Lecture 4: Project Time

Management
Course Code: PXB30103/PPB37103
Project time management
• The knowledge area of time management typically refers to the skills,
tools, and techniques used to manage time when accomplishing
specific tasks, projects and goals.
• Project time management includes the processes required to
accomplish timely completion of the project
Project Time Management
• The time management processes deals with
• Plan Schedule Management
• Define Activities
• Sequence Activities
• Estimate Activity Resources
• Estimate Activity Durations
• Develop Schedule
• Control Schedule
Plan Schedule Management
• The process of establishing the policies, procedures, and
documentation for planning, developing, managing, executing, and
controlling the project schedule.

Refer PMBOK
CPM
• The critical path method (CPM) is a step-by-step project management
technique for process planning that defines critical and non-critical
tasks with the goal of preventing time-frame problems and process
bottlenecks
• The essential technique for using CPM is to construct a model of the
project that includes the following:
• A list of all activities required to complete the project
• The dependencies between the activities
• The estimate of time (duration) that each activity will take to completion
 Critical Path in a Simple Project:
Hanging a picture on the wall
• What should you do to complete this mini-project successfully?
• First, we need to define and list all the tasks that have to be done so
the whole project is completed
• Choose a place on the wall
• Buy the screws
• Choose the picture
• Drill a hole
• Put screw in the hole
• Hang the picture
 • When we think of these tasks, we realize that some of them cannot
start before the others are finished. That is, some tasks are
dependent on the others. See the graph below:

Specific order
These are called
“sequential activities”
Critical Path Method cont.
• The critical path consists of the longest sequence of activities from
project start to end that should be started and completed exactly as
scheduled to ensure the project is completed by a certain date in the
future.
• The activities on the critical path must be very closely managed. If
jobs on the critical path slip, immediate action should be taken to get
the project back on schedule.
• Otherwise, completion of the whole project will slip.
Examples of Project Task Dependencies
• Brew coffee step by step
• Grind the coffee beans
• Add a coffee filter
• Measure the coffee into the filter
• Add water
• Press brew
• In this sequence of tasks, you could not measure the coffee into the
filter before you ground the beans. Grinding the coffee beans is a
predecessor activity for measuring the coffee into the filter. The
measuring step is a succeeding activity. All of the tasks are
predecessor activities to the step: Press Brew.
Task dependencies
• In project management, a task is an activity that needs to be accomplished within
a defined period of time or by a deadline to work towards work-related goals. A
task can be broken down into assignments which should also have a defined start
and end date or a deadline for completion
• Dependencies are the relationships among tasks which determine the order in
which activities need to be performed. There are four (4) types of dependency
relationships
• Dependencies are the relationships of the preceding tasks to the succeeding
tasks. Tasks may have multiple preceding tasks and multiple succeeding tasks. The
most common dependency relationship is a finish-to-start relationship.
• Task P (predecessor) must be finished before task S (successor) can start. The
least common relationship is the start-to-finish relationship. Project Insight,
project management software, supports all four dependency relationships
Lag time and lead time
• When first activity completes, if there is then a delay or waiting
period before the second activity starts, this is called lag and the
delay is known as the Lag Time. Lag Time is the delay between the
first and second activity
• When the first activity is still running and second activity starts, this is
called Lead, and the balance of time for the first activity is known as
Lead Time. Lead Time is the overlap between the first and second
activity
Complex dependencies
• Planning dependencies fall into three categories: logical, resource-
based, or preference. There are four types of project planning
dependencies
• Logical planning dependencies
Ø These are dependencies that are logic driven. You can't paint a wall before it's built. You
can't test a code module until after it's written
• Resource based planning dependencies
Ø These are dependencies where the task could be accomplished faster or sooner if you
had more resources. The manual could be written faster if you had more than one writer.
You could write more code except all the other developers are committed to other
projects
• Preference planning dependencies
Ø These are tasks that could be scheduled differently, but the Project Manager chooses to
schedule this particular order
• Project manager must be able to plan for and manage the
dependencies among tasks in their projects. Dependencies impact
scheduling and resource activities and it is critical to understand
these relationships when looking for opportunities to improve the
project schedule
 Four types of project dependencies
Mandatory
Those that are legally or contractually required. They are, sometimes, inherent
in the nature of the work
Discretionary
§ Discretionary Project Dependencies are defined by the Project Team
§ There could be different reasons for the proffered sequence of the Project
Team like best practices or lessons learned from prior experiences
External
§ External Project Dependencies are defined between non-project Activities
and project activities. The non-project activities are done by people who are
external to the Project Team. It means people who are not part of the Project
Team e.g. Client, Vendors or any other external groups
§ The project activities, on the other hand, are done by the Project Team. The
Project Team usually does not have control over non-project activities
Internal
§ Defined between two project activities. The Project Team, usually, has
complete control over project activities
§ Consider 2 activities A and B. B has an Internal Dependency on A. It means
both A and B are project activities. These are performed by the Project Team
members. There is no involvement of any external party. Let us look at
following examples to understand:
ØA – Develop System; B – Test System
ØConstruct Wall; B – Paint Wall
ØAssemble Machine; B – Pack Machine
Linking task
• All tasks in a Project plan start at the project start date unless you
specify otherwise
• With no task dependencies or constraints applied, the project finish
date is the same as the longest task's finish date
• Task dependencies, such as the Finish-to-Start dependency between
the first and second tasks, can change the project's scheduled
Linking Task
Estimating Activity Durations

• Estimate Activity Durations is the process of estimating the number of

work periods needed to complete individual activities with estimated
resources
• The key benefit of this process is that it provides the amount of time
each activity will take to complete, which is a major input into the
Develop Schedule process
Estimate Activity Durations
• Estimating activity durations uses information on activity scope of work,
required resource types, estimated resource quantities, and resource
calendars
• The inputs of the estimates of activity duration originate from the person
or group on the project team who is most familiar with the nature of the
work in the specific activity
• The duration estimate is progressively elaborated, and the process
considers the quality and availability of the input data
• As more detailed and precise data is available about the project
engineering and design work
• The accuracy of the duration estimates improves. Thus, the duration
estimate can be assumed to be progressively more accurate and of better
quality
Develop Schedule
• The process of analysing activity sequences, durations, resource
requirements
• Analysing schedule constraints to create the project schedule model
• Schedule activities, durations, resources, resource availabilities, and
logical relationships into the scheduling tool
• Consisting planned dates for completing project activities
Develop Schedule
• Milestones
• Bar Chart
• Gantt Chart
Milestone: Mark specific points along project
timeline
Accountability and motivation
 Milestone
• Milestones are tools used in project management to mark specific points along a
project timeline. These points may signal anchors such as a project start and end
date, a need for external review or input and budget checks, among others
• A way to observe, measure and monitor the progress or performance of a project
• Serve as proof for explaining and reporting the status of the project
Example of milestones: Smart Watch

Obtaining Hiring Vendor Reaching key

Design
funding individual contracts performance
approval
positions indicators

Fixing Release
Project Testing
defects product
completion
samples
and approval
Gant Chart
• Gantt chart is a visual view of tasks scheduled over time. Gantt charts
are used for planning projects of all sizes and they are a useful way of
showing what work is scheduled to be done on a specific day. They
also help you view the start and end dates of a project in one simple
view.
Gantt Chart: PV installation
Bar Chart: Construction
End of Lecture