Blog
Multiple WBS vs Grouping
What is the difference between having multiple Work Breakdown Structures (WBS) and having multiple ways to group activities? This is one of the challenging topics we discuss in our Planning & Scheduling masterclasses because, on the surface, the two approaches...
Risk Dumping
Project management guidelines list many risk response strategies: avoid, mitigate, transfer, accept and escalate but they overlook perhaps the most popular strategy of all: risk dumping. Risk dumping: the practice of adding a risk to the risk register, assigning it...
Monte Carlo Analysis Challenges: Predicting Project Cancellation
Statistically, we know that some projects will never be delivered. Projects are cancelled for a variety of reasons. Other projects go through multiple reincarnations and deliver after several attempts. Decisions to stop a project, redefine its scope, or change the...
Probabilistic Critical Path
Project management theory tells us that there is always a sequence of activities that ultimately determines the project duration. However, practice tells us something equally important: that sequence can’t be reliably predicted in advance. Experience clearly...
Corporate Game: The Planning Pantomime
Where the plan is fiction, and the updates are performance art. Concept: “The Planning Pantomime” is a satirical take on corporate project management where schedules are regularly updated, polished, and presented but not used to drive real action. Schedule used as...
Monte Carlo Simulation is easy!
We previously discussed the challenges of applying Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) correctly, but the way it is commonly applied in project analysis is not just bad—it is ugly. How (do not) to apply MCS in project delivery: 1. Take whatever project model is available....
Artificial Project Periods
Project delivery is a continuous process. Like an assembly line, work flows seamlessly: an 8:00 AM start follows a 5:00 PM finish the previous day, and Monday naturally continues where Friday ended.However, not every activity can be interrupted.You can’t...
The AI Agent Iron Triangle
Generative AI has made remarkable progress over the last few years. However, as we move from simple chat interfaces to autonomous AI agents, a new optimisation challenge emerges. Like project managers balancing scope, time, and cost, AI agents must balance three...
Beyond DCMA 14 points. Missing dependencies.
A project schedule can pass every DCMA assessment and still be unreliable. It reflects a common misunderstanding in project controls: passing schedule health checks does not prove that a schedule is correct. It only demonstrates that certain quality criteria have...
Project Roadmap vs Delivery Schedule
Project Roadmap vs Delivery Schedule We must stop applying critical path analysis to roadmaps.A project roadmap is a high-level view used to communicate progress or intent. It contains limited detail, simplified logic, and no resource modelling. It is a...
Longest path vs critical path — where theory breaks down
A month ago, I challenged the LinkedIn PM community with a simple scheduling quiz: calculate the duration of two parallel tasks and analyse the critical path. It was deliberately designed to expose the gap between scheduling theory and real delivery. Surprisingly,...
Project Online Replacement
Project Online Replacement Have you ever been in a situation where a software vendor promises during the sales phase that their product will solve all your problems, but once you get to implementation, or even testing, you discover that the most critical functions...
Monte Carlo Simulation Paradox
Let’s review the Monte Carlo Simulation Paradox, which can be described as: Monte Carlo Simulation Analysis is very simple.Monte Carlo Simulation Analysis is extremely difficult. Monte Carlo Simulation Analysis is very simple What is a Monte Carlo Simulation...
Extrapolation may be misleading
Earned Value Management (EVMS) relies on analysing past performance and projecting it onto the remaining work. While this can offer useful signals, it should not be treated as the primary project control method for one key reason: Extrapolation of current project...
Microsoft Project vs Primavera P6: Baseline Management
This is a series of posts that will help to dispel myths, understand the capabilities and limitations of Microsoft Project and Primavera P6, and reveal the real, bias-free differences. Baseline management Let’s examine how baseline management is implemented in both...
Project Online Retirement. Capability Gaps Organisations Must Address
Microsoft is retiring Project Online. For many organisations, this is not simply a technical migration. It is a strategic decision about the future of their project delivery capability. PPM vendors are actively positioning their platforms as “the best alternative”....
Complex Resource assignments modelling
Critical Path Method (CPM) can be built without complex resource modelling: planners typically develop a logic-based schedule first and assign resources afterwards. In practice, though, this sequence often breaks down because resources are not just inputs to...
Project Risk Management: Success–Failure Spectrum
The maturity of project risk management spans a broad spectrum of practices, from value-creating decision support to actively harmful pseudo-analysis. To describe this spectrum meaningfully, we must define the best, natural, and worst states, along with the...
Project myth: Resource Critical Path matters only when resources are overloaded
Why can’t a project be effectively managed using Critical Path Method (CPM) alone? Let’s examine a common project-management myth: Resource Critical Path matters only when resources are overloaded. A resource-loaded schedule calculated using CPM can show the demand...
Sequencing process in not Waterfall
I have noticed that many Agile consultants misuse the term Waterfall using it to describe any sequencing process. In many cases, their understanding of scheduling techniques is limited to basic principles of task-driven network analysis with little or no awareness...
Monte Carlo Simulation Challenges: Is Quantitative Risk Analysis objective?
“Quantitative Risk Analysis is Objective!”. This myth is often promoted by companies selling Monte Carlo Simulation software, training, or consulting services. For example, one vendor’s website states: ‘Qualitative Risk Analysis is Subjective....
Schedule Analysis Metrics: Crash Cost Per Unit Time
In recent posts, we discussed how scheduling analysis should not be limited by time optimisation and should also include cost and benefits optimisation. For that, we can go back in history and uncover one well-forgotten metric that remains relevant today: Crash...
Total Float Challenge: a deadline with positive Float
The previous Total Float challenge demonstrated that the lack of a clear, unambiguous definition of schedule analysis metrics may lead to poor project decisions. This challenge was initiated to demonstrate that Critical Path Method exist in different, not aligned...
Project management myths: low success rate
Oxford Business School states that only 0.5% of projects are delivered on their forecast cost, time and benefits. However, this metric is not particularly useful, if not outright misleading. It combines factors that are not directly comparable. 💡 A project is...
Primavera P6 Update. Release 24.12. Milestones now support four dependency types.
In Release 24.12, Oracle addressed a critical issue in Primavera P6, allowing any milestone to be linked with four types of dependencies for predecessor and successor activities. Many believe that the ability to link any activity and milestone with four types of...
Project Delivery Integrated System: Dashboard vs Engine
Imagine your car’s dashboard showing lots of metrics from each subsystem but none of them talk to each other. That’s exactly what “integration” often looks like in project portfolios today. Each component is managed separately, usually in different systems and by...
Total Float Challenge
I’ve offered the LinkedIn community to solve a scheduling challenge: calculate the Total Float (TF) for activity B in the following scheduling fragment. The responses varied widely, producing four different answers: Some said TF was positive but disagreed whether...
Project Management: Reasoning vs Scholarship
Project management has long been treated as a domain of processes, frameworks, and best practices, which we might call the “scholarship” of the discipline. Much of the traditional literature, certifications, and training focus on knowing the rules, terminology, and...
Project Time-Cost Balancing. Resource Smoothing.
Resource smoothing is a schedule optimisation technique used to align resource usage with availability without changing the project’s target completion date. It is primarily focused on minimising delivery costs by identifying the optimal resource allocation...
Resource-driven Network Analysis
Resource-driven Network Analysis The resource-driven network analysis method remains underrecognised and underappreciated within project management communities. As the most advanced project planning and delivery approach ever developed, sometimes referred to as the...
Network analysis method. History of Dependency Types.
Start-to-Start and Finish-to-Finish dependencies were not part of the original Critical Path Method (CPM) introduced in 1956 or Program Evaluation Review Technique (PERT) developed in 1957. CPM and PERT were based on Finish-to-Start logic only.It wasn’t until...
Is the Model good enough?
“All models are wrong, but some are useful” is one of the most misinterpreted quotes in project risk management. The full quote from British statistician George Box provides essential context: “All models are wrong, but some models are useful. So, the question you...
Critical Path Method. Resource Loop Challenge.
The Critical Path Method (CPM) has pitfalls rarely explained in project management books. Knowing them and applying the method correctly or even using an alternative approach essential for successful delivery. The ultimate base for CPM calculation is an accurate...
Multiple Decision Points. Difficult to calculate?
When I say a problem is “too difficult to calculate,” it’s often not immediately obvious why. Let me explain with an example. Every project involves decision points – moments where choices must be made. In a delivery model, these are...
Start-to-Finish and Hammock
In a network analysis method, Start-to-Finish (SF) dependency type creates a lot of confusion and is often misused. SF logic makes a lot of sense when it is used in combination with a hammock activity. SF dependency means a predecessor activity (A) can’t finish...
Activity DRAG Analysis: Optimisation conditions
Activity Drag is a network analysis metric that identify activities directly impacting overall project duration. Essentially, it quantifies how many days the total project duration could be reduced if a particular activity’s duration were shortened.However, seizing...
Monte Carlo Simulation Challenges: Resource Levelling
The foundation of the Monte Carlo Simulation method is a project delivery model that generates possible project realities based on existing uncertainties. For the model to be reliable, it must accurately reflect all existing constraints, including technological...
Schedule Analysis Metrics: Recovery Gap
We are continuing to review advanced scheduling metrics. One of the biggest misconceptions in planning & scheduling is that Total Float metric can be positive, zero or negative. There are many definitions of this metric but mostly, it is agreed the metric shows...
Activity DRAG in Microsoft Project
Activity DRAG is a helpful schedule analysis metric. While Microsoft Project doesn’t have a built-in capability to calculate Activity DRAG, it can be functionally enhanced with VBA macros and add-ons. I have developed a macro that calculates two schedule metrics:...
Stochastic Scheduling
There are two approaches for project planning and scheduling: Deterministic and Stochastic. Each has advantages and downsides. Stochastic scheduling gives much more accurate prediction but requires specific tools and knowledge. Deterministic planning is...
CPM Challenge: Longest Path vs Total Float
Just as programmers are divided between those who start counting from 1 and those who start from 0, planners and schedulers are split between defining the Critical Path via ‘Longest Path’ and ‘Total Float’. But who’s right? Both methods for defining the Critical...
Project vs Product Success
Project success and product success are distinct concepts, yet they are often confused by the general public and even within the project management community. Recently, the Project Management Institute (PMI) suggested redefining project success as “delivering value...
Project Success Factors
Project success is a fundamental pillar of project management that influences many other aspects. It’s a complex and philosophical concept, often debated in numerous papers, articles, and discussions without a universally accepted definition. Many have tried to...
GERT Modelling in Project Management
Project delivery plan is an attempt to describe processes required to deliver scope with available resources to achieve desired goals. One of the most critical limitations in project delivery systems is lack of ability to describe processes as they could be...
Critical Chain Challenges: Fever Chart
Critical Chain Challenges: Fever Chart In Sydney (Australia), there is currently a perfect case demonstrating why Fever Chat could be misleading. The Fever Chart is a primary method in Critical Chain delivery approach. It is used to control buffer consumption....
ALAP issues in Primavera, Microsoft Project and ChatGPT
Feasible project delivery plan must consider all limitations and priorities. Normally it makes sense to perform project activity as soon as it possible but there are situations when start of activity needs to be delayed or even performed as late as possible (ALAP)....
Project Estimation: Bench activities
Project Estimation One of the biggest misconceptions in project management is the idea that project cost is a sum of the cost of individual activities. It is not. Projects always have unavoidable idle time and cost. The idle cost must be included in the...
Monte Carlo Simulation Challenges: Third Probability Axiom.
The standard probability axioms are the foundations of probability theory introduced by Soviet Union mathematician Andrey Kolmogorov almost a century ago. These axioms remain central and have direct contributions to mathematics, the physical sciences, and...
Earned Schedule Metrics Challenge
It sounds like EVM is the topic of the week on LinkedIn 😊 It prompts me to raise awareness of one popular myth that pops up whenever EVM challenges are discussed. 👺 Myth: “Earned Schedule addresses EVM methodological time management problems”. One of LI’s...
Project Resource Levelling and Risk Analysis
The results of Project Risk Analysis performed without considering resource limitations are not reliable. Project practitioners are usually aware that a risk may impact cost, completion date, and resource demand. However, that there is an opposite correlation...
Project Quiz: Uncertainties and Risks
Project Results depend on activity and resource uncertainties and risk events. However, these project components also impact each other. Let’s demonstrate it by a Project Quiz. A project has two streams: A->B and C->D, and will be completed when both...
Doubled Resource Estimated Duration optimisation metric.
Stephen Devaux proposed some control and optimisation metrics in the Total Project Control book. One of them, Critical Path Drag, was explained previously, read more in this post: Critical path drag. CP Drag helps to identify activities that directly contribute to...
Overlap activities with a positive lag challenge
I’ve heard from some planning consultants that negative lags (leads) must be prohibited and replaced with positive lags from a predecessor activity. While this workaround has certain benefits it is not the universal way for managing activity overlaps. It’s...
Resource levelling challenges. Time optimisation.
A recent LinkedIn poll and discussion revealed that planners/schedulers rarely use automatic resource levelling. They prefer to level resources manually or leave the resource constraint challenge to someone else. As some of you have expressed curiosity regarding...
Quantitative Risk Analysis vs Risk Matrix
The current Global Project Risk Management maturity level could be described as a stage in which the risk management community has already learned the Risk Matrix (RM) downsides but still hasn’t learned quantitative risk analysis (QRA) pitfalls. Again and again,...
FLEX Metrics, original story
When I was working on a post about the FLEX metric, I dug into the PlanningPlanet forum to get some examples and, by chance, found an original post when the idea of the new metric was discussed. I found this story to be very interesting and decided to save it and...
Activity FLEX Metrics
FLEX is a metric of activity duration flexibility, introduced by Rafael Davila. Flex shows whether using fewer resources (or reducing resource workload) is possible without delaying other activities. Activity Start FLEX shows the time difference between the...
Project-Portfolio Management Snails
Project-Portfolio Snail A typical Project Portfolio environment echoes the “fractal” form of the common garden snail’s shell. A small organisation may only have ad-hoc projects managed independently, and a large corporation portfolio of projects...
Monte Carlo simulation challenges. Activity lead (negative lag) challenge.
Odesa anecdote: – Tram. Can you tell me when the Deribasovskaya stop will be? – Follow me and get off two stops earlier! Lead (or negative lag) is a situation when the successor activity overlaps the predecessor activity. It is very beneficial to...
Best practice vs Best workarounds
Many planners mix up ‘Best scheduling practice’ with ‘best workarounds’ in a particular scheduling tool. When they heavily apply one of scheduling tool, they start to believe that the workarounds are the best practice, refuse to learning alternatives and even...
Original Critical Path Method and beyond
Recently I have organised a Linked Poll on the origin of the Critical Path Method: Originally in the Critical Path Method, project activities had to be estimated as: • Single estimation• Range• 3-point estimation• Don’t have duration The accurate response, which...
Six Steps of Success Driven Project Management
Step 1 – Define integrated project success criterion With multiple success criteria decision-making is complicated – increasing one of them, we may decrease another. There is a need for some weighting factor that may be used for decision-making. It is necessary to...
Missing Part of Project Management Triangle
Project Management Triangle (also known as Golden Triangle or Iron Triangle) has one missing part. Originally, when the triangle was developed, the missing part was so obvious that the author didn’t include it in the triangle. “I was thinking about how time control...
Multiple dependencies between two activities in Microsoft Project
Myth: Ladder Scheduling is impossible in Microsoft Project as it does not allow two dependencies between two activities. Some business processes require the creation of multiple dependencies between two activities. Particularly, sometimes activities could be...
Monte Carlo Simulation Challenges. Picture-based simulation.
Timelines This is a picture: And this is a picture: And this is a picture: The only difference between these pictures is the tool used to draw them: highlighters, PowerPoint or a Gantt Chart generator. The value of these pictures is exactly the same. Pictures with...
Critical Path Method was not for time optimisation
Some time ago, I posted a poll on LinkedIn asking about the origins of the CPM method. Here’s what the respondents said: 56% believe the method is all about making schedules efficient, focusing on time. 4% think it was originally created to save costs. 39%...
Artificial Activity Split Problem. Resource Levelling Challenge
In previous discussions, we explored the benefits of employing Volume Lag and Point-to-Point dependencies for emulating activities that shift in parallel. However, due to the limited support for these features in many planning tools, some planners have suggested...
Indirect Resource Dependency
In the previous posts, we reviewed Volume Lags and Point-to-Point dependencies to demonstrate that assigned resources may impact activity and lag durations. This is also an excellent example to demonstrate indirect resource dependencies. We reviewed a scheduling...
Point-to-Point Dependency
In the Previous Post, we discuss the advantages of volume lag. For example, when activity A performs preparation for activity B and: 20m, 10m3, 10 items, etc. The proposed solution was to use: Start-to-Start + Volume lag. The ‘Volume lag’ eliminates the...
Volume lags
At times, there may be two project activities that have the potential to be carried out simultaneously, but the second activity can only begin after a certain delay following the initiation of the first activity. The minimum required delay is usually defined by the...
Which projects deliver benefits?
Determining which project deliver benefits is not always a straightforward task due to the following factors: Project-driven portfolios Project-driven portfolios use projects to generate benefits by delivering products or services to their customers. Non-mature...
Project Delivery Tool Ideas: WBS Review level
Scheduling tools usually provide users with an opportunity to extend/collapse schedules to a certain WBS level. However, schedules usually have activities at different levels, and when a scheduler needs to update the schedule it is not possible to extend the...
Resource idle time and cost
For effective project delivery, control over idle time is critical but not easy. It requires appropriate methods, techniques and tools. Projects may have a situation may arise when, for example, full-time (hired) specialists of the company or equipment go to the...
Project Management Mythology
There are numerous myths surrounding Project Portfolio Management that have a negative impact on project delivery. Some of these myths are relatively new, while others have been around for so long that it’s hard to understand their origins. However, we now...
Monte Carlo Simulation Challenges. Simulating the true source of uncertainty
Usually, duration and cost uncertainties are used as a base for the Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS). However, the duration and cost uncertainties are the results of other types of uncertainties. Simulating the source and result of uncertainties may lead to different...
Project Acceleration
Project acceleration criteria Critical Path (CP) Drag shows amount of time that could potentially be saved on the project by reducing the duration of the activity or removing an activity completely. However, CP Drag only identifies good candidates for optimisation....
Learn to avoid Project Delay
A small number of projects are finished ahead of schedule. Even projects who claimed to be on time often are against the latest commitment, not the originally approved target. This is relevant to almost all types of projects of all sizes and different countries....
Multiple Work Breakdown Structures
Multiple Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is a powerful method to document, analyse and report project activities via different lenses. This approach provides an opportunity to understand project delivery from many perspectives and increases chances for success....
Predaptive delivery
Agile vs Waterfall debates are continued with an interesting outcome. Some project management gurus believe that such debates don’t make sense as there is no such a thing as Agile and Waterfall projects, as all projects are Hybrid. However, if all projects are...
Critical path method challenge: Activity duration estimation
The critical path method includes several standard steps. While there are different recommendations in which order these steps need to be performed, it is a general acceptance that one step is important: the duration of each activity has to be accurately estimated....
Resource vs activity calendars issue
Correct application of the Critical Path Method requires consideration of ALL constraints. A calendar is a ‘type of constraint’ that defines when work can and cannot be performed. There are two main calendar types Activity Calendar and Resource Calendar. Activity...
Monte Carlo Simulation challenges. Level of details challenge.
As discussed in the previous posts, applying the Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) CORRECTLY for a large project may take many hours. As a workaround, some risk consultants recommend running simulations based on a high-level schedule, known as a control schedule and a...
Risk Matrix: good or bad?
Some project risk practitioners argue that Project Risk Matrices cannot be trusted to produce consistent and correct risk ratings and rankings, and their application has to be minimised or even avoided. However, often with the unique nature of projects, reliable...
Total Floats: with or without project deadlines.
One of the most important outputs of the Critical Path Method (CPM) is a calculation of activities Total Floats (TF). However, there is no commonly agreed approach to calculate TF when the project has deadlines. Different project management tools have different...
Schedule Quality Metrics. Out-of-sequence Activities
One of the important schedule quality metrics is ‘out-of-sequence activities’. “Out of Sequence Activities” (OOS) – a result of executing the works without following the logic as planned. There are many very good posts that explain what is...
Monte Carlo Simulation Challenges. Critical Path Volatility Challenge.
The ‘3 points estimation’ known as a PERT methodology is relatively simple to use for cost, but for the schedule, it’s more complicated. The fact that some activities are on the critical path means that the volatility of those specific activities, as opposed to the...
Risk vs Uncertainty
At project management conferences, LinkedIn discussions and even in one of the most recognised Project Risk Management book, I’ve found that uncertainty is just a risk with 100% probability. Not sure what is the origin of this statement, but a risk with 100%...
Monte Carlo Simulation Challenges. Distribution Shapes Challenge.
Risk simulation systems offer a choice of user-selected distribution shapes that can be implemented for each and every activity. Some tools offer only primary types, others have a large menu of over 50 distributions. However, selecting a specific shape for each of...
Schedule Quality Metrics. Invalid Dates.
One of the important questions, when a schedule quality analysis is performed, is: “Is the schedule review up-to-date?”. There are a few metrics that could help find the answer to this question and identify activities with potentially invalid dates. Some of them...
Implementation of the Critical Path Methods in Different Scheduling Tools
Would the project dates calculated based on the critical path method be the same regardless of the applied scheduling tool? Not always!!! Some time ago one large Telco company in Australia decided to replace their existing PPM system with ‘CA Clarity’....
Monte Carlo Simulation Challenges. Data collection Challenge.
Terminology What do the terms optimistic, pessimistic, and most likely really mean?Because they are very different for different people, when one estimator says pessimistic, that person is thinking the technology might prove to be a bit more difficult than expected...
Schedule Quality Checks. Lags and Leads
We already discussed two types of schedule quality metrics: Missing Dependencies and Activity Constraints. Another important area to control is activity lags and leads. A project delivery schedule must reflect real-life processes and the way how the work is going...
Monte Carlo Simulation Challenges. Simplicity Challenge.
Before we start our review of Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) Challenges, we have to clarify what MCS is and how it is applied in project management. Monte Carlo Simulation Method A Monte Carlo Simulation is a model used to predict the probability of different...
Monte Carlo Simulation Challenges
Risk simulation is becoming popular but most risk simulation tools and the ways how they are used miss some important functionalities that make the results of this simulation unreliable. Monte Carlo Simulation – Myth or Reality? Last year, I have organised a...
Schedule Health Metrics: Activity Constraints
In this article, we continue to review metrics for schedule health analysis. The first part, “Missing Dependencies” was covered here. Now let’s talk about activity constraints. There are some project situations that require the use of constraints: Delayed Start...
Schedule Logic Check Metrics
One of the fundamental questions for any schedule health assessment is “Is the schedule logically driven?” There are some scheduling metrics that could help planners and schedulers to find the answer to this question. In this post, we will review some of them, that...
Critical Path Drag
Majority of project managers are familiar with the critical path method (CPM) and think that they know how to apply it to manage their projects. Many scheduling software can compute and visualise Critical Path, so it is a no-brainer to use it. Usually, a project...
Hidden Project Schedule Opportunities
A few days ago, I had organised a poll on LinkedIn and asked a simple question: Can project duration potentially be reduced by decreasing the duration of non-critical activity (total float >0)? While the poll is still open, and the final result may still...
Project Anti-Crashing Method
PMBOK and some other project management standards describe two key methods for schedule optimisation: fast-tracking and crashing. Apart from these well-known methods, there is a method that hasn’t been described widely. So, let’s feel in the gap....
Realistic Project Delivery KPI
How often have we been told that projects are late and over budget and we need to do something about it? At the same time, it is an absolute lack of understanding that it could be a sign of project delivery maturity rather than a real issue! The real issue is when...
Contract Cost vs Actual Cost
Project-driven companies need to manage several budgets for the same project. Particularly useful to control contract cost (income) and actual cost (expenses) of project. The actual cost comprises of equipment, materials, resources and other direct and indirect...
Indirect Project Cost
Direct and Indirect Project Cost Project cost consists of direct cost components such as labour, materials, machinery and equipment costs. Also, an overall cost may include indirect cost, frequently referred to as overhead expenses: rent and utilities, some general...
Cost and Schedule Integration
An integrated delivery model must take into account all technical, resource and financial constraints. Full integration between project time and cost must include all expenses assigned to project activities, resources and time-driven tasks. Cost Components As each...
Material Gantt View
Materials in Project Management Project resources are divided into renewable (labour, machines) and consumable (materials). Consumable materials in project management may include fuel, sand, bricks, paint, traffic signs, etc. consumable renewable resources that are...
Volume of work and Productivity
There are two main approaches used to estimate project work: duration-based and volume-based. Often schedules are developed with a duration-based approach, mostly due to planning tools limitations. An alternative, much more powerful approach is based on the volume...
Project Teams Assignment
One of the fundamental problems in project delivery is that scheduling tools are not able to simulate real-life work scenarios correctly. Resource Assignments In project schedules there are often some activities that require assignment of more than one resource....
Multi-Resource (Crew) Assignment
Resource Assignments by Multi-Resource (Crew) In some situations, a set of activities is performed by a stable group when multiple resources work together. We could assign each resource from this group to each activity individually. However, it is much easier to...
Project Controls Expo Virtual 2021
We are delighted to announce that our Senior Consultant, Alex Lyaschenko, will be a speaker at the Project Controls Expo Virtual 2021 with the following topics: Invisible interdependencies (Hard, Soft and Virtual) Spider Project – Project Portfolio Navigation...
Resource Skills Assignments
Resource Assignments by Skills (Pools) In real-life scenarios, it is quite common that we don’t know which resources exactly would be available when the activity is ready for execution. It might depend on work priorities, resources availability, their...
Is Missing Logic an illusion of schedule quality?
Scheduling consultants often mention “Missing Logic” as an obvious schedule quality check. I believe it is not as obvious as it seems. This check may create an illusion of good quality of dependency data and hide critical issue(s) that may cause project delay. The...
Scheduling Tools Comparison Analysis. Data Identifiers.
This post is a part of series of posts that explains the unique features and constraints of the most popular scheduling tools: Primavera, MS Project / Project Online, Spider Project and Project For The Web. While each of the scheduling tools provides a lot of...
Program vs Portfolio Centric Scheduling
There are two main perspectives to manage projects and programs in any organisation: Project/Program centric and Portfolio centric. Program centric approach This approach relies on an experience and knowledge of a program team. Schedule maturity and quality defined...
Agile as an Excuse?
It seems that Agile is too often used as an excuse to avoid careful planning and preparation. In this post we are going to review the root cause of this phenomenon. Project Allocations The majority of large government agencies and non-government organisations...
Scheduler in a Project Team Structure
Scheduling is a “skeleton” of project control. It connects time, cost, requirements, resources, benefits, risks & interdependencies. Scheduling not only supports project managers to plan work and collect actuals, but also to perform “what-if” analysis and...
Agile is for IT Projects. Myth or Reality?
There is a general acceptance that Agile delivery is good for IT projects and many IT departments in various size organisations are considering or have already started adopting Agile frameworks. At the same time, I’ve heard that some of the IT project managers...
Assumptions and Risks. What is the difference?
In a project management language, an assumption is an “event” with a probability of over 50%. If the probability of the event is also less than 100%, it is a risk!!! An assumption is something that you assume to be the case, even without proof. While there is a...
Planning vs Scheduling
Are you aware that the majority of projects develop a schedule but actually don’t have a plan? Often projects produce a version of a project plan which covers both planning and scheduling. They are not able to differentiate one from another when required. ...
Next-Gen Project Risk Management Technologies
Mature project management is critical for innovations. At the same time, innovative technologies could also be applied for project delivery. This would speed up technology development and implementation even further. Next-Gen technology platform for Project Risk...
Schedule Quality vs Schedule Maturity
Very often project participants mix up project schedule maturity and schedule quality concepts. While these two aspects are interdependent, misunderstanding the difference is often causing conflicts between a project manager, a scheduler and a PMO team.Target...
“B” for Bottlenecks
Majority of projects/programs manage critical project-related live data via project registers, known as DRICA, RAID, etc. Each letter represents a type of project metadata: R – risks, I – issues, A – assumptions (or actions), D –...
Project Success Criteria (PSC)
In project constraints golden triangle, which of the criteria is more important: Time, Cost or Scope? If your project is behind the schedule and you have an opportunity to speed up project delivery by applying extra resources to complete testing earlier, what would...
How to visualise WBS out of MS Project?
Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is a very powerful view to represent project scope in a hierarchical way. It allows to validate scope and identify potential gaps. WBS is a key input into the schedule development process. Ideally, use a scheduling tool that supports...
Start-to-Finish Dependency
Perhaps every project practitioner is aware of 4 basic types of project dependencies and two types of activity delays. Unfortunately, their knowledge is often limited by these two facts. If they don’t know how to apply these correctly, it will impact the quality...
3-Points Estimation Technique
The most useful scheduling technique which, in my opinion, has to be used in each project is 3-Points estimation technique. It is simple to use, it improves team productivity and project performance.As projects complexity level keeps growing, projects become less...
Project Dependencies Types
Some companies define project interdependencies as “Hard” or “Soft” based on a type of constraint in their scheduling tool. In other situations, project interdependencies indicate a level of risk as probability, impact, or risk exposure. Some project management...
Project Controls Expo Virtual 2020
We are delighted to announce that our Senior Consultant, Alex Lyaschenko, will be a speaker at the Project Controls Expo Virtual 2020 with the following topics: * “Resource Limited Project Management” * “Portfolio Schedule Management in Sydney Trains...
Supporting tools for planning and scheduling
Show me you scheduling toolkit and I can tell you who you are! Successful planning and delivery of complex programs and portfolios are not possible without application of best scheduling practices and advanced methods. Application of these methods and practices is...
Tool agnostic?
Do you think that professionals should be tool agnostic? Or should they come with their own set of tools? Let’s imagine you have a leakage at home. After you have done your research and got some recommendations, a good plumber comes to your place to fix this...
Agile & Waterfall Integration. Vendors
Some companies complain that vendors don’t support them with “Agile way” of delivery. The reality is that many companies are only able to engage vendors on a fixed price (FP) type of contract. However, the companies are expecting the vendors to work in a Time &...
DCMA 14-Point Assessment
How to make sure you are getting the right skillset when hiring a master scheduler/planner? Someone who doesn’t only have an understanding of scheduling tools, but also has a strong planning acumen. Check out if the person would recommend using DCMA 14-Point...
Schedule Maturity Planning. Part 2 – Questions
Which of key project knowledge areas is missing in the project maturity framework? P3M3 organisational assessment has 7 knowledge areas:* Organisational Governance* Management Control* Benefits Management* Risk Management* Stakeholder Management* Finance...
Waterfall & Agile Integration. Part 1: Hybrid projects in Enterprise portfolio
Some time ago I analysed the structure of the portfolio I worked on ($1.3B / 380 projects) and found out that we had: · 41% of Waterfall projects;· 33% of Agile projects;· 26% of Hybrid projects;· 3% Not real projects (PMOs, Contingency, etc) The issue was that we...
Schedule Maturity Planning. Part 1 – Categories
While the majority of project and program managers recognise the importance of good quality schedule, project stakeholders have their own view of what a “good quality” actually means.Well, based on my observations, project managers often forget to do one critical...
Portfolio Management (Waterfall style)
pic (Y. Pogorelov)PMO | Portfolio Planning & Delivery | PMP | P3O Practitioner | AgilePM Practitioner | Six Sigma
Welcome to Success Driven Planning & Delivery Blog!
Agile and Waterfall are the two most popular project management methodologies and widely used to deliver business, technology and infrastructure projects. Effective integration of projects with different delivery methods is a significant challenge for many...
