3. Time & Schedule Management

Scheduling provides the information of who, how, where and when the assigned project resources will deliver the results defined in the project scope

• Aim: Scheduling facilitates the likelihood of a successful project completion within the approved schedule

• Predictive: Projects or products are known and proven —> Critical Path Methode

• Iterative: Lifecycle allows feedback and modification on partially completed or unfinished work —> Rolling Wave Planning

• Incremental: Life cycle provides finished, potentially usable deliverables after each increment —> Incremental life cycle

• Adaptive: Leverages iterative and incremental characteristics —> Kanban

  • Agile approaches are adaptive

Time order and resource assignment form the basis for capacity planning

• Prerequisite: Estimated resource need for the work packages

• Aim: Optimize Resource allocation

• Resource: Factor available for the execution of project tasks (e.g. people, goods, services)

• Capacity: Performance of the resource in a period of time

  • People → Hours (e.g. 8h per day)

  • Goods → Units (e.g. 20 cubic meters)

  • Normative Capacity: Maximum output under ideal conditions

  • Effective Capacity: Actual capacity (normative capacity can be reduced by chats with colleagues, etc.)

  • Rule of thumb: The effective capacity is 80% of the normative capacity

• Effort: The number of labor units required to complete a schedule activity or work package

• Duration: The total number of work periods required to complete an activity or work package