Project Management Question

[John]

When creating a project schedule, what is the best way to represent wait
time (time waiting for something to happen such as a contract signing or a
purchase order to process through the system)?
For instance, the actual signing of the contract will only take about 2
hours worth of work, but it might be sitting on someone's desk for 5 days.
Would I represent that as a 5 day task with 2 hours worth of work, or would
I represent that as a 1 day task (2 hours of work) with the next task having
5 days of float (between it and the previous task)?

All of the books that I've read use a cement pouring and setting example
(that the actual pouring of the cement takes 2 days but the setting of the
concrete takes 2 additional days, therefore I should artificially put slack
between the cement pouring task and the successor task).

Could someone give me some advice as to the recommended way of doing this
and the implications of each method?

Thanks
John

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

John --

There is no "right" way to handle this, but there are several alternatives.
My personal preference would be to set the task Duration at 5 days and
assign the resource to 2 hours of work. By doing so, you set the "window of
opportunity" for the task as the 5-day time period, acknowledging that the
task could be completed anywhere during those 5 days, including even on the
first day. If the team member completes the task anywhere between the first
day and the fourth day, then the Duration will shorten appropriately and the
next succesor task can start early. If the resource does not complete the
work until the 5th day, the successor will at least start on time as
previously scheduled. Just a opinion. Hope this helps.

 

[John]

Thanks for your opinion.
That's pretty much the way I've been advocating to the rest of our project
managers, but I wanted to get another opinion. I believe the books I've
read give a good method of doing this, but I also believe that the method
you described is more accurate because the task might take that long in
duration, instead of showing the task as having a short duration and the
project "sitting idle" for additional time.

Your opinion is much appreciated.
John