How Mind Mapping can make Estimating Project Time an absolutely
simple process
An important aspect of Project Management is scheduling time
accurately. This is a critical component of Project planning as
this will decide the deadline for the completion of a project -
whether small, medium or mega. Closely linked to this is your
credibility since you have to meet the deadlines you have
committed. Another crucial impact of Project time scheduling is
that when deadlines are not met and timelines gets extended,
project costs escalate accordingly. This will impact on the
profitability of your project work. Additionally, it may lead to
unnecessary stress and work load in the execution of the
projects. More importantly, your credibility takes a beating and
can trigger a whole range of other avoidable problems.
Therefore assessing the time period aptly for varied tasks
assumes great importance in Project Planning. The usual problem
that most people commit is underestimating the time needed to
execute different types of jobs. This is especially so when the
person is not very familiar with certain type of tasks. When you
are ignorant about certain areas of work involved, it leads to
improper judgment of time schedules.
Another aspect is that people fail to fully comprehend the
enormity of the tasks involved. They are unable to realize the
entire dynamics of the activities that a project work demands.
You have to have a clear idea of the entire spectrum of work
involved in a specific project.
The foremost requirement for estimating time schedule correctly
is to clearly understand what you need to achieve. You have to
have a firm objective of the outcome of the project. This would
mean that you gain a complete and comprehensive picture of the
entire project work to be undertaken. Every single aspect of the
project work must be crystal clear in your mind's eye. Of course
this is gained as you gather more experience. Nonetheless you
must strive to thoroughly understand the nuances and
nitty-gritty involved in the simplest of tasks. Once you have
absolute knowledge of the full range of tasks to be executed,
you will be in total control and be able to handle any
situations effectively.
The next part is to break down the entire project work into
different units of task. By splitting them into different small
units, you will know the entire range of work to be undertaken
for each of the segments thoroughly. There should no unknown
areas as these prove tricky, and invariably consume the greatest
amount of time and follow-up. If there are some unfamiliar
areas, every effort must be applied to understand the nature of
the task and the best way to successfully execute them. After
all the multifarious tasks of a project are covered in all their
detail and complexity, you will be able to make time schedules
for each and every aspect of the task segments. It will enable
you make accurate time estimation.
An important element of project planning is allowing time for
administrative work such as liaison work, supporting
documentation, meetings, quality assurance, supervision, project
planning, project management, etc.
Another vital part of scheduling is factoring in time for
contingency situations as accidents and emergencies, changed
priorities, absenteeism and sickness of employees, breakdown of
equipment, non-delivery of supplies, disruptions, strike,
quality control rejections, natural disasters and a host of
other unexpected turn of events. Very often these are not taken
into immediate account and when such situations arise, you will
come under intense pressure as the work runs beyond the
scheduled time. It is therefore absolutely crucial to
incorporate for unforeseen events and build them into the time
schedule.
A systematic and meticulous way of assessing every minute aspect
of project planning and management will help you in making
accurate time schedules for any type of project work. As you
gain hands-on experience in handling project work of various
dimensions, you will soon become an expert in drawing up
appropriate time schedules and project plans.
In such project planning, the standard method employed is to
list all the tasks to be undertaken for project execution under
different categories. Such a listing process is self-limiting
and like a dead end. However by Mind Mapping, you will be able
to cover the most intricate details under different sub-groups
and make accurate time estimation. Apart from covering every
minute part of project work, Mind Maps will help trigger new
ideas and solutions, and reveal the links and connections
between different aspects of project work. By highlighting the
association between various parts of a project you will gain
greater depth of the intricacies involved and know how to tackle
them in an efficient and creative manner. You can club all the
various Mind Maps into a comprehensive Mind Map so you can
assess clearly the dimensions and scale of the project work.
Since concise words are used in Mind Maps, you will be able to
cover the entire gamut of work involved in the project plan
easily, and to evaluate how segments of job could be better
coordinated and aligned for effective execution. These and many
other critical advantages could be gained from using Mind Maps.
In the hands of an experienced Mind Mapper, not just Project
time estimation even the entire Project Planning and Management
are made easy and perfect tasks. Learn Mind Mapping to gauge its
effectiveness.