 |
| Image: smarttask.io |
Each project comprises of many tasks that you must complete within the due time for a successful project. Since it is not just one person or one device that is working in a project, it is essential to have proper project scheduling.
Project scheduling is a mechanism that enables the building of a communication system amongst the various organizational resources regarding the completion of different tasks within a stipulated duration. In simple words, a project schedule is a document that contains all the information regarding the timely completion of a project.
Project scheduling makes even the most difficult tasks seem pretty easy because you have everything planned and sorted. Since each project has various human as well as non-human resources associated with it, which keep changing time and again, project scheduling software helps tackle the problem by constantly updating interdependent tasks. Gone are the days when people used printed calendars on shared walls or even shared spreadsheets via email for scheduling various tasks.
We now have the luxury of using various project scheduling software, which enables excellent communication amongst all the team members. Moreover, it even creates automated email alerts about the due dates and shares details about changes in the availability of any member for the ease of other teammates. It is like a one-stop solution to various problems associated with any project.
HOW TO SCHEDULE A PROJECT?
Now that you are aware of the basics of project scheduling, it is crucial to know how to get it done. The first thing in scheduling a project is to sit back, relax, and find accurate answers to the following questions.
- What are the tasks?
- When should the tasks be completed?
- Who can do the task?
Define Activities
You need to know the required activities and tasks in your project. You may have to consider eliminating unnecessary tasks that appear to be unproductive. It may seem tough, but here is where you can use a Work Breakdown Structure and a deliverables diagram to ease things for yourself. It helps in organizing tasks by mapping them in a proper sensible order.
Do Estimates
Nobody would throw a party without calculating the budget or considering all the supplies required. Similarly, in any project, it is essential to have a rough idea about how much time and effort one has to put in. It helps in having an organized schedule, thus keeping things simple. Once you do this, you shall save a lot of your precious time and energy.
Determine Dependencies
Well, a project has multiple tasks as its components. If one task does not get completed on time, all the other tasks linked to it shall be affected. It is known as task dependency. Therefore, it is advisable to put a bit of slack in one’s schedule, keeping in mind all the related tasks.
Assign Resources
Last but not least, it is crucial to know which resources you would require in the project. Moreover, it would help if you gave adequate consideration to all the human resources, their time, and availability to have all the tasks completed within the due date.
How to stick to your schedule after project initiation?
In school, many of us would make a study plan with a timetable before the exams to have a proper schedule. But how many of us would abide by our schedule? Not many, for sure. Well, that is precisely the case with most projects, it is easy to have a plan and a schedule. However, following that schedule completely often seems to be a bit challenging. Now, to overcome this obstacle, we need to consider the three tiers of scheduling –
- The tasks
- The people
- The project
Scheduling Tasks
Scheduling tasks comprises handling the various responsibilities associated with each task. An interactive Gantt chart is helpful. It helps in having a complete visual representation of all the details of each task. You can add new tasks, modify already existing tasks, and easily shift content from one slot to the other.
Apart from this, various automating processes are also extremely beneficial. Automatic email notifications are such a blessing. You instantly get notified when your teammate has completed a task, and you get reminders about your due dates and much more. What more do you need?
Scheduling People
Any project is nothing without the people who will work on it. You may have it all scheduled and planned in your head, have all the tasks sorted, but if you lack people, all that scheduling shall be useless. Hence, it is an absolute necessity to have your human resources scheduled appropriately. Every member may skip work some or the other day, maybe a sick leave or a holiday trip or some other reason. In such situations, if you do not schedule the task appropriately amongst the team members, you will not be able to produce optimum results.
The chances are that your project wouldn’t be completed in time. But do not worry, you can tackle this major issue by integrating your calendar into a project management software. By doing so, all the team members shall be aware of each other’s availability, and you can schedule tasks accordingly. Even here, the Gantt chart comes to your rescue. You just need to integrate the task scheduling view on the chart with resource and workload scheduling features. The use of color-coding helps get a quick idea about the proper implementation of the schedule.
Scheduling Projects
Most of the time, our jobs are not simple and sorted. It’s not always a smooth ride. We usually have to struggle between various tasks and activities. Likewise, in any organization at any given point of time, you do not just work on a single project. By now, you have figured out how to have your task and resources scheduled for one project, which is great. But how to deal with multiple projects? Here the project dashboard is your savior.
The dashboard constantly collects all the data regarding every step that is being performed by anyone in any project. It helps in understanding how far you have come with your project. You can easily get information about any lags or delays in any task and thus tackle these issues immediately. Through the use of various graphs and charts displayed on the dashboard, you can get a good insight into the progress of the project.
Therefore, project scheduling is a critical component of project management, which, when appropriately implemented, shall lead to incredible results. You need to have a good schedule for all your resources with thorough communication amongst all the team members.
In today’s highly competitive and flexible global market, scheduling a project has become very important.
Project scheduling involves two practices:
The first one is iterative scheduling, where the requirements get recorded first and then prioritized before product development. Preferably some deliverables are completed during the work rather than waiting till the end. It is known as iterative because the most significant advantage it offers is it accepts any modification during the development of the product.
The other one is scheduled for the request. In this mode, you cannot request the development of the product; rather, the request is reported in the backlog and executed if the resource is available.
The latest trend in the project schedule is project management software. Unlike traditional methods of scheduling projects on calendars via mail, people today prefer project planning software. The project management software has various features, and the project schedule is one of them. Through this software, the managers and team members communicate and schedule the project effectively.
Project Management Institute, companies lose $109 million for every $1 billion spent on projects and programs.
Let us understand why project scheduling is important?
The project once gets started, may get off the track if it is not scheduled correctly. It could cause complications and can increase the budget.
Project size matters a lot while scheduling a project. The chances of faults and errors increase with the increase in the size of the project. Hence large projects tend to fail and get delayed often as compared to smaller projects.
Scheduling project software has made the process easy and smooth. The tasks are interdependent, which means modifications in one task can make all other dependent tasks to modify.
Let us discuss some of the most popular project management software. The list includes:
- PlanStreet
An organization cannot afford to miss deadlines or overspend on a project. With PlanStreet, you can estimate your budgets well in advance, which will help you avoid overspending. You can also track your project progress. It will help you in delivering the project on time.
With centralized management, project managers have better control over tasks. Documents are shared on a single platform, which makes communication between team members faster and more efficient. Users can easily access shared files. After getting clarity on the resources available, the project managers can allocate tasks for the right people. With PlanStreet, managers can make optimum use of the talents available to them in their teams.
For small and medium enterprises, budget constraints are strict. Keeping all this in mind, PlanStreet offers plans at affordable prices. It starts at a minimal price of $15 per month per user.
- Wrike
The software even offers a built-in tool for time tracking, which can be used by an individual on the team or to track the progress of the project itself.
- Basecamp
Basecamp comprises features of different paid apps, which it then presents on one platform, such as real-time chat, private messaging option, file storage, calendar, and scheduling.
The user interface is neat. The search tool works efficiently. The user can quickly search for a file, attachment, or message they are looking for. The reporting suite is quite comprehensive, too, and allows width and depth while generating reports.
