Design-Build Project Schedule Development and Management - Design-Build for Water and Wastewater Projects - page 239

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Design-Build Project Schedule
Development and Management
Jesus M. de la Garza, PhD, Virginia Tech, and
Peter M. Kinsley, DBIA, The Haskell Company
INTRODUCTION
This chapter discusses strategic concepts for the planning, scheduling, and controlling
processes of project management for DB water and wastewater projects. Although the
basic concepts of scheduling, which are covered in more detail in Sears et al. (2008) and
O'Brien and Plotnick (2010), apply to many types of construction projects, scheduling for
DB projects is critical to adequate planning, cost estimating, procurement, construction,
and commissioning of water and wastewater projects. Water and wastewater projects also
require schedule management of tasks for permitting and commissioning, which can pres-
ent circumstances not in full control of the design-builder.
STEPS OF SCHEDULE DEVELOPMENT
AND MONITORING
The three steps of schedule development and monitoring are described in this section.
The Planning Process
Failing to plan is analogous to planning to fail. The overall outcome of the planning pro-
cess is to reduce project variability and uncertainty by acknowledging the known knowns,
by anticipating the known unknowns, and by assessing the likelihood and identity of
unknown unknowns, which are known as Black Swans (Prieto 2011). The planning pro-
cess for project management is characterized by identifying the what and the how dimen-
sions. First, the planner must answer the questions: “What are we building?” and “How
do we intend to put it together?” If the what is not understood, there is no way of getting
the how or the when right. Construction planning for a DB water or wastewater proj-
ect begins during the cost estimating stage when a complete and tangible understanding
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