One picture is worth a thousand words.
So, I want to show you some examples of several schedules, from a single task to an entire project. This may help you know what to expect from your team and to better begin to create your own schedules.
The keys to an achievable schedule is to include every task and make it clear that there are multiple actors each with specific responsibility linked to the other team members.
A Simple Task
First, a seemingly simple task unfolded— the tasks necessary to get a site and topographic survey, which is often needed before the design team can start their work.
This is a fine grain list of tasks for each participant. Could this be done faster? Of course, but it could easily take longer. Days and weeks just seem to slip away. With this sort of schedule everybody knows just what is expected on a daily basis allowing your project manager to intervene if necessary.
A Project Phase
This is the schedule for a schematic design phase, which includes the previous site and topographic survey as just one task.
- The architect’s schedule shows the phase taking 8 weeks. But when the budgeting, review and approvals are added, the phase extends to 13 weeks. On top of that, there are pre-design and engineering tasks some of which, like the site and topographic survey, must be completed before design work can commence.
- In addition to the primary design work, there is the planning for other project elements, that must be completed with the design work, so that it may be evaluated in the budget process. These elements are are often neglected in early stages of a project.
- In this schedule, there is a line that cuts through all tasks giving an easy indication of what work should be occurring at that time.
Full Project Schedule
This is the summary of an overall project schedule
- The owner’s meeting and operational schedule is included at the top of the schedule and all activities are planned to coincide with that schedule whenever possible.
- This version of the schedule shows how a particular set of tasks, in this case, the bid phase, can be expanded for a particular reason, and still keep those detail tasks in the context of the entire project.
Follow the link to:
Can I just sit back and watch?