“…But we HAVE to be done by the end of June!” – Ten Strategies for Compressing a Schedule

You worked with your team to identify the tasks, carefully worked through dependencies, got thoughtful estimates from your most experienced people, built a well-formed schedule, and confidently presented the results to the executives.  They don’t ask about your process, they don’t question your assumptions, they don’t ask what they can do to trim scope or… Continue reading “…But we HAVE to be done by the end of June!” – Ten Strategies for Compressing a Schedule

Why Are Schedules Always Wrong?

A client reviewing the history of a troubled technology project portfolio asked, “Why are schedules always wrong?  What challenges emerge between planning and implementation?”  While there are infinite project-specific answers to that question, there are also general patterns helpful to understand.   The word “plan” was adopted from French, it means “prepare” or “map”.  In… Continue reading Why Are Schedules Always Wrong?

#YesEstimates

Humans are constantly estimating.  We predict the future more than any other species.  We estimate where our foot will land with our next step.  We estimate how long it will take to commute to work.  We estimate whether we have time to complete the home improvement project before guests show up for dinner.  A vocal… Continue reading #YesEstimates

Schedule Creation: Know The Difference Between A Picture And A Schedule

Schedule Creation/Validation Checklists Most commercially available scheduling tools support creating what are called “well-formed schedules” in the trade.  These are schedules that can predict project outcomes, monitor project progress, and recalculate task times based on status updates.  Because some organizations use schedules as pretty pictures rather than project management tools, these same commercial tools have… Continue reading Schedule Creation: Know The Difference Between A Picture And A Schedule