A project flows like a river. Similarly the flow of traffic. In order to move ahead, you need to be able to gauge the speed of the traffic with the some moving faster and others moving slower then you. When changing lanes you need to view the object  behind you through your rear and side mirrors as well as where the road is heading. With a project, your need to know what tasks are in front of you, in the schedule which may or may not be dependent on the task, and and if there are any dependant activities that are lined up before inserting a task into the schedule. If you do not understand the flow of the project then you may insert a task too early hence it will divert your resources which can be better utilized at that point of time or too late which may mean that you may not be able to complete on time and worse still hold up other tasks that may be dependant on this particular task. Just as when you are driving in traffic, mis-timing changing lanes may cause tr...

My post yesterday discussed the learnings that we could obtain from our drive to work. Here are a few more observations that are along the same topic. Each project is like a journey. When you start your journey, you will have a few decision points in your journey which will determine how fast you will be able to reach your destination. Similarly there are several decision points when the project starts. Existing Resources Some of the decision points have been made earlier for example the car you are driving and the location of your residence so you will need to work within these as your starting point. In a project persepective, your resources may also already be pre-determined by decisions made earlier depending on the type of project eg. the number of team members and their skill sets, hardware, software etc. Timing to start The first decision point will be the time to start your journey. This will be made based on the information that you have and your previous...