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P
ROJECT
T
IME
M
ANAGEMENT
6
©1996 Project Management Institute, 130 South State Road, Upper Darby, PA 19082 USA
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Project Time Management includes the processes required to ensure timely com-
pletion of the project. Figure 6–1 provides an overview of the following major
processes:
6.1 Activity Definition—identifying the specific activities that must be per-
formed to produce the various project deliverables.
6.2 Activity Sequencing—identifying and documenting interactivity dependencies.
6.3 Activity Duration Estimating—estimating the number of work periods
which will be needed to complete individual activities.
6.4 Schedule Development—analyzing activity sequences, activity durations,
and resource requirements to create the project schedule.
6.5 Schedule Control—controlling changes to the project schedule.
These processes interact with each other and with the processes in the other
knowledge areas as well. Each process may involve effort from one or more indi-
viduals or groups of individuals based on the needs of the project. Each process
generally occurs at least once in every project phase.
Although the processes are presented here as discrete elements with well-defined
interfaces, in practice they may overlap and interact in ways not detailed here.
Process interactions are discussed in detail in Chapter 3.
On some projects, especially smaller ones, activity sequencing, activity duration
estimating, and schedule development are so tightly linked that they are viewed as
a single process (e.g., they may be performed by a single individual over a relative-
ly short period of time). They are presented here as distinct processes because the
tools and techniques for each are different.
At present, there is no consensus within the project management profession
about the relationship between activities and tasks:
• In many application areas, activities are seen as being composed of tasks. This
is the most common usage and also the preferred usage.
• In others, tasks are seen as being composed of activities.
However, the important consideration is not the term used, but whether or not
the work to be done is described accurately and understood by those who must do
the work.
6.1 A
CTIVITY
D
EFINITION
Activity definition involves identifying and documenting the specific activities that
must be performed in order to produce the deliverables and sub-deliverables iden-
tified in the work breakdown structure. Implicit in this process is the need to define
the activities such that the project objectives will be met.
6.1
Activity Definition
6.2
Activity Sequencing
6.3
Activity Duration
Estimating
6.4
Schedule Development
6.5
Schedule Control