chapter 6

sequencing activities

Involves reviewing activities and determining dependencies

SMART criteria

Milestones should be: ~Specific ~Measurable ~Assignable ~Realistic ~Time-framed

Three main techniques for shortening schedules

Shortening durations of critical activities/tasks by adding more resources or changing their scope, Crashing activities by obtaining the greatest amount of schedule compression for the least incremental cost, Fast tracking activities by doing them in parallel or overlapping them

Gantt Chart symbols

Symbols include: ~Black diamonds: milestones ~Thick black bars: summary tasks ~Lighter horizontal bars: durations of tasks ~Arrows: dependencies between tasks

description of task dependency: finish-to-start

Task B cannot start until task A finishes

T/F You must determine dependencies in order to use critical path analysis

True

two main formats of network diagrams

Two main formats are the arrow and precedence diagramming methods

Precedence diagramming model

a network diagramming technique in which boxes represent activities

critical path method

a network diagramming technique used to predict total project duration

network diagram

a schematic display of the logical relationships among, or sequencing of, project activities

milestone

a significant event that normally has no duration

feeding buffers

additional time added before tasks on the critical path

project buffer

additional time added before the project's due date

buffer

additional time to complete a task

activity or task

an element of work normally found on the work breakdown structure (WBS) that has an expected duration, a cost, and resource requirements

Project Time Management Processes: Developing the schedule

analyzing activity sequences, activity resource estimates, and activity duration estimates to create the project schedule

Project Time Management Processes: Controlling the schedule

controlling and managing changes to the project schedule

discretionary dependencies

defined by the project team; sometimes referred to as soft logic and should be used with care since they may limit later scheduling options

Project Time Management Processes: Estimating activity resources

estimating how many resources a project team should use to perform project activities

Project Time Management Processes: Estimating activity durations

estimating the number of work periods that are needed to complete individual activities

T/F Effort does normally equal duration

false!

critical path

for a project is the series of activities that determines the earliest time by which the project can be completed; the longest path through the network diagram and has the least amount of slack or float

Project Time Management Processes: Sequencing Activities

identifying and documenting the relationships between project activities

Project Time Management Processes: Defining activities

identifying the specific activities that the project team members and stakeholders must perform to produce the project deliverables

Murphy's law

if something can go wrong, it will

Milestones emphasize ?

important events or accomplishments on projects

example of a milestone

include obtaining customer sign-off on key documents or completion of specific products

duration

includes the actual amount of time worked on an activity plus elapsed time

mandatory dependencies

inherent in the nature of the work being performed on a project, sometimes referred to as hard logic; you must complete it, no flexibility;

external dependencies

involve relationships between project and non-project activities

critical path analysis

longest sequence (duration) of activities

bursts

occur when a single node is followed by two or more activities

merge

occurs when two or more nodes precede a single node

Gantt Chart

provide a standard format for displaying project schedule information by listing project activities and their corresponding start and finish dates in a calendar format

activity attributes

provide more information such as predecessors, successors, logical relationships, leads and lags, resource requirements, constraints, imposed dates, and assumptions related to the activity

Critical chain scheduling

A method of scheduling that considers limited resources when creating a project schedule and includes buffers to protect the project completion date

activity list

A tabulation of activities to be included on a project schedule that includes:The activity name,An activity identifier or number,A brief description of the activity

Activity-on-arrow (AOA) or Arrow Diagramming Method (ADM)

Activities are represented by arrows; Nodes or circles are the starting and ending points of activities; Can only show finish-to-start dependencies

three point estimate

An estimate that includes an optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic estimate, such as three weeks for the optimistic, four weeks for the most likely, and five weeks for the pessimistic estimate

T/F Normally create milestone by entering tasks with a one day duration, or you can mark any task as a milestone

False. zero duration

description of task dependency: finish-to-finish

task B cannot finish until task A finishes

description of task dependency: start-to-finish

task B cannot finish until task A starts

description of task dependency: start-to-start

task B cannot start unit task A starts

slack or float

the amount of time an activity may be delayed without delaying a succeeding activity or the projec`t finish date

effort

the number of workdays or work hours required to complete a task

dependency or relationship

the sequencing of project activities or tasks

Instead of providing activity estimates as a discrete number, such as four weeks, it's often helpful to create a ________________________.

three point estimate

T/F Three-point estimates are needed for PERT and Monte Carlo simulations

true

Parkinson's law

work expands to fill the time allowed

calculating the critical path

~First develop a good network diagram ~Add the duration estimates for all activities on each path through the network diagram ~The longest path is the critical path ~If one or more of the activities on the critical path takes longer than planned, the whole project schedule will slip unless the project manager takes corrective action