Slide 6.

Chapter 6
Time planning
• Introduction
• Deconstruction of a project
• Constructing a time plan
• Using Gantt Charts
• Summary

Project Management in Practice: The Balti Experience

Project Management in Practice: The mobile phone development

Maylor, Project Management, 4th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011

Slide 6.2

Introduction
‘Planning is an unnatural process. It is much more
satisfying to do something and the nicest thing about not
planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise
rather than being preceded by a long period of worry and
depression’
[Sir John Harvey c1800]
Detailed planning:
• The most likely scenarios
• Possible eventualities (answers to ‘what happens if…’)
• Deconstruct project into constituent parts
• Compile a time plan
• Feed into project analysis and communication
• Tension: the need to plan and the need to get on with it
• What to include is the ‘art’ of managing a project
Maylor, Project Management, 4th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011
Slide 6.3

6.1 Deconstruction of a project

Planning – the production of plans add value
– it is not an end in itself
• The planner has the opportunity of analysing the
project system
– Revealing opportunities for improvement
– Revealing possible problem preventions
– Sets out the basis on how the project will proceed
• Benefits are realised when they are communicated

Maylor, Project Management, 4th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011

Slide 6.4

6.1 Deconstruction of a project

(Continued)

Figure 6.1 Flow of process through this part of the planning

Maylor, Project Management, 4th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011

Slide 6.5

6.1 Deconstruction of a project

(Continued)
Work breakdown structure
Types of WBS:
• WBS • Activity breakdown
• ‘chunking’ • Functional breakdown
• Physical grouping
• ‘unbundling’
• Breaking down large activities into comprehensible or
manageable units
– Gives people responsibility for each manageable part
– Facilitates financial control, individual parts can have their
consumption of resources tracked
– Bottom level will be a list of work packages

Maylor, Project Management, 4th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011

Slide 6.6

6.1 Deconstruction of a project

(Continued)
The WBS:
• Creates a linked set of hierarchical activities
• Which are independent units
• But which are still part of the whole
• Inevitable conflict
• Interfaces must be managed
• Need to build up individual activities to make them
work together
• Decisions at this stage are fundamental to
success

Maylor, Project Management, 4th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011

Slide 6.7

6.1 Deconstruction of a project

(Continued)

Figure 6.2 Example of a work breakdown structure (WBS)

Maylor, Project Management, 4th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011

Slide 6.8

6.1 Deconstruction of a project

(Continued)

Figure 6.3 Functional breakdown

Maylor, Project Management, 4th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011

Slide 6.9

6.1 Deconstruction of a project

(Continued)

Figure 6.4 Physical breakdown

Maylor, Project Management, 4th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011

Slide 6.10

6.2 Constructing a time plan

How long will it take to complete the project?

• How precise do you need to be?
• How long did it take last time?
• What could cause significant delay?
• What other tasks might get in the way?
Estimates are guesses
• Beware treating these numbers in a scientific way
• Estimation continues through the project lifecycle
• The nearer the completion, the more certainty
about time, resources and costs
Maylor, Project Management, 4th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011
Slide 6.11

6.2 Constructing a time plan (Continued)

Table 6.1 The nature, role and accuracy of estimate types

Maylor, Project Management, 4th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011

Slide 6.12

6.2 Constructing a time plan (Continued)

‘Activity-on-node’
– Activities (from WBS)
– Present as tasks
– In logical sequence
– With estimated duration
– And the dependency

Figure 6.5 Task dependency

Maylor, Project Management, 4th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011

Slide 6.13

6.2 Constructing a time plan (Continued)

The second activity cannot start the second activity cannot start until
until the first has finished; the first has started;

the second activity cannot

finish until the first has finished the second activity cannot
finish until the first has started

Figure 6.6 Logical activity linkages

Maylor, Project Management, 4th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011

Slide 6.14

6.2 Constructing a time plan (Continued)

Figure 6.7 Representing multiple dependencies (1)

Maylor, Project Management, 4th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011

Slide 6.15

6.2 Constructing a time plan (Continued)

Figure 6.8 Representing multiple dependencies (2)

Maylor, Project Management, 4th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011

Slide 6.16

6.2 Constructing a time plan (Continued)

Figure 6.9 Representing multiple dependencies (3)

Maylor, Project Management, 4th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011

Slide 6.17

6.2 Constructing a time plan (Continued)

Analysing the network – Critical Path Analysis:
• Earliest start time EST
– Determined by activities preceding the event
• Latest start time LST
– The latest time all preceding activities will need to be complete
• Total float
– The difference between EST and LST

Figure 6.10 Activity notation

Maylor, Project Management, 4th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011

Slide 6.18

6.2 Constructing a time plan (Continued)

Analysing the network (1)
• Draw network and name/number each activity
• Mark durations (place in bottom left hand box)
• Forward pass
– Start with zero for first activity EST (start)
– Place EST in top left hand box
– Subsequent activity cannot start till previous is complete i.e.
previous EST plus its duration
– Work through network from left to right filling in all ESTs
– Where there is more than one previous activity there are as
many ESTs, but subsequent activity cannot start until all have
been completed; therefore, take the highest EST
– Complete the network to EST (finish)
Maylor, Project Management, 4th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011
Slide 6.19

6.2 Constructing a time plan (Continued)

ACTIVITY PREDECESSOR DURATION

A - 5

B A 3

C A 4

D A 5

E B 6

F C 7

G D 5

H E,F,G 8

Maylor, Project Management, 4th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011

Slide 6.20

6.2 Constructing a time plan (Continued)

Figure 6.11 Activity network and the critical path

Maylor, Project Management, 4th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011

Slide 6.21

6.2 Constructing a time plan (Continued)

Analysing the network (2)
• Reverse pass
– Start at the end of the network
– LST is the same as EST (finish)
– LST for preceding activity is LST succeeding activity
less the duration (place in top right hand box)
– Work through network from right to left filling in all
LSTs
– Where there is more than one subsequent activity,
there are as many LSTs, take earliest/lowest LST
– Completing the network gives the LST (start) which
should be the same as EST (start)
Maylor, Project Management, 4th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011
Slide 6.22

6.2 Constructing a time plan (Continued)

• Calculate float
– Float = LST − EST
– Place in bottom right hand box
– If there is no float the activity is critical (any delay will
delay the project as a whole)
– Following all the float = 0 boxes gives the critical
path

Maylor, Project Management, 4th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011

Slide 6.23

6.2 Constructing a time plan (Continued)

Scheduling
• Knowing when activities will be carried out
• Necessary resources have to be in place for critical
activities
• Constraints: people are not available, long lead times,
clashes with other projects
• May be necessary to re-plan

• Resource capability – ability and limitations

Limitations
• Resource pool – availability to draw from
• Resource capacity – volume Reiterations
• Resource calendar – when available
Maylor, Project Management, 4th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011
Slide 6.24

6.3 Using Gantt charts

A Gantt chart illustrates the relationship between activities and time

Figure 6.14 Horizontal bar chart: Activity A starts at Time 1 and finishes at Time 3

Maylor, Project Management, 4th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011

Slide 6.25

6.3 Using Gantt charts (Continued)

Example Activity Time

Project start 2/5
1 Carry out literature review 2/5–20/6
2 Arrange visits 20/7–4/7
3 Prepare questionnaire 4/7–25/7
4 Review questionnaire 25/7–8/8
5 Deliver questionnaire 8/8–26/9
6 Analyse results 26/9–2/11
7 Write up 2/11–9/12
Hand in 9/12

Maylor, Project Management, 4th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011

Slide 6.26

6.3 Using Gantt charts (Continued)

Figure 6.15 Project plan in graphical form

Maylor, Project Management, 4th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011

Slide 6.27

6.3 Using Gantt charts (Continued)

The Gantt chart or linked-bar chart
• Establishes a level of logic
• Conventions: time goes from left to right, activities arranged top
to bottom in order of occurrence
• Viewing the forward schedule
– Start at a given date and follow forward to determine the end date
• Viewing the backward schedule
– Look at required completion date and work back to find start date
• If both dates are fixed, activities may be shortened to fit
Additional conventions
• Logical links indicated with arrows
• The head of the arrow indicates an activity that cannot proceed
until the activity at the tails is completed
• Diamonds represent milestones
Maylor, Project Management, 4th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011
Slide 6.28

6.3 Using Gantt charts (Continued)

Figure 6.16 Logical links indicated by arrows

Maylor, Project Management, 4th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011

Slide 6.29

6.3 Using Gantt charts (Continued)

• Positives
– Communicates the plan
– Easy to construct
– Readily understood
– Good for static environments
– Widely used
– Graphical interface for most project planning software

• Limitations
– Difficult to update manually
– Does not equate time and cost
– Does not help in optimising resource allocation
– Tendency to be perceived as a ‘statement of reality’ or certainty,
whereas it is really a statement of ‘how it might be done’,
recognising the uncertainty that managers in projects have to deal
with, the nature of estimating, the quality of input information
Maylor, Project Management, 4th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011
Slide 6.30

6.3 Using Gantt charts (Continued)

Computer-assisted project planning
• Example – MS Project
• The capability of the packages is vast
• Easy to enter lists of data
• Easy to read output
• Easy to play ‘what ifs’
• But not helpful in improving project manager practice
• The project manager becomes not ‘the keeper of the
charts’ but ‘the computer operator’ trying to keep the
computer version of the plan up to date
• The critical path is not always at the forefront of
visibility
Maylor, Project Management, 4th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011
Slide 6.31

Summary

The objectives of planning are

To optimise the project process
To prevent problems in the process
Achieve this through systematic evaluation of
The constituent activities
Their duration
The logical linkage (sequencing)
Present, review and revise the use of graphical
techniques

Maylor, Project Management, 4th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011

Slide 6.32

Summary (Continued)

Identify activities (the WBS)

Arrange in logical sequence
Estimate duration (estimates are uncertain the
further ahead in time)
Develop the Gantt Charts and networks
Analyse the network diagram to determine the
CPA (the path where any delay will delay the
whole project)
Convert the plan to specific dates for activities to
start and finish and construct the visual schedule
Maylor, Project Management, 4th Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2011