5
First off, if I can recommend, call them interations. Sprint is a specific branded name for a Scrum iteration. Iteration is a more generic term used in agile and other lifecycles. You're doing your release in a series of short iterations and then reviewing the plan after each iteration. Working in short iterations (I would suggest two weeks) is a good idea. ...
4
When I moved into my current team we were in this situation, however I had the benefit of coming in as Application Development Manager. You will face challenges without the authority to make decisions, but a lot of what I suggest below doesn't have to be driven from the top down. To be honest, everything I proposed I asked the team, and got their buy in ...
3
This video shows how to organize the problem with a table, and proposes a simple greedy slack based heuristic solution: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AJ73qxZtsI
This page http://www.pmknowledgecenter.com/dynamic_scheduling/baseline/critical-path-or-critical-chain-difference-caused-resources contains an awesome visualization of the problem with a single ...
3
If we go back to PMBoK basics, the definition in the 5th edition is is:
Critical Chain Method: A schedule method that allows the project team
to place buffers on any project schedule path to account for limited
resources and project uncertainties.
vs.
Critical Path Method: A method to estimate the minimum project method duration and determine the ...
3
I hope this will help, I am currently studying these things as well; so, for what it's worth, this is what I can derive from speaking with PMPs I know and reading the PMBOK.
The critical path is a path generated by Finish-to-Start dependencies from one task to the next - resulting in a happy-path (everything went right) minimum project duration. So, if we ...
3
TL; DR
Your float values for sub-critical tasks are not actually slack for the rest of the project. You can increase float on sub-critical tasks with standard project management techniques like:
Reducing scope for the sub-critical task elements.
Increasing resources assigned to each task or milestone.
Eliminating non-essential milestones or work elements.
...
3
Standard Answer:
1. Check the "Critical Tasks" box in the Bar Styles group of the Format ribbon. That will enable the red bars on the bar chart.
OR
2. Apply the built-in "Critical" filter in the Data group of the View ribbon.
In both cases, the Critical flag is assigned for tasks whose Total Slack is less than the threshold specified at the bottom of the ...
2
Sure there is. Temporarily apply a deadline date to the Project Complete milestone. Choose a date that is drastically far behind (maybe a year behind) the milestone's current finish date. This forces project to calculate a huge negative total float...let's say -250 days total float. Then sort your project by total float. (be sure to un-check the "keep ...
2
The option "Calculate multiple critical paths" shows critical (Total Slack < 0) for all networked tasks without successors.
You may also add the Total Slack field to a view and apply filters for any amount of total slack you select.
2
Project Management Answer
Analysis
The critical path is, by definition, the longest path between two nodes. Wikipedia says (emphasis and italics mine):
CPM calculates the longest path of planned activities to logical end points or to the end of the project, and the earliest and latest that each activity can start and finish without making the project ...
2
if the distribution of duration values is symmetrical (+- sigma), then the expected value will be the actual estimate without this variance, so you can use it simply for critical path estimation.
if distribution is assymmetric (for example a three-point estimation), you can use the E = (a+4m+b)/6 formula to get most probable duration value, and use this to ...
2
Why Test Questions and Homework Questions Like This Are Bad
In general, the only "correct" answer is the one that your teacher (or the test designer) says is correct. Your question is a great example of why: the activity-on-node diagram that results is not an acyclic digraph, and is therefore ambiguous.
If the "correct" answer for the question was not ...
2
Try to plan a few iterations up front, so you can reduce delays that are caused by not finding out / addressing points in time. As a general rule,
You must see all the tasks that will be necessary after you finish your current iteration (so when working on i3, you have a backlog that fully covers i4).
You must have total understanding of tasks for the ...
2
I'm going to go the other route from the existing Answer and ask:
What useful information does the first diagram have that the second does not?
Going by the law of transitivity, if C implies D and D implies E, then C implies E. Thus, I would argue that your first diagram is stating that 'C implies E' twice.
The only scenario I can think of for this to be ...
2
In an Activity-on-Arrow diagram, all of the nodes represent a specific achievement in a project with zero duration. A milestone is also an achievement in a project that doesn't impact duration.
It's likely that at least some, if not all, nodes correspond to project milestones. It does depend on who's perspective you are calling it a milestone. A node could ...
2
TL;DR
What if I need to show several activities like a1, a2 and at the end of a2 there is a milestone?
In activity-on-node (AoN), you'd be looking for the concept of "virtual nodes." Standard nodes within the diagram represent activities. Nodes that represent collections of activities, decision points, or other non-activities are inserted as logical ...
2
Yes, adding start and finish milestones to the network is correct. (Calling them "dummy nodes" is unconventional, as that term is usually reserved for activity-on-arrow diagrams.)
You might want to double-check your calculations. Conventional terminology starts the project on Day 1, not Day 0. In addition, your start and finish days are not consistent ...
1
First I'd adjust the length of the arrows to the length of the task. At least that's the way I'm using it.
Ad your question: You are not required to use dummy activities. But I'd chose to do so. Simply, because they can help to reduce complexity. So in your case I'd vote for the first diagram. I can understand it at a glance without having to read and think....
1
You are describing something like an as-built critical path, which is not easily created even in the best of circumstances.
MSP sets the Critical flag based on total slack, but total slack becomes meaningless for completed tasks. Thus, completed tasks are never “Critical.”
Conceivably, you could implement some very rigorous status-and-update procedures to ...
1
This is interesting. If you follow best practices for defining distinct activities to be estimated and tracked, then I think they really do meet these conditions.
every event is independent by the previous and the next;
A well defined task or user story is independent in terms of the work required to do it. Of course, it may have dependencies in sequencing,...
1
Estimation, like a lot of things in the PM world is both an art and a science. PERT is a good rule of thumb, but it is just a place to start.
For some projects I've seen estimates use (opt. time + medium + pess. time) ÷ 3 to show a larger possible variance.
But if it's a type of task that your team has done before (and maybe even has some data to show ...
1
If you do not know or understand your critical path in your schedule, then you are not managing your schedule. I have not seen anything else take its place so, as far as I know, CPM is still a relevant and valuable tool for non agile projects. Perhaps CPM can be applied to agile, too, but I am not sure how.
I believe MS Project will color code the network ...
1
The CPM schedule as defined is not achievable due to resource
over-allocation. A "critical path" definition for an unrealistic schedule is fiction.
Assuming you are using one of the conventional scheduling tools like MSP or P6, you have two ways to relieve the over-allocation and define a realistic schedule: a) Insert a (soft logic) link between A and B to ...
1
Your network diagram should show all leaf level WBS elements in the sequence as indicated in your work logic. So milestones would be included. You may not show the phase necessarily but if you established milestone phase starts and finishes, then your network diagram will exhibit those, too.
1
Early versions of PERT diagrams had "PERT Events" that were all milestones or gates with task information embedded in the arrows. This has changed over the years but most PERT charts I have seen "in the wild" continue to show milestones.
Outline tasks or phases are rarely shown on PERT charts or other network diagrams, in my experience since they generally ...
1
While recognising that this is an exam question, this type of situation is common in many projects, especially where dependencies are identified and entered into the plan at different stages in the planning process. By allowing these "non-optimised" relationships to exist in the plan, you can avoid a lot of manual rework and potentially breaking links that ...
1
If it is an exam question, then it stands to reason that it is intentionally confusing. Simplifications such as applying the Law of Transitivity are intentionally avoided.
That being said, it is not inconceivable to have (the first draft of) dependencies looking like this in the real world.
Betty says she cannot start her work until Alice and Charlie are ...
1
Try to give it a real life situation and it will make sense to you. When you make dinner, it's ready at 7:00. One person may use your output at 7:10, and another person at 7:30, the second person having been busy doing something else. In other words, your output serves two people that need food, but these two people are a singer and drummer who need to work ...
1
Generally speaking, I've found more complex models to be more difficult to "get right". Unless you are willing to spend the time to customize a complex model, the fact that more variables are being used or manipulated the greater the opportunity for one or more of your underlying assumptions to be inaccurate. For this reason I tend to work with critical path ...
1
Few thoughts:
If Activity A is part of the project plan, it can be also on the critical path. Please refer your network diagram and also check what is the dependency between Activity A & B. Is it SF, FF..? Based on that you can decide.
If Activity A' work is carried by a third party, then it can be added to your dependency log as well as risk log. Then ...
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