Definitions

• task
• milestone

Task

• What
• Time it takes
• Due date
• Who
• Dependencies

Pert Chart

Directed acyclic graph

Critical Path

Have them do a critical path activity.

Design Matrix

I don't find this chart that interesting or useful.

Gantt Chart

This is a Gantt chart.

Simple method

Task list with due dates assigned members

Accountability

The plans, charts, task lists are useless without accountability.

1. Everyone should be able to see the schedule
2. Revisit task list every meeting (at least once a week)
3. Fill out the Gantt chart at every meeting and update the current date line.

AIO

• Accomplishments
• Issues
• Objectives

Can be done daily or weekly.

Example:

A

• Completed the 50 individual concept sketches.
• Listed the pros and cons of my concepts.

I

• Was not able to finish the specification refinement for my 10 specs because the manufacturer has yet to send me the spec sheet for a similar product even though I've called 5 times!

O

• Get the spec sheet for the product and refine the specs.
• Build a concept screening table with the group for all of our concepts and whittle the concepts down to no more than three choices.
• Discuss the top concepts with our sponsor.

Adaptive Planning

Everytime you revisit the plan you can adjust the future. Ideally you get things done early and get to adjust your plan by adding time to future tasks!

Reality is that you will not get things done on time! So you have to adapt. Sometimes you have to adjust the scope of the project.

Buffer

You must schedule a buffer at the end of the project. i.e. set the due date for your tasks two weeks early and strive to meet that deadline. Ignore that the buffer exists.

Practical Tools

Project management software

Tons of options!

• Asana
• Trello
• Github issues

Scrum

2 week sprints with incremental goal

incremental goal is some functioning delieverable: sub component of your design

Needs, design, implement, test

No changes in sprint

Rather than doing all of one thing at a time...scrum teams do a little of everything all the time.