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Project Schedule Planning:7.4 Time Scheduling Techniques Project Schedule Planning7.4 Time Scheduling Techniques In learning about project management—or for that matter, any subject area it is most often necessary to break it down “into pieces” However, in the real world of action, it seldom works that way. And in projects, the challenges of planning the scope of a project, scheduling all of the work and developing cost estimates and a budget are not separable. They are inter-related and sequencing of how one produces a project plan is not linear. The sequence will often depend on related factors. Project Schedule Planning7.4 Time Scheduling Techniques These factors can include a determination of what is most important: budget or schedule, quality or budget, levels of acceptable risk, etc. For example, one can have a “schedule-driven” project in which other features such as cost are less important. Or one can have a “cost-driven” project in which a budget limitation is set from the beginning. Project Schedule Planning7.4 Time Scheduling Techniques The text is organized with cost estimating first, but that does not mean it is always done first. In fact, in my experience, schedule more often is the main “driver” for projects; that is why scheduling is covered first in this course. But this should not be interpreted as suggesting that cost estimating, risk, quality and other project features are unimportant. Project Schedule Planning7.4 Time Scheduling Techniques Finally, as part of this introduction, please remember one initial point: there are interdependencies among schedule, cost, and other factors in reality. In practice, this means we may produce a schedule, and then need to adjust it once we begin to understand the cost consequences. And, as the text observes, the order of topic discussion can be somewhat arbitrary—but we can’t discuss or analyze them all at the same time. Project Schedule Planning7.4 Time Scheduling Techniques So, let’s get star