Understanding Backlogs in Project Schedule Management

So, what is project schedule management? Well, schedule management is a procedure in which it is required for a project to establish policies and documentation for the maintaining, developing, controlling, and managing of schedules for the time and resources of a project. The benefit that comes from doing this process is that it will help monitor and manage the timeframe and resources of each project. The process starts with the projects that are supposed to be delivered based on requirements made by stakeholders and investors. The management of the schedules includes the technical work that would generate productivity in a project and bring changes that handle aspects such as risk and stakeholder management.

Thus brings in the project schedule, a technique that specifies what work should be performed, what resources of the organizations will preform the work, and the time spans of which that work will be preformed in. The project schedule reflects the majority of all the project’s work related to completion of all tasks on time. Without a project schedule, project managers are unable to communicate costs and resources that are needed to complete the project. That is why project schedule management must be carefully monitored and viewed by project managers, to make sure everything is met to its required standards and an overuse of resources does not occur.

Project scheduling can differ depending on the type of project style is being implemented. When it comes to agile project management, the style of project schedule focuses on certain aspects of the project but overall looks to achieve the same goal. Within agile project styles, an agile project schedule looks at project specific data that must be obtained in order to make the schedule. TO start this, project managers must look at the project backlog. Project backlog is a list of features that must be implemented as well as a number sprints to implement the features. The features are all tasks in the schedule that must be completed within the given timeframe of the project. Each of these features will have a certain level of priority to them as well as an estimate to the size of them in story points. They will then be mapped to a certain sprint and completed during that sprint.

We know the four major points that are viewed when it comes to project schedules are time, start and finish dates on sprints,  the allocating of resources to complete tasks, and the sequencing of those tasks. These four tasks put together are what is known as the WBS, or work breakdown structure. These points help ensure that the original product plan and the final product plan are close to one another. If this is the case, project managers can deem a project as a success and use the project as reference on how to complete future projects.

Project scheduling in an agile project management style seems very straight forward, so why then is its level of importance so much different than regular project scheduling? The main reason for that is this is time. In an agile project management style, time is not something that project managers and their teams have lots of. The point of this style of project management is to meet all required goals and complete the project itself as quickly and as efficiently as possible without having to backtrack and avoid any possible mistakes during the process. This is why the backlog in this style is of such major importance, as it is key to keeping the flow of everything and making sure all aspects are met on time.

With other project styles, project scheduling is still considered crucial but there is more room for variability in the project’s scheduling. Think about this in the style of waterfall, with this style of project management there is no going forward with the next step until every aspect of a task is completed. This means that project manager’s and their teams must take their time and slowly progress through the project until it’s full completion. Time is not necessarily a major factor for the project schedule as there are not any constraints on how long the project team is allowed to take. In agile, the timeframe is set by stakeholders and thus means that this point in the project schedule is already decided for the project team. The agile project team must then be able to meet the schedule’s requirements while on the timeline of what the stakeholders are expecting from them.

Backlogging is not something to be ignored when doing project scheduling, it is the entire foundation on the planning of the project and the project’s success. To be successful in this project and future projects, make sure to fully acknowledge the backlog and the rest of the aspects in project scheduling. The overall results will be very fruitful and show great promise for future success in other projects.

Work Cited

Brown, L. (2021, June 16). Project Schedule Management: How to Plan, Develop, Maintain & Control? Invensis Learning Blog.          https://www.invensislearning.com/blog/project-schedule-management/

McGevna, V. (2012, May 2). Creating an Agile Schedule with MS Project. MPUG. https://www.mpug.com/creating-an-agile-schedule-with-ms-project/#:~:text=An%20Agile%20project%20starts%20with%20a%20backlog%2C%20which

What is Agile Project Planning? An Introduction for Beginners. (2021, August 20). ProjectManager.com. https://www.projectmanager.com/blog/agile-project-planning

What is a Product Backlog? | Agile Alliance. (2015, December 16). https://www.agilealliance.org/glossary/backlog/#q=~(infinite~false~filters~(postType~(~