Planning & Scheduling Your Projects

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Planning Elements Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

◦ Identifying the tasks and organizing them

Scheduling the WBS◦ Most prominent tool is the Gantt Chart

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WBS Steps1. Begin at the top 1

2. Name all the tasks 1

◦ The WBS reference is from the Business area.◦ Thus, no real technical analysis tasks are used in illustrations.

◦ But, EGR 386 emphasizes the technical side as well as the project management side

◦ Thus, Technical Analyses tasks must be included in the WBS.

3. Organize the WBS 1

4. Identify resources – people, time and money

1 (Versuh, 2010)

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Planning a Landscape project—simple block chart for organization

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Planning a Landscape project—in an Outline Form

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WBS “Rules” (from Verzuh)

8/80 rule ◦ Any task is between 8 hours and 80 hours long

The reporting rule◦ No task is longer than the time between two reporting

points.◦ In our class—reporting points are major report deliverables (2)

and presentation dates (2)◦ This rule is not hard and fast in the class, since the reporting

points are set up for academic reasons, not project reasons

The “If it’s Useful” Rule◦ Look this one up yourself for details

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What activities will your team accomplish?

Examples, not limited to…

◦ The generation of EGR 386W graded products◦ Conceptual design – in progress◦ Generation of product features/functions◦ Design Evaluation – technical analyses behind the

developing product◦ Generation of a cost analysis and budget

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Scheduling the WBSGuidelines

Ownership ◦ Every task is worked by at least one person, but…◦ Every task should have single owner

◦ This does not mean work is independently approached!

Assign tasks to people who have the right abilities or motivation

With the size of your teams, every team member will be responsible for at least one major task.

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Scheduling the WBS Effort Estimates

◦ The effort that will be devoted to completing a task◦ Work units are called “manhours”

◦ Example: It takes 4 workers 3 hours to dig a trench: 4 * 3 = 12 manhours

Duration Estimates◦ The duration between a task’s start and finish time

◦ I.e, the “calendar length” of the task◦ Duration is always longer than Effort!

◦ Weekends, holidays, working part-time, etc.

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Rules of Thumb Estimates

Make sure task is clearly defined Refer to experience from similar projects/tasks Ask an “expert” to Estimate:

◦ How long for effort time in the worst case.◦ How long for effort time in the best case.◦ Average the values (or weight based upon that info)

If no expert available,◦ Estimate yourself by researching the task ◦ Then, double that estimate

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From 2005 ME 386, “Electric Drill Test Stand” WBS for task #5

WBS# Task Description Est.

Hrs Who Resources Mat’ls Cost

5 Profile motor power

5.1 Design test stand 20 SE, JM SolidWorks, calculator

5.2 Build test stand 15 SE, JM Frame & brake parts $35

5.3 Test 3 motors 3 SE, JM Stroboscope, Labview PC $75

5.4 Plot torque vs. speed 2 JM Excel

SE

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Gantt Charts [2]◦ Horizontal bar charts◦ Elements show tasks from the WBS◦ The bars (and other graphical elements) are tied to

calendar duration◦ Dependency between tasks can be illustrated graphically,

textually, or both

Scheduling the WBS

[2] Wilson, James M., “Gantt charts: A centenary appreciation,” European Journal of Operational Research 149 (2003) 430–437. (online) http://www-public.it-sudparis.eu/~gibson/Teaching/CSC7003/ReadingMaterial/Wilson03.pdf

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“Plan to fail a few times because:”

It won’t work the first time. You will learn things as you go. Requirements may change. Whatever can go wrong will go wrong.

-Murphy

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The Bar in a Gantt Chart◦ Length of bar = task’s duration◦ Relationships between tasks

◦ Predecessor – This task must be completed before a second task is begun.◦ Gantt shows as an arrow between end of predecessor to beginning

of successor◦ Concurrent – Multiple tasks can be accomplished simultaneously or

independently of each other.◦ Gantt shows as parallel bars

Scheduling the WBS

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Scheduling the WBS The Diamond in a Gantt Chart Milestones – Important events in the calendar

◦ Typically not a time duration, but a deadline DATE.◦ Indicated as a diamond on Gantt chart.

◦ Design Reviews◦ Reports due◦ Customer visits◦ Deliverable due◦ Arrival of goods or resources

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An Example Schedule of course-oriented tasks

Milestones

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Scheduling with Software You use an MS Excel illustration of a Gantt chart◦You already know how Excel works◦Takes a lot of time to make changes

◦ Manually establish all tasks◦ Manually set up Gantt charts

◦No automatic checking of predecessors—dangerous!

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• Excel:Can represent Milestones with a “dot” character

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Scheduling with Software MS Project

◦Complete, plenty of options◦ Automatic checking◦ Critical path calculations

◦Can be complex◦Not free – available in Engineering

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Other Software If you want to keep it simple, there are other software packages out there that are free…◦ GanttProject (http://ganttproject.biz/ )

◦ Main objective is the Gantt Chart◦ Some other tools (PERT, Critical Path, WBS report)◦ The training video takes 15 minutes and shows all the options

available (and needed) in this package.◦ This software is what I will use in class for illustrations◦ I recommend this for your own project

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Gantt Chart Before a Gantt Chart is made, determine the following:

Who is the primary resource on the task (i.e. task owner, task lead)? - Multiple people can be assigned to subtasks, but overall

task is managed by the primary resource.

How much effort (time in days) will each task require?

Project milestones or deadlines.

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GanttProject Gantt Chart example

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A recent research proposal to DARPA

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A recent research proposal to DARPA

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Summary Plan the big stuff first Organize the tasks

◦ Hierarchy◦ Responsibilities◦ Time (Effort and dates)