Chapter

4

Identifying Project Schedule Risk

Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.

—C. NORTHCOTE PARKINSON, PARKINSON’S LAW

Although Parkinson’s observation was not backed up with any empirical data, its truth is rarely questioned. It seems particularly appropriate for today’s complex projects because, in addition to all the obvious reasons that people have for using up the time available to complete their work, on modern projects there is an additional reason. Most people who are drawn to these complex projects are analytical, and they like to be precise, accurate, and thorough. If there is time available to attempt to make something perfect, most engineers will try.

Projects, however, are rarely about perfection. ...

Get Identifying and Managing Project Risk, 3rd Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.