Project Schedules

Chapter 4

Applied Software Project Management, Stellman & Greene

See also: http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/appliedprojectmgmt

Purpose for a schedule To commit people to the project To show the organization how the work will be

performed To communicate final deadlines Used as a checklist to ensure that all tasks are

performed

Project Schedule

...a calendar that links tasks with resources Resources are usually people, but also

Tools Services

Team must first have the WBS defined

WBS specified Each task Effort estimate for each task Resource list with availability for

resources

Duration and Effort

Duration Amount of time that elapses between the

time the task is started and the time it is completed

Measured in time units (days, weeks, etc.)

Effort Total number of hours each person spends

working on a task Measured in person-hours

Building the project schedule Identify dependencies

A task has a dependency if it involves an activity, resource or work product which is subsequently required by another task

Tasks may have dependencies because they require the same resource

Every dependency has a predecessor, or a task that must be begun, in progress, or completed, for another task to begin

Identify the type of predecessor for each dependency

Building the project schedule Identifying dependencies

Building the project schedule Create the

schedule Most project

schedules are represented using a Gantt chart

The Gantt chart shows tasks, dependencies and milestones using different shapes

Figure 4-2: Stellman and Greene

How people work on projects:Two principles

1. Parkinson’s Law “Work expands so as to fill the time available for

its completion”

2. Fred Brooks’ Mythical Man-Month “Nine women cannot have a baby in one month”

– or some tasks can be done only by one person, no matter how critical the task

Thus, we need to reconcile the schedule with the organization’s needs and with the user in mind (who might potentially change schedule)

Add Review Meetings to the Schedule

Progress Reviews We will do in class (... maybe by two

teams of two)

Milestone Reviews Perhaps after the last task in a project

phase At the end of requirements, design,

implementation and testing

Critical PathRepresents minimum time required to complete project

See Figure 4.3 Don’t abuse buffers Diagnosing scheduling problems Misunderstood predecessors (no

WBS)

Most popular tool for creating project schedule is Microsoft Project

For Next Time

Project Schedule using Microsoft Project

Reviews in class