How to Create a Project Schedule - 21 Steps in 5 Stages

in this video I'll take you through five stages and 21 steps for creating a project schedule [Music] stage one is about the schedule framework you need to start by getting all of the time and date related data assembled and ready to use step one start with fixed Milestones things like the start date and release or delivery dates Step 2 add in discretionary milestones things like reporting deadlines and release targets step three add in calendar constraints things like public holidays and Company days step 4 add your resource constraints things like staff holidays or the delivery schedules

for assets or materials that you'll need for your project step 5 consider the number of working hours for each day and this may be different for different days and some organizations have shorter working days for the last working day of the week and remember if you've got non-working days in the week as hopefully we all have then you need to allocate zero hours to those days critically don't forget that the non-working days may be different in different regions and locations stage two is the task framework here we introduce what we need to do and what

we need to do it step six is to identify the tasks that need to be completed as part of your schedule these will be in your work breakdown structure and our Link in the description to our video on how to create a work breakdown structure step seven is to estimate the work required to complete each task and to do so with the contingency for each task step eight is to identify the dependencies between the tasks usually these will be finish to start dependencies but there are other types of dependencies and again I'll link to a

video which explains all of that once you have the dependencies it will allow you to sequence your tasks next in Step 9 add in any lags or leads a lag is a gap between two tasks that are dependent one on the other for example task B might start three days after task a is complete allowing for example concrete or paint to dry thoroughly before starting task B a lead is a negative lag for example if task B needs to start two days before task a is completed then this is a finish to start dependency with

a two-day lead step 10 identify the resources you need for each task and find out their availability and once you've done that allocate the resources to the tasks Step 11 is to calculate the durations for each task this calculation uses the work required and the resource assigned for example a task that has a work required of 15 days and two full-time staff allocated to it will have a duration of seven and a half days however if three people are allocated to the same task but for half of their time only this will lead to a

duration of 10 days stage three is analysis this is where you turn your data into a plan at step 12 you can calculate your critical path or critical paths and again are linked to a handy video Step 13 is to consider whether you have the right amount of float too much floats means you're going to take longer than you need to take but too little float exposes you to too much risk as a judgment to be made here step 14 review your emerging schedule for business sense does this produce a consistent schedule that can deliver

when you need to with enough contingency and are Your workloads Balanced so that none of your resources are overstretched or indeed over stressed step 15. you're almost inevitably need to revise your draft consider your contingency and how much resource you have and how to apply them do you need to overlap tasks apply additional resources to work in parallel or to get tasks done more quickly or do you need to reduce the quality or adjust the scope of what you're doing to complete the project in time stage four is review and this is where you expose

your draft schedule to a critical review step 16 is to expose your draft to a critical review from your team they should be looking for risks and errors arising from things like fundamental errors in your project strategy data entry mistakes incorrect data calculational errors false or risky assumptions missing constraints or missing dependencies poor reasoning and of course risks to the project 17. if this is a critical project then you may want to expose this to further external review this could be an independent red team charged with looking for the same kinds of mistakes but because

they're outside of the team and they're likely to be even more brutal in their scrutiny and that's a good thing stage five sign off once you have all the comments from your reviewers you are ready step 18 is to create your final draft this is likely to take the form of a Gantt chart so do take a look at our companion video on how to create a Gantt chart step 19 is to submit your final schedule for sign off by either your project sponsor your client your project board or your Steering group step 20 is

to up issue your final draft with comments and changes accommodated to version one and step 21 is to place your schedule under Version Control and yes we have a video on that too [Music] please do give this video a like if you've enjoyed it or learned from it I'll be making loads more great project management videos for you so please do subscribe to the channel and hit the notification Bell so you don't miss any of them and I'll look forward to seeing you in the next video [Music]