TIPS and TRICKS
Implementation Plans & Scheduling.
- If staff do not know or
understand the difference between critical path tasks and those that are
not, then it is unlikely that they will allocate and spend their time
efficiently and effectively doing the ‘important’ tasks rather than the
‘urgent’ tasks. For project preparation - some staff just want to do lists
and or bar charts - but this doesn’t take into account the relationship
between tasks - need to link tasks to get the critical path
- Some staff resist detailed planning and scheduling for
fear of losing their ability to be intuitive and creative in developing
their projects . The use of individual judgement or discretion should be applied to being
creatively technically and the area of human relationships - they don’t
need to ignore or reinvent the wheel in areas and techniques of good
practice, such as scheduling.
- If your staff do not know or
understand the difference between critical path tasks and those that are
not, then it is likely that they will not allocate and spend their time
efficiently and effectively doing the ‘important’ tasks rather than the
‘urgent’ tasks. For project preparation - some staff just want to do lists
and/or bar charts - but this doesn’t take into account the relationship
between tasks – what is required is the need to link tasks to get the
critical path.
- Point of View: There is often confusion over using
Scheduling tools (eg. MSProject)
for monitoring & supervision of projects by senior management - it is
not about monitoring all the inputs & resources (for which you need
real time information) – they should be more concerned about monitoring
the deliverables - the outputs, and assessing if the output strategy will
lead to the desired project impact. It’s the project implementation team
and it’s contractors who need to monitor the
detail of activities/tasks and inputs.
- Scheduling/Planning is not an add
on to a project - it’s an important up front requirement for successful
project development.
Email kdavis@ausproject.com.au