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 Assessment Metrics for schedule quality assessment and, if yes, ask them to explain:
Why would this set of project metrics developed to measure the progress of CONTRACTORS in DEFENCE industry in the USA be applicable for your type of projects and how the RAG thresholds could be defined? If you just receive an answer, that “the DCMA is a well-recognised set of metrics, globally used and the system default thresholds are used” this might be an indication that the actual purpose of the assessment is not really well understood and there is a lot of focus on the tool rather than delivery needs, and best scheduling practice is not quite there yet.
While there is a well-established correlation between the maturity (which includes quality) of project scheduling and the execution performance outcomes, the mature schedule doesn’t guarantee a good project performance!
Often it just does not make sense to mix up quality and performance metrics in one set, as this could be misleading.
An exception is contractor schedules based on well-defined scheduling standards written in contracts. In this case, RAGs thresholds could be defined based on historical structural data.
DCMA 14 points is a great set of metrics to measure project PERFORMANCE with identification of hidden issues which may impact the performance (broken critical path, lead/legs, hard constraints, etc).
A different approach and metrics need to be used to assess project schedule maturity level.
Alex Lyaschenko
PMO | Portfolio Planning & Delivery | PMP | P3O Practitioner | AgilePM Practitioner | Six Sigma
