1. Dr. John V. Richardson, Professor UCLA GSE&IS DIS
11/29/2018
UCLA DIS 280
Social Science Research Methodology: Scheduling Tasks
Dr. John V. Richardson, Professor
UCLA GSE&IS DIS

2. Scheduling Steps Time and Project Management
Time and Tasks; Milestones; Bottlenecks;
Underutilization and Overloading Resources
Golden Rules of PM Success
CPM, PERT, and Gantt Charts
DoD Specifications and Software

3. Time and Project Management
Completion of a project on time involves successfully meeting the:
Task objectives by a milestone as well as
the avoidance of:
Underutilizing a resource (which is wasteful)
Overloading a resource (by holding up some activity)

4. Linking Tasks & Time Together
Identify the tasks to be completed (see steps in the details of the method section)
Work backwards and identify completion date (end of project by graduation or grant application deadline)
Establish the duration of each task (i.e., hours, days, weeks; use the same unit)

5. Linking Time & Tasks Together
Establish relationships between tasks (e.g., “finish-to-start” or parallel or delay)
Set milestones for the accomplishment of tasks
Begin thinking about costs of each task or activity (preparing for the budget section)

6. Bottlenecks
Reassign resources (i.e., leveling, evenly spreading the work to avoid underutilizing or overloading) such as people, equipment, supplies
Consider options (especially cost considerations)
What-If Scenarios

7. 12 Golden Rules of PM Success
THOU SHALT:
Gain consensus on project outcomes
Build the best team you can
Develop a comprehensive viable plan and keep it up to date
Determine how much stuff you really need to get things done

8. Thou Shalt: Develop a realistic schedule
Not try to do more than can be done
Remember that people count
Gain the formal and ongoing support of management and stake holders

9. Thou Shalt: Be willing to change
Keep people involved of what you’re doing
Be willing to try new things
Be a leader as well as a manager
SOURCE: InfoWorld, 31 Jan 2000, p. 70

10. Critical Path Defined
“The set of activities whose delay will delay the completion of the project. These are the activities with zero slack time.”
Source: Network Analysis, p. 202

11. Critical Path Method
“Critical Path is a methodology for determining the crucial tasks that, if not accomplished by a certain time, contribute directly to the delay of the whole project.”
Assumption: the duration of a task can be estimated accurately; Goal: to “analyze and report compromises to balance the cost of a project with the time needed to finish it.”
SOURCE: Project Manager materials, p. 1

12. CPM Goals
“Given the activities and events of a project network be able to find the activities that are most critical to the timely completion of a project.
“Be able to compute the earliest and latest times at which activities can be scheduled to begin and finish.”
SOURCE: Network Analysis, p. 200

13. Two Forms of CPM CPM takes one of two forms:
precedence-based (where some task has to occur before another task)
arrow-networking (assumes that one task must be completed before beginning next one)

14. Gantt Charts Named for Henry Gantt
A formal (i.e., a graphical) way of displaying the project completion’s critical path

15. PERT Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)
Broader view than CPM
“Shows how all phases of the project interrelate” so that resource leveling can be undertaken

16. DoD C/SSR and C/SCSC
The United States Department of Defense’s Cost/Schedule Status Report (C/SSR) as well as their Cost/Schedule Control Systems Criteria (C/SCSC):
Based on percentage of progress
0/100, 50/50 and 100/0 where
0/100 means 0 percent at start, 100 percent at finish

17. Adopting a Software Package
More than 4-20 tasks
Multiple projects or multiple resources on a task
Provides computer generated reporting and tracking
Multiple projects (projects within projects)
Claims of 2-4 time more effective

18. 11/29/2018
Scheduling Software
A variety of microcomputer software packages is available such as:
Microsoft Project
Primavera, Project Planner
Scitor Corporation, Project Scheduler
Applied Micro Systems, Protracs
Symantec, Time Line

19. Hofstadter’s Law
“It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter’s Law.”

20. Questions Are all the necessary tasks identified?
Are they related to the organizational plan?
Are specific milestones provided for each task?
Can the P.I. accomplish it in the time allotted (e.g., is it realistic)?

21. When is it Done? Idealistic: “When quality meets our standard…”
Legalistic: “When it fulfills the requirements…”
Pragmatic: “When we reach the scheduled deadline…”
Budgetary: “When we run out of money…”
SOURCE: “Getting to Done,” ComputerWorld 7 June 2004, p. 52.

22. Just A Gentle Reminder...
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