Project Scheduling for Web Developers
Posted in Project Managment on November 15th, 2010 by Rachael
Scheduling is the act of spreading the estimated resources over the planned product development phases (Humphrey, 1989, p. 101). Typically, the number of developers working on the project and their available work times as well as the work break structure need to be known. Most projects do not have the same developers throughout the entire project; developers may leave the organization, take holidays or get sick.
The distribution of resources over the development phases is not done randomly or equally. Different phases will require different resources, and it is optimal for organizations to gather their own resource distribution data since it will be a reflection on the practices employed by the organization (Humphrey, 1989, p. 101). Like many other project metrics, if organizations don’t have access to their own data there are sets of publicly available industry data available.
Humphrey (1989, p. 102) suggests to firstly develop a staffing plan, which is basically who is working on what and when. A preliminary schedule for each development phase can then be constructed by comparing the required resource estimates with the expected resources available.
Gasiorowski (2008) takes this idea one step further by using two levels of schedules; a master project schedule (tier one) and a team schedule (tier two). This is especially useful for large projects where there are numerous development teams. The master project schedule is the top level schedule; it specifies how the components will fit together. Each task in the master project schedule is then broken down into its own schedule by the team who is in charge of completing the task. Gasiorowski (2008) explains that ownership and responsibility is promoted by allowing teams to produce their own schedule.
I think Gasiorowski’s (2008) method of using a two-tiered schedule can be highly effective. It allows control from upper management over the project deliverables, yet it is flexible enough to incorporate the diversity of different teams and their subsequent schedules. I also think that involving the development team in scheduling is a good way to produce the team schedule. A lot can be learnt from scheduling sessions; it can help team estimation skills as well as give members insight into the details of the project. It can benefit the team as a whole because everyone would have an understanding of what is expected of them as both a team and an individual.
References
Gasiorowski, M. (2008). Planning and Tracking Complex Software Projects. Presented
at the CSSE3002 Guest Lecture, Brisbane.
Humphrey, W., S. (1989). Managing the Software Process: Addison-Wesley.
