overtime

[MD]

What are some of the best strategies for determining whether to have
employees on a project work OT or not?

Also, where in Project (views/tables) should I look to see what effect
adding OT on a particular task would have on (1) the duration and the (2)
cost?

I've been viewing the Gantt Chart and splitting the window to see the task
form. If I change the form to display the Resource Work, then increase the
Ovt Work value, I can see the duration update. (the task is fixed work)
I've also tried viewing the Task Usage on top (with the Cost table) and the
task form on bottom. This seems to work well but wondered if there's a
better way to do/see this. How do all you MVP's handle this?

 

[salgud]

What are some of the best strategies for determining whether to have
employees on a project work OT or not?

Also, where in Project (views/tables) should I look to see what effect
adding OT on a particular task would have on (1) the duration and the (2)
cost?

I've been viewing the Gantt Chart and splitting the window to see the task
form. If I change the form to display the Resource Work, then increase the
Ovt Work value, I can see the duration update. (the task is fixed work)
I've also tried viewing the Task Usage on top (with the Cost table) and the
task form on bottom. This seems to work well but wondered if there's a
better way to do/see this. How do all you MVP's handle this?

The number one rule for working OT is not for more than 2 weeks at a time,
and then with at least 2 weeks, more if possible, in between. It is not
commonly known, even to Project Managers, that working OT for too long
(maximum 4 weeks), with few exceptions, leads to lower productivity and
very quickly, you're getting less real work done than you would working 40
hour weeks. This is based on "Effective Productivity", productivity where
the quality/cost/time penalties incurred by working OT are factored in.
Quality issues being the really big ones after 2 - 4 weeks.

If you keep the durations below 2 weeks, the results will be fairly linear.
As you go beyond the 2 weeks, and for sure beyond 4 weeks, the productivity
falls in some kind of curve, down to a rather low level, then tends to
level off. This is all pretty predictable as I had a very sharp scheduling
consultant tell me that given the hours of work, he could very accurately
predict the DELAY in getting the tasks done as a result of extended OT.

As to how to manage this in Project, seems like your on the right track.

Hope this helps in your world.

 

[MD]

Thanks for the info. In my case, we're thinking about having employees work
on a Sat and possibly having additional resources (above the ones already
assigned) working on a Sat to help keep the project on track. Sort of a
short burst of energy on the weekend to see if that helps. Hopefully what
I'm doing now is still the best way to determine if it is cost effective.