Month: November 2013

Game Changer Tip – Buffers

Sometimes a small piece of advice can be a game changer.
I’ve experienced this in the past when I received a tip from someone which helped me to take my project to the next level by fixing a business issue that I’ve been struggling with.



 

 

I would like to share a game changing tip with you that can help you complete projects on time.

Projects are often late. It is a well known issue that in many cases is accepted as something that we just need to live with.
But it doesn’t have to be like that. Projects can be completed on time if planned correctly.

So the game changer tip I’d like to share with you today is: Buffers.

A buffer is extra time that you add to the project’s schedule to take into account unexpected changes that might cause project delays.
We recommend using global buffers that are added to the schedule at different points, usually before milestone due dates.

Now how do you calculate the amount of time to add for a buffer, you ask? To come up with that figure, you should take the risk factors for each task into consideration. Think about what could go wrong and how much additional time it would take to deal with those potential problems. Once you have estimated a buffer time for each individual task, add them up to get the amount of time needed to create one large buffer at the end of the project.

Elementool can help you complete projects on time using the combination of Elementool’s project management software and our Project Management Formula education program.

I wish you a Happy New Year and hope that next year will be prosperous for you and your family!

And to make your New Year extra special, I would like to offer you the Project Management Formula for free if you sign up and purchase Elementool. This special offer will expire on December 31st, 2013, so you better hurry!

To sign up, please click on the button below.

 

 

How to Create Accurate Project Schedule

Hi, I’m Allison and I have a great tip to share with you on how you can improve your project scheduling. We all know how easy it is for projects to get delayed because, more often than not, tasks take longer to complete than initially expected.



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Any number of issues could cause this problem, whether it’s bugs, underestimating how long a task will take, someone on the team got sick, or other unexpected delays. The result is that your project is late – and that isn’t good. Fortunately I have a very useful tip for making your project schedules more accurate and preventing your projects from being late: using buffers.

In the world of project scheduling, there are two types of buffers, the individual buffer and the global buffer. The individual buffer is the one you add at the end of each activity in your schedule, whereas the global buffer is the one you add at the very end of your activity chain.

At Elementool, we usually advise against using the individual buffer because people have a habit of just spending more time – even when they don’t need it – working on a task if they know that they have a buffer to give them extra time at the end of it. As Parkinson’s Law states, work tends to expand to fill the space of the time available for its completion. And that would pretty much defeat the purpose of having a buffer in the first place, wouldn’t it?

Global buffers, on the other hand, can be extremely helpful in improving you project schedule. Because it encompasses the entire project, your global buffer will be a much lengthier amount of time added to the end of your project than an individual buffer would be. And by adding this schedule contingency at the global level, you can ensure it won’t be wasted at the activity level. The project manager will need to monitor this global buffer, while making sure that the individual task estimates still remain achievable.

Now how do you calculate the amount of time to add for a buffer, you ask? To come up with that figure, you should take the risk factors for each task into consideration. Think about what could go wrong and how much additional time it would take to deal with those potential problems. Once you have estimated a buffer time for each individual task, add them up to get the amount of time needed to create one large buffer at the end of the project.

You’ll find that by adding a global buffer, you can significantly improve the overall accuracy of your project schedule, allowing you to complete your project by the expected deadline without a lot of unnecessary last-minute rushing to get everything done in time.

This is just one small tip that can help you create more accurate project schedules.

We explain how to do that in more detail in our book “The Project Management Formula – The 5 Steps to Complete Your Project on Time”, written by Elementool’s Founder & CEO Mr. Yaron Sinai.

The book is a result of years of project management experience and in-depth research. It will explain the different steps of project management and show you the five simple steps for running successful project management process from start to finish.
Get the book for free right now by simply clicking on the button below and I will send it to you by mail.

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