Chapter 10. Does the Schedule Work?
After sequencing tasks and assigning resources, you finally have a project schedule (and a feeling of accomplishment). But like a crossword puzzle with some letters out of place, your Microsoft Project schedule can look okay even though mistakes are lurking under the surface. Until youâve made sure that all elements of your project are based in realityâlike task duration, dependencies, and resource assignmentsâyour projectâs finish date, cost, and schedule remain in question.
In addition to the inherent inaccuracy of project work and duration estimates, schedules pick up imperfections in several ways. Take tasks, for example. If you forget a link between two tasks, or your mouse snags the wrong task for a dependency, the task sequence doesnât reflect the real relationships between tasks. In turn, these missing or incorrect task dependencies affect when tasks begin and end. Task constraints and tasks you schedule manually go on the calendar where you tell them toâfor example, as soon as possible, no earlier than a specific date, or starting and finishing on specific dates. But if those constraints or dates are wrongâor you accidentally create constraints you donât need, the schedule is both incorrect and less flexible. This chapter tells you how to find and correct task dependencies and inadvertent constraints.
While your project is under the microscope, youâre bound to find imperfections, like a task that starts before one of ...
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