By Kiron D. Bondale
A project schedule is a foundation tool. For most accidental project managers, the schedule is the plan. Given this, one would expect that on an average active project, the schedule should be current and accurate. Unfortunately, the quality of many project schedules reflects the value placed on them by their creators – a number of the cardinal issues with such schedules have been covered in one of my previous articles. These project managers may state that they are in control of their timelines and their project teams, and hence, the effort associated with keeping project schedules current is not warranted.
So what are some of the other benefits of an accurate project schedule beyond its primary value as a work management and tracking aid?
Project schedule is a powerful communication tool
Whether you are presenting project status updates to senior management, your customer, or reviewing upcoming work with team members, an accurate project schedule provides an objective method of communicating schedule progress, as well as highlighting the potential impacts of project issues.
Project schedule is a wonderful medium for knowledge capture
A critical weakness in most organizations is the inability to effectively capture and leverage expert knowledge. A well developed, accurate project schedule can cut down on the ramp up time for new staff and can incorporate lessons such that they are more readily learned.
Project schedule facilitates compliance with organization policies and procedures
Embedding critical steps from operational or quality checklists into a project schedule increases the likelihood that they will be followed. If a checklist or standard operating procedure is documented, filed in a binder and referenced only during initial staff training, it becomes easy to forget. On the other hand, if the key steps within the procedure or checklist are built into a project schedule, not only is it hard to miss by team members, compliance issues become much more visible.
Project schedule is a fundamental input into risk identification at all stages of the project lifecycle
While a risk register should be developed early in the lifetime of a project, it loses value if it is not reviewed and refreshed at regular intervals. An accurate project schedule can provide an efficient basis for ensuring that all remaining activities are considered from a risk perspective.
Project schedule can reduce the effort required to analyze change impacts
Without an accurate schedule it is difficult to assess the schedule, resource and cost ramifications of a significant project change. Not only can a schedule improve the quality of impact analysis, it also provides a means of simulating the impacts of different approaches to a proposed change.
Project schedule facilitates project and portfolio-wide resource planning
Human resource availability is one of the top constraints and ongoing sources of risk to projects.The ability to forward plan resource allocation through use of detailed, accurate project schedules is crucial to being able to proactively identify and avoid resource bottlenecks.
In summary, a project schedule is merely a model and like any model, it can only bring order and predictability to chaos if it is accurate. While you should avoid the temptation of spending too much effort in the development and ongoing maintenance of the “perfect” project schedule, striking the right balance between accuracy and effort will reap multiple rewards, beyond just knowing that you are “on track”.
About the Author
Kiron D. Bondale, PMP is the Manager, Client Services for Solution Q Inc. which produces and implements Eclipse Project Portfolio Management software and professional services. Kiron has worked for over twelve years in the project management domain with a focus on technology and change management. He has setup and managed Project Management Offices (PMO) and has provided PPM consulting services to clients across multiple industries. Kiron served as a volunteer director on the Board of the Lakeshore Chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMI) for six years and remains an active member of PMI. Kiron has published articles on PPM and project management in multiple industry journals and has delivered presentations within the PPM/PM domain at multiple conferences and through regular webinars for Solution Q and the PMI Healthcare SIG.
For more of Kiron’s views on change management, please visit his blog or contact him directly at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
