MONTHLY COLUMN:

CONSTRUCTION PROJECT SCHEDULING TODAY: ISSUES & CONTROVERSIES

Why Schedule (at all)?
Premises and Purposes

By Earl Glenwright
Colorado, USA

Editor’s note:  This is the second article in a series on construction project scheduling.  The series was introduced in a Guest Editorial by Earl Glenwright in the January edition of PM World Today.  Please read that introduction at http://www.pmworldtoday.net/archives/2010/Jan.html, where Earl sets the stage for articles on this important aspect of managing construction projects.

When asked ‘Why do you schedule?’  The usual answer is well, uh, my boss told me to, or it’s in the contract (and may still be).

What a silly question!  And what a poor answer.

Those responses were accepted in the 1960’s, although they haven’t been since the 1970’s, but you still hear them a lot.  So what is the mystery about why we develop a work plan and then derive a schedule?  We have had the answer to that since day-one.  And it’s not a secret or some devious requirement of the owner. You all know the real reason, and that trumps all others, bar none.

Let’s briefly review the history and development of Activity-network based scheduling techniques.  Initially, computer capabilities were quite limited and there were many restrictive ‘rules’.  i.e. Consecutive numbering [no alphas please], limits on the number of activities, no control dates, ad infinitum. I made a list of these ‘rules’ for a presentation in 1989 and it was surprisingly long.

From 1960 – 1975, to make a CPM ‘schedule’ was a labor intensive challenge, both initially and the maintenance of it during construction.  This meant spending time and money by the contractors who saw this as a ‘sunk cost’ without any return on investment (ROI). Instead of a solution it became a problem and an albatross for construction contractors. [And perhaps some Owners]…

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About the Author Earl Glenwright, PSP Author Earl Glenwright, PSP, has a career spanning 40+ years in construction project scheduling.  Earl is certified as a Planning and Scheduling Professional [PSP] by the Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering International [AACEi].  He frequently gives presentations at their annual conferences.  Earl has both a BS in Civil Engineering and MBA degree and is a Registered Professional Engineer. Earl’s career has included multi-year positions in several countries including Brasil, Saudi Arabia, and Sudan.  He currently lives in Colorado and Bulgaria.  Prior to 1988 he was employed by the [US] Bureau of Reclamation and the [US] Army Corps of Engineers. After retiring in 1988 he has been a free-lance consultant for both contractor’s construction scheduling and small business Enterprise Project Management.  His experience includes large and very large [super-mega] construction projects, very small projects such as construction planning, and scheduling for home construction by his Habitat for Humanity affiliate. Through his extensive scheduling experience he has been recognized as a Subject Matter Expert [SME], a Master Scheduler,  and an Expert Advisor. Earl has been active in the Project Management Institute (PMI) for 30+ years.  He has presented “Time & Cost” training at PMI’s annual seminar-symposia, and was a member of the initial PMBoK Guide Project Team, the 2000 update team, and the project team that prepared the 3rd edition.  Earl has recently presented ‘workshop/seminars’ for Bulgarian project scheduling and controls persons which cover the 3 phases of scheduling: framework preparation/planning, schedule development, and schedule management and control.  The workbooks are dual language English and Bulgarian. Earl can be contacted at earl_csss@yahoo.com.