MONTHLY COLUMN:

CONSTRUCTION PROJECT SCHEDULING TODAY: ISSUES & CONTROVERSIES

Salient Construction Scheduling Issues, circa 21^st Century

By Earl Glenwright, PSP, PE

Colorado, USA

Editor’s note: This is the fourth article in a series on construction project scheduling that 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.

Issues: Then, Now, and for Always[?]
What Issues? What is the problem? What is an Issue?
ISSUE: a situation or poor practice that compromises effective construction scheduling.

A few years ago I asked 20 or so persons I knew that had significant experience and or opinions about construction scheduling what they perceived as the salient scheduling issues in construction, who were not ever actually full time schedulers. I prepared a list of 30 ‘issues’ that I saw as problems or constraints in achieving the benefits that valid, rational, and reasonable schedules can contribute to a successful project outcome, asked them to rate these ‘issues’.

The response was very good. Some of them even added other ‘issues’ that they felt were hindering their use of contemporary schedules products. The following were the highest ranked issues or practices:

• No resource considerations

• Lack of Activity time contingency & Contract Time Reserve

• Updating v Progress & Performance statusing and taking corrective action

• Inappropriate Schedule specification

• Insufficient Schedule Framework preparation in the pre-bid/final design period

• Not really used to manage the work

• Inappropriate reports

• Little use of Earned Value and Earned Schedule

• Realistic Work-plan and Schedules versus ‘Optimum’, versus ‘Early start’

While this ranking is not surprising, it is a substantial statement on the poor state of construction scheduling, its practices, and the deficiencies thereof. These ‘issues’ have been discussed [sometimes vigorously] for many years. Yet, there is not a consensus or effort within the scheduling community towards resolving any of them.

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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.