Issue: September 25, 2007

Dear Managers,

Every other week we bring you one tip from our most successful implementations. This issue of Execution Management Minute is about a key rule for estimating and managing tasks. If you find it useful, please feel free to forward it to your colleagues.

The Realization Team

 

Modeling Tasks in a Project Network

A major consideration when creating project plans is that they should help Task Managers during execution. If Task Managers don't find the plans useful, they will not follow the priorities generated, and will not feel compelled to provide task updates. Over the last few years, we have compiled the following 7 guidelines for good task modeling:

  1. Task duration not to exceed 2% of the project length
  2. Task duration not less than 1 day
  3. Use task checklist to define completion criteria
  4. Avoid assigning fractional resource to task, unless there is a valid justification
  5. Resource based on skills, not named individuals (eg: Software UI Engineer vs. John Smith)
  6. Limit the usage of constraints like Contractual Milestones and SNET's
  7. A Task Manager can be held accountable for getting the task done

And that's the Execution Management Minute for this week.