Purpose To illustrate the Milestone Chart from the Kitchen.mpp. Key Points The Milestone Chart is designed to show the start and/or finish dates for the project tasks. Identifies major deliverables and key external interfaces. Advantages: Very easy to read and understand. Can show slides in project dates. Shows the big picture of the project. Disadvantages: Does not show logic and no visible duration of activities. Summary Discuss pros and cons of Milestone Charts. (c) Bluewater PM 2008
(c) Bluewater PM 2008
(c) Bluewater PM 2008
Purpose To demonstrate the different uses that apply to a Gantt Chart. Key Points The bar chart can also use a great deal of paper because the software can only place one bar per line down the page. This is because the activity information is placed in a tabular at the left hand side of the chart. A bar chart is great at showing the task data, the chart may show WBS, Float (Slack), status, and the bar may be color coded to represent whether a task is critical or not, or the resource that is responsible for it. The Gantt Chart is similar to other charts, but is highly customizable for communicative ease. The chart can be made appropriate to the technical level of the audience. Summary tasks may be labeled to show the summary deliverable and level of the summary. The Illustration is of a Gantt Chart depicting the Kitchen.mpp file. Summary Ask for questions about the differences between a milestone chart, a Gantt chart, and a network (time-scaled) diagram. (c) Bluewater PM 2008
Purpose To show that project time management is a step process, building on each step. Key Points Even though there are steps in the process, they don’t have to be in the exact order from left to right. They may overlap and they do interact. It is often an interactive process. The important thing is to work from the Top Down and to break Activities into smaller and smaller tasks at lower levels in the WBS. The process of Project Time Management does not stand alone. It interacts with the other Project Management Knowledge Areas as well. Remember, time is a resource, when misused, misplaced, or lost, it is gone forever. Time is a constraint. Transition A good example is shown on the next slide. (c) Bluewater PM 2008
Purpose To identify the 7 key inputs to Activity Sequencing. Key Points The Activity List is the To-Do list for the project. (Output from previous section.) “ The product description documents the characteristics of the product or service the project was undertaken to create” (PMI 1996, 49). “ Mandatory dependencies are those which are inherent in the nature of the work being done” (PMI 1996, 62) (e.g., foundations, walls, and then roof in construction; develop then test in software). “Mandatory dependencies are also called hard logic” (PMI 1996, 62). “ Discretionary dependencies are those which are defined by the project management team” (PMI 1996, 62). Use these with care. The team should discuss in terms of best practice, preferred logic, soft logic (e.g., work north to south in building and develop prototype A before B) (PMI 1996, 62). “ External dependencies are those that involve a relationship between project activities and non-project activities” (PMI 1996, 62). Dependent on non-project activities. These are often problematic and require good communication. “ Constraints are factors that limit the project management team’s options” (PMI 1996, 61) (i.e., budget, project duration, location). “ Assumptions are factors that for planning purposes, will be considered to be true, real, or certain” (PMI 1996, 61) (e.g., location, time of year, work environment, education). (See previous section.) Excellent definitions from the PMBOK ® Guide . Understand them. (c) Bluewater PM 2008
Purpose To identify the 7 key inputs to Activity Sequencing. Key Points The Activity List is the To-Do list for the project. (Output from previous section.) “ The product description documents the characteristics of the product or service the project was undertaken to create” (PMI 1996, 49). “ Mandatory dependencies are those which are inherent in the nature of the work being done” (PMI 1996, 62) (e.g., foundations, walls, and then roof in construction; develop then test in software). “Mandatory dependencies are also called hard logic” (PMI 1996, 62). “ Discretionary dependencies are those which are defined by the project management team” (PMI 1996, 62). Use these with care. The team should discuss in terms of best practice, preferred logic, soft logic (e.g., work north to south in building and develop prototype A before B) (PMI 1996, 62). “ External dependencies are those that involve a relationship between project activities and non-project activities” (PMI 1996, 62). Dependent on non-project activities. These are often problematic and require good communication. “ Constraints are factors that limit the project management team’s options” (PMI 1996, 61) (i.e., budget, project duration, location). “ Assumptions are factors that for planning purposes, will be considered to be true, real, or certain” (PMI 1996, 61) (e.g., location, time of year, work environment, education). (See previous section.) Excellent definitions from the PMBOK ® Guide . Understand them. (c) Bluewater PM 2008
Purpose To Discuss Schedule Control Outputs. Key Points Schedule Updates: “…any modification to the schedule information which is used to manage the project” (PMI 1996, 72). Reports, graphs, etc. "Manage by exception" just the few activities that are critical and behind schedule and the few that are over budget. Re-base-lining may be needed. We call this a target schedule. Corrective Action: You still have to fix the project. This is easy if you do it frequently and you have a top down schedule. Lessons learned: Update the schedule and use it as a template for future projects. Note the causes of the variances and reasons for corrective action. (c) Bluewater PM 2008
The graphic speaks for itself The most difficult challenge in life is also the most difficult in project management - managing change. (c) Bluewater PM 2008
A good segue into the next area - change management. Change requests are one output of project execution. (c) Bluewater PM 2008
A project manager cannot afford to drop too many balls. Effective Change Control Management can help keep them all up there (c) Bluewater PM 2008
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