From the course: Project Management Foundations: Schedules

Why do you need a schedule? - Microsoft Project Tutorial

From the course: Project Management Foundations: Schedules

Why do you need a schedule?

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- Managing project schedules is a lot like cooking. You gather ingredients as you figure out what the project is all about. Toss them into a pot to build the schedule. Adjust the seasonings to get workloads, dates, and costs just right. Then you watch the schedule as it simmers, and make adjustments until the work's completed and the project goal is achieved. Why do you need a project schedule? In short, a project schedule helps you get all the required work done when it's supposed to be done. Have you ever had a jam-packed day of errands and appointments? You probably made a list of everything you needed to do, maybe even put your to-dos in order so you could complete them as efficiently as possible. A project schedule does the same sort of thing. It includes all the work that has to be done, who does the work, and the sequence in which it's performed. And it does even more. A schedule is also a communication tool. It shows how all the pieces of the project fit together. That way, people working on the project see how their work affects others, which helps them work together toward the common goal. You can use the schedule to communicate progress and performance and manage stakeholder expectations. A schedule also makes work easy to understand and manage. Team members can see what they're supposed to do and when it needs to be done. And you, as project manager, can tell whether progress is on track. As the project progresses, the schedule changes to reflect what's been done and to forecast when the remaining work will be finished. And that's how a project schedule helps you guide your project to success.

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