Project time management includes the processes required to manage the timely completion of the project. Time management processes deal with defining activities, estimate the duration of activities, scheduling activities and ensuring adherence to the schedule. Time management is a crucial part of any successful project. Without careful planning projects are set up to fail.
Project Time Management is a component of overall project management in which a timeline is analyzed and developed for the completion of a project or deliverable. Every project is based on time and it is something that a project management doesn’t want to waste. Time is also the most valuable resource in a project and that’s why we need Project Time Management.
There are numerous benefits of Project Time Management and here we will discuss about the top 10 benefits of Project Time Management-
1. Plan Scheduling.
This is one of the benefits of project time management because by planning the schedule we establish the policies, procedures and documentation for planning, developing, managing, executing, and controlling the project schedule. The key benefit is also that it provides guidance and direction on how the project schedule will be managed throughout the project. By schedule planning we establish level of accuracy, units of measure, control thresholds, rule of performance measurement, reporting formats and process descriptions.
Project Managers need to measure and ensure to have a good schedule in place. It’s about tracking the status, understanding what time the team members have spent on the project today and understanding what their estimate to complete the work. It’s about proactively managing the schedule, taking the information, plugging it back into the schedule and proactively understanding and being able to accurately forecast what a revised completion date for the project is.
2. Define Activities.
One of the benefits of project time management is that it defines activities by identifying and documenting the specific actions that need to be performed to produce the project deliverables. It breaks down the work packages into activities and provides a basis for estimating, scheduling, executing, monitoring, and controlling the project work. By defining and dividing the work into certain activities help us in estimating the time that you need to complete the work.
One of the benefits we get by defining activities is creating milestones. Milestones can help everyone be motivated so the team may want to add its own milestones to the list. Milestones also provide a very effective method for communicating the scheduled progress to stakeholders. The milestone list is a component of the project management plan.
3. Sequence Activities.
One of the benefits of project time management is that it sequence activities by identifying and documenting relationships among the project activities. The key benefit of this process is that it defines the logical sequence of work to obtain the greatest efficiency given all project constraints. Every activity should be connected to at least one predecessor with a finish-to-start or start-to-start logical relationship and at least one successor with finish-to-start or finish-to-finish logical relationship.
Sequence can be performed by using project management software or by using manual or automated techniques. For an activity on the list the project manager decides which activities come before and which activities come after. This is also beneficial because in this process we create a schedule management plan where we know how we are going to deal with the schedule and management. We also get a project scope statement which essentially clears our objectives of this project.
4. Estimate Activity Resources.
This is one of the benefits of project time management because by estimating activity resources we estimate the type and quantities of materials, human resources, equipment, or suppliers required to perform each activity. The key benefit is that it identifies the type, quantity, and characteristics of resources required to complete the activities which allows for more accurate cost and duration estimates.
The project manager needs to find out what resources will be needed to perform them. In addition, the project manager needs to know when those resources will be available. Resources in a project could mean people, software, hardware, equipment, materials, tools, supplies, machinery, or anything that will be needed in order to execute an activity. The benefit of performing this in project time management is to figure out what type of resources and how much of each type of resources will it take to perform the project activity. This focuses on each individual activity within the schedule to calculate its resources requirements.
5. Estimate Activity Duration.
This is one of the benefits of project time management where we can estimate activity duration by estimating the number of work periods needed to complete individual activities with estimated resources. The key benefit of this process is that it provides the amount of time each activity will take to complete, which is a major input into the Develop Schedule process. By estimating activity durations you can use information on activity scope of work, required resources types, estimated resource quantities, and resource calendars.
The duration estimate is progressively elaborated, and the process considers the quality and availability of the input data. For example, as more detailed and precise data is available about the project engineering and design work, the accuracy of the duration estimates improves. By this activity we can estimate the amount of work effort required to complete the activity and the amount of available resources estimated to complete the activity. These estimates are used to approximate the number of work periods needed to complete the activity using the appropriate project and resources calendars.
6. Develop Schedule.
One of the benefits of project time management is that we can develop schedules by analyzing activity sequences, durations, resources requirements, and schedule constraints to create a schedule model for project execution and monitoring and controlling. The key benefit of this process is that by entering schedule activities durations resources, resource availabilities and logical relationships into the scheduling tool. It generates a schedule model with planned dates for completing project activities.
Developing an acceptable project schedule is often a creative process . The schedule model is used to determine the plan start and finish date for the project activities and milestones based on the accuracy of the imputes. Schedule development can repair the review and revision of duration estimate and resource estimate to create the project schedule model to establish an approved project schedule that can serve a significant baseline to track progress.
7. Control Schedule.
One of the benefits of project time management is that here you can control schedule by monitoring the status of project activities to update project progress and manage changes to the schedule baseline to achieve the plan. The key benefit of this process is that it provides the means to recognize deviation from the plan and take corrective and preventive actions and thus minimize risk.
You can also determine the current status of the project schedule, influence the factors that create schedule changes, determine if the project schedule has changed and manage the actual changes as they occur. By controlling the in project time management, you can prioritize the remaining work of the backlog. You can also determine the rate at which the deliverables are produced, validated, and accepted in given time per iteration. If the project schedule has changed, you can also manage the actual change as they occur.
8. Tools and Techniques.
This is one of the benefits of project time management that it provides you tools and techniques to manage the project well. You can break the work packages into smaller, more manageable units of work called activities. Experienced and skilled in developing, detailed project scope statements, and the project schedules, can provide expertise and defining activities.
Here you can also use Precedence Diagramming Method, a technique used for constructing a schedule modelling in which activities are represented by nods and are graphically linked by one or more logical relationships to show the sequence in which activities are to be performed. Many scheduled activities have alternative methods of accomplishment, they include using various levels of resource capability or skills. Project management software such as Scheduling Software tool has the capability to help plan, organise and manage resource tools and develop resource estimates.
9. Milestones.
Milestone is one of the benefits of project time management which makes the work easy. Milestone is a significant event and this event has no duration where you take multiple activities and it takes a lot of work to complete or reach the specific milestones. Just like when you look at milestones on streets and reach a specific milestone, you know that you are such and such far away from your goal. This is also the idea of milestones in project time management.
Set a schedule goal and the big benefit of defining milestones is you can easily monitor the progress on a high level basis. For example – A milestone could be a customer sign-off on a specific key document.
10. Completion.
Project time management includes the process required to ensure timely completion of the project. Time management is another key aspect of managing a project. Project time management includes the processes required to manage the timely completion of the project. The inputs, tools and techniques and the outputs of these processes also hold importance in order to complete the project timely and as planned.
Now you know the top 10 benefits of Project Time Management. Here are some tips for project time management-
- Purge clutters by throwing the unnecessary documents to books to things that are stored. If it’s not needed now then its better to get rid of it by either throwing or archiving away from your sight.
- Avoid energy suckers and toxic people who come at your desk talking constantly about something which is constantly sucking your energy and taking your focus away.
- Establish systems, no matter if it’s a paper system or an electronic system.
- Sync your devices so that you don’t overbook yourself. Use specific software that can sync from your smartphone to your computer to your laptop. You can use certain project management software to sync that as well.
- Allow calendar access because if you allow calendar access to those who need it, people who you authorize and trust, they can have access to your calendar and see blocked out time so that they know not to plan or overbook or commit you to something that you have already committed to.
- Say ‘No’, it’s a hard thing to practice and it’s a hard thing to say and as project managers we try to typically accommodate everyone. But the best thing we can do to work on our favour is to set boundaries and practice saying ‘no’. A lot of times people think that they have to justify why they are saying ‘no’ but actually you have to because no can be a complete sentence.
- Stop drive-bys, meaning people who come by your desk on Friday afternoon, maybe they have held something all week and they leave it for you Friday afternoon to get done by Monday morning which leaves you working weekends.