Hi all, welcome to our Impactful Projects

and Planning Microtraining Series.

I'm Jami Yazdani.

In this session, we'll talk about project

schedules and how they can be used to set

expectations, track progress and mitigate

delays.

So what do I mean when I say project schedule?

When we think about a project schedule, we

typically think about task completion.

And our schedule should answer the question

of when will we accomplish tasks.

So when do we need to complete the various

tasks and activities that make up the work

of our project?

Beyond tasks, though, our schedule should

also consider the bigger picture.

So how long will the project take?

And how long will we be working together on

this project?

We can also use our schedules to help define

when we have achieved success.

While our project scope and deliverables are

often the primary ways we measure success,

setting a clear timeline and achieving that

timeline can be another marker for project

success.

Our project schedule is all about setting

expectations.

A project scope may define our purpose, and

our outcomes or deliverables may give us something

to work towards.

But I've found project schedule to be most

useful in setting expectations for our teams

and our stakeholders.

A schedule can help us turn what often feels

abstract about our projects into something

concrete, tying tasks and activities to a

timeline that moves the project forward.

Schedule is also one of my five key elements

of impactful project management, along with

scope, stakeholders outcomes or deliverables

and communication.

A focus on schedule can greatly impact your

project success, especially for mission-driven

organizations.

Together, these five elements can help us

plan our projects, create a more collaborative

project environment, and strategically deliver

successful project outcomes.

Schedule is also one of the day-to-day ways

project managers monitor project progress.

Once we've created a project schedule, it's

often what drives when we engage with the

project to measure and monitor progress.

Schedule is also how we report progress to

our stakeholders.

So, is our project progressing on time?

Or are we experiencing delays?

So schedule is obviously a critical part of

project management.

But how should we approach creating and managing

our project schedule?

How can we use it to set expectations, track

progress and mitigate delays?

I've got three tips that I'd like to share.

So the first one is set clear deadlines.

While this may seem really obvious and really

simple, I found that this often doesn't happen

in mission-driven organizations.

We tell our stakeholders that the project

will be completed by the end of the year,

we asked our teams to complete tasks by the

end of the week or the end of the month.

Even when there are some clear dates involved,

let's say a grants funding deadline, the work

of the project often continues long after

that date.

So we need to be clearly setting concrete

deadlines in our projects.

Concrete deadlines set concrete expectations

for our stakeholders and our teams.

So we need to stop being deadline-vague!

Assign actual dates to our project schedule.

Instead of saying, by the end of the week,

say by Friday, October 22 at noon.

I'll say it again, concrete deadlines set

concrete expectations.

So for our project schedule, we want to set

an overall project deadline with a date for

completing the project.

We should also set deadlines for completing

each of our outcomes or deliverables.

And then for any tasks or activities, we want

to assign those concrete due dates as well.

Now beyond deadlines, I also recommend using

milestones.

Milestones are points in our project that

mark a significant achievement, change or

step.

Milestones help us monitor progress between

deadlines.

Especially with longer projects, there may

be months between deadlines for outcomes or

tasks.

So we can use milestones as opportunities

to check in and report on our progress.

We can also use milestones to celebrate success.

Instead of waiting until the end of a project,

when your teams are exhausted, your stakeholders

are focused on implementation, and most everyone

has already moved on to the next project or

initiative or gone back to their regular role,

we can use milestones as opportunities within

the project's timeline to acknowledge effort

and accomplishments.

So we want to set milestone points for our

overall project.

These project milestones may be based on the

phases or lifecycle of our project, or on

completion of project outcomes, especially

if these outcomes build on each other.

We can also set milestones within each of

our outcomes.

How you approach this will depend on the type

of outcome, but it could be a designated point

like halfway to the deadline for that outcome,

so three months into a six month deadline.

Or it could be related to tasks or groups

of tasks, like when a significant task or

set of tasks for that outcome is completed.

For our tasks and activities, we can use milestones

as progress check-in points, where we engaged

with our team to see how things are progressing

with a particular task.

Depending on the task and the team members

assigned to the task, we may want to set several

milestones or check-ins between the tasks

start date and the final deadline.

Again, setting deadlines and milestones within

those deadlines can really help us set expectations

for our stakeholders and teams and create

points at which we can monitor and share progress

with our stakeholders.

So we have our deadlines and milestones to

make up our project schedule.

But what about delays?

We need to make sure we are planning for them

so that we can mitigate their impact.

So what's the best way to plan for project

delays?

The first is to share your schedule broadly

and ask your team and key stakeholders for

feedback.

As a project manager, you can estimate how

long tasks and activities will take and set

deadlines and milestones based on project

needs.

But your team and stakeholders are often in

a better position to point out possible delays

or conflicts with your draft schedule.

Especially in mission-driven organizations

where projects typically involve diverse groups

of stakeholders who likely aren't able to

devote themselves to the project full time,

it's critical to get input on a draft schedule.

So we can plan for delays by getting feedback

on our draft schedule.

We can also make sure we understand the dependencies

between our outcomes and between tasks.

So are there outcomes or deliverables that

have to be started or finished before we can

begin working on another outcome?

Are there tasks that can't be started or completed

until another task is started or completed?

If so, we may want to add extra time for those

activities to cushion the impact on later

tasks if there are delays.

We could also add additional progress check-ins

for these critical tasks to help us identify

and manage delays before they happen.

And finally, we can plan for and help to mitigate

delays by reminding our stakeholders and teams

of the final schedule, of any deadlines or

due dates that impact them.

We do want to share the entire finalized schedule

broadly so that folks understand how a delay

in their tasks might impact the entire project.

A collaborative approach to managing your

project schedule, one that goes beyond merely

assigning a project completion date or tasks

deadlines, can support engagement throughout

a project, connecting your stakeholders to

the evolving story of your project along a

timeline and helping team members understand

their own contributions to your project success.

So those are

a few very simple tips for managing your project

schedule.

We want to set clear and concrete deadlines

to create those concrete expectations for

our team and stakeholders.

We can use milestones in our schedule to monitor

progress and celebrate success.

And we can plan for delays by getting feedback

on our draft schedule, understanding dependencies,

and sharing our schedules broadly.

As I mentioned earlier, schedule is one of

the five key elements of Impactful Project

Management.

You can download our five key elements worksheet

to learn more.

This free download of our simple worksheet

is a great start to project planning and is

available as yazdaniconsulting.com/resources.

Great.

So I'm happy to take any questions that you

have.

So feel free to add those in the comments.

If I'm not able to answer your question live,

I will respond later in the comments.

Also, you can find all of the ways to reach

me at yazdaniconsulting.com/contact.

So feel free to schedule a time with me to

talk about project schedules.

Okay, so let's see if we have any questions.

Okay.

All right.

So one question is, while feedback on our

schedule is great, some dates are not flexible,

like funding deadlines.

So how should we handle those dates?

So understanding which deadlines are inflexible,

dates that are set outside of the project

or that simply cannot be moved, is really,

really important.

Your project schedule should be built around

those dates, setting them as either key deadlines

or milestones and allowing extra time around

them when possible.

When you share your draft schedule for feedback,

you can let folks know that these dates can't

be moved and that we're just going to need

to work around them.

Okay, so another common issue is how to deal

with changing schedules once the project is

underway.

Alright, so despite all of our best efforts

and getting feedback to create a workable

schedule, changes happen.

Those inflexible dates suddenly move, stakeholders

need changes, access to funding or resources

shift, key team members leave or added.

So if we've created a schedule with deadlines

and milestones and we understand our dependencies,

that puts us in a better position to make

those shifts and changes.

The most important thing is really to get

feedback on the new draft schedule and share

any revisions broadly.

Okay, so again, thank you.

Feel free to comment or reach out and message

me with any additional questions that you

might have.

So thanks for participating in our Impactful

Projects and Planning Microtraining Series.

If you need support leading projects and teams,

visit our project solutions page at yazdaniconsulting.com/projects

to learn more, and visit yazdaniconsulting.com/ipp

to view all of the sessions in this series

and learn about upcoming trainings.

So thank you.

Enjoy the rest of your day.