Project Schedules Chapter 4 Applied Software Project Management, Stellman & Greene See also: //.
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Transcript of Project Schedules Chapter 4 Applied Software Project Management, Stellman & Greene See also: //.
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