Resource leveling is the smoothening of resource usage to increase project efficiency. It is performed to realize a trade off between project duration and project cost. Traditional project scheduling techniques do not take resource usage into account, and often produce erratic resource usage that drives up the project budget. For example, let's say you have a … [Read more...]
How to Draw a Network Diagram
In project management, the network diagram is a graphical depiction of a project schedule which uses boxes to represent each task. It is used to determine the critical path, as well as the float of each task. Critical Path: The tasks which define the completion date of the project. They cannot finish late, or be moved, or the overall project completion … [Read more...]
The Triple Constraint
In project management, like most things in life, there is no free lunch. If you want to finish sooner, you will have to cut the project scope. If you want lower costs, you have to cut expenses. If you want higher quality, you have to pay more. This constant tug of war is called the Triple Constraint, also known as the Project Management Triangle, or … [Read more...]
How to Create a Gantt Chart in Excel
Believe it or not, gantt charts can be created relatively painlessly in MS Excel. A simple one will take about 15 minutes with only a basic knowledge of Excel, and I'm going to show you how. Step 1: Enter the Task data The first step is to enter your tasks in table form in Excel. Make sure you have the following four columns Task Start Date … [Read more...]
The Complete Guide to Gantt Charts
A Gantt Chart is to a project manager like a hammer is to a carpenter. It is the project manager's most used tool. It is used to convey the most critical information. And it plays an outsized role in project success. Since a project is by definition temporary, the completion date is a critical item in virtually every project. The gantt chart is used … [Read more...]
Task Completion Criteria
It's a surprisingly common occurrence that a project manager specifies a task as complete only to see more time, materials, and expenses charged to it the next week. Naturally, this is a frustrating situation. Of course, we want the task to be complete and we thus are motivated to check it off a soon as possible. There are often administrative and closing … [Read more...]
Types of Project Resources
A project manager that fails to allocate project resources is like a carpenter without a hammer. That's why estimating task resources is an integral step in project planning. It also happens to be one of the most fundamental aspects of project management, one of the steps that the project manager utilizes on a day to day basis. Types of Resources Each task on … [Read more...]
How to Draw a PERT Chart
The Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) is an important step in project scheduling. PERT charts are a central part of any project management course. They are quick to draw and intuitive to use. How to Draw a PERT Chart There are two rules: Tasks (activities) are represented as arrows Milestone dates are nodes PERT charts are also called … [Read more...]
Project Management for Small Projects
Studies show that over 85% of projects have a value below $100,000. These are projects where the bulk of the work happens within only a few weeks to a month. Because of their short duration, these types of projects have their own unique set of circumstances that warrant a slight adaptation of project management methodologies. Googling project management search terms … [Read more...]
Estimating Task Durations
Once the project has been divided into tasks and resources assigned to those tasks, the next step is to determine the task durations. This may seem trivial, but its importance cannot be understated because these durations will be used to construct the project schedule. Just like the tiny O-rings that brought down the space shuttle Challenger, one small underestimation … [Read more...]