Page 143 - Project+

organized logically to come up with the overall project schedule.

The schedule documents the planned start and finish dates of each of the tasks
included in the project, and the total project duration is calculated once the schedule is
complete. Once it is finalized, checking the schedule becomes part of the project
manager’s weekly, if not daily, routine until the project is completed. Progress is
reported against the schedule, and status updates regarding activities are provided to
the stakeholders on a regular basis.

If you don’t take the time up front to create an accurate schedule, you’ll be spending a
lot of time during the project making changes to the schedule and explaining why
deliverables are not being completed as anticipated.

You’ll want several subject-matter experts to assist you with identifying and estimating
tasks and creating the schedule, and it’s a good idea to let everyone know up front that
it could take more than one session to finalize the schedule.

Defining Tasks

The foundation for developing a project schedule is defining the list of tasks required
to complete the project deliverables. This is an iterative process that involves further
decomposing the WBS work packages into individual tasks. On small projects, it’s a
natural progression to break down the work packages into activities as you’re
decomposing the WBS because you have all the right people in the room and you’ve got

the momentum going. Remember that tasks are not recorded on the WBS, but they are
listed on the project schedule.

Keep tasks at a high enough level that they can be managed effectively
without breaking them down so far that you’re finding yourself managing each
team member’s to-do list.

It is helpful to have the team members who are assigned to the work package levels
involved in task definition. Their expertise can help you not only with defining tasks

but also with assigning resources and determining estimates for the tasks. A good rule
of thumb I use for most projects is to define tasks at a level that will take 40 to 80
hours to complete. If you have a critical task that’s shorter in duration than this, or a
very small project, you may want to make an exception to this.

You’ll want to list each activity you’ve defined on an activity list or task list. This list
should include every activity needed to complete the work of the project, along with an

identifier or code so that you can track each task independently. It’s also good practice
to list the WBS code this activity is associated with, along with a short description of
the work.

Once you have all your tasks defined, you’re ready to start putting them into the

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