week 4
Reflection and Discussion Forum Week 4
(Chapter 4)
Reflection and Discussion Forum Week 4Reflect on the assigned readings for the week. Identify what you thought was the most important concept(s), method(s), term(s), and/or any other thing that you felt was worthy of your understanding.
Also, provide a graduate-level response to each of the following questions:
- This question gives you more market sizing practice (it’s a skill you’ll need). Using the logic from the chapter, try to estimate the possible market for the number of pairs of football pants a manufacturer could sell in your city. Hints:
Go online and find the number of high schools in your city’s school districts. If you live in a large city, focus on only the largest school district.
Assume that 90% of those high schools have both a varsity football team (with 40 players) and a junior varsity team (35).
Assume also that each player gets 2 pairs of game pants (one in the dark school colors, and one in the light), and on average, 1.5 pairs of white pants for practice
Reflection and Discussion Forum Week 4(chapter 9 and 10)
Reflection and Discussion Forum Week 4Reflect on the assigned readings for Week 4 and then type a two page paper regarding what you thought was the most important concept(s), method(s), term(s), and/or any other thing that you felt was worthy of your understanding. Define and describe what you thought was worthy of your understanding in half a page, and then explain why you felt it was important, how you will use it, and/or how important it is in project planning. After submitting your two page paper as an initial post in the “Reflection and Discussion Forum,” then type at least two peer replies in response to your classmates posts (200 word minimum each).
Problem Set #4
1. Go online and find at least two sites with definitions of fast tracking and crashing a project schedule.
- Prepare proper reference citations for the sites you located, using APA style.
- In your own words, write definitions for project fast tracking and project crashing.
- Consider the plan you prepared for the software system testing project in question 1 above. If you were informed by management that you must reduce the planned duration of the project by five days, describe how you, as a project manager, could crash or fast track this project. Be specific in identifying exactly what could be changed in the project plan for each option.
- (continuation of question 2.3) If the request to speed up the project occurs after day 25 of the original schedule, what is the only option available?
2. Go online and research the difference between total slack and free slack.
-
Prepare proper reference citations for the sites you located, using APA style.
- Write definitions of total slack and free slack in your own words.
- Why would the distinction between different forms of slack be important to a project manager?
3. A project to put on a major international sporting competition has the following major deliverables: Sports Venues, Athlete Accommodation, Volunteer Organization, Security, Events, and Publicity (which has already been broken down into pre-event publicity and post-event publicity.) Prepare a WBS for any single major deliverable on the list. Remember the 100 percent rule, and number your objectives.
© 2018 Cengage Learning®. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
1
4
Targeting
© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
4. 2
© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
4.
2
Marketing Framework
3
© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
4.
Discussion Questions #1
Which segment does Mountain Dew target?
Why do you think it is pursuing this target?
4
© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
4.
What Is Targeting and Why Do It?
Targeting is selecting one or more market segments to pursue
Why? It is hard to be all things to all people
5
© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
4.
How to Choose a Target
(slide 1 of 2)
Bottom up: profitability
How profitable will this segment be?
Function of the current market size, its anticipated growth, current and anticipated levels of competition, customer behavior and expectations
Top down: strategic fit
Does this market fit with who we are?
Understand firm’s resources, strengths, weaknesses, brand personalities, etc.
6
© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
4.
Strategic Criteria for Targeting
“Go for it” and “avoid” are easy decisions
7
© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
4.
How to Choose a Target
(slide 2 of 2)
“Hmms” are dilemma scenarios
The video game market is attractive but you have no strength in this market
Can you develop a strength in video games? How much will this cost? etc.
Your strength is in thumb drives but the market is unattractive
Is there any segment that sees value in thumb drives? Can we redesign the product to give it value? How much will this cost?
8
© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
4.
SWOT
(slide 1 of 3)
9
© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
4.
SWOT
(slide 2 of 3)
Strengths and weaknesses are relative to competitors
Should include customers’ perspectives
Requires market research
Strategies:
Leverage firm’s strengths
Improve or design around firm’s weaknesses
10
© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
4.
Discussion Questions #2
Assume you want to start your own business. What are your strengths and weaknesses?
How might you leverage your strengths and address your weaknesses?
11
© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
4.
SWOT
(slide 3 of 3)
Opportunities and threats are usually driven by changes in one of the 5Cs
For example:
The rise in Internet access
Growing Hispanic population in United States
New competitors
New offerings from existing competitors
Lack of competitors within a market
Aging baby boomers
12
© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
4.
Competitive Analysis
Companies typically assess their strengths relative to their competitors
13
© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
4.
Competitive Comparisons
Perceptual maps show customers’ perceptions of firm’s strengths/
weaknesses relative to competitors
In many product categories, price and quality are key
Quality is defined by the industry
14
© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
4.
Competitive Comparisons Questions #1
Which competitors do we dominate on price? Quality?
If we pursue a price-sensitive target, which competitor would be most challenging?
15
© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
4.
Competitive Comparisons Questions #2
Which segment would you pursue? Why?
Why are the largest segments less attractive to the firm?
16
© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
4.
Sizing Markets Considerations
Some estimates are less firm than others
Give intervals and “what if” scenarios
Each estimate should be as precise as possible
The more precisely defined the segment, the easier the numbers are to estimate
17
© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
4.
Anatomy of a Market Segment
18
© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
4.
Concept in Action: Market Sizing
(slide 1 of 2)
How much advice can I sell?
Use Factfinder.census.gov to estimate
19
© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
4.
Concept in Action: Market Sizing
(slide 2 of 2)
28,000 is the market potential
Segments that refine total U.S. population
Age 25–44
Assume 26.6% of total population
Professional careers
Assume 18% professionals
Local population
Assume 580,000 in Las Vegas
20
© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
4.
Concept in Action: Discussion Questions
Is the market attractive?
Which numbers do you have the least confidence in?
21
© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
4.
Concept in Action: Sensitivity Analyses
Conduct sensitivity analyses on the harder to verify numbers
Increase and decrease the numbers and determine the impact on market size
This process will determine
Which numbers have the biggest impact
Conduct more research to ensure accuracy
The upper and lower bounds of the market, which will help planning
22
© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
4.
Concept in Action: Additional Factors
(slide 1 of 2)
Additional factors—estimate growth
Use census to determine size of additional cohorts
Obtain sales data for previous years and extrapolate using a moving average
e.g., 3-year moving average would average years 1, 2, 3; then average years 2, 3, 4; then average years 3, 4, 5; then fit a curve to the data (regression)
23
© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
4.
Concept in Action: Additional Factors
(slide 2 of 2)
Additional factors—profitability
Profitability per customer likely depends on their segment
Quality of employees affects costs
Additional factors—competition
How fierce is the competition? Is there one firm or 30 firms? Does the one firm dominate the market?
Search Yellowpages.com for competitors
24
© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
4.
Concept in Action: B2B Market Sizing
Census.gov cross-classifies businesses by sector (e.g., NAICS codes) and size (e.g., by sales or number of employees)
Markets for some products or services might be limited only by imagination
25
© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
4.
Market Sizing
Use the purchase decision-making process: Awareness, trial, repeat, etc.
Population × %aware× %trial× %repeat
Multiply by how much & how often buy
(Population× %aware× %trial× %repeat)× Per annum purchase
Multiply by average retail price paid to translate numbers into money
26
© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
4.
Managerial Recap
Targeting is important but not difficult
Choose target by iterating between
Corporate fit
Utilize SWOT to help clarify corporate fit
Segment sizing
Use secondary data (e.g., demographics)
Use customer survey data on attitudes and preferences and use behavioral data to smooth out the size estimation
27
© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
4.
Scope Planning
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License
(CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 9: Scope Planning
1
Scope Planning
Defining the scope
Project requirements
Scope Inputs
Requirements traceability matrix
Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
Scope statement
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 9: Scope Planning
Project Scope
One of the main activities in the Project Planning phase is determining and documenting the project scope.
Project scope is the definition of all the work needed to successfully meet the project objectives.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 9: Scope Planning
Deliverables
Must be described in a sufficiently low level of details
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 9: Scope Planning
Scope
Be as specific as you can
Where possible, the scope statements should include how the results will be measured so you and your sponsor will know with certainty whether that part of the scope has been achieved
Requirements should tie to things like the organization’s strategic plan and business objectives
Mention things that are explicitly NOT included: is this limited to certain locations? If in an international context, is it in only one language?
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 9: Scope Planning
Scope
Not measurable Measurable
A new registration system With the new system, students will be able to register for classes using a browser or a smartphone.
The system will be fast Response time will be under 1 second
The system will support the required volumes 75 students must be able to add an average of 3 classes each 15-minute period.
Happy users User satisfaction will be measured by a standardized set of questions and will measure 5 or higher on a 7-point scale.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 9: Scope Planning
Types of requirements
Functional
Non-functional
Performance
Development
Technical
Business
User
Regulatory
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 9: Scope Planning
Software requirements fundamentals
Unique challenges
Must be verifiable
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 9: Scope Planning
Measuring requirements
Each type of requirement may require a different type of measure:
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 9: Scope Planning
Scope inputs-techniques
Interviews
Focus groups
Facilitated groups– JAD, QFD
Group creativity techniques such as brainstorming
Prototyping
Observation
Questionnaires and surveys
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 9: Scope Planning
Scope Inputs-sources
Project sponsor
Management
Strategic Plan
Users
Customers
Competitors
Suppliers
Regulations
and others
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 9: Scope Planning
Requirements Traceability Matrix
Links requirements to their origin
Traces them throughout the project process
May link requirements to:
business needs, opportunities, goals, and objectives;
project objectives;
project scope/WBS deliverables;
product design;
product development;
test strategy and test scenarios;
or may link
High-level requirements to more detailed requirements.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 9: Scope Planning
Simplified Requirement Traceability Matrix
Code Description Source Priority Status
5 User interface must comply to company standard Corporate IT standards manual 1 In-progress
5-1 Help text uses corporate fonts Corporate style manual 2 complete
8-6 Include the users in the testing Project Charter, item 7 1
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 9: Scope Planning
Requirements Traceability Matrix fields
Unique identifier
Requirement statement
Source
Design specification reference
Test specification
Test case numbers
Remarks
… and more depending on the particular situation
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 9: Scope Planning
WBS Creation
List all the project outputs (deliverables and other direct results);
Identify of all the activities required to deliver the outputs.
Subdivide the activities into sub-activities and tasks.
Identify the deliverable and milestone(s) of each task
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 9: Scope Planning
Creating the WBS
A list of all activities required to create all the deliverables in the scope.
Activities may be broken down into smaller tasks, in a hierarchical pattern
Do not focus on sequence or dependencies at this point
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 9: Scope Planning
Creating the WBS
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 9: Scope Planning
Creating the WBS
Follow a numbering plan
Can also be shown in outline format
May be very complex for a large project
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 9: Scope Planning
WBS Creation
Remember the 100% Rule:
The combination of the boxes on each level represent 100% of the parent box.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 9: Scope Planning
WBS Creation
At the lowest level, the WBS consists of Work Packages
It is important that each work package is clearly defined and can be easily assigned
The work package level is where time estimates, cost estimates and resource estimates are determined.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 9: Scope Planning
Scope Statement
Purpose:
Project deliverables
Major objectives
Measurable success criteria
Create and use a template suitable to your organization
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 9: Scope Planning
Scope Statement Typical Contents
Project Name
Project charter
Owner, sponsor, project manager, stakeholders
Problem statement
Project Goals and Objectives
Project Requirements
Project Deliverables
Exclusions
Milestones
Cost estimates
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 9: Scope Planning
Summary
Scope planning is an essential activity during the planning phase of the project
Provide relevant details and measurable deliverables in your scope
Use a Requirement Traceability Matrix to relate the deliverables to their sources and keep track of status
Create a WBS as a hierarchy
Remember the 100% rule
. . . continued on next slide
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 9: Scope Planning
Summary (continued)
The scope statement includes
Project Name
Project charter
Owner, sponsor, project manager, stakeholders
Problem statement
Project Goals and Objectives
Project Requirements
Project Deliverables
Exclusions
Milestones
Cost estimates
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 9: Scope Planning
Questions?
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 9: Scope Planning
25
Project Schedule Planning
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License
(CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 10: Project Schedule Planning
1
Project Schedule Planning
The Project Schedule
Defining Activities
Case study of WBS development
Activity definition and Task dependencies
Leads and lags
. . . continued on next slide
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 10: Project Schedule Planning
Project Schedule Planning (continued)
Milestones
Activity Sequencing
Gantt Chart
Network Diagram
Critical Path
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 10: Project Schedule Planning
The Project Schedule
A project schedule includes
the sequence of activities,
the duration planned for each activity, and
relationships or dependencies between the beginnings and ends of different activities.
The project schedule is created
AFTER the scope planning has created the WBS
BEFORE project resource planning
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 10: Project Schedule Planning
Review: Scope Planning
WBS breaks down the deliverables into smaller units, ending with the work packages.
A work package is a clearly defined activity or group of activities whose duration can be estimated.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 10: Project Schedule Planning
Case Study: Wedding Deliverables
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 10: Project Schedule Planning
Deliverables Decompose into Work Packages
Shop for shoes
Create guest list
Tailoring and fitting
Shop for dress
Find caterer
Cater the wedding
Wait for RSVPs
Mail the invitations
Finalize the menu
Print the invitations
Choose the bouquet
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 10: Project Schedule Planning
Case Study: Wedding Deliverables
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 10: Project Schedule Planning
Remember
WBS follows 100% rule
There is no sequencing of tasks in the WBS
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 10: Project Schedule Planning
Task Dependencies
Finish-to-start
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 10: Project Schedule Planning
Task Dependencies
Start-to-start
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 10: Project Schedule Planning
Task Dependencies
Finish-to-finish
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 10: Project Schedule Planning
Types of predecessors
External predecessors
Outside the project, such as the previous party being out of the reception hall
Discretionary predecessors
Matter of preference: bridesmaids arrive before couple
Mandatory predecessors
Cannot do the following task until the predecessor is done: invitations must be addressed before they can be mailed
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 10: Project Schedule Planning
Leads and Lags
Lag: One task must wait in relation to another task:
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 10: Project Schedule Planning
Leads and Lags
Lead: The task must start before the predecessor is done:
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 10: Project Schedule Planning
Milestones
A milestone is an important checkpoint—usually completion of a major task or a major set of tasks.
Target dates will be set later
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 10: Project Schedule Planning
Milestones in Wedding Plan
Invitations Sent
Menu Finalized
Location booked
Bridesmaids’ dresses fitted
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 10: Project Schedule Planning
Creating a Gantt Chart
Gantt Chart is a horizontal bar chart with a list of activities on the left and a timeline on the horizontal axis.
A traditional Gantt chart does not show dependencies; many current Gantt charts add the critical path and arrows to indicate tasks that precede other tasks.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 10: Project Schedule Planning
Gantt Chart for Wedding Plan
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 10: Project Schedule Planning
Network Diagram
Also known as PERT chart or PERT/CPM chart
Illustrates task relationships
Used to determine the critical path
Software such as Microsoft Project can be used to create a network diagram.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 10: Project Schedule Planning
Network Diagram for Wedding
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 10: Project Schedule Planning
Network Diagram: Activity on Arrow
Alternative method
More difficult to read and understand
May require the creation of dummy activities when a task has multiple predecessors and multiple dependent tasks
More “mathematical” in its illustration of activities and events.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 10: Project Schedule Planning
The critical path
When multiple paths exist through the network diagram, the path with the longest duration is called the critical path
If any task on the critical path is delayed, the project is delayed
Tasks NOT on the critical path have slack available. This is the amount of time the task could be delayed without delaying the completion of the project
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 10: Project Schedule Planning
Critical Path Example
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 10: Project Schedule Planning
Critical Path Example
In this example the critical path is A,B,C,D,E,F,I,L, and the earliest completion date for the project is the sum of the estimated times for all the stages on the critical path – 28 weeks
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 10: Project Schedule Planning
Slack
Slack is the amount of time a task could be delayed without delaying the completion of the project
Tasks on the critical path have zero slack
For tasks NOT on the critical path, work backwards from the project duration to determine the amount of slack
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 10: Project Schedule Planning
Slack on Critical Path Example
In this example the slack for task K is 2 weeks. If task K is delayed by less than two weeks, it will not delay the completion date of the project.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 10: Project Schedule Planning
Types of Slack
Total Slack
Allowable delay of an activity without delaying project completion (usual meaning of “Slack” if not specified)
Free Slack
Allowable delay of an activity without affecting the earliest start of any dependent (following) activity
Safety Slack
Remaining allowable delay of an activity if all predecessors finish as late as possible
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 10: Project Schedule Planning
Network Diagram compared to Gantt
Network diagram is more technical, helps determine the critical path
Network diagram is not to a scaled timeline
Gantt is easy to read and explain to non-technical people
Gantt has a good method for graphically illustrating task progress and whether things are ahead of schedule or behind
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 10: Project Schedule Planning
Network Diagram compared to Gantt
Project managers depend on network diagram to plan and to adjust
Gantt is developed from network diagram for purposes of communicating the plan
Both are easily produced from project management software
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 10: Project Schedule Planning
Finalizing the Project Schedule
May have to negotiate with sponsor or adjust customer expectations
Schedule will be impacted by Project Resource plans
Monitor the critical path tasks most closely
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 10: Project Schedule Planning
Project Schedule Planning Summary
The Project Schedule shows when each activity will take place and the dependencies between activities
Activities or work packages are derived from the WBS, which was developed in Project Scope Planning
Task dependencies may be
Finish to start
Start to start
Finish to finish
Leads and lags
. . . continued on next slide
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 10: Project Schedule Planning
Project Schedule Planning Summary (continued)
Milestones are checkpoints
Activity Sequencing is determined by the dependencies
Gantt Chart is a horizontal timeline showing when each activity is scheduled, along with optional indicators of task progress
Network Diagram helps Project Managers illustrate task dependencies and determine the critical path
. . . continued on next slide
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 10: Project Schedule Planning
Project Schedule Planning Summary (continued)
Tasks on the critical path have no slack
If a critical path task is delayed, project completion will be delayed
Tasks not on the critical path have slack.
If a non-critical task is delayed by less than the slack, project completion will not be delayed.
. . . continued on next slide
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 10: Project Schedule Planning
Project Schedule Planning Summary (continued)
After the schedule is developed:
Get approval from sponsor; may require some negotiations
Next step will be to develop the project resource plan
Project Resource Planning may cause schedule adjustments
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 10: Project Schedule Planning
Questions?
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported
License (CC-BY).
Project Management
Chapter 10: Project Schedule Planning
36