Project Scheduling Rules

Project Schedules have an essential role in the success of projects, but they are not always effective enough to fulfill their role. One necessity in having an effective schedule is following a number of abstract and technical rules described in this book.

This book provides you with 19 essential rules of scheduling, that are based on PMI and DoD standards and codes, along with descriptions of the reasons behind each, the way they can be applied, and a number of helpful examples.

Preface

Managing a project is like conducting an orchestra, and the project plan is its symphony.

Yes, the project plan is the symphony for the project orchestra; and time schedules are the heart of project plans, making the pleasant sound of success possible.

This heart needs enough attention and care, which is not possible without having enough knowledge and experience on one hand and putting sufficient effort on the other hand. This book tries to cover the most important aspects of the needed knowledge; the aspects that will strongly help you avoid many of the problems usually faced in project time management.

I hope you will find this book helpful, and I would be happy to have your feedback.

You can contact me through my website (www.pmarchy.com), or email me at info@pmarchy.com. I would be happy to be in touch with you at Twitter (@khorramirad) and LinkedIn.

Nader Khorrami Rad, PMP

Jan 2013

Content

1. Scheduling Methodology Should Be Documented and Approved
2. The Schedule Should Have a Complete Scope
3. Level-of-Efforts Should not Be Critical and Should not Have Variance
4. Activities Should Have Unique Names
5. Activity Names Should Have a Verb
6. Each Activity Should Have at Least One Predecessor and One Successor
7. Activities Should not Be Dangling
8. Most Relationships Should Be FS
9. SF Relationships Should Be Avoided as Much as Possible
10. Long Lags Should not Be Used
11. The Number of Lags Should Be the Fewest Possible
12. The Number of Leads Should Be the Fewest Possible
13. Activities Should not Have Negative Floats
14. Activities Should not Have Long Floats
15. Activities Should not Be Split
16. Date Constraints Should Be the Fewest Possible
17. Date Constraints Had Better Be Implemented Through Milestones
18. Activities Should not Have Long Durations
19. Duration Units Had Better Be the Same
20. Appendix 1: Creating Work Breakdown Structures
21. Appendix 2: The Distinction between Schedule and Schedule Model