The Common Sense Approach to Simple Project Schedules
You’ve been tasked with creating a schedule for your project or operational deliverable but not quite sure where to start. Thankfully using common sense makes scheduling fairly straight forward and simple. Don’t be fooled however, the larger and more complex projects become the more intense and intricate schedules can become and can often have dedicated resources assigned to manage them. This is only a high level overview of how to schedule a project.
Step 1: Define all the activities
First of all you will need to identify all the tasks that are required to complete the product. Often this list may be found in the Project Charter (usually as components of the Work Breakdown Structure) that may be in progress or if you’re lucky...complete. Alternately the Project Charter may use the list you create, which may mean that you will need to set up a requirement gathering meeting to get a comprehensive list.
Example Result:
Activity #1 Task Alpha
Activity #2 Task Bravo
Activity #3 Task Charlie
Activity #4 Task Delta
Activity #5 Task Echo
Step 2: Sequence the Activities
Now that you have all the activities documented, the next step is to put them in order. During this step you will need to identify any dependencies. A dependency means that a task may not begin or end until other tasks have been started or completed. For example, you cannot install a new window until you have removed the old window. In the example below you will see that the Bravo and Delta tasks may begin after Alpha has completed, but Charlie will need to wait until Bravo is completed, and Echo will need to wait until all the tasks have been completed.
Example:
Step 3: Estimate the Activities resources
This step requires you to identify the resources available for your project. Take into consideration that many of the resources will not be able to dedicate 100% of their time to the project. Assign the resources appropriately to the tasks that match with the resources skills.
Example:
Step 4: Estimate the Activity Durations
Now that all the resources have been assigned, the next step is to estimate how long each task will take to complete. If possible try to use historical data.
Example:
Step 5: Analyse the Schedule
The last step in developing a schedule is to analyze that the sequences, durations, and resources make sense. Often this is the point where you may run into scheduling conflicts and find that you need to reallocate resources or adjust durations of activities. The goal is to ensure that the schedule reflects the planned work. You should also take this time to ensure that the schedule is realistic and achievable. One other good idea is to double check the resource allocations and ensure that they are not over tasked.
The last step is to work with your manager to review the schedule, obtain feedback and then adjust accordingly. Once you have completed the schedule, ensure that you save a duplicate copy somewhere that can be used for historical purposes on future projects. It will also allow you to review your estimates once the project has been completed and capture some lessons learned.
The examples above are only for visual representation as there are much better scheduling software available.
