Project/Schedule Recovery: Beyond Crashing and Fast-tracking
Shimonkepha Onwuneme PMP® PMI-RMP®
EPC Project Planner||Scheduler||Risk Management|| Quantitative Schedule & Cost Risk Analysis ||Project Controls ||Certified Power BI Data Analyst|| Constant Learner||Problem Solving Mindset||Energy Mgt|| EVM||SAP||TILOS
Hej to all Project Team and Planners,
How do you recover a derailing project schedule? The usual response, especially by anyone who has passed through the PMP, is Crashing and Fast-tracking.
Right, but schedule recovery is not only about crashing and fast-tracking; there are other methods you can deploy to recover your schedule and project.
Before I go into them, one thing we have been taught is that fast-tracking does not increase the project cost, just only risk but this is not always true. There are actually direct costs, but most importantly indirect costs like the cost of managing an additional unplanned increase in cost as well as the cost of risks. I explained the cost implications of fast-tracking a project on this article: Cost Implication of Fast tracking a Project.
Another critical cost impact of fast-tracking on your project is that it will distort your planned cash flow!
How do you recover your project outside crashing and fast-tracking?
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Note that you are not limited to using only one type of schedule recovery technique. You can combine many different types to get the optimal savings.
Also, certain considerations need to be made like
One thing I always advise is for you to analyze the risks related to any choice or choices for recovery method/s chosen for your project.
Another thing that will be awesome for your project is to have a project/schedule recovery plan. See this article on Creating a Project Recovery Action Plan.
What do you think?
Are there any other project recovery techniques?
Useful tips
Contract Specialist/ NEC and FIDIC / Extension of Time Expert/ Adjudicator
4dWhat would be good to know is how many projects are experiencing these issues
Planning Engineer Experienced In High-rise Buildings | Cost Control | Cost Estimation
1wI found the topic of your article very engaging. I was particularly interested in exploring alternative project acceleration methods beyond the typical crashing techniques. While the article presented four valuable techniques, it appears that all four methods are categorized as crashing techniques. I think there are ways beyond crashing and fast tracking, such as:- 1- improve the efficiency of the team by implementing different motivation techniques. 2- increase the level of details of the schedule to tackle the idle time in/between activities. 3- find the most impactful causes of the delays by following 20/80 rule, from my experience there is usually a clear pattern for the causes of delays in each project, 80% of delays are having the same 20% of causes. 4- ensure the resources are fully employed.
Senior Scheduling Manager
1wOk, I'm going to be my usual self and anti-advocate on this post, so forgive my digression into being a superintendent. What this article talks about is how to use features within a software program to create dates that everybody loves/wants. This does nothing to lead the Project team toward a successful recovery of the work. Instead, what is needed is the Scheduling Manager must call for an immediate Pull Meeting to determine 1) Cause and Effect, 2) Currect Degree of Impact, 3) Determine Plausible Courses of Actions That Are Most Likely To Result in Recovery (new risk review) and 4) Submit the Best Courses of Action to Management for Action and Direction. Now you'll know what your team is not only capable of doing, but what they're willing to commit to doing.
Project Scheduler - GPSF - M.C. Dean
1wthe 4 items that you mentioned really do fall under the crashing the schedule because by modifying the calendar you are in essence increasing the working times thus reducing the duration the same TECHNIQUE as crashing. Except for item #4 scope reduction