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 Time
management is crucial, not just for passing the PMP exam, but also
for successful project management, says Joseph Phillips
There’s an old joke when it comes to project
management time: “The first 90 percent of a project schedule
takes 90 percent of the time. The last 10 percent takes the other
90 percent of the time.”
And isn’t that the way it goes? Hopefully
not, but far too often, yes. Projects, especially projects that
are running behind schedule, fail at the beginning, not the end.
The importance of planning a project is never as evident until the
rush to completion. The final actions to complete a project are
dependent on the plans; and motivations set in the project planning
processes.
Effective project management requires adequate
time for planning and based on the results of planning, adequate
time for implementation of those plans. Here we’ll discuss
how project activities are decomposed and then how work packages
are sequenced, calculated, and accounted for. We’ll also discuss
the art and science of estimating the time for work packages in
new and familiar projects. Once work has been decomposed, we’ll
create and visualise the network diagram.
Time management is an essential element on the
Project Management Professional (PMP) exam. You’ll need a
solid understanding of the activities and methods to predict and
account for project time. Time management is crucial to not only
passing the PMP exam, but also to successful project management.
Defining project activities
Projects are temporary undertakings to create
a unique product or service. The idea of time is inherent to the
very definition of a project in that all projects are temporary.
Projects may seem to last
forever, but sooner or later they must end. Adequate
planning of the temporary project can predict when a project will
end. Within this short, limited time, the project manager must create
something: a product or a service. The creation is about change—and
change, as you may have guessed, takes time.
Creation of the product or service comes about
due to the work the project team completes. The sum of work time
equates to when the project is completed. In addition to the duration
of activities, there are other factors of time to consider:
- Project management activities;
- Planning processes;
- The sequence of activities;
- Procurement;
- Reliance on internal and external events;
- Known and unknown events affecting the
project.
Project time management is based predominantly
on planning, and then it’s all control and execution. Planning
for project schedules may stem from deadlines, customer demands,
hard and soft logic, and a bit of prediction.
Considering the inputs to activity definition
The activity list is an output of activity definition,
and includes all of the activities to be performed within the project.
The list must be in alignment with the project scope. Remember the
project scope? It’s a description of all the required work,
and only the required work, to complete the project.
Creating the activity list relies on several
completed documents, knowledge, and actions. The creation of the
activity list uses the following as inputs to the process:
- WBS: The work breakdown structure (WBS)
serves as a major input in the creation of the activity list.
The WBS is a deliverables-orientated collection of project components.
It is not a collection of activities to create deliverables.
- Scope statement: It is a description
of the required work, and only the required work, to complete
the project.
- Historical information: If the project
has been done before, what activities were included in a similar
project? Historical information is proven information that the
project manager can rely on for creating activity lists.
- Constraints: What restrictions are imposed
on the project manager and the project team? For example, is there
a deadline for the project? A predetermined budget? Demanded quality
metrics? These are examples of constraints.
- Assumptions: What assumptions have been
identified for the project work? For example, consider the availability
of resources, acceptable weather, and time allotments to complete
the project.
- Expert judgement: Expert judgement allows
experts to influence decisions in regard to the needed work packages.
Decomposing the project work packages
The WBS, the collection of deliverable-orientated
components, must now be broken into activities. Specifically work
packages within the WBS must be decomposed into manageable work
elements. What’s the difference between decomposing the project
deliverables and the project work? The elements in the WBS are deliverable,
this process is concerned with the actions needed to create deliverables.
It’s quite possible to create the WBS and
the activity list in tandem. Don’t get too caught up in the
timing of the activity list definition and the WBS. Simply put,
the WBS describes the components of the deliverables; the activity
list defines the actions to create the deliverables.
Relying on templates
Why reinvent the wheel? If similar projects have
been completed in the past, rely on the WBS and activity lists from
this historical information to serve as a template for the current
project. Even if a portion of a project is similar, a project manager
can use the activity list and focus on the similarities of the current
project. A template can include several elements to make a project
manager’s life easier and the new project more successful:
- Required actions to complete the project
scope;
- Required resources and skills;
- Required hours of duration for activities;
- Known risks;
- Outputs of the work;
- Descriptions of work packages;
- Supporting details.
Compiling the activity list
Ta-dah! The primary output of decomposing the
work is the activity list. The activity list is a collection of
all of the work elements required to complete the project.
The activity list is actually an extension of
the WBS, and will serve as a fundamental tool in creating the project
schedule. The activity list is needed to ensure that all of the
deliverables of the WBS are accounted for and that the necessary
work is mapped to each of the deliverables.
The activity list also ensures that there is
no extra work included in the project. Extra work costs time and
money—and defeats the project scope.
The correlation between the WBS and the work
package is a one-to-one ratio: the deliverables in the WBS map to
the required work. In other words, the WBS is comprises all components
the project will create. The activities list is consists of all
of the work required to create the components within the WBS.
In addition, the work on the activity list includes
descriptions of each identified activity. This accomplishes three
things:
- Ensures that team members are in agreement
on what the work package accomplishes
- Ensures the work supports and creates
the WBS deliverables
- Ensures the work is within the project
scope
Organising the supporting detail
The supporting detail of the activity list must
be documented, organised for fast reference, and accessible throughout
project implementation. The supporting detail allows the project
manager, the project team, and other interested parties to reference
the activity list definition process and recall why decisions were
made; how the activity list was created. The supporting detail includes:
- Assumptions
- Constraints
- Reasoning behind identified work package
- Information specific to the industry
that the project is operating within.
Updating the work breakdown structure
When creating the activity list, the project
team and the project manager may discover discrepancies or inadequacies
in the existing WBS. Updates to WBS allow the project manager to
ensure that all of the needed project deliverables are included
in the WBS and then map the discovered deliverables to the identified
in the activity list. In addition, the elements within the WBS may
not be defined fully or correct.
Excerpt from ‘Project Management Professional
Study Guide’ by Joseph Phillips. Reproduced with permission
© 2003, Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Limited
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