Project Planning, Part 4 – How to Schedule Your Project

Prepare a project schedule using your previously developed work breakdown structure (WBS).  You’ll need to consider how many labor hours each task will take (by specialty and level of experience), number of hours per week available from these same people, and task relationships (what if any tasks can occur simultaneously). Below are examples of how to schedule your project:

Bar (Gantt) Charts

Various project software packages can create Gantt charts for you, and when things change, you update your input data, at which point the chart updates itself.  If you don’t use project planning and tracking software, you can use a spreadsheet to manually “draw” your Gantt chart.

The Gantt chart below is a possible scheduling solution for a project to purchase and install an entirely new computer system (presented in my previous article).

Below is another possible scheduling solution, in this case for the first three major tasks of a construction project.  I assumed the excavation would be large enough that excavation equipment could be operated while foundation work follows at a safe distance.

Critical Path Network Diagram

The critical path follows the sequence of activities, whereby if any of those activities is delayed, project completion will be delayed.  You might also hear the phrase critical time, which is the fewest number of days in which the project can be completed.  The critical path diagram below illustrates a project to select a new medical insurance provider and begin the new coverage.

Next Article in This Series:  Costing and Life Cycle Resource Planning

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