Photo by: Lukas Blazek
WHAT IS
TIME MANAGEMENT?
Time management is about using the amount of time allocated to a project wisely. The goal of this is to meet the scheduled deliverables and to compete the project by the project deadline (DiFranza, 2019). As a whole, the progress made in a project is called time management (Wrike, n.d.). The planning and setting of deadlines, and the order of work that needs to be done is part of time management. It ensures that tasks are completed timely and that the project is on track, in terms of its completion.
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When time is managed well in a project, the chances of the completion being delayed are low. This ensures that the project team is able to deliver to the involved parties without any setbacks.
WHAT ARE SOME TOOLS I CAN USE?
GANTT CHART
A gantt chart aids in the planning and scheduling of project. The timelines, tasks, task owners, start and end dates are all show in a horizontal bar chart.
To use this tool, the tasks and duration of the projects will have to be set. The tasks are then organised into a table, where the first column will be tasks and subsequent columns will be dates or weeks. The duration of the task will then be demarcated accordingly, where the relevant columns are filled with a colour.
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Why use this tool?
It establishes the project schedule, team members will know who is doing what and the start and end dates of tasks. It not only gives an overview of the project schedule but also the stakeholders and participants.
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Photo by: smartsheet.com
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Photo by: Corry
Watch a video on how to make a Gantt Chart!
NETWORK DIAGRAM
Photo by: Javihn Chan
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A network diagram gives a visual representation of the workflow of a project. It shows the order and schedule of tasks that need to be completed (Malsam, 2020). It provide users with the estimate duration of the project. This is determined through a critical pathway - the pathway which takes the longest to reach the final task of the project.
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Why use this tool?
The tool allows the project team to be aware of the duration of the entire project. As it provides an overview, it gives the project team direction to what they have to complete first. This promotes efficiency as the team is able to multitask where possible.
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List all the activities/tasks of the project
2. Find out which tasks have to be done before that activity can begin
3. Allocate the duration for each activity
4. Organise the activities in a flow chart and indicate the duration beside each task
5. Find the Critical Pathway
Critical Pathway: 16 weeks
Learn more about the network diagram and the critical path analysis through this video!
HOW DID I USE THE TOOL?
GANTT CHART
After creating the work breakdown structure, my group and I transferred it to a gantt chart. The doing up of the gantt chart was time consuming. We took about 2 hours to finalise it and even then, we hardly looked at it throughout our project. It was not easy to refer to and updating changes was tiresome. We had varying tasks every week and depending on the circumstances, we had to change our schedules. We therefore made weekly
to-do lists so that we know what should be done within that week. So instead of having an overview of the whole project, we preferred to see it weekly, which was clearer and more detailed as we went about to complete out tasks. This chart might be beneficial to projects where there are multiple departments where they need to check up on the others. However, since there were only 5 on us, we could easily text each other to check up on each other's tasks.
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VALUES AND CHALLENGES OF TOOL
GANTT CHART
VALUES
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Team members can see the overall picture of the project
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Ensures that the team in on track in completing their tasks
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Team members can check in on each others tasks to ensure that it is gets completed by the deadlines set
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The timeline shown is clear for all tasks with start and end dates
CHALLENGES
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The setting up and organsing of a gantt chart is time consuming
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It can be misleading as the duration of the task is not dictated by the complexity of the task
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It can become confusing if there are too many subtasks that need to be completed
NETWORK DIAGRAM
VALUES
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Helps to identify critical pathway and the tasks involved
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The approximate duration of the project can be estimated
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Can easily see which tasks are dependent on other and which tasks are independent
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Helps with the scheduling of tasks, in the order of completion
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Might become too complex it is a big project and there are many tasks involved
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There may be errors as tasks may be overlooked
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It takes up time to create and organise
CHALLENGES