Effective Software Project Management

Examples of a Resource Schedule

Once the micro-level WBS has been created (see Figure H-1), make Post-it Notes for each of these subtasks and lay them out in a network diagram as shown in the upper portion of Figure H-1. Note that the network diagram is time scaled. This is important. At another spot on the whiteboard (ideally below the network diagram and on the same time scale) lay out a grid that shows the timeline on a daily basis across the columns and have one row allocated to each resource. The resources for this example are Duffy, Ernie, and Fran. Show all 7 days on this grid. For any workdays or half workday in this cycle for which a resource will not be available for cycle build work, put an “X” or some other indicator of unavailability in the corresponding cell or half cell. Half-day units are the smallest unit of time that you are going to build this plan around. Smaller units just create non-value-added work and begin to border on micro-management. This is your resource calendar for this project. The lower part of Figure H-1 gives an example grid for the network diagram shown above in Figure H-1. For this example the tasks were A, B, and C. The subtasks, which are what you are scheduling, are A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2, and C3.

Before you finalize the micro-level schedule, check to see if the initial schedule and resource assignments will allow the team to complete the project within the allotted. If the current schedule doesn’t meet the time constraint, look for alternative ...