The Habits of Highly Effective Scheduling

The Habits• Learn Carpentry, Not Just How To Use Your New Powersaw• Learn To Use The Powersaw• See The Whole Forest, Not Just One Tree• It’s Not The Journey, It’s The Destination• Aware The Devil Is In The Details• Make Friends With The Devil• Everything New Is Old Again• Play Sherlock Holmes In Real Life• Can See The Young Lady And The Old Lady• Works Without Their Crystal Ball

Learn Carpentry, Not Just How To Use Your New Powersaw

Learn The Methodology, Not Just The Software

PMI vs. AACEI

“While the ease of modern reprographics has effectively abolished this step, the need for a permanent record of the pure logic network is still

important.” -CPM in Construction Management 7th ed.

“It is not good practice to plan the work while attempting to schedule it” -The Roles and Attributes of a Scheduler paper

Learn To Use Your Powersaw

All Scheduling Software Are NOT Created Equally

Learn To Use The Software Effectively

See The Whole Forest, Not Just One Tree

See The Big Picture

It’s Not The Journey, It’s The Destination

Begin With The End In Mind• What is the schedule to be used for?• What level of detail will be required?• What type of reporting will this be used for?• What type of analytics will be required?• Will schedule be cost / resource loaded?• Will EVM be used?• Will Risk Analysis be performed?

Aware That The Devil Is In The Details

Utilize The K.I.S.S Principle•Managing the tool should not become a project in

itself • - Break work into activities/events of a duration no longer than (20) work days

each, except as to non-construction activities or events.

“If additional detail is not required and will not be used in planning and managing the project, then it should not be included in the schedule. On the other hand, sufficient detail needs to be included in the schedule to provide a viable tool for monitoring and controlling”

-Construction Planning and Scheduling, 2nd ed.

Make Friends With The Devil

Pay Attention To The Details • Read all project and contract documents• Contracts, specs, project documents will contain many considerations,

requirements, and constraints-Work activity / events relationships shall be restricted to Finish-to-Start and Start-to-Start without lead or lag constraints.

Everything New Is Old Again

Consistency Is Key• Standardize wherever possible – language, coding, IDs• Use activity template definitions• Schedule structure must be manageable• Keep it simple• Control changes to configuration • Perform regular maintenance to identify and fix problems

Play Sherlock Holmes In Real Life

Research / audit project data for consistency

• Ensure agreement with the contract dates• Schedule dates and project documents are not independent• Audits – Government Projects• Claims / Delay Analysis

• Identify problems with attention to data trends• Create data tests to uncover problems• Determine what the data says through thorough examination• Read between the lines and interpret subtle indicators

Can See The Old And The Young Lady?

Look At The Schedule Data In Multiple Ways

• Flow Charts• Gantt Chart• Milestones• Summary / Rolled up• Lookaheads• Fragnets• Histograms• S Curves

Work Without A Crystal Ball

Utilize Thoughtful Realistic Information

• G. I. G. O

Final Thought• “The professional status of planning engineers and project schedulers

needs to be recognized. Few professionals understand the contribution that planning engineers and project schedulers make to effective time control.”

- Managing the Risk Delayed Completion in the 21st Century, CIOB• Scheduling and schedulers are meant to help, not hinder, your project

performance

Questions???