Which is a scheduling "best practice"?

[anovak]

Assuming Fixed Units and Non-Effort Driven...

1. Enter estimated work hours, make assignment and let MS Project
schedule the duration and calculate the dates based on resource
availability.

2. Enter estimated Duration and let MS Project calculate the dates
(benefit is to see the dates before a "real" assignment is made), then
make assignment and let MS Project calculate estimated work hours
during that duration based on resource availability (if two half time
people are assigned to a 5 day task, then the total work hours would
be 40).

I've been preaching #1 for quite a while, but I'm beginning to thing
that #2 is easier for the users and more manageable.

Thanks,
Andy Novak
UNT

 

[Andrew Lavinsky]

It all depends on what you know about the task. You either know how many
people you have and how many man hours it will take (option #1) or you know
how many people you have and the window of time within which it should happen
(option #2). In my experience, option #1 is more suitable to the IT world
which runs in cycles of man hours. Option #2 is often more appropriate to
construction where we know what the calendar duration of the task is (as that
perhaps is driven by weather or equipment), and how many people will be
working the site.

That's my rule of thumb.

 

[Ben Howard]

I completely agree with Andrew. There is no right or wrong way. I always
ask PMs about their thought process for planning, and then map this onto
project.
--
Thanks, Ben.

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional
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