Scheduling

1
Scheduling

• Purpose
• So youll know how far behind you are
• Planning
• Know what resources youll need and when
• Managing
• Keeping track of whats going on
• Evaluating
• Communicating
• Letting others know when youll be done

2
Who needs your schedule?

• Design team
• So youll know what you need to do now
• So youll know what you need to do yesterday
• Management
• Keep track of how the worker bees are doing
• Plan for future hires
• QA
• Need to know when they will be able to test
• Marketing, Sales, Documentation
• Need to know timelines for their work to begin

3
Knowing the future

• Scheduling is about predicting the future
• How long tasks will take
• Which tasks are related
• Keys to knowing the future
• Gift of prophecy
• Experience
• Pre-set deadlines
• Advice from others
• Keep it small
• Easier to forecast for short times than for long
  times

4
Practical Advice

• Sketch your schedule on paper first
• Dont compound confusion when learning a new tool
• Put in known deadlines first
• Delivery dates, Design reviews
• Start with the big tasks, then subdivide
• Time for the large tasks is the sum of the parts
• Save dependency relationships for later
• First just list the tasks, then work on
  relationships amongst them

5
Structure

• How do you put tasks into a structure?
• High-level concepts
• Basic design, Schematics, Wirewrap, Software
• Pro Good high-level structure, Easy to organize
• Con Hard to divide up work because too
  high-level
• Subsystems
• Power supply, Analog front end, LCD, HC11
• Pro Easy to assign work to individuals, Easier
  to break into subtasks
• Con Harder to relate to the overall picture
• Do Both!

6
Forwards and Backwards

• Forward scheduling
• When entering a task, defaults to project start
  date
• Advances when predecessors are put in
• Schedules each task as early as possible
• Backward scheduling
• New tasks default to ending on project end date
• Moves earlier in time when antecedents are put in
• Schedules each task as late as possible

7
Project 98 Getting Started

• Making a new schedule
• Choose to schedule from start or finish
• My preference is finish
• Setting up options
• Go to Tools/Options and select Schedule tab
• New tasks are effort driven - Uncheck
• This shortens the time for a task when multiple
  people are assigned to it
• Autolink new or inserted tasks Uncheck
• This automatically links new tasks to the
  previous one can be confusing
• Split in-progress tasks - Uncheck
• Changes schedule automatically when tasks slip

8
Inserting tasks

• Type task names in the Task Name column
• Type in length now or later
• Dont mess with start/end dates for now
• Subdividing
• Insert new tasks below the higher-level task
• Use the insert key
• Indent them using the right-arrow button
• Linking tasks
• When one task depends on another, link them
  together
• Select all to link and click on link button
• Or draw a line from one task to the other

9
The details

• Setting lengths
• Type in length in box or stretch bar with mouse
• Can use d for days, w for weeks
• Milestones
• Milestones are zero-length tasks just set
  length to 0
• Great for deadlines
• Linking a task chain to a milestone will
  constrain its end date
• Important for backwards scheduling

10
Resources

• Identifying whos working on your project
• Click on the people button brings up the
  resource window
• Add the people working on your project
• I recommend using initials
• Associating a person or people with a task
• Open the resource window (people button)
• Highlight a task to assign people to
• Click on the left column to select people (use
  ctrl/shift to select multiple people)
• Click Assign or Remove
• Alternate Select people and drag to task name

11
Updating your progress

• Do NOT change your schedule without written
  approval
• Attach change requests in your notebook
• As work progresses, update your schedule
• Move mouse to beginning of task bar
• Cursor changes to
• Drag to reflect portion complete
• Mark progress on schedule when turning in
  notebook for review

12
Nits to Pick

• Readability
• Organize your schedule so that its easy to read
• Should read left-to-right and top-to-bottom
• Printing
• Try printing on one page
• File/Page Setup/Page Fit to one page
• Consider using 11x17 paper
• If you print on multiple pages, tape them
  together before turning in