Can Project Management Scheduling Save You, Save the World?

Eco Technology:  Can Project Management Scheduling Save You, Save the World?

I am a big fan of the hit TV show Heroes.  Last season, there was a theme and slogan, “save the cheerleader, save the world”. Hayden Panettiere plays Claire Bennet, a high school cheerleader who learns she has ‘powers’; essentially she can heal herself.  This invincibility allows her to be exposed to fatal situations and remain alive.  Last season, this character became the focal point of a web of characters and complicated paths that determined the fate of mankind.  Now, I know this is Hollywood at its best, but the current economic events seem as if they are coming from the same wicked, psycho-thriller material that only Hollywood’s brightest can conjure up.

Save the Project Management Scheduler, save the world!

If you haven’t figured it out by now, I am a strong advocate of the concepts of scheduling.  In simplest terms, I believe all things are boiled down to:

• Activity (tasks) that need to be completed
• Resources (enablers) to complete the activity

Armed with this information, problems can be solved, products can be developed, and yes, even companies and economies can ‘heal’.

I live in the Detroit area, Motor City!  Trust me, there are casualties abound!  The heads of the Automotive Big 3 were recently grilled by the US Congress, and there was definitely a theme, being saved!  The grey area is who’s doing the saving?  The companies themselves (self healing) or us – the Taxpayers?  I also heard extended discussions about having a ‘plan’.  Again, the word and interpretation of ‘plan’ and ‘planning’ is very wide and creative, indeed.  However, I have learned one thing from my efforts to be a productive Project Management Practitioner, and that is always have an answer to the following questions:

• What is the first thing you would do if…
  • You got (big) money?
  • You invite people over?
  • You acquire that good or service?
• Who/what is going to be the resource?

Save the Project Management Scheduler, save the world!

The first step is always answering those two questions.  Sure, we need vision, strategic goals and objectives, and so on.  When the dust settles, the complicated web boils down to simple scheduling as the first step  – - – the way forward.

I may be a bit of a simpleton here, but let me and some of my Project Management Scheduling colleagues sit with those three leaders of the US Auto companies.  Armed with Project Scheduling tools, we will absolutely uncover what and how the path to closure will be done.

Save the Project Management Scheduler, save the world!

Posted By: Tim Cermak