Restoration Project Management - Project Planning and Management for Ecological Restoration - page 18

FIGURE 2-5. Following the
logic sequence, apply duration to
complete the tasks and review. The
longest path will identify the time
required to complete the project.
After all of the activity relationships have been defined, the time (duration) for completing
each activity is noted on the Post-It Note (fig. 2-5); then, beginning on the left with the “start proj-
ect” activity and moving to the right sequentially through each activity, the start and end dates are
noted. Any critical dates known to the project manager, should then be integrated into the project
schedule. For example, if there is a no-work window, such as a seasonal period when construction
equipment cannot operate on the project site due to prohibitions on grading during the rainy
season or concerns over impacts to wildlife (e.g., noise that might disturb bird species), then these
restrictions should be built into the schedule.
Estimating the duration of project activities can be challenging, especially if you are estimat-
ing durations for activities that fall outside of your area of expertise. Fortunately, with ecological
restoration work, much of the work required (e.g., planting, irrigation, earthwork, erosion control,
and seeding) involves site work activities that are approached similarly to ornamental landscaping
projects. For example, assuming that the specifications are the same, then the time it takes to plant
five hundred 1-gallon-sized plants for a restoration project should be about identical to planting
five hundred 1-gallon-sized plants in a park. Of course, site conditions, specifications, and other
factors, such as the type of worker performing the work (i.e., volunteer versus paid laborers), will
affect the actual production rates. However, if you look closely, you should be able to find a model
project with enough similar conditions to enable you to use that work as a benchmark for compar-
ing your estimate.
An alternative to determining activity durations is using the PERT (Project Evaluation and
Review Technique; appendix 4). Interviewing others to obtain a series of estimates will provide the
necessary data to perform this simple exercise. One significant effect of this technique is to reduce
or at least control the tendency to “pad” the numbers. Such padding of the time estimates for tasks
significantly extends the schedule, an unacceptable result.
THE GANTT CHART
Gantt charts clearly display the start and finish dates for each project activity. Activities (or tasks)
can be arranged on the Gantt chart in any number of ways, including from highest to lowest pri-