PLANNING OR SCHEDULING

The terms of planning and scheduling are not identical or equal, although they are often used simultaneously and synonymously. Many project teams and organizations perform planning and scheduling interactively and because of that they assume they are the same.

In simple words, answering all questions related to What and How implement project activities is planning and answering all questions related to When and Who implement project activities is scheduling.

These are a few samples of the essential considerations for planning a project:

• What is the company’s strategy for project execution? Or strategies for contracting and procurement;
• What’s the purpose of your project?
• What constraints must you satisfy?
• What work has to be done? And how the work is to be broken down for control? and
• What are the project risks and how to manage them?

Scheduling is the process of converting the project plan into schedule. This process is executed in accordance with project planning outputs and a scheduler is a facilitator who makes this converting process easier. We can say planning or preparing project plan is a predecessor for scheduling. These are a few samples of the essential considerations which must be addressed by a scheduler:

• When does each activity start and end?
• Who will perform the project work?
• Other resources do you need;
• Activities relationships;
• Activities sequencing; and
• Software and its requirements

Project scheduling is a mixture of art and science and it must be allied with planning (Guide to Good Practice in the Management of Time in Complex Project, CIOB).

As a planner and/or scheduler take some time to discuss with your senior managers and project managers to set boundaries for planning process and scheduling while allying them to each other. This helps you to apply the right processes to the project and setting the right expectations about how project teams will work together. Therefore, I strongly recommend do not plan the project work during developing the schedule.

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Thanks for taking the time to read this article. I welcome your feedback and insights. Please see my other articles as well. See you later!

Best,

Ehsan Karami, PMI-SP