n All our sports “stuff” cleaned up
n Get the garage floor washed and dried
n Put down epoxy sealer and let it dry
n Paint the car stalls
n Put everything back
n Park the cars and close the doors
n Let’s just focus on item #1
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Events are celebratory occasions, where a collection of Significant Accomplishments has been
“accomplished” with measurable outcomes, judged by the Accomplishment Criteria for the work
performed

5. +
First Some Definitions
n Event – A major transition point in the project. The place
where the maturity of the deliverables can be assessed to
determine if we should proceed to the next step
n Significant Accomplishment – An interim, critical, or discrete
activity that must be completed prior to an Event
n Accomplishment Criteria – A measurable indicator of the
evidence that increased maturity or progress has been made
towards a Significant Accomplishment
n Task – The work performed in support of accomplishments
and their criteria
1 Nov 06V7
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There are some new terms we’ll need to use when we’re speaking in the “Event Based
Scheduling” vocabulary

6. +
Get“stuff” Cleaned Up Event
n It needs a finite duration
n There needs to be a clear and concise definition “cleaned
up”
n Measures of success need to be defined
n When we reach the logical stopping point when “all” the
stuff is cleaned up – Mom says its time for lunch is not a very
good measure of success
n There are clear and concise benefits to getting to this point
n We could stop here and still havebenefits
1 Nov 06V7
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Let’s look at the details of our first Event
– “all the sports stuff cleaned up”

7. +
Event:“All the stuff cleaned up”–
Let’s Eat
n Significant Accomplishment (SA)
n Interim, critical or discrete activity required to complete prior to
an event
n All Baseball Equipment Located and collected for storage
n Accomplishment Criteria (AC)
n Measurableindicators of evidence that demonstrates the
achievement of maturity or progress in an activity
n Bats, gloves, pads, and uniforms placed in their labeled bags and
hung on hooks
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A Significant Accomplishment (SA) is getting all the baseball gear into bags, hung on the wall, bats in
a bag, and batting helmets in their racks

8. +
Significant Accomplishment (SA)
n SA:Baseball Equipment Stored
in Assigned Location
n The Accomplishment Criteria
for completing this Significant
Accomplishment includes:
n Location for each baseball
item identified
n Pads, balls, hats gloves
located, sorted, and placed
in a pile of like stuff
n Bats located and loaded into
a single bat bag
n Equipment bags located,
emptied of food, drinks, and
mice droppings
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The Significant Accomplishment of getting all the Baseball gear into bags is measured
by the completion of the Accomplishment Criteria

9. +
Accomplishment Criteria (AC)
n AC: Locations defined for each identified item
n Tasks to complete the AC include:
n Labeling all bags with their contents
n Cleaning the bags
n Determining if the bag can hold the equipment
n Finding new bags, if there is not enough room in the current ones
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Accomplishment Criteria (AC) is the Exit Criteria for the work performed by the Tasks. When all
the work is done, the AC is 100% complete

10. +
Project Management According to
Yogi†
n Planning
n You’ve got to be very careful if
you don’t know where you’re
going,because you might not
get there
n Communicating
n I didn’t really say everything I
said
n Decision Making
n If you come to a fork in the
road, take it
n Measuring progress
n You’d better cut the pizza in
four pieces,because I’m not
hungry enough to eat six
n Executing
n Think? How the hell are you
gonna think and hit at the
same time?
n Managing
n You can observe a lot just by
watching
n Meeting deadlines
n I knew I was going to take the
wrong train,so I left early
n Closeout
n This is like déjà vu all over
again
1 Nov 06V7
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† “Yogi Berra, PMP,” Ralph Sacco, Computer World, October 23, 2006, pp. 44

11. +
OK,Enough Baseball
Let’s have a business
example that moves us
from the old world of time
and cost measurement to
the new world of
accomplishments and exit
criteria
1 Nov 06 V7
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12. +
Provisioning a New Employee
1 Nov 06V7
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Human ResourcesNew Employee Ready to Work
Insurance
Orientation
Laptop Account Setup
Charge account setup
Information Technology
Finance
Buying authority
Supply Chain Management
Significant Accomplishments
Project Event
New Employee
Ready for Work
Project Event
New Employee
Arrives
A new employee arrives. What needs to happen before she can be productive? How can we measure
the progress toward being productive?

13. +
Structure of the Event Based
Schedule
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Business StrategyBusiness Strategy
Process StepProcess Step
WBS Element or
Subsystem
EventsEvents
TasksTasks
Accomplishments
CriteriaCriteria
Significant
Accomplishments
(SA)
Accomplishment
Criteria (AC)
SubsystemSubsystem
State of the
Project
State of the
Project
State of the
Capability
State of the
Process
Demonstrates
Maturity
Identifies
End Item
How
Defines
Customer/Program
Direction
Program/Team
Direction
Team Direction
Performance
Team Status
Team Status
Something
Completed
Effort
Expended
DeliverablesDeliverables

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Describing “Done” in a Single
Phrase
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Perform
Work
MaturityMaturity
Adjective
ActionAction
Verb
ProvisioningFinal
CapabilityCapability
Noun
Desktop
Demonstrates
Maturity End Item
“A01B02a: Preliminary Month End Close of the General Ledger Complete ”“A01B02a: Final Desktop Provisioning of New Employee Complete”
Step in the Process
StateState
Verb
Complete
Closure
State

15. +
One More Review of Our New
Terminology
n Events – define the state of the project
n Significant Accomplishments –demonstrate the state of the
capability
n This is the assessment of maturity of the deliverable at a point in
time
n Accomplishment Criteria – demonstrates the state of the
process
n Task – describes the effort required to complete the
Accomplishment Criteria
1 Nov 06V7
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The terms of Event Based Scheduling need to be repeated over and over. This helps replace our
temporal progress thinking with event maturity thinking

16. +
And Some More Detail Of These
Terms
n A Significant Accomplishment describes …
n A desired result
n A discrete step in a process
n A description of an interrelationship
n An Accomplishment Criteria describes …
n Completed work effort
n Activities that confirm the value
n Completion of critical activities
1 Nov 06V7
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17. +
AC’s are the Central Elements of
the Plan
n Define the measure by which an Accomplishment (SA) is considered
“done”
n Terms like:complete,delivered,closed have no“units of measure”in
the context of a Significant Accomplishment (SA) are weak and open to
interpretation
n Terms that use …
n Measures of completion – 80% of training materials published
n Counts of available items – 75% of entry forms approved
n Fidelity of a design – 90% of Use Cases converted to UML
n Error bounds – network performance within ±12%
n Performance parameters – backup duration £allowable window
n Maturity parameters – successful conversation completed 3 times
n … are stronger definitions of the Exit Criteria
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Defining the Accomplishment Criteria is the hard part. But they are the key to success in Event Based
Scheduling, since they are the measures of “done”

18. +
Primary Motivation – Avoid This
Meeting!
n Project management is
not about forecasting the
future
n Project Management is
about understanding
risks that impact the
future
n Project Management is
about making visible
what “done” looks like
n Project Management is
about staying ahead of
risk the curve
1 Nov 06V7
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Would you please elaborate on “Then Something Bad Happened”

19. +
Nine Principles of Project
Management
n Systematic and integrative planning
– maximum influence comes early in
the project
n Timely decisions adjusted to
uncertainty – objectives first,the
means to fulfill next
n Isolation and Absorption of Risk –
organize project elements to
maintain stability and isolate
undesired results
n Leadership is Both Inward and
Outward – leadership copes with
uncertainty, management copes with
complexity
n Teamwork – emphasize cooperation
rather than risk allocation
n Overlapping Phases – pay great
attention to pre–existing
activities
n Simple Procedures – prevent re–
invention,contribute to
cooperation,and establish
internal stability
n Intensive Communication – fit
the intensity and mode of
communication to the situation
n Systematic Monitoring –
identifying and correcting small
problems is easy,identifying
large problems is easy,
correcting them is hard
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Event Based Scheduling is the basis for these Nine Principles (or any other favorite principles of
project management)

20. +
An Event Based Schedule
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Event
Significant
Accomplishment
Accomplishment
Criteria
Tasks
Here’s an example of a project that rolls out Microsoft Project Server™

21. +
Our Working Example
n Event – Phase A/B of the enterprise
project server deployment is
complete
n All the deliverables,activities to
deliver those deliverables,and
the criteria by which those
deliverables were measured have
been completed
n Significant Accomplishment – the
Governance and Review Groups
have been established
n There are 2 “exit criteria”
shown representing the
“evidence” that these review
groups have been established
n The completion of these “exit
criteria” is a clear and concise
measure of progress
n Accomplishment Criteria –
Design Proof of Concept
Complete
n Each AC is the “exit
criteria” for the collection of
tasks (work) performed in the
schedule and is the criteria
for judging the completion
and the resulting maturity of
the work effort
n Tasks
n Each task participates in the
completion of the AC
n No partial completion of the
task is allowed in the
completion of the AC
n A strict parent child
relationship is used for all
relationships 1 Nov 06V7
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Constructing an Event Based Schedule is more work than just writing down the list of tasks and linking
them in a network. That’s easy The result makes visible what Done looks like in ways no list of
connected tasks ever can.

22. +
We Did It On Time, On Budget, On
Spec?
n If we know ahead of time what
done looks like …
n … we measure can progress
toward done in technical
performance units of measure
that describe the increasing
maturity and value of the
deliverables,rather than
consumption of time and
resources.
n Then we can tell our
customers – with a straight
face – how much value we’
ve created for their
investment, how much work
remains, an estimate of when
we’ll be done, and an estimate
of how much it will cost when
we’re done.
n If we use Event Based
Scheduling, progress can be
measured in terms understood
by all the participants –
consumer and supplier – in
units of measure of “done”
1 Nov 06V7
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23. +
Our Garage Project Is A Success …
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A Job Well DoneAnd The Kids Are Happy, with …

24. +
n Poinephobia - An
abnormal, persistent fear of
punishment
n Enissophobia – a fear
having committed an
unpardonable sin or
criticism
n Decidophobia – a fear of
making decisions
n Atychipohbia – a fear of
failure
1 Nov 06V7
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But first,what are those words in the sign two slides back?

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