This book covers the project management basics in regards to creating a realistic project schedule. And it is not only about Gantt Chart or milestones. It is a thorough approach to making promises that you can deliver.

1. How to Create a Realistic
Project Schedule
Dmitriy Nizhebetskiy
ACTIONPLANTO DEVELOP A PROMISE YOU
WILLBE ABLE TO KEEP.

2. How to Create a Realistic Project Schedule
Creating a realistic project schedule is dif cult. It is a complex document with
dozens of variables. There is always some amount of uncertainty. Stakeholders
try to squeeze as much as possible into unrealistic deadlines. On top of that, you
need to makea commitment– a promiseto thestakeholders to deliver theproject
in time.
There is a way to ful l the task with a high level of certainty. The solution is to
approach the project schedule planning in a systematic, integrated and iterative
way.
Whatdoes thatmean?
Right now I will guide you through the process and explain the basics of a realistic
project schedule.
So, hereis thedeal.
No matter what you do as a project manager, you plan before you act. Therefore,
you should startwith theScheduleManagementPlan
Ensure Your Success with Schedule Management
Plan
Project Schedule is often confused with Schedule Management Plan. The
scheduleis only a partof theplan. Though, itis oneof themostimportantpieces.
Key stakeholders will be interested mostly in a project timeline. Only because it
answers their primary question: “When will I gettheresults?”
However, itis a long way beforeyou can startworking on theprojectschedule.
Whatis a real story?
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3. How to Create a Realistic Project Schedule
Before dragging coloured bars on a Gantt Chart there are a lot of questions you
need to answer.
1. What are the existing policies and processes? Your projectwill function in the
environment of your organisation. You will have to get approvals, negotiate to
prove the necessity of resources, and provide reports. Your project schedule
should be aligned and integrated with these processes. Otherwise, expect extra
workon your side.
2. De ne a schedule model. It is a complicated concept described in a chart
below.
A scheduling tool is used to describe a Scheduling Method. Combined with
project information it generates a Schedule Model. A version of the schedule
model with final projectinformation outputtheprojectschedule.
Why does itmatter?
In simplewords, itboils down to this.
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4. How to Create a Realistic Project Schedule
You must take into account available software and general approach to
scheduling consistent with your environment. Including other project
managementprocesses.
For the sake of this guide, I will assume that you will choose Critical Path Method
as a scheduling method.
3. De ne Units of Measurement. Should the estimates be in hours or days?
What will be depicted on Gantt Chart? Is it calendar days, working hours, or
effectivehours. Should you trackboth efforts and duration for a task?
Answering these questions will help you to make information consistent
throughoutdifferentprocesses.
4. Identify variance thresholds. You don’t want to micromanage your team and
continually update your schedule. You need to de ne whether a delay of one, two
or threedays warrants a correctiveaction.
5. Identify reporting format. What information will go from your scheduling
model into the regular reports to the stakeholders? You need to come up with an
effortless approach.
6. Think through change management process. How hard is it to make a change
to theschedule? How to makeiteffortless and integrated?
Thatis notall…
Then comes themajor integration part.
Integrate WBS with Project Schedule
Thecoreof projectintegration is a WorkBreakdown Structure.
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5. How to Create a Realistic Project Schedule
Do you remember the long path you need to cover before you start creating a
projectschedule?
First, you create a Project Charter and Stakeholder Register, then Project Scope
Statementand WorkBreakdown Structure.
If by this moment you have a high-quality WBS, it automatically means that you
havea frameworkfor integration with other projectmanagementprocesses.
For example, in the next step, you will decompose the Work Packages into
Activities. So, if you do integration properly, each activity already has a lot of
related properties and information like:
1. Links to requirements and projectobjectives
2. Related stakeholders
3. Parentworkpackage
4. Assumptions
5. Constraints
Thatwill behelpful in futurefor monitoring and controlling processes.
Use Activities For Accuracy
In projectschedule, weworkwith activities.
Why?
They provide an appropriate level of detail. They can show interdependencies
between work packages and deliverables. Activities can be done by one person
withoutinterruption.
Also, activity is a data storage that has enough information to be used in different
processes. You will updatethis information several times.
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6. How to Create a Realistic Project Schedule
Your ultimategoal is to preservetheconnection to therelated WBS Elements.
In future, you will useactivities to perform, monitor and control projectwork. The
sum of related activities will give you a completed work package. In its turn,
related work packages will make you a deliverable. In the long run, you will get
backto theWBS to provethatyou havecreated therequested deliverable.
Integration of WBS elements and activities.
Who do You Need to Get Things Done?
So, once you have an activity and you know what should be done, identify what
kind of human resourceyou need.
In case you have a prede ned team, you usually just assign activities to existing
team members.
However, thereis a catch.
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7. How to Create a Realistic Project Schedule
If you skip the analysis of required resources, you may end up with a team not
fully fitfor thetaskathand.
With a prede ned team, everyone will assume that you have everyone you need.
However, how could the assessment be done accurately without knowing the actual
scope of work?
Don’t fall into this trap. Always analyse the scope of work with the team and
ensureyou really haveevery speciality accounted.
Use Bottom-Up Estimate for Accurate Duration
Knowing the competency and level of a resource, now you can estimate duration
for an activity. To assess the duration of a work package you estimate the
activities and sum them up. To evaluate a Delivery – you work with child work
packages.
It is a preferred way for estimation. Using a bottom-up approach gives a higher
level of accuracy. However, in case of duration, do not forget to take into account
dependencies and sequenceof activities.
We have discussed how to produce estimates in details already. Refer to the related
post: How to Make Project Estimates.
Keep in mind that there are effort-driven activities. Duration of such activities
depends on a number of resources you can actually apply. In other words, you
can putseveral resources to do thejob. And itwill befaster.
For example digging a trench. For one person in may take ten days. But you can
apply ten persons to dig. Most probably they will not nish the task in one day.
Butitwill becloseto it. Itis an effort-driven activity.
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8. How to Create a Realistic Project Schedule
On the other hand, if you build concrete structures. It will take that much time for
concreteto dry and fix no matter how many peoplewill bearound.
Dependencies in Project Schedule
Therearepractically four types of dependencies between activities:
Finish-Start. An activity must nish before the successor can start. It is the most
common typeof relationship.
I say, always use only this one unless a nature of related activities requires something
else.
Start-Start. An activity must start before successor can start. For example, you
muststartdelivering bricks beforeyou startto build a wall.
Finish-Finish. An activity must nish before successor can nish. For example,
you can’tfinish repairs until you fully clean up thearea.
Start-Finish. An activity must start before successor can nish. Well, before you
start thinking about a good example, forget about it. This type is rarely used.
Examples areway too confusing.
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9. How to Create a Realistic Project Schedule
FS, SS, FF typeof dependencies.
Also, thereareseveral types of dependencies by nature:
Mandatory dependency or Hard Logic. A dependency dictated by the
natureof theworkor is required by thecontract.
Discretionary Dependency or Preferred or Soft Logic. A dependency you
or your organisation chose. There are different ways to do one and the same
work. But for some reasons, it is the way you always do similar things. In
general, itis dictated by convenienceor efficiency of work.
External Dependency. Dependency imposed by people or an organisation
outsideof your project.
Internal Dependency. The dependency that is based on the needs of a
project. In other words, itis something you can control.
All you need to do is to analyse all activities and identify a predecessor for each
one.
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10. How to Create a Realistic Project Schedule
Even if activities are unrelated, you would want to build a logical sequence of work.
So use Discretionary Finish-to-Start dependencies for such activities.
Network diagram
Network diagram shows dependencies between activities. Usually, a Precedence
Diagramming Method is used. In this method, boxes are used to represent
activities and arrows show dependencies between them.
But do you need to create a diagram separately? If your software does not do this
automatically, itwill takea lotof efforts. Therefore, I don’tthinkitis worth it.
Anyway, you will use some tool to visualise your schedule. In most cases, you will
beableto perform analysis as if itis a networkdiagram.
Nevertheless, Network Diagram is a very powerful tool, and we will discuss it in a
separatepostlater.
A networkdiagram created in OmniPlan
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11. How to Create a Realistic Project Schedule
Use Your Float Wisely
Float or Slack is the amount of time you can delay an activity without delaying an
intermediatedeliverableor projectend date. Itis a Total Float.
The oat is your management resource. Even if you do not create a Network
Diagram and do not calculate forward and backwards passes, it is useful to know
thefloat.
How can you actually usethis?
For example, you know that a task will take two days. However, it is not on the
critical path. It has several days of oat. It is a good chance to utilise your
inexperienced or ineffective resources. They will do the work. But you will not
jeopardisethescheduleif itwill takemoretimefor them.
Define CriticalPath
You can always sequence all your activities one after another. That is not
ef cient, though. Most probably you can perform several activities
simultaneously. Therefore, you will have parallel paths from project start to
finish.
Critical Path is the longest duration path through a network diagram. It also
means that it is the shortest time it could take to complete a project. Moreover,
it’s worth knowing that activities on a Critical Path have zero oats. Therefore,
thereis no way you can delay them.
Why do you need a Critical Path?
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12. How to Create a Realistic Project Schedule
1. Itdetermines duration of theproject
2. It shows you where to focus your attention. All activities on Critical Path
imposerisks.
3. If a problems arise with activity on a critical path – it requires your
immediateattention.
4. Shows you theways to adjustprojectschedule.
ApplyResources Calendar
For now, we operated with absolute values of duration. It never coincides with
calendar duration. There are holidays, vacations, sick leaves, and unexpected
delays.
Resources Calendar, in essence, is just a calendar that shows when resources are
available.
And there is a whole set of problems here. It is really hard to produce an accurate
Resources Calendar.
What’s thereal story?
If you have a prede ned team – it lessens the troubles. You just need to manage
vacations and plan for them. Also, you need to consider risks of sickleaves.
If you do not have a team and you, need to acquire it. Well, it is more complicated.
You need to plan the dates when you will get a resource. You may need to nd
and hire a person rst. You may need to wait when a person is released from
another project. You may need to train him before he can add value to your
project.
On the other hand, there may be constraints on the resources availability. It may
beavailablepart-time. Or his contractends soon.
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13. How to Create a Realistic Project Schedule
You need to take all of this into consideration. And we are talking not only about
human resources. You may need access to equipment and materials. It is a
separateplan on its own.
To use it ef ciently, I suggest thinking of it this way. Each resource has time slots
thatyou can fill in with your activities. Notviceversa.
In any case, keep in mind that you may need to make a lot of assumptions on
resources availability. You need to be proactive to secure the resources you were
promised. And of course, you need to take resources calendar into consideration
during riskmanagement.
Do aRealityCheck
Now you have an end date of your project. Is it before the deadline? If it is – that’s
good. If not, you need to develop options how to nish a project with minimal
trade-offs.
Analyse the gap between the deadline and the estimated end date of the project.
You need to identify whatis thebestway to fittheprojectwithin constraints.
Keep in mind that project plan should be exible. If your end date and the
deadline are too close, that is also bad. It is risky. Be sure to consider Essential
ProjectPlanning Concepts.
Adjust Project Schedule
If you need to compress the project schedule to meet the deadline, there are not
many options.
Youcan either reduce the scope.
You can increasethecosts to apply moreresources.
You can movethedeadline.
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14. How to Create a Realistic Project Schedule
Of course, the combination of these options is also valid. But it is always about
scope, time, and costs.
Crashing is a project schedule compression technique. You simply add more
resources to finish theprojecton schedule.
You trade time for money. It is a less risky approach. It increases the costs and
communication overhead. However, itis notalways applicable.
And keep in mind that buying a better tool or machinery may also be an example
of crashing.
On the other hand, you can try to perform activities on the Critical Path in
parallel. If itis possibleatall. This techniqueis called Fast Tracking.
In reality, it means that you will try to start an activity while it predecessor is not
yetfinished.
Buthereis thedeal:
Usually, it causes rework and introduces a lot of risks. You would need to
communicate a lot even if you planned these activities thoroughly. Be ready that
there will be a lot of con icts and defects. You will have to manage them closely
to keep theworkrunning.
Also, Fast Tracking introduces long-term drawbacks. Quite often it includes violation
of processes and making shortcuts. This way or another you will end up with
technical, quality or documentation debt. After extended periods of fast tracking be
sure to find time and efforts to catch up.
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15. How to Create a Realistic Project Schedule
Iterate After Risk Management
There was one thing that confused me a lot. Project Schedule is the input to the
Risk Management processes. However, you address risks and develop risk
responseplans much later, closer to theend of theplanning.
So, at this moment, you develop a draft of a schedule. There may be many drafts
of the project schedule. Planning is an iterative process. Once you nd out more
details abouttheproject, you need to getbackand validateall previous results.
You can nalise the schedule only when you performed risk management
activities, adjusted theprojectmanagementplan, finalised thebudgetand scope.
Know What You Need to Produce?
Project Schedule shows start date, the end date, duration, and dependencies of
each activity.
Ganttcharts, milestonecharts, networkdiagrams arejustvisualisations.
Each of them has its own use.
Gantt Chart is useful for tracking progress and reporting itto theteam.
Milestone Chart is for reporting to senior management.
Network Diagrams show interdependencies between activities.
Chooseappropriaterepresentation of theprojectscheduleto your purpose.
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16. How to Create a Realistic Project Schedule
Put Stakeholders on Your Team
As a part of a project management plan, project schedule should also be
approved and baselined.
To reduce the stress and risks at the end, collaborate with key stakeholders early
on. It is a good practice to get feedback on rst drafts of the schedule. They might
help you to find weakspots and identify morerisks.
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