Scheduling is what project management is all about, right?
Among the plethora of project management tools available, what aspect is most widely promoted?
Jumping right into MS Project or any other scheduling tool is a mistake.
Projects like this are built on very unstable footing, and it’s likely they will fall apart in some way.
It’s just not safe.
If you haven’t fully developed a good Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)/PBS, requirements, and Basis of Estimates (BOE) before you start scheduling (and subsequently estimating costs and setting a budget), you’ve done it wrong.
So please, don’t open up a scheduling tool the moment you start a new project. For me, there is a general order of operations to acheive project planning which is built on a sturdy foundation. I don’t care if it’s waterfall, agile, whatever. There are pieces between steps that go back and forth a bit before moving forward, but in general:
- Why – (business case, charter)
- What – (charter, WBS, requirements, use cases/user stories)
- How/Who – (ConOps, Trade Studies, Design, Basis of Estimates)
- When – (schedule, prioritized backlog)
- Iterate – (progressive elaboration, sprint cycle)
[All wrapped inside a Project Management Plan/Approach, based on proven system engineering/industry practices, and supported by risk and configuration management.]
Note that MS Project or other scheduling tools don’t enter the picture until Step #4. I have never heard a convincing argument as to why anyone would think of scheduling anything until you had a good grasp on the foundational prerequisites I list in steps 1-3 above.
So what do you think? Does my take on this topic match up with your own, or are you mad at me now because I’m talking about you? Either way, please leave a comment and let’s discuss what you think.
