Efficiency in Planning and Scheduling

Allen JM, PE - Planning Manager, Baha Mar Development

A man without a plan is a man that will surely fail. Every action has its own equal and opposite reaction, action is the outcome of plan or decision we put into it. Knowing what to do, by whom and by when is Planning. Buying things in the market requires preparation by listing necessary things to purchase before setting out. Without a plan results to disappointments, extra cost and wasted time and effort. Planning is necessary for any successful life endeavor.

Huge or small projects have the same composition of the basic elements; namely: project plan, constraints, value engineering, methods, site logistics, reporting, etc. Planning means identifying for each element the specific tasks that must be accomplished, to be accomplished by whom, and when needed. Good project planning means identifying, early and continuously the specific goals that must be achieved.

Everyone makes a Schedule to organize his or her own everyday life. We schedule work holidays, list out places to visit, when to watch movie, when to pick up the laundry, etc. As we, ourselves are the only human resource for such a plan, it has to reflect that we cannot be at two or more places at the same time. A failure of this kind of scheduling will result in a lot of confusion, last-minute rush in our work or sometimes problems in our private life.

Making a Schedule for a construction or any kinds of project means the same: a plan with the sequence of operations and the list of resources, i.e., work force, materials, machines, as they correspond to the project. Of course making a Schedule for a construction project is far more difficult than making a schedule of our everyday life.

Why do we say that? First, in a construction project we have to organize hundreds sometimes thousands of activities and the proper sequencing of so many activities demands a lot of knowledge and years of experience. Second, we can use hundreds of independent resources in a construction project, and these resources are very often limited both in time and size. The third reason is that during the preparation of a schedule we have to satisfy other requests: the target completion of the major phases of the project, the substantial completion date to achieve occupancy permit, budget constraints, change orders, etc. Finally, the reason why is it so difficult to make a schedule is the complexity and the computational work involved! Our mind unfortunately limited and we are not always able to keep all the necessary data that we need for efficient decision making in our head.

A failure to make a schedule or devising a wrong schedule can result in delay of a deadline and can cost the various stakeholders in the project a lot of money. No doubt, a proper and well-established schedule can do a lot to avoid excess costs and unwanted delays. A well-organized construction project will be finished quicker and cheaper than a badly organized. No wonder that we use more sophisticated scheduling techniques in the construction industry that in our everyday life.

EFFICIENCY is a dynamic word that binds Planning and Scheduling. Efficiency is doing things right. Best Schedule depends on the efficient contributions and cooperation of the project managers, superintendents and senior management into the preparation of the Schedule. Failures of Schedules happen when untruthfulness, secrecy and politics are involve in the preparation. Likewise, an inexperienced project manager reduces efficiency due to lack of priorities and mismanagement of available time and resources. Team leaders should have their own plans to accomplish their project and clearly communicate them to the project team. Schedulers will be the controller point of all interface plans and shall be the “walking encyclopedia” of project leaders for decision-making. Efficient communication between operation and management to produce a project schedule is very crucial to achieve a timely and on budget completed project.

Likewise, schedulers and planners should strive to be Efficient in performing his or her job to control and manage the overall and combined Schedule. They must be well equipped not only with technical knowledge and experience but be able to wear and use the most efficient and advance tools in project management. The creation and advancement of project management tools such as Primavera, Armetis, Microsoft Project, etc. are one of the best tools ever created that increases efficiencies of schedulers. Gone were the days when engineers and managers produce timeline schedule using the traditional or manual methods. Projects such as The Baha Mar Development in the Bahamas where 15,000 activities are required to be logic-linked and resource loaded, computerized project management software is required as the most efficient way to schedule, monitor and control the tasks and resources.

Therefore, Scheduler’s competitive edge to pursue excellence to advance project management knowledge as well as technical expertise in project operation is a must.

In everyday life, everyone should aspire for efficiency. Avoiding wastages and saving time, effort and money requires efficiency. We need to strive for efficiency to be successful in life.

“Efficiency is doing better what is already being done.” (Peter Drucker)

#usnavysealsschedulingplanningprojectcontrolprojectmanager