Have you got time? - Project managing time.

Time management is skill that you should get better at as time passes (ironically) and your experience grows.

After cutting a number of projects too close to the wire, you learn that you need to provide that little contingency into your time estimates (when it comes to providing delivery dates).

You also learn that clients or sponsors, generally, would rather a receive a good end product, than receive the product a week early.

Rushing to deliver a product ahead of schedule generally doesn't do anyone any favours. It sets a precedent for future projects, that can harm both your delivery timetables and your clients expectations.

I keep using the word "generally" here, that's because there are always exceptions to the rule and you need to be able to accommodate these when they occur.

I was reading a post by Susan Peterson, on the Project Management Hut, about managing project delivery expectations a while back, it got me thinking about the whole time management process and my knowledge of it.

Management of time and a feeling for how long a particular aspect of a project is going to take can be a complex process. A process that needs to consider several volatile variables that can effect the outcome of your projects delivery date.

Personally, I usually approach the development and design teams at work with a good explanation of the project before it kicks off (using a document I call a Communication Brief, something I'll talk about at some other time). Collecting their opinions on how long they believe specific aspects of work will take and recording them into the project plan.

Then, if we are honest, its a matter of matching what you would expect a specific project to cost to your hourly rate. Managing time expectations against specific areas of the project delivery.

Often in a digital media project brief, you'll receive an "expected live date" in the clients brief. Sometimes live dates can be realistic. Other times, after reading the requirements carefully, you might feel the date is unrealistic, if so, then state this.

Items you'll need to consider while providing an expected time line include:

• Design process (set an expectation of the number of reworks accounted for)
• Relationship building (varying if your client is an existing client or new)
• Other current commitments for delivery team
  
• Other possible pending commitments
• Staff holidays
• Client deliverables (waiting for content delivery etc . . .)
• Prolonged testing sign off
• Number of contributors to process (client side)
• Purpose of project (Is it tied into another marketing push?)

Obviously this list isn't exhaustive, and there may be all sorts of other things you might need to consider for each independent project. But it should give you a reasonable starting point.

After reviewing all of these items you need to work with your client to establish and understanding between each other of your commitment to the project and manage time expectations for everyone's benefit.

Man hours can be increased against a project in comparison to actual dates by throwing more resources at the project. These additional resources are usually staff.

You'll learn to know when I project is starting to fall behind as your understanding of the development process improves. While very structured time lines and Gannt charts can help with this, if honest they are often surplus to requirements.

But you should always provide a number of key milestone delivery dates, to give both your team an expectation of requirements and also something tangible for your client.

Components that were expected to take longer to deliver can sometimes arrive early, and others take longer. Watching the overall progress is what's important at these times; and trying to envisage possible future issues in their early development, before they grow to become major issues.

When something starts to develop into an issue then focus in on that task, perhaps subdivide it to make it less daunting. Once resolved, reassess your time lines and communicate changes effectively.

Time is a valuable commodity that when managed properly can reap great rewards for all parties.

When managed badly, it can damage previously strong relationships that might have taken years to build, or become very costly.


Related reading:

When getting a good job done collides with just getting it done - Project Management Hut - http://www.pmhut.com/quality-in-project-management-when-doing-a-good-job-collides-with-just-get-it-done

Digital Project Management - Episode 1 - Digital Signals http://www.digital-constructions.com/blog/2008/12/digital-project-management-episode-1.html

Digital Project Management - Episode 2 - Digital Signals http://www.digital-constructions.com/blog/2009/02/digital-project-management-episode-2.html

Digital Project Management - Tools of the time trade - Digital Signals http://www.digital-constructions.com/blog/2009/04/digital-project-management-tools-of.html

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