Chapter 6 Time Management

Chapter 6 Time Management
Continuing with our Project Management Professional Certification Exam preparation study, we are now going to cover Project Time Management. When studying and preparing Project Time and Project Cost Management please note one important point. Concepts and techniques introduced and discussed in one chapter can easily be applied to the other. For example we will be discussing estimation techniques in both Time and Cost Management, the exam might ask you to apply a Time estimation technique during a Cost estimation question and vice versa. So keep that in mind when preparing for either of these topics. We recommend you study Time and Cost Management in that order as we introduce concepts in the Time Management chapter and build upon these in the Cost Management chapter. Ask any veteran Project Manager and they will confirm that real life projects perform time, cost, procurement (and more) all at the same time. Remember the triple constraints? You cannot change one component without affecting one or more of the others. With that note, lets discuss Time Management. PMP, CAPM, PgMP, PMI-SP , PMI-RMP, OPM3 and PMBOK are registered marks of Project Management Institute, Inc Inov8Solutions Inc – Quality Educational Services For Professionals 6-1

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Contents Time Management overview Time Management Processes Plan Schedule Management, Sequence Activities, Estimate Activity Resources. Estimate Activity Durations, Develop Schedule, Control Schedule Precedence Diagramming Method Dependencies Leads and Lags Network Diagrams Critical Path Method Schedule Compression In this chapter, we will cover the following topics: Provide an overview of Time Management Discuss the Time Management Processes Explain the activities involved in each Time Management Process Understand what is involved in Precedence Diagramming Method Understand and interpret network diagrams Explain the different types of dependencies How to apply leads and lags Calculate the critical path from a network diagram Discuss the need and application of schedule compression techniques PMP, CAPM, PgMP, PMI-SP , PMI-RMP, OPM3 and PMBOK are registered marks of Project Management Institute, Inc Inov8Solutions Inc – Quality Educational Services For Professionals 6-2

Time Management Learning Objectives
By the end of this chapter, you should be able to: Explain the importance of Time Management on a project Name the Time Management processes Explain the purpose of and activities performed in each process Explain the purpose of the Precedence Diagramming Method Understand and interpret network diagrams Identify the critical path and calculate its duration Explain the purpose and use of schedule compression techniques By the end of this chapter, you should be able to: Explain the importance of proper time management on a project Name the Project Time Management processes Explain the purpose of and activities performed in each process Explain the purpose of the Precedence Diagramming Method Understand and interpret network diagrams Calculate the critical path from a network diagram Explain the purpose and use of schedule compression techniques These objectives are given to make you aware of the knowledge you must gain from the material being presented in the chapter in order to do well on the exam. There will be questions interspersed between different topics, as well as a set of questions at the end of the chapter. The purpose of these questions is to help you strengthen your grasp of key concepts. You are strongly encouraged to answer these questions seriously so that you may assess any gaps you might have in your knowledge and understanding. PMP, CAPM, PgMP, PMI-SP , PMI-RMP, OPM3 and PMBOK are registered marks of Project Management Institute, Inc Inov8Solutions Inc – Quality Educational Services For Professionals 6-3

Project Time Management
Who is responsible for project delays? What Tools and techniques do you use To estimate activity durations? To Manage Time? How to handle changes? Your team might be doing the work for you but remember as a Project Manager it is ultimately your responsibility if your Project slips on time, cost, quality or any of the deliverables. As a Project Manager most of your energy will be spent on tracking (and communicating) time & cost amongst other aspects of the project. You might have used various tools to track time - time sheet systems, Microsoft Project or a simple log book. According to Project Management Institute all these tools can be classified as a Project Management System, yes even your log book. In this chapter we will review various techniques to help you manage your time effectively. What happens to your Project Time when changes or delays occur? Do you simply delay the project? What if that was not an option? We will shortly introduce Change Control Process along with various techniques to bring your project time under control (Fast tracking, Crashing). PMP, CAPM, PgMP, PMI-SP , PMI-RMP, OPM3 and PMBOK are registered marks of Project Management Institute, Inc Inov8Solutions Inc – Quality Educational Services For Professionals 6-4

Time Management Processes
Which Process Group do each of these activities belong in? 1. Plan Schedule Management 2. Define Activities See WBS section under Scope Management 3. Sequence Activities 4. Estimate Activity Resources 5. Estimate Activity Durations 6. Develop Schedule 7. Control Schedule The Time Management Processes can be divided into seven distinct activities. These activities have to be done in the order listed on this slide. Let’s pause for a few minutes here to see if you can guess which process group each of these activities belong to? You can press “Continue” to proceed. The first six (Plan Schedule Management, Define Activities, Sequence Activities, Estimate Activity Resource and Duration and Develop Schedule) are done during Planning. Control Schedule is done in Monitoring and Controlling Project Work. If you are not sure, you might want to go back and review chapter 3, PM Processes. Let us go through each of these activities in turn. You might have noticed that we have already discussed the first item “Defined Activities”, in the Scope Management chapter. Remember when we created our Work Break Down Structure (WBS)? A WBS, once completed, gives you a complete list of tasks at the activity level. PMP, CAPM, PgMP, PMI-SP , PMI-RMP, OPM3 and PMBOK are registered marks of Project Management Institute, Inc Inov8Solutions Inc – Quality Educational Services For Professionals 6-5

Plan Schedule Management
How schedule will be managed, executed, and controlled. Component of the Project Management Plan Plan Schedule Management has been introduced as a new process in PMBOK 5. The purpose of this process is to articulate and define the policies and procedures for managing the project schedule. What do you think the main output is of the Plan Schedule Management process? If you guessed the Schedule Management Plan, then you are right. The Schedule Management Plan is the main output of this process. The Schedule Management Plan details how the project schedule will be managed, executed, and controlled. PMP, CAPM, PgMP, PMI-SP , PMI-RMP, OPM3 and PMBOK are registered marks of Project Management Institute, Inc Inov8Solutions Inc – Quality Educational Services For Professionals 6-6

Sequence Activities Process of identifying and documenting relationships among project activities. Sequenced using logical relationships Connected to a predecessor and successor Except the first and last activities May be necessary to include lead or lag times To support a realistic/achievable schedule Work Break Down Structure (WBS) is a great tool to give you a complete list of tasks / activities that you need to accomplish to successfully finish your project. It does not however address dependencies between these tasks, for example you cannot perform quality control if your product has not been assembled yet. During the planning phase, after we are done with finishing the WBS, we move on to record dependencies or relationships between these tasks. This is important in our planning phase as we need to know when during the project will we require which resource and for what duration. This has direct implications on all aspects of the project. Don’t get me wrong we are not belittling WBS here, a good or bad WBS has far reaching impact on the success or failure of the project. If you can imagine WBS as the bones of the project with the subsequent activities adding flesh and meat on this structure. PMP, CAPM, PgMP, PMI-SP , PMI-RMP, OPM3 and PMBOK are registered marks of Project Management Institute, Inc Inov8Solutions Inc – Quality Educational Services For Professionals 6-7

Precedence Diagram Method
PDM method used in Critical Path Methodology (CPM) for constructing a project schedule network diagram. Also called Activity-On-Node Begin A B E C D End SS+5 Here is an example of what a dependency diagram or network diagram looks like, don’t worry if this does not make sense yet. Over the next few slides we will learn how to create network diagrams and how to use them to help with our project scheduling conflicts. The arrows represent dependencies between tasks, for example activity C cannot start until activity A finishes. Notice how some activities can run parallel to each other, activity set A & C are being executed at the same time B & E are running. The SS+5 label on activity arrow between A and B is how we show a lag between activities, where B can only start 5 days after A finishes. More on this later as we break a network diagram down for you and together work on an exercise. See PMBOK page 139 for another example of precedence diagram. Note the exam might refer to this as “Activity-On-Node” , also note that the exam does not mention or ask about another variation of this which is often referred to as “Activity-On-Arrow”. Just as we used WBS to identify all activities needed for a project, we use PDM to help us with the next step in the Time Management process. As you will shortly see once completed a network diagram helps us estimate project time and resource utilization. Next few slides attempt to break this down to show you various components of a network diagram. In the end we bring this all together by working on an example network diagram. PMP, CAPM, PgMP, PMI-SP , PMI-RMP, OPM3 and PMBOK are registered marks of Project Management Institute, Inc Inov8Solutions Inc – Quality Educational Services For Professionals 6-8

PDM Dependencies PDM includes four types of dependencies or logical relationships Finish-to-start (FS) Initiation of the successor (S) depends upon the completion of predecessor (P) Finish-to-finish (FF) Completion of S depends upon completion of P Start-to-start (SS) Initiation of S depends upon initiation of P Start-to-finish (SF) Completion of S depends upon initiation of P (rarely used) P S P S P S The exam can quiz you on the types of dependencies, questions could be as simple as identifying what each dependency type looks like. These define when a successor activity (S) can start (or finish in some cases) relative to it’s predecessor activity (P). Finish to Start - used most often where S can only start when P finishes. Finish to Finish – S finishes only when P finishes Start to Start – S can only start when P starts Start to finish – rarely used, S can only finish when P starts Please note we can have more than one S or P activities. P S PMP, CAPM, PgMP, PMI-SP , PMI-RMP, OPM3 and PMBOK are registered marks of Project Management Institute, Inc Inov8Solutions Inc – Quality Educational Services For Professionals 6-9

Dependency Determination
Mandatory dependencies Contractually required or inherent in the nature of work (Hard Logic) Discretionary dependencies Preferred logic or soft logic based on best practices External dependencies Usually outside the team’s control When setting dependencies you might have to consider various factors. After pouring cement you have to wait for it to cure implying a finish to start relationship. This was an example of Mandatory dependency inherent in the nature of work. Another example might be when you are contractually bound to implement tasks a certain way. It might be best practice to finish design before you start coding but you may choose to use your discretion to start coding earlier based on tight deadlines. Here you are using your prior experience to exercise your discretion. There might not be a direct question from this slide but it’s good to understand factors that might influence you during this phase of Time Management. PMP, CAPM, PgMP, PMI-SP , PMI-RMP, OPM3 and PMBOK are registered marks of Project Management Institute, Inc Inov8Solutions Inc – Quality Educational Services For Professionals 6-10

Review Quiz Which one of the following is not a type of dependency? Mandatory Dependency Hard logic External Dependency Extraneous Dependency The Correct Answer is D. Extraneous is not a type of dependency in the Precedence Diagramming Method. Hard logic is the same as Mandatory Dependency. PMP, CAPM, PgMP, PMI-SP , PMI-RMP, OPM3 and PMBOK are registered marks of Project Management Institute, Inc Inov8Solutions Inc – Quality Educational Services For Professionals 6-11

Applying Leads and Lags
A lead allows an acceleration of the successor activity. Shown as a finish-to-start dependency A lag directs a delay in the successor activity. Shown as a start-to-start relationship. P S FS+5 Lead There might be times when you want the successor activity to start before the predecessor finishes, the first bullet point shows how we represent this on a network diagram. Here we are allowing the successor to start 5 days before the predecessor finishes. Remember the start to code before design is finished example we gave in the last slide? Lag A lag on the other hand slows or delays the successor activity, the second bullet point shows how lags are recorded on a precedence diagram. P S SS+5 PMP, CAPM, PgMP, PMI-SP , PMI-RMP, OPM3 and PMBOK are registered marks of Project Management Institute, Inc Inov8Solutions Inc – Quality Educational Services For Professionals 6-12

Review Quiz “Define Activities” and “Sequence Activities” belong to which process group? Initiation Planning Monitoring and Controlling Closing Correct Answer – B: Planning Remember the first five Time Management activities (Define Activities, Sequence Activities, Estimate Activity Resource and Duration and Develop Schedule) are done during Planning. The last, Control Schedule is done in Monitor and Control. PMP, CAPM, PgMP, PMI-SP , PMI-RMP, OPM3 and PMBOK are registered marks of Project Management Institute, Inc Inov8Solutions Inc – Quality Educational Services For Professionals 6-13

Review Quiz The reason we build a network diagram during the Time Management Process is to Identify activities Help estimate time and resource Identify relationships between activities Verify WBS Correct Answer – B: Help estimate time and resource utilization Activities are identified during the work breakdown structure (WBS) activity not when building network diagrams. So A is the wrong choice We require a complete/verified WBS and an understanding of relationships between the activities before we can start building a network diagram. C and D are not the correct answers. PMP, CAPM, PgMP, PMI-SP , PMI-RMP, OPM3 and PMBOK are registered marks of Project Management Institute, Inc Inov8Solutions Inc – Quality Educational Services For Professionals 6-14

Estimate Activity Resources
Process of estimating type and quantities of resources Material Equipment People Closely linked to Estimate Cost Process Needs experience and industry knowledge for accurate estimates. Historic documents a key asset in this process Each activity identified in the WBS needs to be estimated not only for how long it will take to complete but also for how many resources (human and equipment) are required to finish it. How else would you know how many people to hire or let go at each stage of the project or how much capital is required to finish this task. Each individual activity estimate will be later used to identify the cumulative estimate for the full project. The key is to get activity level estimate as accurate as possible to get as correct project level estimates as possible. As mentioned before keep in mind estimation techniques discussed in this chapter are equally applicable to cost and vice versa. We will actually build on these concepts in the next chapter (Project Cost Management). How can historic documents play a key role in this process? Wouldn’t you agree how useful it could be if you can find archives of a project that was very similar to your project? If you could go back and see what estimates were made and how these stood the test of time? PMI in it’s PMBOK does not stress enough the importance of Closing and in particular recording project documents for future reference. PMP, CAPM, PgMP, PMI-SP , PMI-RMP, OPM3 and PMBOK are registered marks of Project Management Institute, Inc Inov8Solutions Inc – Quality Educational Services For Professionals 6-15

Estimating Activity Duration
One-Point Estimate Estimator submits one estimate per activity Requires specialized knowledge and experience Analogous Estimating (Top-down) Expert judgment and historical information Less costly and time consuming but less accurate Parametric Estimating Regression analysis (scatter diagram) Learning curve (To do: split slide into three additional diagrams or have examples popup) Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) on your team might be able to provide a highly accurate estimate of activities on your project, they are able to do this on the back of their experience and domain knowledge. If you have such individuals on your team, use their skills to save time and effort. Using this method one estimate is given per activity. While One-Point estimates are quick to produce but are fairly inaccurate. Later we will see an improved method aka Three-Point estimation. Another fairly quick method is Analogous or Top-down estimating where a similar project’s estimate is taken and applied to the top level / node of the activity tree (also known as WBS or Work Break Down Structure). This high level estimate is then decomposed down the branches of the activity tree. For example we are about to start construction on a building project, a similar project was completed not too long ago. We know the old project took two years to complete so we estimate that our current project should also take the same amount of time to finish. Parametric estimation is done by looking at relationship between various variables on an activity. There are two ways parametric estimates can be created, first by creating scatter diagrams from historic data or by plotting a learning curve graph PMP, CAPM, PgMP, PMI-SP , PMI-RMP, OPM3 and PMBOK are registered marks of Project Management Institute, Inc Inov8Solutions Inc – Quality Educational Services For Professionals 6-16

Estimate Activity Duration (Cont…)
Heuristics - Rule of thumb Design work is always 15% of total project length Three-Point Estimates Pert Analysis uses three estimates to define an approximate range for an activity duration Most likely tm, Optimistic to, Pessimistic tp tE = (to+4tm+tp) \ 6 Standard Deviation = (tp-t0) \ 6 Activity Variance = [(tp-t0) \ 6]2 Heuristics can be another quick way of estimating activity durations where say Project length will be 75% of the time spent on design activity. Three-Point Estimate or PERT analysis uses three estimates per activity, most likely, optimistic and pessimistic. These three estimates are plugged into the PERT formula to calculate the final estimate. Compared to earlier estimates this method takes longer to complete but you get a somewhat accurate estimate. Additionally standard deviation and variances can also be calculated using these three estimates. While the exam questions will be as simple as crunching numbers given the three estimates, you might appreciate this is a better way to approach estimation as real life activities tend to finish sooner or later compared to estimates. PMP, CAPM, PgMP, PMI-SP , PMI-RMP, OPM3 and PMBOK are registered marks of Project Management Institute, Inc Inov8Solutions Inc – Quality Educational Services For Professionals 6-17

Review Quiz The 3 types of estimates used in PERT analysis are: Optimistic, Pessimistic, and Actual High, Low, and Balanced Optimistic, Realistic, and Most Likely Optimistic, Pessimistic, and Most Likely The correct answer is D. The 3 types of estimates used in PERT analysis are optimistic, pessimistic, and most likely. PMP, CAPM, PgMP, PMI-SP , PMI-RMP, OPM3 and PMBOK are registered marks of Project Management Institute, Inc Inov8Solutions Inc – Quality Educational Services For Professionals 6-18

Reserve Analysis Discussed in Risk management chapter Contingency reserves After risk planning Also called time reserve or buffers Management reserves Unforeseen risk Once we have determined estimates for all activities and have an idea of how long our project might take from beginning to end, it is important to leave some reserves in case of overruns. We will revisit this topic in the Risk Management chapter but, briefly, Contingency reserves are for foreseen risks while Management reserves are for un-expected events that were not accounted for during estimation part of the planning phase. PMP, CAPM, PgMP, PMI-SP , PMI-RMP, OPM3 and PMBOK are registered marks of Project Management Institute, Inc Inov8Solutions Inc – Quality Educational Services For Professionals 6-19

Develop Schedule Schedule Network Diagram Dependencies Estimates Once individual activity estimates are completed, it is not a simple matter of adding all activity durations to arrive at the project duration estimate. Going back to our Precedence Diagram (also know as Network Diagram) example, you might recall project activities are not executed in a linear fashion. Certain activities can run parallel to each other causing the project to finish earlier if we are to perform the same activities one after another. We might have to also add leads or lags between certain activities which again could impact the project finish date. Developing project schedule entails taking activity estimates and activity dependencies into consideration, drawing a network diagram and putting start and end dates on each activity. PMP, CAPM, PgMP, PMI-SP , PMI-RMP, OPM3 and PMBOK are registered marks of Project Management Institute, Inc Inov8Solutions Inc – Quality Educational Services For Professionals 6-20

Develop Schedule Questions
Consider deleting this slide? PMP, CAPM, PgMP, PMI-SP , PMI-RMP, OPM3 and PMBOK are registered marks of Project Management Institute, Inc Inov8Solutions Inc – Quality Educational Services For Professionals 6-21

Drawing Network Diagrams
Duration = 5 days ES = Day 3 Dig Foundations Float = 3 Days EF = Day 8 Most Time Management related exam questions ask you to create network diagrams by hand, over the next few slides we will walk through an example of how to draw these and how to answer such questions. Before that let’s go over various components of an activity node. Each activity is represented by a box as illustrated by this diagram Activity Name goes in the middle of the activity box Duration is the length of time this activity is estimated to run for, this is labeled on the middle top of each activity box Early Start (ES) is the earliest time this activity can start, this is labeled on the top left of the Activity Early Finish (EF) is the earliest this activity can finish, top right corner Late Start (LS) is the latest time this activity can start without impacting the project end date. Bottom left Late Finish (LF) is the latest time this activity can finish without impacting the project end date. Bottom right Float is labeled under activity name in the middle of the box and represents the amount of time this activity can be delayed without impacting project end date Some points to note EF = ES + Duration, conversely ES = EF - Duration LF = LS + Duration, conversely LS = LF – Duration Float = LS – ES or LF - EF LS = Day 6 LF = Day 11 Source: Rita Example Exercises Page 200 PMP, CAPM, PgMP, PMI-SP , PMI-RMP, OPM3 and PMBOK are registered marks of Project Management Institute, Inc Inov8Solutions Inc – Quality Educational Services For Professionals 6-22

Critical Path Example 3 6 A 3 3 D 9 3 3 9 Start 4 4 End B 4 4 E 8 1 5 5 9 In this diagram Activity A can begin at start of the project and is estimated to take 3 days to complete Activity B can start right away and takes 4 days Activity C can also start right away and takes 5 days D can start when A ends and takes 6 days E can start when B ends and takes 4 days Project is completed when activities D, E and C are completed Take a moment to see how we took the explanation above to draw this network diagram. At this stage we have not finished calculating ES, EF, LS, LF or Floats. Let’s calculate all possible paths and their durations Start A D End – 9 days Start B E End – 8 days Start C End – 5 days Starting from the left (Start box) we will now work our way towards the end filling in the ES and EF corners. Notice A, B and C each have ES = 0 Using formula EF = ES + Duration we now fill in EF for all activities, so EF for A, B and C are 3, 4 and 5 respectively ES of activity D = EF of activity A ES of activity E = EF of activity B Spend some time on how we arrived at the ES and EF for all activities Once done with forward pass, we can now complete a backwards pass this time filling in LF and LS values. Notice since our project finishes on day 9 (the highest duration out of all our paths), LF for D, E and C are all set to 9. See if you can follow how each LS and LF values are calculated, remember LS = LF – Duration. Also work out the floats of each activities (not shown here), remember Float = LS – ES or LF – EF Which is the critical path and what is its duration? Start, A, D, End is our critical path with a duration of 9 days, this is always the longest path in our network diagram. Which is the near critical path and what is it’s duration? Start, B, E, End is our near critical path with a duration of 8 days. More on near critical paths later. How much float does a critical path have? Note all activities on the critical path will ALWAYS have a float of Zero. What this means is that none of the activities on the critical path have ANY room for delay. Float values are helpful in determining how many days an activity can be delayed without impacting the project end date. 5 C 5 4 9 Calculate paths and their durations. F = LS – ES or LF - EF How much float does a critical path have? PMP, CAPM, PgMP, PMI-SP , PMI-RMP, OPM3 and PMBOK are registered marks of Project Management Institute, Inc Inov8Solutions Inc – Quality Educational Services For Professionals 6-23

Review Quiz What’s the critical path and its duration in the following diagram? 4 3 A B Start 6 4 End C D 5 7 E F The correct answer is D. The critical path is EF. The duration of the critical path is = 12. AB, 13 CD, 10 ACEF, 22 EF, 12 PMP, CAPM, PgMP, PMI-SP , PMI-RMP, OPM3 and PMBOK are registered marks of Project Management Institute, Inc Inov8Solutions Inc – Quality Educational Services For Professionals 6-24

Exam Tip Network diagrams are repeated between questions in the exam When answering questions that require you to draw a network diagram, make sure you keep your drawings tidy. Before drawing a diagram check if the exam is asking you to draw one you have already created for a different question. This tip can save you precious time when sitting for the exam. The network diagram might be the same but the exam can ask you different questions for the same diagram. PMP, CAPM, PgMP, PMI-SP , PMI-RMP, OPM3 and PMBOK are registered marks of Project Management Institute, Inc Inov8Solutions Inc – Quality Educational Services For Professionals 6-25

Trick Question 6 A ES = ? C 20 The PMP exam is known to ask you long worded and tricky questions. Here is an excerpt from an example network diagram, Given these Early Finish times of A and B, what should the Early finish time for activity C be, 6, 20… or something else? Correct answer is 20. Keep in mind these are start to finish relationships, so Activity C cannot start until both A and B finish. A is expected to finish on day 6 but B will finish on day 20 hence C cannot start any earlier than Day 20. B PMP, CAPM, PgMP, PMI-SP , PMI-RMP, OPM3 and PMBOK are registered marks of Project Management Institute, Inc Inov8Solutions Inc – Quality Educational Services For Professionals 6-26

Trick Question 2 F 10 D LF = ? How about this one? We are calculating Late Start and Late Finish times during a backwards pass through our network diagram. Given these Late Start times of F and G, what should the Late Finish time for activity D be? Correct answer is 2. In order to allow G to start on day 2, Activity D has to finish on day 2. G 2 PMP, CAPM, PgMP, PMI-SP , PMI-RMP, OPM3 and PMBOK are registered marks of Project Management Institute, Inc Inov8Solutions Inc – Quality Educational Services For Professionals 6-27

Critical Path Method Critical Path – the longest path in the network diagram and the shortest time to complete the project, using the logical network Outcome : Forward pass calculations identify the early start (ES) and early finish (EF) dates Backward pass calculations identify the late start (LS) and late finish (LF) dates Can a critical path change? Can there be more than one critical paths? What is the impact of more than one critical paths? Quick recap of important points from our previous exercise. Can a critical path change? Yes, what if an activity not on our critical path is delayed to the extent that the duration of this path becomes longer than the duration on our critical path? Can there be more than one critical paths? Yes What is the impact of more than one critical paths? This adds risk to our project as we have to keep an eye on more paths and have less room to apply schedule compression like Fast Tracking or Crashing (more about this soon). We can use the same argument for having a near critical path. PMP, CAPM, PgMP, PMI-SP , PMI-RMP, OPM3 and PMBOK are registered marks of Project Management Institute, Inc Inov8Solutions Inc – Quality Educational Services For Professionals 6-28

Critical Path Method Benefits
As the critical path is identified, additional risks may be identified, based on their position in the network Shows explicit relationship Co-ordinates “big picture” Lays out flow of work Encourages careful task analysis Facilitates fact based problem solving We just identified that having more than one critical paths is a project risk, note this risk was not highlighted until we finished our network diagram exercise. I hope you begin to see how we are now able to look at the big picture. For example we now know which activities can be delayed and which cannot, which activities can run parallel to each other and which depend on others. We can make informed decisions (aka Fact based problem solving) so as to allow certain activities to slip by a certain amount and not others. You can see how this is a powerful tool in our project management tool box and how important it is to get our WBS (and estimation) right before execution begins on our project? PMP, CAPM, PgMP, PMI-SP , PMI-RMP, OPM3 and PMBOK are registered marks of Project Management Institute, Inc Inov8Solutions Inc – Quality Educational Services For Professionals 6-29

Critical Path Considerations
Near Critical Path Has duration very close to Critical Path Needs to be closely monitored Can become Critical Path in certain circumstances Why watch near critical paths? Float (Slack) Total float – delay does not impact project/milestone Free float – delay does not impact successor Project float – delay does not impact external date A quick recap emphasizing near critical paths. And some quick definitions on different types of Float you might be asked about in the exam. Note: Float is also called Slack PMP, CAPM, PgMP, PMI-SP , PMI-RMP, OPM3 and PMBOK are registered marks of Project Management Institute, Inc Inov8Solutions Inc – Quality Educational Services For Professionals 6-30

Schedule Compression Fast Tracking Activities running in series are split to run parallel Impacts? Crashing Taking resources from non-critical path or from outside We previously discussed how activities on our critical path do not have any float and cannot be delayed without impacting the project end date. Based on this how do we handle delays on such activities. Two methods. Fast Tracking - You might take two activities which were supposed to be executed one after another and make them parallel. Or Crashing - Take resources from a non-critical path activity and assign to the critical path activity. Consider the impacts of each of these decisions and how it might affect (positive or negative) your project? PMP, CAPM, PgMP, PMI-SP , PMI-RMP, OPM3 and PMBOK are registered marks of Project Management Institute, Inc Inov8Solutions Inc – Quality Educational Services For Professionals 6-31

Control Schedule “Process of monitoring the status of the project to update project progress and manage changes to the schedule baseline” Performance reviews Variance Analysis Project management software Resource leveling What-if scenario analysis Adjust leads and lags Schedule compression As discussed previously Control Schedule is the only process that is in the “Monitoring and Controlling” phase. Here are examples of how you can use various methods to keep the time component of your project under control. PMP, CAPM, PgMP, PMI-SP , PMI-RMP, OPM3 and PMBOK are registered marks of Project Management Institute, Inc Inov8Solutions Inc – Quality Educational Services For Professionals 6-32

Chapter Summary Time Management Processes Plan Schedule Management Sequence Activities Estimate Activity Resources Estimate Activity Durations Develop Schedule Control Schedule Precedence Diagramming Method Critical Path Method Schedule Compression Here is a summary of the contents of this chapter: Time Management involves managing the schedule of a project. The Time Management processes are: Plan Schedule Management, Sequence Activities, Estimate Activity Resources, Estimate Activity Durations, Develop Schedule, and Control Schedule. In Plan Schedule Management, the Schedule Management Plan is created. The Schedule Management Plan provides details on how the project schedule will be managed, executed, and monitored and controlled. In the Sequence Activities process, the project activities are organized or “sequenced” using logical relationships or dependencies. The Precedence Diagramming Method is used for this purpose. The activities in a network diagram can have different types of dependencies, i.e. Finish to Start, Finish to Finish, Start to Start, Start to Finish. The Critical Path is the longest path in a network diagram and the shortest time to complete the project. Resources needed to complete project activities are determined in the Estimate Activity Resources process. Estimates for activity durations are determined in the Estimate Activity Durations process. Various techniques and estimates are used for the estimation, including One Point Estimate, Analogous Estimating, Parametric Estimating, and PERT analysis which uses Three-Point estimating. The project schedule is developed in the Develop Schedule process. In the Control Schedule process, the project performance with respect to schedule is compared against the Project Management Plan. Variances and corrective actions are determined. If there are delays which might affect the project schedule, the schedule compression techniques of Crashing and Fast Tracking may be utilized. PMP, CAPM, PgMP, PMI-SP , PMI-RMP, OPM3 and PMBOK are registered marks of Project Management Institute, Inc Inov8Solutions Inc – Quality Educational Services For Professionals 6-33

End of Chapter Quiz Question 1: Activity A can start right away and takes 1 day B can start after A finishes and takes 2 days C can start after A finishes and takes 4 days D can start after B & C and takes 5 days E can start after D and takes 6 days F can start after C and takes 3 days G can start after E & F and takes 4 days Project finishes after G is completed What is the duration of the Critical Path? 12 30 20 19 Correct Answer: C. 20 We have following paths and their durations Start A B D E G End = 19 days Start A C D E G End = 20 days Start A C F G = 12 days Longest path has 20 days hence is the critical path. Remember Critical path is the “Longest path in the network diagram and the shortest time to finish the project” PMP, CAPM, PgMP, PMI-SP , PMI-RMP, OPM3 and PMBOK are registered marks of Project Management Institute, Inc Inov8Solutions Inc – Quality Educational Services For Professionals 6-34

End of Chapter Quiz Question 2: It takes the least amount of time to use which estimation technique? One-Point Three-Point Parametric Peer review Correct Answer: A. One-Point Three point takes longer but is more accurate vs One-Point which is quicker but delivers less accurate estimates. Peer review is a made up estimation technique. PMP, CAPM, PgMP, PMI-SP , PMI-RMP, OPM3 and PMBOK are registered marks of Project Management Institute, Inc Inov8Solutions Inc – Quality Educational Services For Professionals 6-35

End of Chapter Quiz Question 3: During execution phase an unforeseen risk is encountered, what should the project manager do? Fast Track Crash resources from a non critical path activity Use Management Reserve Use Contingency Reserve Correct Answer: C. Use Management Reserve Management reserve is for unforseen risks, while Contingency reserve is used for forseen risks. Fast Track and Crashing are techniques used in dealing with activity delays. PMP, CAPM, PgMP, PMI-SP , PMI-RMP, OPM3 and PMBOK are registered marks of Project Management Institute, Inc Inov8Solutions Inc – Quality Educational Services For Professionals 6-36

End of Chapter Quiz Question 4: Activity A can start right away and takes 1 day B can start after A finishes and takes 2 days C can start after A finishes and takes 4 days D can start after B & C and takes 5 days E can start after D and takes 6 days F can start after C and takes 3 days G can start after E & F and takes 4 days Project finishes after G is completed What is the duration of the Float of Activity E? 8 1 2 Correct Answer: B. 0 Did you realize this question is making you draw the exact same network diagram as Question number 1 and E was on the critical path of that diagram We had following paths and their durations Start A B D E G End = 19 days Start A C D E G End = 20 days Start A C F G = 12 days Also remember float is zero for ALL activities on the critical path. You did not have to calculate start / finish times or critical paths to answer this question. PMP, CAPM, PgMP, PMI-SP , PMI-RMP, OPM3 and PMBOK are registered marks of Project Management Institute, Inc Inov8Solutions Inc – Quality Educational Services For Professionals 6-37

End of Chapter Quiz Question 5: During estimating an activity three estimates were given Optimistic = 2 days Most likely = 5 days Pessimistic = 8 days The calculated estimate for this activity is 4 days 6 days 5 days 9 days Correct Answer: C. 5 days tE = (to+4tm+tp) \ 6 PMP, CAPM, PgMP, PMI-SP , PMI-RMP, OPM3 and PMBOK are registered marks of Project Management Institute, Inc Inov8Solutions Inc – Quality Educational Services For Professionals 6-38

End of Chapter Quiz Question 6: All of the following are Time Management processes except: Estimate Activity Resources Develop Project Charter Estimate Activity Durations Sequence Activities The correct answer is B. Develop Project Charter is an Integration Management process, not Time Management. PMP, CAPM, PgMP, PMI-SP , PMI-RMP, OPM3 and PMBOK are registered marks of Project Management Institute, Inc Inov8Solutions Inc – Quality Educational Services For Professionals 6-39

End of Chapter Quiz Question 7: The 2 schedule compression techniques are: Shortening and restricting Alternating and bypassing Crashing and fast tracking Adjusting and excluding The correct answer is C. Crashing and Fast Tracking are the two schedule compression techniques. PMP, CAPM, PgMP, PMI-SP , PMI-RMP, OPM3 and PMBOK are registered marks of Project Management Institute, Inc Inov8Solutions Inc – Quality Educational Services For Professionals 6-40

End of Chapter Quiz Question 8: In a network diagram, activity B cannot begin until activity A has begun. This is an example of: Precedence diagramming Critical Path Method A Start to Start dependency A Finish to Start dependency The correct answer is C. This is an example of a Start to Start dependency. PMP, CAPM, PgMP, PMI-SP , PMI-RMP, OPM3 and PMBOK are registered marks of Project Management Institute, Inc Inov8Solutions Inc – Quality Educational Services For Professionals 6-41

Chapter 6 Time Management

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