Schedule development and analysis

A schedule is a model of how work connects. Most schedules in circulation are a list of dates someone typed, which looks the same in a status deck and behaves completely differently when anything moves.

Build it from logic, not from dates

Every task except the first and last should be connected to something. A task with a date and no predecessor is an assertion; a task with a predecessor is a plan, because when the predecessor moves the task moves with it and the schedule tells you so.

• Finish-to-start is the default and covers most real dependencies.
• Start-to-start and finish-to-finish describe overlapping work honestly and are worth using rather than faking the overlap with an earlier date.
• Lags should represent something real — curing time, a notice period, a review window. A lag used to make dates line up is a hidden assumption.