Project time management (PTM) is a key area of project management used to manage the time and progress of project tasks. It involves planning, scheduling, monitoring and controlling all tasks and activities for a project.
A project has a start and end date, and a schedule is needed to manage team members’ time and other assigned project resources. This schedule is updated to reflect project changes and used to report time management outcomes.
By the end of this topic, you will understand:
- The phases in PTM
- Variations in phases for different projects
- Differences and overlap between PTM and project management
- Relationship between PTM and project life cycle
- The role of communication in PTM
- The PMBOK Guide.
Time management is essential in project management [because], often, time is a project manager’s scarcest resource.
Inputs needed for the PTM process include information from decisions already made about the project’s scope and specifications, such as:
- Project scope statement (from the project management plan)
- Project objectives (from the project management plan)
- Organisational requirements for how the project should be managed
- Terms of reference (TOR) for project governance (from the project management plan)
- Relevant organisational policies and procedures
- Financial requirements for the project, including relevant accounting cost codes
- Lessons learned from other projects.
The PTM process has six phases. The following table shows the tasks that should be carried out and the documentation that should be used or created for each one:
| PTM Phase | Tasks | Documentation |
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| 1. Define activities |
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| 2. Sequence activities |
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| 3. Estimate resources |
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| 4. Estimate durations |
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| 5. Develop schedule |
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| 6. Control schedule |
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Resource
Learn more about time management and its phases at the following links:
PTM phase variations
Variations based on project size
For small projects, phases 1 to 5 may be completed together.
For large projects, an additional phase may be added before Phase 1 to plan how the project schedule will be developed and managed, meaning a total of seven phases instead of six.
The additional phase is called ‘Plan schedule management’ and involves deciding:
- What scheduling tool/s to use
- How the schedule will be managed
- Who will manage it
- How often it will be reviewed.
US/UK Phase 1 variations
A work breakdown structure is a key deliverable from this phase.
Organisations in the US may define a project by its deliverables or the products required to meet the scope and objectives. This approach provides a deliverables list as the first step in defining work activities and creating a WBS.
Organisations in the UK usually define the activities and tasks required to meet the scope and objectives. The WBS is created as part of this process.
Organisations in Australia may use either method.
PTM and project management are separate processes with their own phases, steps and outcomes. Some phases are similar, but there are areas of difference and overlap, which can be confusing.
Key areas of difference
PTM and project management processes differ in their focus and the type of work involved:
| Process | Focus | Type of Work |
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| PTM | The activities and resources involved in carrying out the work |
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| Project management | The project as a whole |
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Project management and PTM overlap
At least two deliverables from the PTM phases are used in the project management process. These are the WBS and project schedule, which may take the form of a Gantt chart or network chart.
Watch the following video, ‘Project Planning: Plan Your Project – PM Fundamentals’ (11:40 min) by Online PM Courses - Mike Clayton, to learn more about project planning essentials:
As with project management, there is a relationship between PTM and the project life cycle - key deliverables from PTM phases are used in project life cycle phases.
The project life cycle phases used in a project depend on the size and type of project and the industry and deliverables involved. However, the following four phases are needed for any project:
| Project Life Cycle Phase | Tasks |
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| 1. Conceptualisation or initiation |
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| 2. Planning |
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| 3. Execution |
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| 4. Closure |
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Watch the following video, ‘Project Lifecycle and the Project Process: 5 Tips’ (10:24 min) by Online PM Courses - Mike Clayton, which explains the relationship between the project life cycle and the project process:
Project management is not just about tools and processes but about people. One of the most important and time-consuming parts of your role as project manager is communicating with your team and other stakeholders.
The Project Management Institute (PMI) estimates that project managers may spend up to 90% of their time communicating. It has also been found that one out of five projects is unsuccessful due to ineffective communication.
Resource
Read about communication in project management at the following link:
‘Importance of Communication in Project Management’ by Aastha Shaw
Team members and experts
Project managers are responsible for the work carried out in the PTM phases. An important part of this is defining and estimating the required activities, which need input from those with relevant expertise or experience. Depending on the circumstances, these people may have already been identified and perhaps assigned to the project. If not, you may need to prepare provisional estimates on your own, which can be confirmed later.
Either way, you will need to communicate with team members and experts throughout the project. At the start of the project, you will likely need to facilitate estimating sessions or seek expertise individually. Then, you will need to communicate with the relevant people daily as you lead the work.
Your project is more likely to be successful if the initial activity definition and estimation work are thorough and you can establish a good communication process with team members and experts from the start.
Stakeholders
You will need to present the project schedule to stakeholders several times, including:
- At the start of the project
- During routine progress updates
- When issues arise and changes need to be made, especially if authorisation is needed for changes to scope or budget.
You must understand your project’s stakeholders to communicate with them effectively. Stakeholder mapping may have been carried out as part of earlier project initiation work. A communication plan or stakeholder communication plan may also have been developed.
Stakeholder mapping allows you to identify key individuals and target groups, including:
- Latent stakeholders — They have low interest but high power. They are important to you because they need to be satisfied by the project's outcome.
- Apathetic stakeholders — They have low interest and low power. However, as a project manager, you need to monitor them.
- Defender stakeholders — They have high interest but low power. They are important to you because they support the project.
- Promoter stakeholders — They have high interest and high power. They are important to you because they can promote the project.
Project communication plans
Successful project managers have excellent communication skills and take the time required for thorough communication. An important part of achieving on-time completion of a project involves communicating with everyone connected to the project:
- Daily
- During meetings and scheduled reviews
- When work-related issues arise and changes need to be made, especially to scope or budget
- When staffing issues arise, such as conflict or personal emergencies within the team.
A communication plan identifies the information required for the individuals and groups involved with a project and how they prefer to receive it. Yours should be detailed enough to act as a blueprint for all communication activities, such as running meetings, undertaking reviews and distributing project updates. It should include relevant guidelines, standards, procedures, templates and other support and reference items. It must also explain who is responsible for these activities and the required timelines.
Communication skills are every bit as important as skills in scheduling, estimating and project administration. During busy times it is easy to cut back on communication time. If you find this is happening, look at the range of project administration tasks you are dealing with and consider delegating some of them to other team members or setting up a project office. This may allow you to concentrate more on your communication role, which will assist the overall PTM effort.
Watch the following video, ‘How to Build a Great Communications Plan’ (13:06 min) by Online PM Courses - Mike Clayton for advice on building a project communication plan:
The Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide) contains the standardised processes, best practices, terminologies and guidelines used in the project management industry. The guide includes information, tools and templates for PTM. PMBOK helps to standardise practices and tailor processes to suit specific needs.
If you are new to PMBOK, watch the following videos, ‘PMBOK® Guide: What Is It?’ (3:22 min) by PMI and ‘FREE PMP Project Management Training! TIME MANAGEMENT’ (3:08 min) by ProjectEpic, which will teach you more about it and its uses:
Activity 1A: Requirements and scope of work for FF
Case study: Families First Relocation Project – Part 1
You are a consultant employed by Complete Business Solutions Australia (CBSA). You have been assigned as project manager on a project with client Eastern Regional Health Network (ERHN). ERHN runs two large public hospitals, 15 community health centres, and a family counselling service called Families First (FF).
FF has:
- One director, one administration manager, five administration team members and 50 counsellors
- Counselling rooms, furniture and office equipment at every location
- A centralised computer network used by all counsellors and staff to store client records, schedule appointments, complete timesheets, etc.
- Five company cars (one at each of the five remote locations) for home visits by counsellors – counsellors at the main office use a hospital car when needed.
Counsellors are based at FF’s main office in one of the hospitals and in five other locations. The five remote locations will be consolidated into two branches, housed in new buildings. There will be no change for counsellors based at the hospital's main office. The move involves 35 counsellors and six admin staff in total.
The project you are to manage is planning and implementing the relocation of counsellors, staff and their furniture/equipment from the five current locations into the two new buildings. The move needs to be completed in six months from now. All administration staff remain employed but have been told that their roles and tasks may change.
Read the case study ‘Families First Relocation Project – Part 1’. In a separate document or on a piece of paper, determine:
The activities and tasks that you think may be required
Requirements for those activities and tasks (based on the information you have been given in the briefing)
Who you should talk to, and what questions you should ask to confirm the requirements and scope of the work.
Prepare a preliminary scope statement and project objectives for confirmation with the FF director.
Activity 1B: Scope statement and project objectives for your project
Identify a project in your organisation for you to manage (either a project that has been discussed as a possibility or a new project that you think could benefit your organisation).
Gather as much input information as you can for this project. Then, prepare a preliminary scope statement and project objectives for further review and discussion in a separate document or on a piece of paper.
