Note: See the text itself for full citations. Text website is http://intropm.com.

List several planning processes and outputs for project

schedule and cost management when using a predictive
approach to project management
Describe the project schedule management planning
processes and understand contents of a schedule
management plan, activity list, activity attributes, milestone
list, project schedule network diagram, duration estimates,
basis of estimates, schedule baseline, project schedule,
schedule data, and project calendars
Understand how to find the critical path and its implications on
timely project completion and explain the concept of critical
chain scheduling and how it can be used in organizations
Discuss the project cost management planning processes
Create a cost management plan, cost estimate, basis of
estimates, cost baseline, and project funding requirements
Summarize planning project schedule and cost management
for agile/hybrid projects including the concepts of timeboxing,
the Kanban method, and relative sizing

Copyright 2021 Schwalbe Publishing

Knowledge area Planning process Outputs
Project schedule Plan schedule management Schedule management plan
management Define activities Activity list
Activity attributes
Milestone list
Change requests
Project management plan updates
Sequence activities Project schedule network
diagrams
Estimate activity durations Project documents updates
Activity duration estimates
Basis of estimates
Project documents updates
Develop schedule Schedule baseline
Project schedule
Schedule data
Project calendars
Project management plan updates
Project documents updates
Project cost Plan cost management Cost management plan
management Estimate costs Cost estimates
Basis of estimates
Project documents updates
Determine budget Cost baseline
Project funding requirements
Project documents updates

Copyright 2021 Schwalbe Publishing 3

Project schedule management involves the processes
required to ensure timely completion of a project

The main planning tasks performed include planning

schedule management, defining activities, sequencing
activities, estimating activity durations, and developing
the project schedule

The main documents produced are a schedule

management plan, an activity list and attributes, a
milestone list, a project schedule network diagram,
activity duration estimates, a schedule baseline, a
project schedule, and project calendars

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◦ Scheduling methodology and tools used to create a
schedule model, if required
◦ Release and iteration length, or time-boxed periods
◦ Level of accuracy required for activity duration estimates
◦ Units of measure, such as staff hours, days, or weeks
◦ Project schedule model maintenance
◦ Control thresholds for monitoring schedule performance,
such as a percentage deviation from the baseline plan
◦ Rules of performance measurement, especially if earned
value management is used
◦ Formats and frequency for schedule reports

Copyright 2021 Schwalbe Publishing

An activity is a distinct, scheduled portion of work
performed during the course of a project.
The goal of the defining activities process is to
ensure that project team members have a
complete understanding of all the work they must
do as part of the project scope so that they can
start scheduling the work.
For example, how can you estimate how long it
will take or what resources you need to prepare a
report if you don’t have more detailed information
on the report?

Copyright 2021 Schwalbe Publishing

The activity list is a tabulation of activities to be included
on a project schedule
It should include the activity name, an activity identifier
or number, and a brief description of the activity
The activity attributes provide schedule-related
information about each activity, such as predecessors,
successors, logical relationships, leads and lags,
resource requirements, constraints, imposed dates, and
assumptions related to the activity
Both should be in agreement with the WBS and WBS
dictionary and be reviewed by key project stakeholders

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When a deliverable is
decomposed into smaller
deliverables (and eventually the
work packages), all work
required for a deliverable is
included in its sub-deliverables,
known as the WBS 100% rule.

Copyright 2021 Schwalbe Publishing 8

Copyright 2021 Schwalbe Publishing 9
 Activity List and Attributes
August 1

Project Name: Just-In-Time Training Project

WBS Item Number: 3.1.1.1.2
WBS Item Name: Survey administration
Predecessors: 3.1.1.1.1 Survey development
Successors: 3.1.1.1.3 Survey results analysis
Logical Relationships: finish-to-start
Leads and Lags: None
Resource Requirements: IT personnel, corporate survey software, corporate Intranet
Constraints: None
Imposed dates: None
Assumptions: The survey for the supplier management training will be administered online
using the standard corporate survey software. It should include questions measured on a
Likert scale. For example, a question might be as follows: I learned a lot from this course.
Respondents would enter 1 for Strongly Agree, 2 for Agree, 3 for Undecided, 4 for
Disagree, or 5 for Strongly Disagree. There also should be several open-ended questions,
such as “What did you like most about the pilot course? What did you like least about the
pilot course?” After the project steering committee approves the survey, the IT department
will send it to all employees of grade level 52 or higher in the purchasing, accounting,
engineering, information technology, sales, marketing, manufacturing, and human resource
departments. The project champion, Mike Sundby, VP of Human Resources, will write an
introductory paragraph for the survey. Department heads will mention the importance of
responding to this survey in their department meetings and will send an e-mail to all
affected employees to encourage their inputs. If the response rate is less than 30% one
week after the survey is sent out, additional work may be required, such as a reminder e-
mail to follow-up with people who have not responded to the survey.

Copyright 2021 Schwalbe Publishing

A milestone is a significant point or event in a project
It often takes several activities and a lot of work to
complete a milestone, but the milestone itself is like a
marker to help identify necessary activities
There is usually no cost or duration for a milestone
Project sponsors and senior managers often focus on
major milestones when reviewing projects

Sample milestones for many projects include:

◦ Sign-off of key documents
◦ Completion of specific products
◦ Completion of important process-related work, such as
awarding a contract to a supplier

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Milestone Initial Estimated Completion Date*
Draft survey completed 8/3
Survey comments submitted 8/8
Survey sent out by IT 8/10
Percentage of survey respondents reviewed 8/17
Survey report completed 8/22
Survey results reported to steering committee 8/24
*Note: Dates are in U.S. format. 8/3 means August 3.

Copyright 2021 Schwalbe Publishing

The SMART criteria suggest that milestones should
be:
◦ Specific
◦ Measureable
◦ Assignable
◦ Realistic
◦ Time-framed

You can also use milestones to help reduce schedule

risk by following these best practices:
◦ Define milestones early in the project and include them in the Gantt
chart to provide a visual guide
◦ Keep milestones small and frequent
◦ The set of milestones must be all-encompassing
◦ Each milestone must be binary, meaning it is either complete or
incomplete
◦ Carefully monitor the milestones on the critical path

Copyright 2021 Schwalbe Publishing

Sequencing activities involves reviewing the activity list
and attributes, project scope statement, and milestone
list to determine the relationships or dependencies
between activities

A dependency or relationship relates to the sequencing

of project activities or tasks
◦ For example, does a certain activity have to be finished
before another one can start?
◦ Can the project team do several activities in parallel?
◦ Can some overlap?
Sequencing activities has a significant impact on
developing and managing a project schedule

Copyright 2021 Schwalbe Publishing

There are several types of dependencies among project
activities

Mandatory dependencies are inherent in the nature of

the work being performed on a project
◦ You cannot hold training classes until the training materials
are ready

Discretionary dependencies are defined by the project

team
◦ A project team might follow good practice and not start
detailed design work until key stakeholders sign off on all of
the analysis work

Copyright 2021 Schwalbe Publishing

External dependencies involve relationships between project
and non-project activities

Example: the installation of new software might depend on delivery

of new hardware from an external supplier. Even though the
delivery of the new hardware might not be in the scope of the
project, it should have an external dependency added to it because
late delivery will affect the project schedule

Internal dependencies involve relationships between project

activities that are within the project team’s control.

Example: A team needs to assemble a machine before they

can test it.

Copyright 2021 Schwalbe Publishing

Network diagrams are the preferred technique for
showing activity sequencing
A network diagram is a schematic display of the logical
relationships among, or sequencing of, project activities

◦ In the activity-on-arrow (AOA) approach, or the arrow

diagramming method (ADM), activities are represented by
arrows and connected at points called nodes (starting and
ending point of an activity) to illustrate the sequence of
activities; only show finish-to-start dependencies (most
common type of dependency)

◦ The precedence diagramming method (PDM) (also called activity

on node, or AON) is a network diagramming technique in which
boxes represent activities These are more widely used as
they can show all dependency types

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Copyright 2021 Schwalbe Publishing 18
Copyright 2021 Schwalbe Publishing
Keep in mind that the network diagram represents
activities that must be done to complete the
project; it is not a race to get from the first node to
the last

Every activity on the network diagram must be

completed for the project to finish
Not every item on the WBS needs to be on the
network diagram; only activities with
dependencies need to be shown on the network
diagram

Copyright 2021 Schwalbe Publishing

1. Find all of the activities that start at Node 1. Draw their
finish nodes, and draw arrows between Node 1 and each
of those finish nodes. Put the activity letter or name on the
associated arrow. If you have a duration estimate, write
that next to the activity letter or name
2. Continue drawing the network diagram, working from left to
right. Look for bursts and merges
◦ Bursts occur when two or more activities follow a single
node
◦ A merge occurs when two or more nodes precede a single
node
3. Continue drawing the AOA network diagram until all
activities with dependencies are included on the diagram
4. As a rule of thumb, all arrowheads should face toward the
right, and no arrows should cross on an AOA network
diagram. You might need to redraw the diagram to make it
look presentable

Copyright 2021 Schwalbe Publishing

Distinguishing Factor Activity on Arrow Activity on Node
Line information Represents activities & Represents precedence
precedence

Node shape Circle shape Box shape

Activity information Only duration typically Often includes duration, start date,
shown end date, and assigned resource

Line shape Straight Uses right angles

Line direction Always moves Can move backwards, depending
rightward upon relationship (FF, FS, SF, SS)

Copyright 2021 Schwalbe Publishing 22

Copyright 2021 Schwalbe Publishing
Copyright 2021 Schwalbe Publishing
 Kristin and her team reviewed all the project activities and
determined which ones had dependencies
They also determined which activities had lag time or
required a gap in time and which ones had lead time or
could be overlapped
For example, you might want to wait a certain period of
time, perhaps 30 days, after holding the first training class
before holding the second one (a lag of 30 days); or you
might want to get started on writing a long research report
5 days before all of your reference materials are gathered
(a lead of -5 days)
• Lag = a delay or waiting period between tasks.
• Lead = an overlap, where the next task starts before the previous
one is fully done.

Copyright 2021 Schwalbe Publishing 25

Duration includes the actual amount of time spent working
on an activity plus elapsed time
◦ For example, even though it might take one workweek or five
workdays to do the actual work, the duration estimate might
be two weeks to allow extra time needed to obtain outside
information or to allow for resource availability

Effort is the number of workdays or work hours required to

complete a task
◦ A duration estimate of one day could be based on eight hours
of work or eighty hours of work
Duration is used to determine the schedule; effort is used
to determine labor costs

Copyright 2021 Schwalbe Publishing

Duration estimates are often provided as discrete
estimates, such as four weeks
A range estimate might be between three and five
weeks
A three-point estimate is an estimate that includes
an optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic
estimate, such as three, four, and five weeks

Copyright 2021 Schwalbe Publishing

 Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) is a
network analysis technique used to estimate project
duration when there is a high degree of uncertainty
about the individual activity duration estimates.
PERT weighted average =
optimistic time+4×most likely time+ pessimistic time
6
Example: PERT weighted average =
(1 workday+4×2 workdays+9 workdays)/6 = 3 workdays
Instead of using the most likely time of two workdays for
this task, you’d use three workdays with a PERT
estimate

Copyright 2021 Schwalbe Publishing

Some people prefer using a Monte Carlo simulation over
PERT because it accounts for various probabilities
To perform a Monte Carlo simulation, in addition to the
three-point estimate, you also collect probabilistic
information for each activity duration estimate
◦ For example, estimators must provide a probability of each
activity being completed between the optimistic and most
likely times
◦ You then run a computer simulation to find probability
distributions for the entire schedule being completed by
certain times

Copyright 2021 Schwalbe Publishing

Kristin and her team decided to enter realistic
discrete estimates for each activity instead of
using PERT or a Monte Carlo simulation
She stressed that people who would do the work
should provide the estimate, and they should have
50 percent confidence in meeting each estimate
If some tasks took longer, some took less time,
and some were exactly on target, they should still
meet their overall schedule

Copyright 2021 Schwalbe Publishing

Copyright 2021 Schwalbe Publishing 31
Schedule development uses the results of all the preceding
project time management processes to determine the start
and end dates of project activities and of the entire project
The resulting project schedule is often shown on a Gantt
chart, a standard format for displaying project schedule
information by listing project activities and their
corresponding start and finish dates in a calendar format
The ultimate goal of schedule development is to create a
realistic project schedule that provides a basis for
monitoring project progress for the time dimension of the
project

Copyright 2021 Schwalbe Publishing

Copyright 2021 Schwalbe Publishing
Critical path method (CPM)—also called critical path
analysis—is a network diagramming technique used to
predict total project duration
A critical path for a project is the series of activities that
determine the earliest time by which the project can be
completed. It is the longest path through the network
diagram and has the least amount of slack or float
◦ Slack or float is the amount of time an activity may be
delayed without delaying a succeeding activity or the
project finish date
The longest path or the path containing the critical tasks
is what is driving the completion date for the project

Copyright 2021 Schwalbe Publishing

Copyright 2021 Schwalbe Publishing
The critical path shows the shortest time in which
a project can be completed
If one or more of the activities on the critical path
takes longer than planned, the whole project
schedule will slip unless the project manager
takes corrective action
For example: Apple Computer team members put
a stuffed gorilla on top of the cubicle of whoever
was in charge of a critical task, so they would not
distract him or her

Copyright 2021 Schwalbe Publishing

The fact that its name includes the word “critical” does
not mean that the critical path includes all critical
activities
Frank Addeman, executive project director at Walt
Disney Imagineering, explained in a keynote address at
the May 2000 PMI-ISSIG Professional Development
Seminar that growing grass was on the critical path for
building Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park
This 500-acre park required special grass for its animal
inhabitants, and some of the grass took years to grow
So, growing grass was driving the completion date of the
theme park; not what most people would think of as a
critical activity

Copyright 2021 Schwalbe Publishing

It is important to know what the critical path is
throughout the life of a project so that the project
manager can make trade-offs
If one of the tasks on the critical path is behind
schedule, should the schedule be renegotiated
with stakeholders, or should more resources be
allocated to other items on the critical path to
make up for that time?
It is also common for project stakeholders to want
to shorten project schedule estimates, so you
need to know what tasks are on the critical path

Copyright 2021 Schwalbe Publishing

Crashing is a technique for making cost and schedule
trade-offs to obtain the greatest amount of schedule
compression for the least incremental cost
◦ If two critical tasks each take two weeks, and it will take
$100 to shorten Task 1 by a week and $1,000 to shorten
Task 2 by a week, shorten Task 1
Fast tracking involves doing activities in parallel that you
would normally do in sequence
◦ Instead of waiting for Task 1 to be totally finished before
starting Task 2, start Task 2 when Task 1 is halfway done
Schedule compression often backfires by causing cost,
human resource, and quality problems, which lead to
even longer schedules

Copyright 2021 Schwalbe Publishing

Critical chain scheduling is a method of scheduling
that considers limited resources when creating a
project schedule and includes buffers to protect the
project completion date
It uses the Theory of Constraints (TOC), a
management philosophy developed by Eliyahu M.
Goldratt and introduced in his book The Goal
It attempts to minimize multitasking, which occurs
when a resource works on more than one task at a
time

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Schwalbe, Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition, 2010

Copyright 2021 Schwalbe Publishing

Schwalbe, Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition, 2010

Copyright 2021 Schwalbe Publishing

Forbes got readers’ attention by running an article entitled,
“Multitasking Damages Your Brain and Career, New
Studies Suggest.” The article summarizes three different
studies as follows:
1. Multitasking is less productive than doing a single thing at a time.
2. Multitasking lowers your IQ.
3. Cognitive impairment from multitasking may be permanent.
Cleveland Clinic’s website includes several resources to
assist in mental health issues, especially during the
pandemic. “Trying to do too much at once makes it harder to
be mindful and truly present in the moment – and
mindfulness comes with a plethora of benefits for our minds
and our bodies. In fact, many therapies based on
mindfulness can even help patients suffering from
depression, anxiety, chronic pain and other conditions.”

Copyright 2021 Schwalbe Publishing 43

A buffer is additional time to complete a task.
Murphy’s Law states that if something can go
wrong, it will.
Parkinson’s Law states that work expands to fill the
time allowed.
In traditional estimates, people often add a buffer to
each task and use it if it’s needed or not.
Critical chain scheduling removes buffers from
individual tasks and instead creates
◦ a project buffer or additional time added before the
project’s due date.
◦ feeding buffers or additional time added before tasks on
the critical path.

Copyright 2021 Schwalbe Publishing

*Eliyahu Goldratt, Critical Chain. Great Barrington, MA:
The North River Press, 1997, p. 218.
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Copyright 2021 Schwalbe Publishing
Recall that a project buffer is additional time
added before the project’s due date to account for
unexpected factors
Kristin learned from past projects that no matter
how well you try to schedule everything, it can still
be a challenge to finish on time without a mad
rush at the end, so she included a buffer in their
project schedule

Copyright 2021 Schwalbe Publishing

Copyright 2021 Schwalbe Publishing
Copyright 2021 Schwalbe Publishing 49