Schedule: Leveled Project The Resource - Seba Solutions · The most important thing about project scheduling software packages is _____ 1. Pretty Gantt Charts 2. Producing a good

Copyright 2016 © SEBAâ Solutions Inc. All rights reserved. 1

The Resource Leveled Project

Schedule: The Good, the Bad and

the Ugly

Madison/South Central Wisconsin

Chapter PDD May 5, 2016

SEBA® Solutions Inc.

(321) 269-1222

[email protected]

www.SebaSolutions.com

Copyright © 2016 SEBA® Solutions Inc. All rights reserved.


The Speaker

Dr. Brown has spoken to audi-

ences from Anchorage Alaska

to Amsterdam. He is a Certi-

fied Speaking Professional

(CSP) by the National Speak-

ers Association. Less than

10% of professional speakers

worldwide have the Certified

Speaking Professional desig-

nation. It is the highest earned

designation in the speaking

industry. Participants say his use of stories and

humor bring critical truths to light, in an enter-

taining way that leaves them motivated to take

action. He provides brilliant bluntness on real

world, common sense practices for project man-

agement and leadership. An IBM executive

stated after Dr. Brown’s keynote speech “If we

all took the time to step back and remember what

Dr. Brown taught us, we would be unstoppable

in the marketplace.”

The Professional

Dr. Brown has run his own com-

pany, SEBA® Solutions, for over

fifteen years. He had a career at

NASA that included "hands on"

experience as a team member, pro-

ject manager and serving in execu-

tive level organizational leadership

roles. He has a patent for a project

scheduling methodology, and has

received numerous awards includ-

ing "Engineer of the Year" from

the Cape Canaveral Technical Societies and is a re-

cipient of the "NASA Public Service Medal" for ex-

ceptional contributions to NASA’s mission. He has a

Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from the University of

Central Florida, a MS in Engineering Management

from Florida Institute of Technology and a BS in Elec-

trical Engineering from Tennessee State University.

He is a licensed Professional Engineer (PE), a certified

Project Management Professional (PMP).

The Author

Dr. Brown is the author of The Handbook of

Program Management published by McGraw-

Hill. He has also been published in the PMI

Community Post, PM

Network, PE Magazine,

and many other periodi-

cals. His online video

based training courses

have been used by com-

panies large and small

and provide actionable

takeaways with a mini-

mum time investment for

participants. His new

book Kill What’s Ugly

While It’s Young® is based on his signature key-

note speech, and scheduled for release in 2015.

The Person

James is the son of a career Marine and was born in

Beaufort, South Carolina. He grew up under strong

discipline. He believes

in the values of hard

work, preparation and

persistence. James is

married and the proud

father of two sons. He

resides in central Flor-

ida with his wife

Vanessa. An avid surf

fisherman , his favorite

activity is catch and release fishing for Roosterfish on

the beaches of Mexico.

The Guarantee

A fun, thought provoking experience will be had by

all, with everyone leaving motivated to improve them-

selves and the organization, as well as being armed

with tools to make it happen.

James T. Brown PhD, PMP, PE, CSP


The most important thing about project

scheduling software packages is _______

1. Pretty Gantt Charts

2. Producing a good resource leveled project schedule

0% 0%0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Pretty Gantt Charts Producing a good resource leveled project schedule

1

Which of the following is not an

assumption of the Critical Path Method

1. All tasks are identified

2. Unlimited resources

3. Relationships between

tasks are known

4. Durations of tasks are

known

5. 1 thru 4 are all

assumptions

0% 0% 0% 0% 0%0%

10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

2


Hurrying to Project Failure

Dr. James T. Brown PMP PE CSP

I was in Atlanta’s airport for a connecting flight and had to go to another terminal. This meant jockeying with

and through the masses of fellow travelers and down the escalator to the “plane train.” Once on board, as the

door was about to close, just as the door was closing three people came running

and the first guy stepped in even though the door was closing. This created a lot

of interest from the regular travelers since the doors on the Atlanta airport’s

tram are not friendly. I would willfully stick my arm or leg in many elevator

doors about to close and not worry about my personal safety. I would even

jump in closing doors in the Orlando airport tram, but not Atlanta. Some engi-

neer with a twisted evil streak designed those doors and experienced travelers

in a hurry generally don’t test them.

The first guy made it most of the way in and was caught by the tram’s door. The second passenger was a lady

who must have thought she was leaning forward like it was the finish line in a race because the outside door

had her head. Most trams would have already opened by now but I watched the door continue to close and

exert pressure. Just when I thought the lady’s head was about to be permanently elongated with a look of panic

on her face, the door opened and the recorded voice said “someone is blocking the door” and the doors

opened. The third passenger then rushed in too along with some opportunists that were just standing by!

The three hurrying passengers were exuberant, high fiving and congratulating each other and giving kudos to

the first guy. They joyfully recapped their journey through the terminal and said the airline had twice changed

their gate. The first guy then asked what gate are we going to, and the lady replied D37. Everyone around

them immediately realized what they didn’t know. The train was going to the B and A gates. They had risked

life and limb to get on a train going in the opposite direction, taking them farther away from where they

needed to be.

A root cause of hurrying to project failure is that you are not paying enough attention, not communicat-

ing enough, not planning enough.

Before they took off running, they should have huddled up and confirmed where they were going. But this

time taken to communicate is not time running and running is always perceived as progress. Communication

and planning are not perceived as progress but the reality is this is where most progress takes place.

The status quo for most project managers is to be in a hurry.

Not only that, the team is in a hurry, the vendors are in a hurry, the customer is in a hurry, etc. The project

manager is the person accountable to ensure all these parties are not on the train going in the wrong direction,

hurrying to project failure. Always have the discipline to take the time to stop and communicate, to evaluate

and reconfirm we are headed in the right direction with everything we need to get there. Then take off running.


“The Critical Path Method

is a feasible way

to generate an

infeasible schedule.”

3

When you resource level a

real world sized project it is

impossible to determine the

best schedule.

4


The Truth About Work-Life Balance


Odds are high that if you are in an office environment, supporting demanding projects, you don’t have to walk past seven cubicles be-

fore you will pass someone totally consumed by their job to the point their work-life balance is out of whack. There is also the prob-

ability you may see this person when you look in the mirror. Regrettably, over the course of my career I have been this person.

Two keys to maintain work-life balance in order of importance:

1. Get a Life!

2. Delegate!

1. Get a Life! I worked for a NASA executive who had struggled with work-life balance to the point that he sought counseling be-

cause he was unable to stop thinking about work. After talking to him about his interests, the counselor’s prescription was for him to

“build an airplane,” despite the fact that he had not actually flown an airplane in years. Building an airplane to him was so exciting that

it put work in perspective and he no longer thought about his work challenges 24-7. He had an airplane to build.

What happy, life activities, do you: A. have; B. enjoy and C. actually do that puts work in its proper perspective?

If you cannot answer this quickly and find yourself doing or thinking about work more than you should you may be a “get a life” can-

didate.

Recently I had the opportunity to sit down with Space Shuttle Launch director Mike Leinbach a few weeks after the landing of the final

Space Shuttle mission. Mike has been launch director since 2000 for 37 launches. Here is an excerpt from my interview with Mike:

James: How do you balance the demands of being Launch Director with family? You have a job that you could spend 100 hours a

week here and still feel like “I need to spend more time.” How do you keep that work-family life balance?

Mike: That’s a great question… my wife and I have been married 32 years now, so something must be going right. [laughs] We live on

a little farm north of the base, up in Scottsmoor. When I do leave, I’m able to put this place behind me…. I just enjoy getting away. I

enjoy work around the farm. I like playing golf. The family never had any kids but we have over the years have had a slew of different

kinds of animals. Now my wife is into golden retrievers and agility training through the AKC. She has a dog that’s going to be a cham-

pion so I enjoy seeing her excel at that. I’m taking trash out, I’m mowing the grass, I’m fixing a fence, playing with the dogs… this job

could be consuming and I’ve found ways of making it not consuming. I think that’s good for my mental health. I know it’s good for my

wife. Because it could be overpowering.

Newsflash!!! - If the launch director for the Space Shuttle Program can put his work behind him when he goes home so can you.

2. Delegate! – The second part of Mike’s answer and ability to maintain work-life balance dealt with delegation… his response contin-

ues below:

Mike: … a lot of the ways you deal with that, of course, is true delegation. A lot of people talk about delegation, it’s another thing to

truly do it. Give people the authority and responsibility and expect them to come through and do the job that they’re given. Guidance –

give them guidance of course and give them help when they ask. I’m a real believer in letting a guy make a mistake and let that indi-

vidual learn from that mistake. I’ve done that on console, I’ve done that in the firing room. I’ve done it – especially through the train-

ing sessions in the firing room. You recognize that they’re heading the wrong direction but that’s OK, let them go until they get to the

point where you have to course correct. Making a mistake and learning from it is a powerful, powerful tool. The last thing that I ever

wanted growing up, either at home or professionally, is someone telling me what to do all the time. You hear a lot about micro-

managing – it’s a buzz word – and all that is is the lack of true delegation. Delegation is very, very powerful. Everyone appreciates it.

The work-life balance paradox

Overworked people make more mistakes and find poorer solutions to problems. Some of these problems were the direct result of them

or the team being overworked. Their solution to address these problems is often to work longer hours. Because we are less productive

we are tempted to work longer and when we work longer we are even less productive… and the cycle continues. Break the cycle, es-

tablish a good work-life balance by getting a life and delegating more. You and those around you will actually be more effective, more

productive and happier.


Project Size

So

lutio

n S

pa

ce

The Project Scheduling Challenge

The number of

possible ways

the project

could be

scheduled

Resource Leveled Project Scheduling

5

In the majority of cases

the critical path is to

project management as a

pacifier is to a baby.

It gives a calming

effect but provides

no nutritional value.

6


The 4-C Failure Cycle™

Early in the Space Shuttle Program after a string of unlikely and unfortunate operational incidents, I was one of

many tasked to look at the log of these incidents to determine if there was a pattern or story. One interesting charac-

teristic popped out at me that I now call “The 4-C Failure Cycle™ – Correction, Conformance, Confidence, Casual-

ness.

The incident that demonstrated this cycle best was “technician ran bridge bucket into Orbiter.” Meaning the techni-

cian while working on or near a Space Shuttle Orbiter accidentally bumped it and those heat protection tiles are

easily damaged by impact. The review of the log showed this incident occurred approximately every 18 months to

two years – A two year 4-C Failure Cycle.

After the incident the 1st C “Correction” phase is entered. They analyze what happened and make corrective action

recommendations. During the 2nd C, “Conformance” phase every one complies with the cor-

rective action, (they have trained personnel appropriately and limit who has access to the bridge

bucket.) During the 3rd C, “Confidence,” everything is going smoothly, but it is during this

phase that the training and corrective action steps start to become a memory. Additionally, as

with any organization, changes in leadership and personnel have occurred and everyone doesn’t

have the same history with regard to the failure. (New technicians, new supervisors, different

processes, other priorities, etc.)

The 4th C is “Casualness” and occurs when the original corrective action is forgotten or deemed no longer neces-

sary. “We know what we are doing, we don’t have time for this formality.” (In the case of the bridge bucket scenario

what was limited access to trained personnel essentially becomes open access to anyone with a valid work order.)

Guess what happens next? Someone runs the bridge bucket into the Orbiter and the cycle starts all over again.

I recently spoke with a long standing client about a project failure that just occurred. They were looking for some

training in addition to the corrective actions they had taken. After we spoke for awhile she asked if I had a course

that addressed this. I said yes, and I think we actually conducted it a couple of years ago. My notes showed a couple

of years ago was actually seven years ago and I had provided the training in 2007 before she came on board.

As I read the notes from the meeting to plan the course objectives from seven years ago the notes could have been

for the exact same conversation we were having today. This was a seven year 4-C Failure Cycle. Imagine the or-

ganizational change that takes place in seven years, leadership changes, personnel changes, policy changes. Project

failures like this are not a surprise.

Project management is a skill, a skill that must be honed and sharpened regularly, not just through execu-

tion but training (facilitated discussion with peers).

If a team sports coach viewed their athletes like some organizations view project managers they would say some-

thing like “we don’t need to practice, we just practiced three years ago, after all you have been playing (baseball,

soccer, cricket, basketball) a long time and the rules haven’t changed. Just work on your own and stay in shape.”

How ridiculous would it be for a team sports coach to say “see you next game” with no thought of practice, but that

is how some organizations treat project managers.

Training is beyond just a two day class on something, it is having the team read a great book and review chapters

month by month at a lunch & learn sharing takeaways. It is about kicking off meetings reviewing a best practice,

article [like my newsletters :-)] or recent failure, etc. As leaders we have to be diligent about making sure we stay in

the conformance phase, because confidence without conformance leads to casualness and then failure is as predict-

able as an afternoon thunderstorm in Florida. You don’t know the exact time, but the conditions tell you it is going

to happen (you may be hearing thunder in the distance right now for some projects).

https://www.sebasolutions.com/newsletter/

https://www.sebasolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/The-4-C-Cycle.jpg


Warning!Proceeding past this point in the presentation may cause you

undue stress, anxiety and fatigue on future projects.

Please proceed at your own comfort level.

Lets explore what’s

UGLY!

Professional driver, closed course!

7

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Critical Path Method

Critical Path Method - Review

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The Critical Path is B,E,I

Project Length 23 days

Critical Path Method – Backward Pass

10


“The book proved to be a very quick read

and loaded with excellent insight into Pro-

gram Management. The section on Stake-

holder management was especially inter-

esting, Dr. Brown describes a ranking sys-

tem and communication techniques that are

extremely helpful. Risk

management is also a sec-

tion that has good ap-

proaches for managing a

“The book takes you step-

by-step through the basics

of setting up the structure

necessary for a robust pro-

gram environment. Where

needed, examples and

pointers are included, with

tips and scenarios

throughout the chapters,

and the essence of each

chapter is boiled down to a

useful list of "Keystone"

...This book was better than a handbook,

at least how I think of handbooks. It read

very well (unlike my stereotype of a hand-

book which a choppy, reference guide) and

was full of "gems" from real example pro-

jects and programs. The other word is

"Program". While it's of course true that the

book focuses on Program Management, my

issue is that it is an excellent book for Pro-

ject Managers, as well. - Rich Maltzman

"Brown's book captures the essential skills of program and project

management. It serves as a "how to" guide for those entering the busi-

ness, as well as a refresher on the skills and attributes for those ready

to take the next step. The book effectively defines the leader's role in

creating the team culture and environment for success". - Eugene F.

Kranz, Apollo 13 Flight Director, Retired Director NASA Space Opera-

tions, Author - Failure is not an Option

Why this book will make you a better program manager,

project manager and leader of teams!

“The chapter that covered stakeholder man-

agement was another excellent chapter that I

have since asked all of my Program AND

Project managers to read. I did this because

it's an excellent chapter on helping the Pro-

gram and Project Managers to understand

what stakeholders

REALLY expect of them.

Additionally he goes over the

types of stakeholders that you

can run into and simple yet

If you are a program manager, or thinking of

becoming one, you will want this book. Dr.

Brown shares his wisdom on the program

management without overburdening you with

methodology. In reading the book, I often felt

like I was having a discussion about pro-

gram management with a knowledgeable

and experienced colleague. J. F. Simmel

“The book is a very useful

and pragmatic approach to

Program Management. Dr.

Brown provides real world

examples and guidance for

improving your skills. He

also does a great job ad-

dressing the leadership skills

required to be a successful

program manager. A highly

recommended read for

program managers and those

aspiring to be one!” Joe Savage

ww

w.P

rogra

mM

anag

emen

tBo

ok

.co

m


Simplifying assumptions for

the example

• Resource requirements for tasks are broken down to the minimum number required for the task. – This is a good scheduling practice that maximizes

flexibility.

– This means two people cannot start on a task that requires three people.

• Resources in the example are equal and can work on any task.

11

Simplifying assumptions for

the example

• These assumptions do not change the fundamental nature of the resource leveling scheduling problem illustrated in the example. – In fact, when these assumptions are taken away it

becomes more complex and problematic.

12


Project Management Process – An Effective Strategy

Many models can gauge project management process maturity.

There is nothing inherently wrong with these maturity models, but

keep in mind that the models are generic. They cannot apply to all

situations, and many organizations may be at varying levels of ma-

turity depending upon the purview or aspect to which the model is

applied or from which the organization is viewed. With that said, the

following list reveals tips that are applicable for any process matur-

ity level.

1. Leadership recognizes that the process is a strategy

2. People follow the process to accomplish the work

3. The process instills discipline, integrity and accountability

4. There is a single owner for each process, and he or she is

known to the organization

5. There is a change control method for the process

6. The process has an “appeal” method by which process viola-

tions are approved and documented for special circumstances

7. The process is periodically scrubbed, and the results are

briefed to leadership

The program manager/leader is charged with making project man-

agement process strategic decisions that impact long-term program

health. He/she must also deal with real-time tactical issues. Most ac-

tions that program managers take have both strategic and tactical

ramifications. The program manager must remain cognizant of the

strategic direction in which he or she is driving the program with re-

gard to program processes.

Adapted from The Handbook of Program Management

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0071494723/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0071494723&linkCode=as2&tag=seso0f-20


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Resource

Requirements

Resource Leveling

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Who is the Most Important Stakeholder Group?


I recently surveyed five groups of project managers and asked them to prioritize the following stakeholder

groups. In alphabetical order they are Community, Customers, Investors, Suppliers and Team Members/

Employees.

The average ranking for all of the groups was 1. Customers, 2. Team Members/Employees, 3. Investors, 4.

Suppliers and 5. Community. One of the groups had employees/team members ranked number one, one

group had investors ranked number one and three of the groups had customers ranked number one.

The variation in the groups was not a surprise. I recently read the book Setting The Table: The Transforming

Power of Hospitality in Business by Danny Meyer. Why read a restaurateur’s book on hospitality? A big

part of project management is stakeholder management, and whenever I can study excellence in seemingly

unrelated fields, there are often strong parallels to project management.

Team Members are Number One! Are You Kidding?

Meyer shared how his restaurants began struggling and he had to re-establish his priorities and values. He

described his priorities as "Enlightened Hospitality" and it puts stakeholders in the following order: 1. Team

Members/Employees, 2. Customers, 3. Community, 4. Suppliers and 5. Investors. He credits this philosophy

for turning his restaurants around and contributing to a very successful business.

Fundamental to his philosophy of Team Members/Employees being the most important, is the truth that if the

team cannot treat each other with respect, hold each other in the highest regard and work harmoniously with

one another, then it is difficult for them to treat the customer with respect, to hold customers with high regard

and work harmoniously with them.

Disharmony within a team often migrates to external relationships.

Meyer’s most important concern is how his team members treat each other. This reminds me of some wise

counsel given to me long ago…”Take care of your people first, and then everything else takes care of itself.”

It is just disingenuous to treat your fellow team members poorly and then treat your stakeholders well. It be-

comes an act. An act that at some point that will be exposed for what it is. Meyer believes, and has proven,

that his prioritization ultimately benefits investors more.

Investors being ranked last provides greater returns in the long term.

It is a sad commentary and very evident in the current financial markets how focus on the short term ulti-

mately is more costly and sometimes devastating. Two other important takeaways from Setting the Table are

below:

1. Judge your staff on 51 percent emotional (attitude and interpersonal skills) job performance and 49 percent

technical job performance. You can always teach technical, while emotional is much harder, if not impossi-

ble to develop. Lack of emotional job performance skills destroys teams and alienates customers.

2. Employees can be categorized as Overwhelmers, Whelmers, and Underwhelmers. It is easy to identify

Underwhelmers and get rid of them. The most dangerous employees are the Whelmers because they tend to

stay in the organization longer because their performance is adequate but “they infuse an organization and its

staff with mediocrity…and send a dangerous message to your staff and guests that “average” is acceptable.”


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1 hour video based courses ==> Six ten minute segments, Available online 24/7, Fluff free...just the information you need to be

successful ! Works on IPad’s! Only $49 each!

Th

ese

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Here’s a quick and easy way

to improve your project

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10 one hour online courses! www.SebaSolutions.com

I have just completed

the 10 short online

courses. I must say,

they were the most use-

ful courses I have ever

attended or done online

as they cover areas that

other courses don’t. M.

Joo, PMP, Tetra Pak

Again, the most excellent and usable information

imaginable. These are not only intellectual guide-

lines to determine the course of our thinking but also provide a framework for real ac-

tion in the workplace. R. Ott

Change Management

Fantastic! I appreciate you asking me to trust you in the be-

ginning. I am a brand new PMP and after hearing your opening

remarks my head was spinning. I decided to trust you and I am glad I did. Great infor-

mation! Great presentation as well. I actually understand it! S. Anderson

Critical Chain

Most companies assume project man-

agers already know how to manage an

international conference call. This course provided good information that should be used by ALL not just project man-

agers. Very clear and concise course. S. Sawyer

Collaboration Strategies for International Conference Calls

This course provides great advice on presentation skills and how to handle presentations that I

have never had in any other class. Very useful and practical information which will defi-

nitely improve my skills. R. Miller

Presentation Skills

Packed full of useful information. I particularly liked the comment about how assess-

ment tools serve as the input to the project managers judgment process…. PMBOK® can’t

do it alone. L. Taylor

Project Requirements

Excellent comparison of critical path, both resource leveled and not resource leveled. This

course highlighted the need for resource leveling in a very graphic and eye opening way.

T. Graham

Resource Leveling

Dr. Brown did it again, this course should be titled risk management made easy, It also

gave me the tools needed to shine in the area of risk management instead of shying away

from risk identification. F. Whitfield.

Risk Identification

This course gave me a much better understanding of qualitative risk analy-

sis then I previously had. K. Plaku Qualitative Risk Assessment

An excellent tool for getting to grips with the essential elements of managing Stake-

holders. It has proven to open up my mind to many more options and strategies

to employ in my role. I have neglected the necessity for a game plan in this area in past. Not any more thanks to this

course.. C. Payne

Stakeholder Management

Great information for producing clear and understandable documents that accomplish the ob-

jectives. I wish I had taken this course many years ago, and I wish the project managers

who worked for me had taken it as well. Thanks for presenting these great ideas. J. Bennett

Technical Writing


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Where is the Critical Path?


17

True or False: I believe I could have

created a shorter schedule than

1. True

2. False

0% 0%0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

True False

18


What is your project’s planning horizon?


When project managers are asked the question about the length of their planning horizon, they usually frown in

disgust or say ”What do you mean by planning horizon?” I define planning horizon as the length of time you can

plan into the future with validity. Validity meaning you know what work needs to be accomplished; you know

what resources are required for the work that can be accomplished; and you know what resources are available or

the work that needs to be accomplished.

Knowledge of the work, the resource requirements and the resource availability

enable the project manager to create a detailed schedule.

If one of the three factors above is lacking, a properly detailed schedule cannot be put together. For some organi-

zations the planning horizon is a month or longer. These environments are very stable. Work is planned out in

detail and executed per the plan for the month with only minor changes. Still other organizations have a planning

horizon that may be a week and the schedule is very stable for that week.

Establishing a planning horizon is a strategic decision for an organization.

Unfortunately it is very common for organizations to have a planning horizon less than a week and in some cases

it is less than a day or non-existent. There are circumstances that warrant a very short or non-existent planning

horizon and it is not wrong as long as it is a strategic decision, that was made by the organization with full knowl-

edge of its positive and negative consequences. Every organization should establish a target planning horizon

based on the kinds of projects, customers, deliverables and services they provide.

Organizations with short or nonexistent planning horizons are very dynamic and usually filled with higher levels

of frustration. Unmanaged, this frustration can lead to turnover or worse... employees that just go through the

motions because they feel their contributions are wasted by an organization that keeps changing things.

Longer planning horizons also have problems because the schedule is set and a better or more effective way to do

something may arise, but the schedule is set. Additionally, longer planning horizons can make it more difficult to

respond rapidly to changes.

When it comes to details… once is usually enough!

When it comes to dealing with the planning horizon you only want to plan the details once. What good does it do

you to plan the details for three months from now if your planning horizon is three days. Yes, you want to under-

stand as much as possible about what may need to take place three months from now, but unless your environ-

ment is stable enough to assure with a high level of confidence that the work that needs to be accomplished, its

corresponding resource requirements and the resource availability for the work is known for that period three

months from now, there is no point in planning it in detail.

Establishing a planning horizon forces an organization to come to grips

with all of the uncertainties that limit the planning horizon.

What prevents you from having a stable schedule for one week? Two weeks? Six weeks? Identify the uncertain-

ties that limit the planning horizon. Some of these uncertainties may be able to be eliminated, some may be re-

duced and others just have to be dealt with. It is important to understand the uncertainties to establish the plan-

ning horizon and then communicate this understanding to the team. When the team understands why the planning

horizon is three days or three months and that the planning horizon was established as a strategic decision it re-duces the frustration whether it is long or short. It is encouraging to know that your leadership is “thinking” and

not just letting things happen in a haphazard way.


How many of you have worked on a

project where?

1. All resource requirements were known for all

activities and no changes occurred during the

project?

2. All available resources were identified and

scheduled at the start of the project with no

changes?

3. No activities or tasks were added or removed from

the project?

4. All relationships or dependencies for all tasks were

known at the start and did not change?

5. All tasks durations were known and did not change?

19

If any of the changes outlined on the

previous slide occur you have a high

probability of a critical path change

in a resource leveled schedule!

MANAGE EVERYTHING LIKE IT MAY

BE CRITICAL!

20


Milestones in Mirror are Closer Than They Appear


At the beginning of the calendar year, a common conversational topic is “how fast time passes.” No one

has an appreciation for how fast time passes more than a project manager with a tight schedule. Mile-

stones that seemed far away when the project started seem to be accelerating towards you. Because we

tend to immediately forget past accomplishments and their significance, milestones that have been com-

pleted seem like ancient history.

You can take a breath to acknowledge achievements!

Always take the opportunity to remind yourself and the team of accomplishments, challenges overcome

and milestones completed. Take some time to celebrate and acknowledge achievement of the milestone.

This helps to build confidence and serves to relieve the seemingly constant pressure of the next project

milestone.

Schedule pre-milestone reviews!

You will find it valuable to schedule pre-milestone reviews ahead of the milestone to ensure there are no

surprises or hidden issues that may prevent achievement of the milestone. These reviews are typically

scheduled two to four weeks in front of the milestone completion date The situation may dictate a for-

mal team review or you may informally meet individually with team members. By putting this on the

schedule it minimizes the “nagging” perception when you follow up…just like a good "nagging" project

manager should.

2009 to 2010 is a big milestone!

Some say the holiday season is depressing. Could it be depressing for some because it is a time of as-

sessment? The change over of the calendar, from one year to another, even though it is just another day,

causes people to assess themselves. This assessment is good for them and for those companies that sell

fitness equipment.

So…just in case you haven’t explicitly asked yourself, “How well did you do as a project manager or

team member this year?” Evaluate how well you did: 1. From your own internal feelings; 2. From met-

rics and 3. By asking your key stakeholders. Analyze the variance among these three indicators. If you

don’t have metrics to assess your performance, have them for next year.

Commit to get better!

Were you a better project manager/team member in 2009 than you were in 2008?

Was your organization better at project management in 2009 than 2008?

What goal or capability do you have in 2009 that you didn’t have in 2008?

I challenge you to set goals to achieve in 2010 related to the questions above. Answer the questions

ahead of time! Remember in project management, requirements that are not written down are not really

requirements and certainly not managed properly. The same applies for goals! If you do not take the

time to visualize your goal and write it down, you are limiting (more likely eliminating) your ability to


Sensitivity Analysis with

Resource Availability

64

48 48

37

35

2827 27

26 26

23

56

45

40

37

3029

27

23 23 23 23

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

55

60

65

70

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Pro

ject

Du

rati

on

Number of Resources

Duration versus Resource Availability

Shortest Job First Rule

Microsoft Project

21

Start Finish

A E I

B F J

C G K

D H L

4

6

7

2

9

5

11

4

8

8

5

16

3 4 2

3

3

3 4

3

2 3

3

212 resources available

Microsoft Project

Resource

Requirements

0 4

0

0

0

6

7

2

6 15

6 11

11 22

7 11

15 23

11 19

18 23

2 18

23

231515

18

18220

6

60

Resource Leveling Example – 12

Available Resources

22


Busy, but not important work –

the consequences

Dr. James T. Brown

I had just arrived in Antwerp Belgium for a client engage-

ment and decided to go to the Starbucks at the Antwerp

Central railway station. Antwerp Central is a busy railway

station and so is the Starbucks. The place was packed and

the early morning customers were squeezing in the door. A

Starbucks barista was taking our order about ten yards

ahead of the register to expedite the preparation of our

drinks. I had my Starbucks Americano with an extra shot

in less than seven minutes. Despite the large number of

orders, the Starbucks crew was a well oiled machine be-

hind the counter and there was the constant call of cus-

tomer names as their drinks were ready.

In an attempt to stay awake as I adjusted for the time dif-

ference between Europe and the United States, I returned

to the Starbucks in the afternoon to find no line and

walked directly to the register. Placed my Americano order

and went to the other end of the counter. What I now ob-

served was a lot of complaining from the baristas that were

behind the counter. Two baristas were going at it about

one of the machines and then the manager stepped in and

all three were arguing, arm waving and one was even foot

stomping.

Instead of just a coffee, I received coffee and a show. The

time to get my drink was much longer than when the place

was packed. Slower service, with fewer customers! This

experience illustrates a truth I have observed in large and

small companies which is:

As important work decreases, complaining, politicking

and bickering increases!

People just seem to get along better when they are per-

forming important work. As soon as the amount of impor-

tant work decreases then strife shows up.

If there is a lot of complaining and infighting in an organi-

zation, the leader needs to examine:

1. The relative value of the work the organization is pro-

ducing

2. The effectiveness of the communication of the relative

value of the work

Please note that an organization can be very busy and

still have complaining, politicking and bickering, be-

cause there is a difference between busy and doing im-

portant work that adds value.

Many busy organizations produce very little value relative

to organizational goals and/or productive goals. When

people know (or do not believe) their work is impor-

tant, there focus fades and they can become overly con-

cerned with every trivial thing they find irritating

about the job/boss/company. (In Marshall Goldsmith's

book Mojo, it states the average American spends 15 hours

a month criticizing or complaining about their boss.)

When some organizations have a lot of infighting and

strife leadership often immediately looks at personalities

or organizational structure. Personalities and organiza-

tional structure may only be a symptom, that simply mani-

fests itself when there is not enough important work to

keep those problems dormant.

Although it is a basic premise for leaders to assure an or-

ganization’s employees are working on what is important

and communicating that importance, sometimes the speed

of business, the "do more with less mantras" and poor de-

cision making combine to throw the basics out the win-

dow.

Regardless of your level of leadership, always under-

stand the importance of the work relative to the organ-

izational goals and continually communicate this im-

portance to the team. Importance and purpose can easily

be loss in the dynamic work environment where people

play multiple roles and deal with constant change on a

number of fronts.

Thomas Edison summarized the role of the leader well in

this circumstance with this quote “Being busy does not al-

ways mean real work. The object of all work is production

or accomplishment and to either of these ends there must

be forethought, system, planning, intelligence, and honest

purpose, as well as perspiration. Seeming to do is not do-

ing.”

http://list.sebasolutions.com/t/3668146/23736577/189189/15/


Planning Horizon

• Planning Horizon is the length of time you can

plan into the future with validity

23

On the most important project I am

leading or supporting our planning

horizon is approximately ____

1. ≤ One hour

2. One day

3. One week

4. One month

5. One quarter

6. ≥ Six months

24

0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%0%

50%

100%

≤ One hour

One day One week One month

One quarter

≥ Six months



The target planning horizon that would

best serve our organization is

approximately _____1. ≤ One hour

2. One day

3. One week

4. One month

5. One quarter

6. ≥ Six months

25

0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%0%

50%

100%

≤ One hour

One day One week One month

One quarter

≥ Six months

Scheduling Strategy

• You always have to weigh the value of additional

complexity/sophistication– Uncertainty reduces options

– You can be successful with simple methods

This VP described in glowing terms what his team’s military-

style test program would do for us. It would be rigorous and

scientific because of a process called PERT, the Program

Evaluation and Review Technique. PERT was a reverently

repeated buzzword. This group set busily to work drawing up

complex plans and cascading diagrams… They were there to

devise a PERT program, which they accomplished in four or

five months. Their efforts culminated in a visit by the VP and

his top aides, who ceremoniously presented me with a book

two inches thick. With equal formality, I thanked them for their

expert help on our behalf… I thumbed through that report

once and put it on a shelf, where it sat throughout the rest of

my program…

Joe Sutter

Boeing 747 Program Manager

26


Functionality First


I was returning from a business trip in Germany last year and had a very early taxi to drive me to the airport. It

was so early that when I climbed in the front seat of the taxi it was still dark and I wasn’t exactly coherent. As

we speed along the autobahn I noticed the car had a hood ornament I had never seen before. I had a hard time

identifying the ornament in the darkness. I suddenly couldn’t grasp what kind of car I was riding in. I asked the

taxi driver “what kind of car is this?” and he said it was a Mercedes (the typical German taxi).

I pointed at the hood ornament and he laughed and said it was a tablespoon! Obviously there was a story behind

a Mercedes with a spoon as a hood ornament. He told me his Mercedes hood ornament had been stolen and re-

placed three times and so the last time he went into his garage and trimmed the handle off a spoon and attached

it. He smiled and said “no one has stolen the spoon.” He said as a taxi driver he needed a hood ornament for

reference since he was constantly pulling up very close behind other taxis in lines waiting on customers and the

spoon worked just fine for judging distance.

Professional Appearance Does Not Guarantee Professional Content

The taxi driver’s tablespoon meets his functional purpose for a hood ornament regardless of how unique or un-

sightly it may appear to others. There is a lesson for project managers here. Often in a project a lot of time can

be spent developing fancy presentations or reports or unnecessarily embellishing deliverables. Sometimes or-

ganizations have groups or consultants whose sole role is to beautify. There is nothing inherently wrong with

this but I can guarantee thousands and thousands of hours are spent doing this beyond what is necessary. You

would be rich beyond words if you had a single dollar for every fancy report delivered by a consultant that gath-

ers dust while it creates no action on the part of the recipient organization.

It’s not just presentations and reports…tools can go overboard too.

I was told by one of the top project management scheduling tool providers that “project managers don’t care

about how good their product actually produces project schedules…their opinion is that a project manager’s pri-

mary concern is the tool presents pretty Gantt charts.” I wish I was kidding!. Next time a company is demon-

strating their tool pay attention to what they emphasize. Boil it down to functionality.

Err on the side of Simplicity

For presentations, reports and tools all you need is enough information presented in a structured way that pro-

vides the basis for making a good decision. With all the capability and choices products have today the real

challenge can be keeping it simple. We just celebrated the 40th Anniversary of the Apollo Moon landing. If we

were gathering the requirements to do that today we would say it is impossible to accomplish it with the comput-

ing power/capability they used. Because we have so much computing capability at our disposal we would find it

next to impossible to trim it down to what they so successfully used in the Apollo program.

Just because the capability exists doesn’t mean we need to use it.

Take great care to understand that the bare minimum functionality of what is required for success. There is

nothing wrong with more capability but you should always understand what the bare minimum capability is to

achieve functionality.


Summary

• To have a valid schedule you must resource level.

• There is significant variation in resource leveling

performance among project management software

packages.

• The critical path identified without resource leveling does

not mean it is the critical path when the project is resource

leveled.

27

Summary

• Projects are dynamic where any changes may change the

schedule and the critical path.

• You must manage all tasks as if they may be critical and

the project manager can’t focus solely on critical path

items.

28


Bringing Dr. Brown to your company is easy and pays for itself!

"After looking at a lot of project management train-

ing providers we brought Dr. Brown in to conduct

the Project Management Solutions course for our

project managers and organizational leaders. I per-

sonally attended the course and must say the course

exceeded all of my expectations. It was one of the

best training investments we ever made and is still

paying dividends. Of course we brought Dr. Brown

back for more training."

B. Price, Senior Vice President, CBC Companies

Contact Information

James T. Brown Ph.D. Project Management Professional (PMP) Professional Engineer (PE) Certified Speaking Professional (CSP)

SEBA® Solutions Inc.

[email protected]

@DrJamesTBrown

www.SebaSolutions.com

www.ProgramManagementBook.com

321.269.1222

321.577.0210 fax

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#%21/pages/SEBA-Solutions/383703095029227

https://twitter.com/DrJamesTBrown

http://www.youtube.com/user/SEBASOLUTIONS

http://www.linkedin.com/company/seba-solutions-inc-

http://www.sebasolutions.com/blog/

https://plus.google.com/109628980572060952397/

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.SebaSolutions.com

http://www.programmanagementbook.com/

Documents

Schedule: Leveled Project The Resource - Seba Solutions · The most important thing about project scheduling software packages is _____ 1. Pretty Gantt Charts 2. Producing a good