Project Management

Estimating Activity Durations

Once you’ve properly modeled the logic with a network dia-
gram, you’re ready to move to the next step in scheduling—
estimating how long it will take to get the work done. You’ll
need to use two methods to do this.
The first way to characterize the length of an activity is
effort. Effort is defined as the number of labor hoursthat task
performers will be working on a given activity. You might think
of it as the amount of time they’ll be charging to your project.
The second way to characterize the length of an activity is
duration. Think of duration as the window of time within which
the activity is to be completed.
Here are some key points about the duration of an activity:

Preparing a Detailed Project Plan: Step by Step 127

2 5

4

9

7

1

3 8 6

Figure 7-10. Network diagram for the ski trip project

A Sticky Situation!

Here’s an excellent (and easy) way to construct a network

diagram in “real time.” Assemble your entire team in front of a very

large wall chart. (Several pieces of easel paper taped on the wall will

do just fine.) Put activity titles on sticky notes, one to a sheet. Place

activities on the wall in ways that visually display interrelationships: put

series activities side by side and stack parallel activities one above the

other.When you’re satisfied with the general flow of activities (nor-

mally left to right across the page), draw in the arrows to indicate all

dependencies. Before you know it, you have a network diagram—and a

team that fully understands how it was developed.This is a very pow-

erful teambuilding activity.