Project Management For Dummies®

Chapter 5. You Want This Project Done When?

In This Chapter

• Creating a network diagram for your project

• Using your network diagram to determine schedule possibilities

• Forming your initial schedule

• Estimating activity durations

• Presenting your schedule

Project assignments always have deadlines. So even though you're not sure what your new project is to accomplish, you want to know when it has to be finished. Unfortunately, when you do find out the end date, your immediate reaction is often “But I don't have enough time!”

The truth is, when you receive your project assignment, you usually have no idea how long it'll take. First reactions tend to be based on fear and anxiety more than facts, especially if you're trying to juggle multiple responsibilities and the project sounds complex.

You need an organized approach to clarify how you plan to perform your project's activities, what schedules are possible, and how you'll meet deadlines that initially appear unrealistic. This chapter describes a technique that helps you proactively develop your schedule possibilities.

The discussion in this chapter on network diagramming to develop project schedules is the most technically detailed presentation in this book. Even though the technique takes about ten minutes to master, the explanations and illustrations can appear overwhelming. If this is your first contact with flowcharts, I suggest you initially scan this chapter and then read the different sections several times. The more you read the text, ...