Why do we make schedules?
This seems like an obvious question. We make them because we're project managers or planners and that's what project managers or planners do - they make schedules of the work to be done on the project.
But a more important question is - what is the purpose of the schedule?
Today over lunch I came to the clear realization - schedules predict the future. That's silly of course. The future can't be predicted. But this prediction is a different kind of prediction than the fortune teller type prediction.
The schedule shows where you are along the road to "done," how much work is left to be accomplished, how much has been accomplished, who is doing this future work, what they are delivering, and when they plan to deliver it.
The schedule shows a picture of what the future should look like. It shows the intent of the project.
Plans are Sketches of the Future
The emphasis is on should since it is a plan of the future, not the instructions of how to actually make the future appear. It is a plan, like our son has a plan to build a terrain park "box" in the backyard. His "plan" is a sketch of a 10 foot long, 2 foot high, 2 foot wide plywood box, covered in Lexan (or some slippery material).
The first snow has fallen, he's out of his stress fracture brace (from too much cross country running), he's got his skis tuned and ready to hit the slopes. Since the "real" terrain parks are an hour away, he decided to build a "box" in the backyard. No problem, draw up some plans, make a material list, let's get going.
But of course there are some "slight details" missing. How do you ski from the ground level onto the two foot high ramp? When you get to the end, you can jump back onto the yard level no problem. But that entry might be a problem, since we don't have much snow at 6,000 feet yet? How do you get enough speed to make the first jump. The mountain side slope has a 4 to 7 percent pitch (Blue/Green run). The yard has a much smaller pitch.
All of these and many more questions don't really have answers. But they'll need to be addressed before, during, or possibly after the first run down the side yard - on to the ramp - and stopping before hitting the split rail at the back of the lot.
But he has a "plan" and a schedule to realize the outcome of the plan, and a description of what "done" looks like. So the idea that schedules are visions of the future actually works in this case. Now if only I could build such a schedule for flying to low earth orbit with crew on board.
