Indications of lacking planning efficacy - 5/7: "Team members have no idea about the float"

This article is about the 5th indication of planning inefficacy. Float is synonymous to slack and it stands for the amount of time an activity can be delayed without the project being delayed.

In order to determine the float of an activity, a network planning needs to be made. Although many people use MSProject as a planning tool, only part of them is capable of creating a correct network plan. Next to that, some project managers are hesitant to share the float of an activity with their team members as they are afraid the team members delay activities which have float.

When a team member calls the project manager to ask which activity has float and hence could be delayed without impacting the project deadline, the answer is often not clear. Most often it's something like 'do what we agreed upon'. This leads to the unwanted situation each team member creates his own planning which is not based on the float.

We can help out - all our plannings are build in such a way the float is always visible and manageable. We assist the project manager in setting priorities based on float and create custom-made overviews for the team members.

FloatControl is specialized in planning management for biotech & life sciences. www.floatcontrol.com - [email protected] - +(0)6 83 44 7080.