Managing the critical path isn’t enough

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You manage your project schedule by focusing on the critical path. But don’t stop there! Project time management requires examination of other items. Here are things to check to proactively manage your schedule:

Examine “near critical paths.”A path with a small amount of slack means you have a near critical path. These tasks with very little slack should be monitored with the same diligence as your critical path, because almost any task delay could shift your critical path. 

Watch resource work time. Monitor variances between forecasted and actual work hours on your project. Consistent under-allocation of actual work time on project tasks could lead to schedule slippage. Ensure you understand why resources aren’t working as much as planned. Work with management if a reallocation of project tasks is necessary to keep things on track.  

Look for convergence tasks. Successor tasks with multiple paths leading into them are prone to delay, because many predecessor tasks must complete on time to keep the convergence task on schedule. Monitor progress leading up to convergence tasks and proactively respond if delays seem likely. Note: convergence tasks are candidates for contingency because of the likelihood of delays.

Note upcoming risks. Understand your risk triggers. Explore additional resourcing, fast-tracking or crashing alternatives if risks appear poised to come to fruition. Examine the possibilities for other risks due to delays to your schedule, such as losing staff to other initiatives or contractor agreements expiring.

To learn more, check out my Project Management Foundations course.

 

Less Wrong Estimating

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It’s irresponsible to promote early estimates as being accurate. Early on, there are too many unknowns. A responsible approach focuses on communicating our estimates as gradually more accurate. Here’s what you can do to produce responsible estimates.  

  • Label your estimates. An estimate without a label implies the value is accurate. Label your estimates to indicate their accuracy, such as rough order of magnitude, budgetary, or definitive. Define the accuracy range for each label, such as -20% to +50%. Then, indicate when a more accurate estimate can be produced.
  • Re-estimate at key points in the project. Events like finalizing a contract provide significant information to improve your estimates. Produce refined estimates after each of these events. Develop and communicate a schedule for re-estimating, tied to the events, to demonstrate a clear rationale for how you intend to incrementally improve your estimates. 
  • Keep refining estimates during project execution. Don’t stop estimating after planning is complete. As major deliverables are produced and costs become known, continue to refine your estimates. This further demonstrates that estimation accuracy evolves, and reflects your concern for the money and time you spend.

Project management entails managing expectations. You can set expectations about estimating by creating an estimating schedule and estimating to that schedule as your project progresses. That’s a responsible and rational way to manage estimating.

To learn more about estimating, check out the estimating movie in my Project Management Foundations course.

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