Portfolio / Expertise / Project Planning & Scheduling
Project Planning & Scheduling
A plan is a promise. I build schedules people can actually keep — dependencies mapped, critical path visible, buffers placed deliberately — so the date on the plan is a date the team can meet.
The Workflow — How I Approach It
Define scope and deliverables first
A schedule built before the scope is agreed is a guess with formatting.
Decompose into work packages
Break the deliverables into pieces small enough to estimate honestly.
Sequence with dependencies
Map what must finish before what can start — the schedule lives or dies here.
Allocate resources and durations
Realistic durations against real capacity — not optimistic, not padded.
Identify the critical path
Find the sequence that drives the end date — that is what you protect.
Place buffers deliberately
Deliberate contingency at the right points — not a flat, hidden pad.
Baseline and track
Freeze the baseline, track against it, and re-plan when reality demands.
My Operating View — The 2 Cents
Schedules fail from optimism and hidden dependencies. My 2 cents: find the critical path before you promise a date. The plan is only as real as its riskiest sequence — if you can’t see it, you’re planning blind.
What Worked & What Didn’t
What Worked
- Dependency matrices that made downstream impacts predictable.
- Critical-path focus — attention went where the date lived.
What Didn’t
- Optimistic durations — the schedule looked great and slipped anyway.
- Schedules built without dependency mapping — surprises at every merge.