From the course: Project Management Foundations: Schedules

Proactively manage a schedule - Microsoft Project Tutorial

From the course: Project Management Foundations: Schedules

Proactively manage a schedule

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- [Instructor] Managing a project means balancing scope, time, cost, resources, and quality. The changes you make to the schedule depend on which factors are important to stakeholders. I will cover all of these in more detail later in this chapter. Because schedule changes can introduce risk, you also have to consider the level of risk stakeholders are willing to accept. Time is often an influential factor, whether you're trying to deliver a product for the peak sales season or beat the competition to market. Once work starts, you watch for schedule problems. If delays begin to threaten the finish date, you can use techniques like fast tracking and crashing to shorten the remaining schedule. If money is more important than time, there are a few ways to change the schedule to reduce costs. You might hire less expensive resources, even if they take longer to complete work. Or shorten the schedule to reduce overhead costs. If the finish date, budget and resources aren't negotiable, cut some of the project scope. This method might shorten the schedule and reduce cost. The key is to cut the least important parts so the project still delivers most of the benefits it's supposed to. Quality is the one factor it's best to leave as is. Reducing quality can lead to problems that take time and money to fix, offsetting any savings you hoped for. Juggling project variables is something you do over the life of your project.

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