Definiowanie działań

Define Activities – Proces polegający na identyfikacji i dokumentowaniu konkretnych działań, które mają być wykonane w celu dostarczenia produktów projektu.

W tej lekcji omówimy proces definiowania działań w obszarze zarządzania harmonogramem.

Jak pamiętamy, stworzyliśmy strukturę podziału pracy (WBS) dla naszego wyimaginowanego projektu, gdzie zidentyfikowaliśmy pakiety robocze, takie jak dach budynku A czy prace wykopowe. Pakiet roboczy to wynik lub produkt, który uzyskujemy na skutek działań, dlatego aby zdefiniować działania, musimy zdekomponować pakiety robocze.

Na przykład, aby zbudować dach budynku A, musimy najpierw skonstruować jego strukturę, następnie wykonać prace izolacyjne, a na końcu położyć dachówki. Te trzy działania prowadzą do powstania dachu, który jest produktem końcowym. Tak więc definiujemy działania, dekomponując pakiety robocze.

W wyniku tego procesu tworzymy listę działań, czyli dokument, w którym wyszczególnione są wszystkie działania. Podobnie jak w przypadku słownika WBS, tworzymy także atrybuty działań, które pomagają dokładniej opisać każde działanie. Atrybuty te mogą zawierać takie informacje, jak identyfikatory działań, powiązania z pakietami roboczymi, zasoby potrzebne do wykonania działania i inne szczegóły.

W tym procesie możemy również zdefiniować pewne kamienie milowe, które są kluczowymi osiągnięciami w projekcie. Kamienie milowe to mini cele, które pomagają mierzyć postępy projektu, ale nie są to działania same w sobie, ponieważ nie mają przypisanego czasu trwania.

W procesie definiowania działań warto również wspomnieć o technice rolling wave planning, która pozwala na szczegółowe planowanie znanych części projektu i pozostawienie mniej szczegółowych planów dla elementów niepewnych, które będą doprecyzowane później.

To tyle na temat procesu definiowania działań. Kolejnym krokiem będzie proces sekwencjonowania działań.

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In this lecture, we will talk about the define activities process or the schedule management knowledge area.

As you will remember, this is the work breakdown structure we have created for our imaginary project. We have learned that we decompose the project until we get easily manageable work packages. Here, for example, the roof of building A is a work package, or excavation works of building A is a work package.

A work package is a product or a deliverable we get as a result of the activities. Therefore, to get the activities, we need to decompose the work packages.

For example, let’s think about the work package named roof of Building A. To construct the roof of building A, we need to construct its structure first. Then we do the insulation work and finally we shingle the roof. After completing these three works, we will have the roof of building A completed. Therefore, these three works are the activities producing the roof, which is the deliverable. We decompose the work package and we get the activities.

So here in this process, we define the activities by decomposing the work packages. Please note that we were decomposing the project until we got the work packages when we created the work breakdown structure. But to define the activities, we decompose the work packages, or in other words, the deliverables, not the project.

As a result of these efforts, we define the activities and list them on a document named activity list. As you will remember, after creating the work breakdown structure, we create a WBS dictionary to define the work packages better. Just like that, we create activity attributes to define the activities better.

In the activity attributes, we describe the activity. We give ID numbers to activities. We can assign them to the related work packages and we can define required resources.

As you know, planning is iterative. This means after completing the schedule network diagram, we may turn back here and add information like predecessors and the successors of the activity, constraints, assumptions, deadlines, and so on.

In addition to activities, we also define some of the milestones in this process. So what is a milestone then? Milestones are important achievements in a project. They are simply the mini goals we want to achieve while completing the total project. Or in other words, they are the checkpoints before we reach the finish line.

For example, completing the design of the construction project can be a milestone, or completing the home page of a website is a milestone. Milestones help us in measuring the progress of the project. A milestone is not an activity. Don’t forget, it is not the work we do. It is just a moment in the project. Therefore, it has zero duration.

I know that some of the scheduling software like Microsoft Project lets you determine a duration for a milestone, but according to the project management practices, we shouldn’t determine any duration for a milestone. For the exam, please assume that milestones have zero duration. Please don’t forget this because you may get questions related to this concept.

Here, I have one more note for you. Although I like Microsoft Project very well as a scheduling tool, this software sometimes confuses some of the exam takers because some terms used in this software are not used for the same meaning as PMI uses. For example, the software uses the term task instead of activity. Please note that according to PMI, the terms activity and task are not the same. Please be aware that activities consist of tasks. Therefore, if we decompose an activity, we get tasks. Please don’t confuse these two terms together.

Rolling wave planning can be a useful technique when defining activities. To understand this technique better, let’s think about the house construction project. Assume that we haven’t decided on the interior wall coverings yet. Therefore, we don’t know which rooms we are going to paint and which rooms we are going to use wallpaper.

In such a situation, do we need to wait until we make our final decision? Now we can prepare a detailed schedule for the rest of the work, and we can prepare a high-level plan for the painting and the wallpaper works. And this is enough for us to start the construction. After we make our decision, we can turn back here and determine the related activities for the painting and the wall covering works. This is called rolling wave planning.

Rolling wave planning is an iterative technique. In the beginning, the known components are planned in detail, but the unknown components are planned in a high-level manner. When the unknown parts get clearer, we will turn back here and define the detailed activities for the high-level planned parts. Therefore, this is a progressive elaboration method. In other words, we detail the schedule plan progressively. If we elaborate something progressively, then this is called progressive elaboration.