I agree as well. We have had many issues with timelines being unrealistic becasue they are set from above instead of by the people actually doing the work. In addition we miss holidays, forget to consider production (we are a 24/7 facility with little room for shifting), and one big one is forgetting to account for other countries holidays/ schedules. For example, we work a lot with Germany and their sense of urgency on projects is often very different than ours. They also seem to take much more vacation than we do especially in December which can really hurt a project.
One suggestion I have is to discuss the timeline with all parties before deciding on it- though unexpected things crop up, it is better to have all parties on board at the start.
The two common tools for project management schedule development are the Gantt and PERT chart. Both of these are great resources for planning and displaying the critical path of a project, however, they have their differences. In the simplest form A Gantt chart is basically a bar chart and a PERT chart is a flow chart. The Gantt allows you to view which tasks are happening simultaneously, assign resources to each task, and allow you to track progress of each task. The PERT chart while including project tasks and time allocation, also display dependency. The PERT chart also allows you to view several different time structures as to when a task can be expected to be completed, either earlier, expected, or later. Most Project Managers will end up using both to plan a large scale project.
Hello,
Good point, they should be quite detailed and yet not overly complicated as to confuse the reader, it is essentially a form of management that is done to make sure tasks are on the way and are being done effectively. Project managers often use these to enhance and make an inference as to the progress of the projects being done. It is essentially like a liability coverage, so that if issues where to happen in the future, they can trace it back to the source and figure out what went wrong. Gnat charts should have detail be concise and get to the point. It should allow the reader to catch up with deadlines and progress as well as duration of projects and points that need to be done.
From my previous experience with working with a team of engineers for a new product development, creating a Gantt chart is important at the early stages of the planning process. This chart helps ensure the team follows a timeline to lay out the milestones and preventative setback plan as critical paths. This has helped the team become aware of what needs to be done, and helps promote productivity to meet the desired deliverables. In my experience like many probably experienced as well, is that in a project, anything and everything could go wrong, and one must be prepared for these setbacks, if it wasn't for the time created as a preventative plan on the timeline, we would have not been able to meet our deliverables.
When making a gantt chart, it is crucial to have met certain criteria. In my current job, I had to develop a gaant chart in order to facilitate a steady transition of ISO 13485:2003 to 2016. There the gaant chart has allowed myself to coordinate with the project manager as well as the directors to ensure that each department is able to meet the our milestones. This gaant governs the project in the sense that we adhere to it strictly which allows us to remain on schedule and hold every person accountable. The gaant chart has actions which are assigned to each team member. Each action contains a due date which must be met. With the gaant chart the team without meeting, although we meet every so often is kept up to date as to what phase of the project we are on.
Even though I don't have any experience in the field yet, doing research on this topic was interesting. There are a couple of steps that have to be taken into account before building a Gantt Chart. First we have to identify the steps needed to complete the projects. Then we identify milestones within the projects. Next we identify the expected time required to complete each task, and the sequence of tasks and the order of precedence of tasks. Now we draw a horizontal time axis on the bottom of the page and select a proper time scale to represent the length of tasks. Then we prepare a column on the left side of the paper, and write down each activity and milestone of the project in their corresponding order of occurrence.Activities or milestones that occur at a specific point in time represent them using a diamond under the time the activity must happen. Activities that occur over a determined period of time draw horizontal bars, or an empty rectangle starting from the first day the activity will take place and finishing the day the activity ends. Do not fill inside the rectangle. Then each activity or task must be listed in the Gantt Chart. Finally you fill up the diamond or the rectangle as each activity is being performed, then use a weight or plumb as a vertical marker to illustrate that actual time and progress of the project.
After listing the simple steps that make the process easier; I think you just have to do your research for all the activities or actions that have to be taken in the process then put them on a timeline. The better your research is the better your Gantt Chart is going to be.
When making any schedule, it is important to note the schedule of other people who are involved inn the project. It is important to keep in mind that they also have deadlines to meet and things to do. Furthermore, it is also important to not trust the timeliness of people. As much as possible, add as much time in case of setbacks and delays so that you yourself don't get stuck in a waiting game. Also, people make mistakes and it is important to put some extra time for you in case you make mistakes and have to fix something. For me, I set my personal deadlines days before the actual deadline so that I can troubleshoot the data and also prepare for the presentation.
Also, not only does the Gantt Chart work for scheduling, it can also double as an outline for the project. When making a Gantt chart, it is important to see the big picture, and from there, slowly go in detail with each component of the project. With this, you are able to figure out the important landmarks throughout your project.
Currently, I work in the medical industry as a production engineer. I am working on a global project that deals with four of our product lines that will implement a global labeling change. Therefore, several engineers, managers, researchers from different locations and departments are involved in the planning and execution phases of this project. As the project lead, it is crucial that I am well organized on every aspect of the project. Therefore, I created detailed Gantt chart which depicts the major and minor milestones. I link projects that are dependent on each other. This makes me aware of which projects for the label change can cause an issue in terms of the I also set an estimated deadline for each project along with the people involved. Therefore, I can contact the people responsible for certain aspects of the project to see their progress. The most important factor to consider when leading a project at this scale is to allow each member of the project team to have access to the Gantt Chart. By doing so, people are aware of how their portion of the project affects the overall success of the project.
An important tip in creating a Gantt Chart is defining a critical path. It is a method of looking at all of the activities in the Gantt chart, considering the timing and dependent relationships of each, and calculating the longest path from start to completion of the project. The critical path is a quick way of looking at the progress and critical tasks for the project.This process determines which steps are "critical" from those that can be delayed without risking making the project late.
Gantt Charts are useful in this industry, particularly since they describe and monitor all types of projects being carried out. I agree with your bullet points about the factors to put into consideration when preparing Gantt Charts. If those points are not followed in creating Gantt Charts, then they may not be effective. From experience, I’ve learned that creating a Gantt Chart from scratch is not an easy task. The hardest part, in my opinion, is linking the tasks so that they can be carried out in a specific order, especially where one is needed to add lag or lead times. However, once all the tasks have been linked, If all the factors you mentioned are taken into consideration in the preparation of Gantt Charts, effective Gantt charts will be developed.
Gantt charts provide a number of useful characteristics - they save time, allow for a manager to always be aware of where a team is compared to their proposed schedule, and provide a roadmap for a project. However, as mentioned previously, as is the case with all time management charts, flexibility is important, and should not be abandoned for the sake of a chart. This is especially true for users that are new to Gantt charts. They can become quite complex, and newer employees using them often do not have a great reference frame to determine how long a certain part of a project should take. As such, obtaining advice from others and inserting "flex time" into the chart is important.
Anyone can make a Gantt chart, but making an effective one that will provide the most use is a practice that takes experience. Allowing all the people that are part of a project to access and influence that Gantt chart will help ensure that is both accurate and helpful.
As many have said above Gantt charts are one way of organizing the timetable of mini projects that comprise the overall product. My experience in industry pertaining to Gantt charts involves working with the manufacturing supervisors to come up with a feasible time table for going from NPD to NPI with the diagnostic instrument. Because of the huge financial ramifications involved, it was important to know how quickly these instruments can be built, aligned, and pass qualification testing, and be ready for international shipment. The chart also had to account for scale up of the manufacturing facility/ potential instrument output. This was in addition to planning in enough slack time to be able to overcome unexpected manufacturing obstacles while still providing management with a reasonable, attractive timetable for shipment. Lastly, as bb254 mentioned above, the Gantt chart was made highly visible to essential personal on site so that all goals/ milestones were clearly understood and transparent. Without doing so, accountability as well as a feeling of contribution from each department could be lost and add to time waste.
I have also yet to work in industry, but I do have experience in creating a gantt chart in high school, for my capstone class, and again at NJIT in my current capstone class. Both times, I believe the easiest way is to color code and bold words I deem are necessary to meet as a deadline. It is also helpful to have the months on the x-axis and on the top so it can be followed like a schedule and easily looked at. It is also helpful to go over the gantt chart several times with the other members to make sure it is feasible to meet the demands of the timeline. It is also important to stick to the gantt chart if a hard deadline is approaching, and make reasonable amount of time for each task to be completed on time and in an efficient way. It also allows other team members to work along with you, or catch up to speed on what needs to be done if a group project is being done.
I have had to make a Gantt chart twice through my academic career. The first time I made a Gantt chart was in high school as a senior. We had a capstone project and in order to keep the team on track we had to come up with a Gantt Chart. In high school it felt more like a tedious task where we would put due dates for certain things. We never explored the potential of a Gantt Chart and thus we never appreciated its importance. Now as a senior in college, I have had to make another Gantt chart for my capstone project. However, this time, things are a lot different. The most important aspect of the Gantt chart is the critical path. The critical path is made to ensure tasks that are deemed most important are being worked on and finished in a timely manner.
I don't have an work experience; however, for Capstone my senior year we had to develop a project schedule that was essentially a Gantt Chart. As such, you can think of a Gantt Chart as a detailed project schedule with clearly outlined goals/ milestones and tasks that need to be performed to achieve these project goals. For this, you should consider that size of your team, their skills, and if the task is realistic enough to complete in the allotted time. Furthermore, another factor to consider is the critical path of your project. This is essentially a part of the Gantt chart that tells you that everything in that path MUST be completed prior to moving on. This is often the most important thing to look at in a project schedule since the flow of the project depends on how efficiently you can satisfy the tasks outlined by the critical path. Highlighting important tasks and prioritizing some tasks over others can help when this critical path is in place and should be considered when trying to complete the project in time.
