Schedules for Deliverable-Based Projects

There are many types of project plans. There are two types of project schedules: the one-liner and the huge checklist. They come with Activities, Tasks and Phases. Some people bold Milestones, while others don’t communicate anything.
A deliverable-based plan is the best way to track and report on projects that span over a few months and involve a few people. We’ll be looking at the following topics in the coming entries:
Definitions
Work Breakdown Structure (WBS).
Create the Schedule
Is there ever enough?
Definitions
There are 3 words, so there are 5 definitions we need to review.
Deliverable,Ai pre-defined and tangible work product. This could be a report or document, web page, upgrade to a server, or any other building block for your overall project. The deliverable’s size will depend on the project size, but they should typically last between 4 and 6 weeks and be spread evenly over the project duration. Another important discussion that we could have is on acceptance management.
Project,Ai is a temporary effort to create a unique thing. This thing could be a product, a service, or something else.
Schedule,Ai is a tool that defines the tasks to be completed, by whom, and when. This is different from a Project Plan which explains why the fourth definition is necessary.
Project Plan, Ai is a document that has been officially approved and lays out the guidelines for how the project will run. Schedule management is one part of the project plan. However, it also includes change management plan. Risk management plan. Resource management plan and other pieces are included to guide project execution.
A Deliverable-based project schedule is used to track and define the delivery of a product or service. All activities and tasks in the project should be included in the one of the deliverables. Any task that is not part a deliverable might be out of scope.
Work Breakdown Structure
The WBS is a planning tool which documents the breakdown of a project into deliverables. This is done by taking the final product of the project and breaking it down into smaller, more manageable parts until you have identified all of the building blocks. The final deliverable for a project that creates a new home page would be the page.
This exercise should be done with your team. These brainstorming sessions should be facilitated and documented by you as the project manager. It is important to know when to stop drilling. One indicator is the fact that deliverables can be described as nouns. If you begin listing verbs, you are at the task and activity level and should stop. You may want to keep a few key tasks in mind, but you don’t need to go into detail.
This information can be captured in many ways. The diagram method is best for whiteboard sessions. It is also possible to use a spreadsheet or other document. It may seem obvious to use a project-scheduling software, but it could be premature. You will be prompted to provide more information about each piece and it may distract you from generating ideas for your team.
In our case, the deliverables were Design, Format, Sections 1, 2, 3, and 4. Each of these deliverables can be identified and given to an individual or group to create.
Create the Schedule
The creation of a schedule should be done in a specific order. These steps are: Enter all tasks, Determine predecessors and Estimate the Work, Estimate duration, Estimate work, Estimate work, Assign resources, and Add constraints.
Before you start scheduling tasks, you have to decide how to organize your schedule. This depends on your reporting requirements. The schedule should be set up in a way that minimizes the effort required to extract information for status or other reporting.
These are the two main ways to put together a deliverable-based project plan.