Project Management Tip #20: Time
October 1, 2015
Time focuses on how much time is allotted to complete a project. Time is a resource that project teams can wield in their favor by building out a timeline as part of their project plan. The time it takes to complete tasks in a project should be reasonable, and can best be estimated by seeking feedback from stakeholders and subject matter experts.
Key events that are often missed when building a plan include project team vacations, vendor liaison vacations (if applicable), holidays, and other credit union projects. Effective project teams consider non project-related events when providing time estimates, and schedule these vacations and holidays into their project timeline. They also get time scheduled for the project onto the team’s work calendars, so that the appropriate time is reserved for the project and not usurped by other meetings and duties.
If there is a heavy reliance on IT resources for the project, their available time commitment must be understood and agreed to in advance. If third-party tasks are required, time should be scheduled to inspect the work provided.
In addition, if there are process changes required as a result of the project, appropriate time will need to be set aside for training, and communicated in advance to trainers so that they can prepare for their role in the project. If time is not appropriately controlled, an increase in costs and decrease in quality, or non-compliance could result. Creating, communicating, and achieving stakeholder buy-in to a timeline is critical, as is making sure each stakeholder understands the threats to cost and quality if the timeline is compromised.
For more project management tips like this, please click here to read our c. notes article, Project Management Tips from A to Z.
