Adding a Schedule Contingency

[Contingency Theory]

I'd like to hear thoughts on how to add a separate
schedule contingency to a project plan. That is, PERT
and other estimating techniques will encourage you to
stretch the duration of the tasks to make them more
accurate, but what if you need to add a x% contingency to
cover overall risk: a separate "contingency" task? a lag
between two milestones?

 

[Jack D.]

I'd like to hear thoughts on how to add a separate
schedule contingency to a project plan. That is, PERT
and other estimating techniques will encourage you to
stretch the duration of the tasks to make them more
accurate, but what if you need to add a x% contingency to
cover overall risk: a separate "contingency" task? a lag
between two milestones?

Theory of constraint people will tell you to add a buffer.
Contingency people will tell you to add a contingency task (that way you can
manage it - unlike lag which is hidden)
Monte Carlo simulation people would tell you to just use a probability
distribution.
I say, do what you like.

--
Please try to keep replies in this group. I do check e-mail, but only
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-Jack Dahlgren, Project MVP


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