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The Planning Process
Prof Simon Rowland
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Overview Planning processes
Management of time
Managing your time - its your life
Gantt charts
Planning your project
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Overview Planning processes
Management of time
Managing your time - its your life
Gantt charts
Planning your project
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Managing time
The nature of time
We have a limited amount
You can not get it back
You can not store it
It belongs to us as individuals like nothing else
In your PGT project will not need to manage money,
people or resource (you may need to work with them)
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Tools to help you manage your time
Until now your use of time has been driven bytimetables set by others: lectures, labs, courseworkand exams.
You must now do the timetabling. You might use:
to do lists
time plans
prioritisation techniques
We will touch on these
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Key tools to do lists
These take several forms
Use them to capture/rank/organise
Use them as you see fit
A list of things that need doing
A list with target dates in order
A list prioritised by urgent, soon, later or 1, 2, 3
Electronic, hand written, A4, in a log book, palm top
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Key tools - prioritisation
If you have too many things to do all at once, whatshould you do?
Prioritise as below:
URGENCY!
Importance
Done firstDone second
Might get doneNever get
done
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How to Prioritise
URGENCY!
Importance
Done firstDone second
Might get doneNever get
done
1. Never run up to a dead-lineThen urgency is removed!
Successful planning will make your life easier!
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URGENCY!
Importance
Might get doneNever get
done
1. Never run up to a dead-lineThen urgency is removed!
Done firstDone second
Time Priority
Successful planning will make your life easier!
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URGENCY!
Importance
Might get doneNever get
done
1. Never run up to a dead-line
Done firstDone second
2. Only do what needs doing
Take off the list things that are
unnecessary or you will never doTime Priority
Successful planning will make your life easier!
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URGENCY!
Importance
Might get done
1. Never run up to a dead-line
Done first
2. Only do what needs doing
Take off the list things that are
unnecessary or you will never doTime Priority
Successful planning will make your life easier!
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How to Prioritise
URGENCY!
Importance
Might get done
1. Never run up to a dead-line
Done first
2. Only do what needs doing
3. Set time aside for the important thingsTime Priority
Successful planning will make your life easier!
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How to Prioritise
URGENCY!
Importance
Might get done
1. Never run up to a dead-line
Done first
2. Only do what needs doing
3. Set time aside for the important thingsTime Priority
Successful planning will make your life easier!
4. Time priority set by
- operational deadlines
- strategic importance
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Overview Planning processes
Management of time
Managing your time - its your life
Gantt charts
Planning your project
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Key tools time plans
Diary
Calendar
List of target dates
Gantt chart
Project management tool
MS project
Increasingcomplexity
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Key tools time plans
Diary
Calendar
List of target dates
Gantt chart
Project management tool
MS project
For a simple project such
as the MSc Projects, weneed something beyond a
list of activities.
To much complexity in a
plan would not be
worthwhile and might
become a hinderance.
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What is a Gantt chart?
In its minimal form it:
is a list of activities with their start times and durations
expressed as horizontal bars on a time axis
the activities can be linked to show dependencies
key deliverables and deadlines can be indicated
related activities can be grouped
can be used to track activity
It can be used to plan activities and resource levels
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How to generate a Gantt chart?
Select the level of complexity required
Fit the tool you are using to the task (i.e. excel or microsoft project?)
Identify immovable milestonesthese are your boundary conditions
Identify your activities with their durations
Group activities for convenience
Identify dependencies
Start to plan in time (use pencil and paper)
Juggle resource to level the load (on your time)
Add float (spare time) if you have none
Review risks and adjust as necessary
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Generating a Gantt chart
Imposed milestones
Project report deadline
Here are my activities grouped
Experimental development
Develop experimental plan (1 wk)
Order key equipment (1 wk)
Equipment delivery time (3 wks)note
this is included as an activity
Workshop activity (3 wks) Commissioning (1 wk)
Data handling
Investigate software platforms (2 wks)
Select software - milestone
Write software (2 wks)
Experimentation
Perform measurement (1 wk)
Data analysis (1 wk)
Generating Dissertation Write first draft of experimental and
review sections (1 wk)
Finish first 3 chapters (2 wks)
Write final two chapters (1 wk)
Review dissertation (1 wk)
Printing and binding (1 wk)
Identify tasks and durations, and milestones
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Generating a Gantt chart
Imposed milestones
Project report deadline
Here are my activities grouped
Experimental development
Develop experimental plan (1 wk)
Order key equipment (1 wk)
Equipment delivery time (3 wks)note
this is included as an activity
Workshop activity (3 wks) Commissioning (1 wk)
Data handling
Investigate software platforms (2 wks)
Select software - milestone
Write software (2 wks)
Experimentation
Perform measurement (1 wk)
Data analysis (1 wk)
Generating Dissertation Write first draft of experimental and
review sections (1 wk)
Finish first 3 chapters (2 wks)
Write final two chapters (1 wk)
Review dissertation (1 wk)
Printing and binding (1 wk)
Create plan with dependencies and level resource need
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Notes:
I have a week free in week 11: this is known as float. Without float I am likely to have at least
one hitch that leads to late delivery or compression of events at the end of the project (i.e. not
enough writing time).
I have added a couple of milestones at important times.
You may draw arrows showing dependencies, I have chosen not to here.
Your plans should have real dates, and may be for longer or shorter than 12 weeks
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Notes:
I have added some arrows to indicate work flow and dependencies.
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Notes:
We can track progress: the black bars represent work completed
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Notes:
By the end of week 4 writing the software is behind schedule
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Notes:
By the end of week 6 the software is still not written.
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Notes:
At the end of week 8 the project is about 1 week behind schedule. Now the float in
week 11 no longer looks like a luxury
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Notes:
End of week 10, the experimental work is finished, and it looks like the project will
end to plan
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Notes:
Project complete.
If the project deviates significantly from the original plan, it is as well to draft a second
plan, optimising the rest of the activity. On the upside there is more interesting
project management material to report if the project does not go to plan.
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Key issues
Must have float
Otherwise you will be late on something or sacrifice quality
Set time aside for the important things
Recommended reading
Eli Goldratt Critical Chain (ISBN 0-88427-153-6)
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Driven by deadlinesManaging priorities
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Conclusion
Identify what needs to be done
Identify when it needs to be done by
Eliminate the unnecessary
Plan with an appropriate level of complexity
Develop a plan which has float for all outputs using
time priority
Try a few tools and use those which are sustainablefor you
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More information
http://www.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/studyskills/or
ganising/index.html
http://www.careers.manchester.ac.uk/students/employ
able/skills/communication/resources/
http://www.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/studyskills/organising/index.htmlhttp://www.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/studyskills/organising/index.htmlhttp://www.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/studyskills/organising/index.htmlhttp://www.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/studyskills/organising/index.html