TIME MANAGEMENT

Course title: International Project

Management

Lecturer: Nodirjon Makhkamov

Learning Objectives
■ Understand the importance of project schedules and
good project time management
■ Define activities as the basis for developing project
schedules
■ Describe how project managers use network diagrams
and dependencies to assist in activity sequencing
■ Explain how various tools and techniques help project
managers perform activity duration estimating and
schedule development
■ Use a Gantt chart for schedule planning and tracking
schedule information

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Learning Objectives
■ Understand and use critical path analysis
■ Describe how to use several techniques for
shortening project schedules
■ Explain the basic concepts behind critical chain
scheduling and Program Evaluation and Review
Technique (PERT)
■ Discuss how reality checks and people issues are
involved in controlling and managing changes to the
project schedule
■ Describe how software can assist in project time
management

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Importance of Project Schedules
■ Managers often cite delivering projects on time as one of their biggest
challenges
■ Average time overrun from 1995 CHAOS report was 222%; improved to 163%
in 2001 study
■ Time has the least amount of flexibility; it passes no matter what
■ Schedule issues are the main reason for conflicts on projects, especially
during the second half of projects

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 Figure 1. Conflict Intensity
Over the Life of a Project
0.40
0.35
Conflict Intensity

0.30
Schedules
0.25 Average
Total Conflict
Priorities
Manpower
0.20 Technical opinions
Procedures
0.15 Cost
Personality conflicts
0.10
0.05
0.00
Project Early Phases Middle Phases End Phases
Formation

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 Project Time Management
Processes
■ Project time management involves the processes required to ensure
timely completion of a project. Processes include:
– Activity definition
– Activity sequencing
– Activity duration estimating
– Schedule development
– Schedule control

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 Activity Definition
■ Project schedules grow out of the basic document that initiate a project
– Project charter includes start and end dates and budget
information
– Scope statement and WBS help define what will be done
■ Activity definition involves developing a more detailed WBS and
supporting explanations to understand all the work to be done so you
can develop realistic duration estimates

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 Activity Sequencing
■ Involves reviewing activities and determining dependencies
– Mandatory dependencies: inherent in the nature of the work; hard
logic
– Discretionary dependencies: defined by the project team; soft
logic
– External dependencies: involve relationships between project and
non-project activities
■ You must determine dependencies in order to use critical path analysis

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Project Network Diagrams

■ Project network diagrams are the preferred technique for

showing activity sequencing
■ A project network diagram is a schematic display of the
logical relationships among, or sequencing of, project
activities

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Figure 6-2. Sample Activity-on-Arrow
(AOA) Network Diagram for Project X

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Arrow Diagramming Method
(ADM)
■ Also called activity-on-arrow (AOA) project network diagrams
■ Activities are represented by arrows
■ Nodes or circles are the starting and ending points of
activities
■ Can only show finish-to-start dependencies

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 Process for Creating AOA Diagrams
1. Find all of the activities that start at node 1. Draw their finish
nodes and draw arrows between node 1 and those finish nodes.
Put the activity letter or name and duration estimate on the
associated arrow
2. Continuing drawing the network diagram, working from left to right.
Look for bursts and merges. Bursts occur when a single node is
followed by two or more activities. A merge occurs when two or
more nodes precede a single node
3. Continue drawing the project network diagram until all activities
are included on the diagram that have dependencies
4. As a rule of thumb, all arrowheads should face toward the right,
and no arrows should cross on an AOA network diagram

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Precedence Diagramming
Method (PDM)
■ Activities are represented by boxes
■ Arrows show relationships between activities
■ More popular than ADM method and used by project
management software
■ Better at showing different types of dependencies

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Figure 3. Task Dependency Types

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Sample PDM Network Diagram

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Activity Duration Estimating
■ After defining activities and determining their sequence, the next step
in time management is duration estimating
■ Duration includes the actual amount of time worked on an activity
plus elapsed time
■ Effort is the number of workdays or work hours required to complete a
task. Effort does not equal duration
■ People doing the work should help create estimates, and an expert
should review them

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 Schedule Development
■ Schedule development uses results of the other time management
processes to determine the start and end date of the project and its
activities
■ Ultimate goal is to create a realistic project schedule that provides a
basis for monitoring project progress for the time dimension of the
project
■ Important tools and techniques include Gantt charts, PERT analysis,
critical path analysis, and critical chain scheduling

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 Gantt Charts
■ Gantt charts provide a standard format for displaying project schedule
information by listing project activities and their corresponding start
and finish dates in a calendar format
■ Symbols include:
– A black diamond: milestones or significant events on a project
with zero duration
– Thick black bars: summary tasks
– Lighter horizontal bars: tasks
– Arrows: dependencies between tasks

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Figure 5. Gantt Chart for Project X

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Gantt Chart for Software Launch Project

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Milestones

■ Milestones are significant events on a project that normally

have zero duration
■ You can follow the SMART criteria in developing milestones
that are:
– Specific
– Measurable
– Assignable
– Realistic
– Time-framed

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Sample Tracking Gantt Chart

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 Critical Path Method (CPM)
■ CPM is a project network analysis technique used to predict total
project duration
■ A critical path for a project is the series of activities that determines the
earliest time by which the project can be completed
■ The critical path is the longest path through the network diagram and
has the least amount of slack or float

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Finding the Critical Path

■ First develop a good project network diagram

■ Add the durations for all activities on each path through the
project network diagram
■ The longest path is the critical path

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 Simple Example of
Determining the Critical Path
■ Consider the following project network diagram. Assume all
times are in days. E=1
C=2 4
A=2 B=5
start 1 2 3 6 finish

D=7 5 F=2

a. How many paths are on this network diagram?

b. How long is each path?
c. Which is the critical path?
d. What is the shortest amount of time needed to
complete this project?
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Figure 8. Determining the Critical Path
for Project X

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More on the Critical Path
■ If one or more activities on the critical path takes longer than planned,
the whole project schedule will slip unless corrective action is taken
■ Misconceptions:
– The critical path is not the one with all the critical activities; it only
accounts for time. Remember the example of growing grass being
on the critical path for Disney’s Animal Kingdom Park
– There can be more than one critical path if the lengths of two or
more paths are the same
– The critical path can change as the project progresses

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Using Critical Path Analysis to
Make Schedule Trade-offs
■ Knowing the critical path helps you make schedule
trade-offs
■ Free slack or free float is the amount of time an
activity can be delayed without delaying the early
start of any immediately following activities
■ Total slack or total float is the amount of time an
activity may be delayed from its early start without
delaying the planned project finish date
■ A forward pass through the network diagram
determines the early start and finish dates
■ A backward pass determines the late start and finish
dates
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 Calculating Early and Late
Start and Finish Dates

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Project 2002 Schedule Table View
Showing Free and Total Slack

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Techniques for Shortening a
Project Schedule
■ Shorten durations of critical tasks by adding more resources
or changing their scope
■ Crashing tasks by obtaining the greatest amount of schedule
compression for the least incremental cost
■ Fast tracking tasks by doing them in parallel or overlapping
them

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Crashing and Fast Tracking
Original
schedule

Shortened
duration thru
crashing

Overlapped
Tasks or fast
tracking

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Many Horror Stories Related
to Project Schedules
■ Creating realistic schedules and sticking to them is a key
challenge of project management
■ Crashing and fast tracking often cause more problems,
resulting in longer schedules
■ Organizational issues often cause schedule problems. See
example of needing to take more time to implement Customer
Relationship Management (CRM) software so users accept it

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Importance of Updating
Critical Path Data
■ It is important to update project schedule information
■ The critical path may change as you enter actual start and
finish dates
■ If you know the project completion date will slip, negotiate
with the project sponsor

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 Critical Chain Scheduling
■ Technique that addresses the challenge of meeting or
beating project finish dates and an application of the
Theory of Constraints (TOC)
■ Developed by Eliyahu Goldratt in his books The Goal and
Critical Chain
■ Critical chain scheduling is a method of scheduling that
takes limited resources into account when creating a
project schedule and includes buffers to protect the
project completion date
■ Critical chain scheduling assumes resources do not
multitask because it often delays task completions and
increases total durations

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Multitasking Example

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 Buffers and Critical Chain
■ A buffer is additional time to complete a task
■ Murphy’s Law states that if something can go wrong,
it will, and Parkinson’s Law states that work expands
to fill the time allowed. In traditional estimates,
people often add a buffer and use it if it’s needed or
not
■ Critical chain schedule removes buffers from
individual tasks and instead creates
– A project buffer, which is additional time added before
the project’s due date
– Feeding buffers, which are addition time added before
tasks on the critical path

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Figure 11. Example of Critical
Chain Scheduling

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Program Evaluation and
Review Technique (PERT)
■ PERT is a network analysis technique used to estimate project
duration when there is a high degree of uncertainty about the
individual activity duration estimates
■ PERT uses probabilistic time estimates based on using
optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic estimates of activity
durations

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PERT Formula and Example

■ PERT weighted average formula:

optimistic time + 4X most likely time + pessimistic time
6
■ Example:
PERT weighted average =
8 workdays + 4 X 10 workdays + 24 workdays = 12
days 6
where 8 = optimistic time, 10 = most likely time, and 24 =
pessimistic time

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Controlling Changes to the
Project Schedule
■ Perform reality checks on schedules
■ Allow for contingencies
■ Don’t plan for everyone to work at 100% capacity all the time
■ Hold progress meetings with stakeholders and be clear and
honest in communicating schedule issues

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Working with People Issues

■ Strong leadership helps projects succeed more than good

PERT charts
■ Project managers should use
– empowerment
– incentives
– discipline
– negotiation

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What Went Right?
Chris Higgins used the discipline he learned in the Army to transform
project management into a cultural force at Bank of America. Higgins
learned that taking time on the front end of a project can save
significant time and money on the back end. As a quartermaster in the
Army, when Higgins' people had to pack tents, he devised a contest to
find the best way to fold a tent and determine the precise spots to place
the pegs and equipment for the quickest possible assembly. Higgins
used the same approach when he led an interstate banking initiative to
integrate incompatible check processing, checking account, and
savings account platforms in various states…He made the team
members analyze, plan, and document requirements for the system in
such detail that it took six months just to complete that phase. But the
discipline up front enabled the software developers on the team to do
all of the coding in only three months, and the project was completed
on time.
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Using Software to Assist in
Time Management
■ Software for facilitating communications helps people
exchange schedule-related information
■ Decision support models help analyze trade-offs that can be
made
■ Project management software can help in various time
management areas

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 Table 2. Project 2000 Features Related
to Project Time Management
Reports Views and Table Views Filters
 Overview reports: critical  Gantt chart, PERT  All tasks,
tasks and milestones chart, Tracking Gantt, completed tasks,
 Current activities reports: schedule, tracking, critical tasks,
unstarted tasks, tasks starting variance, constraint incomplete tasks,
soon, tasks in progress, dates, and delay and milestone
completed tasks, should have tasks
started tasks, and slipping
tasks
 Assignment reports: who
does what when

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Words of Caution on Using
Project Management Software
■ Many people misuse project management software because
they don’t understand important concepts and have not had
good training
■ You must enter dependencies to have dates adjust
automatically and to determine the critical path
■ You must enter actual schedule information to compare
planned and actual progress

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DISCUSSION QUESTION

■ Why do you think schedule issues often cause the most

conflicts on projects?

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Exercise

■ Consider Table 6-3, Network Diagram Data for a Small

Project. All times are in days; the network proceeds from Node
1 to Node 9.

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 Reference and source
■ International Project Management by Kathrin Koster | Mar 17, 2014
■ The Complete Project Management Office Handbook (ESI International Project
Management Series) Part of: ESI International Project Management (19 Books) | by
Gerard M. Hill | Sep 5, 2013
■ Project Management for Healthcare (ESI International Project Management Series) Part
of: ESI International Project Management (19 Books) | by David Shirley | Feb 11,
2020
■ Project Management for Healthcare (ESI International Project Management Series) by
David Shirley | Apr 25, 2011
■ International Management Behavior: Global and Sustainable Leadership by Henry W.
Lane and Martha L. Maznevski | Feb 7, 2019
■ The Law and Business of International Project Finance: A Resource for Governments,
Sponsors, Lawyers, and Project Participants by Scott L. Hoffman | Oct 22, 2007