Scheduling complexity (1103)

No matter how sophisticated the software or how complex the project schedule, no project schedule can foretell the future. Project planners and schedulers are not oracles (even if they use Primavera). Unfortunately convincing many lawyers and some superintending engineers of this simple fact is proving difficult. Probably as a consequence of the way schedules are perceived and developed, many projects finish late, disputes over contract delays are commonplace and the trend is getting worse. Regardless of the terms of contract, a schedule is not a document that 'predicts the future'; at best it is a statement of intent describing how the contractor intends to fulfil its contractual obligations. At worst, the schedule is a document fabricated to 'comply with the contract', which bears no resemblance to the way the work will be accomplished; and is occasionally designed with the specific intention of facilitating the development of prolongation and delay claims. The response by clients of the project delivery process to these problems has been to increase penalty payments for delayed completion, demand ever more highly detailed schedules and frequently draft contract clauses that make changing the schedule difficult if not impossible. All of these tactics have failed to change the steadily worsening trends of delayed completion. And as the apparent ability of contractors to manage time declines, the projects they are being asked to manage are becoming increasingly larger and more complex7. Without a paradigm shift in thinking, the only people who will benefit from these trends will be the lawyers and the claims experts. Fortunately there are alternatives, some of which are outlined in this White Paper! Research by the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB), adopted in part by the USA Government Accountability Office (GAO) offers a radically different approach to managing the use of the available time within a contract! Rather than setting up a schedule to record failure and support claims, the CIOB advocate a layered approach to time management that focuses on adapting behaviours to overcome problems and avoiding the waste of time associated with developing esoteric detail (outlined in the section on 'Schedule Density' below). The balance of the white paper summarises the work of the CIOB and suggests a range of practical options for the improvement of time management within the Australian context, including the professionalization of the scheduling discipline.