Showing 9–16 of 37 results
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Few would disagree that Construction Projects are inherently dynamic. Popular theory is that such dynamism is due to rapid change. This article challenges that thinking, arguing that the change that creates fluid dynamism on Construction Projects can instead be traced back to the motivations of the human beings performing on the Project.
Learn to recognize the true sources of change. Traditional Project Management dogma routinely conflates causes and effects of change. Consequently, their “solutions” to controlling change mostly treat the effects of change after the fact. They routinely fail to reduce or eliminate the causes of change.
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For everyone expecting a Project Schedule to guide Projects to successful completion, it is important to understand as much as possible about the kinds of information that are available within every Project Schedule.
This article introduces five categories of Schedule Data: Gleaned Data, Realized Data, Apparent Data, Strategic Data, and Preventive Data. Project Schedule Data is least reliable at the Project Start and grows more credible over time. This article is a must-read for anyone who depends on the Project Schedule for running their project.
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There is no point in creating a Project Schedule in the first place, if we are not going to maintain it regularly and then rely upon any good information that we can glean from it on a periodic basis. This article cautions us that Schedule Data is not as absolute as we might think, by reminding us of three observations.
- Activity Durations are not as precise as we think.
- Project Schedules are meant to represent commitments, not merely generate project outcome predictions.
- Traditionally-performed Project Scheduling tends to ignore the “human factor.”
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Over the decades, the Construction Project Costing community has become increasingly reliant on a fully cost-loaded Project Schedule in order to perform its primary cost control functions. Accompanying this growing dependence has been an associated wave of performance criteria that impose regulations on Schedule the configuration, content, and quality of data.
Overbearing rules and parameters have had the undesired effect of eroding the Project Schedule as a temporal tool — the Project’s primary temporal tool. This is simply too high of a price to pay for Cost Control information that (a) can just as readily be performed outside of the Project Schedule, and (b) is of questionable credibility.
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Construction Projects notoriously suffer from operational confusion. Staffed by a cadre of contractually-seated companies that mostly work toward opposing goals, Project Execution is further hampered by a seemingly infinite range of decisions and choices at every turn.
The great challenge of Project Management is to somehow orchestrate these disparate players into a cohesive Project Team. Their burden is made worse by an ever-changing work environment. This article discusses two sources of operational confusion and how Project Managers can manage them.
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There is a fair amount of misunderstanding surrounding the concept of the Critical Path. In this provocative article, the author explains that the way the Critical Path Schedule is used in traditional Construction Project Management (where Scheduling Specs impose severe restrictions on the Contractor’s use of the Schedule) results in obstruction to successful Project completion.
Above all else, it sets up an adversarial relationship between Owner and Contractor. Equally disruptive, it invites and encourages reporting dishonesty. Finally, it knee-caps any genuine Project Management effort because it denies the Contractor free use of its primary Project Execution tool, the Project Schedule.
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Unbelievably, after a half-century there is still widespread disagreement on how define the cornerstone of the Critical Path Method (CPM), the term, Total Float. ICS-Research performed a deep examination of this topic and found that there are four prevailing definitions. As it concluded, three of them are outright wrong, even though they are cited 90% of the time. The fourth is right, but few so-called Scheduling “experts” identify with it.
If you work with a CPM Schedule, then you need to understand the correct formula for Total Float, since Total Float is the basis for determining the Schedule’s Critical Path! In this article, also learn the correct definition of Free Float, another term misunderstood 90% of the time.
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Dominant Project Management literature routinely confuses Project Planning and Project Scheduling, as well as Project Execution Planning and Project Management Planning? Backed by ICS-Research studies, this article:
- Distinguishes between Project Execution Planning and Project Execution Scheduling.
- Discusses linguistic confusion, noting that what North Americans call scheduling, those in Europe and Asia refer to as planning.
- Examines industry’s use of the Project Planning term in reference to Project Management Planning, while the Scheduling Community uses Project Planning in reference to Project Execution Planning, a prerequisite to Project Execution Scheduling.
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