Hi All, I am trying to come up with a research question and general areas of study within planning and scheduling. They are as follows:
- To examine criticism of planning tools (primavera, MS project, Astra, full Project Management tools), traditional techniques (CPM, Earned Value) and the failings of planning as a discipline.
- To examine attempts at improving planning and scheduling techniques (Lean Construction, Critical Chain, 4D BIM etc)
- To find out if Project planning and scheduling, progress reporting techniques really delivers useful information for the end users (on-site staff, clients and project managers)?
- To determine what Planning methods, planning software, techniques are most effective in different projects types.
- To determine what has planning contributed most to successful projects from an end user perspective (on-site staff, clients and project managers)? To recommend areas of improvement to current planning, scheduling and reporting techniques within planning.
I propose to survey planners and project managers, or look at perhaps a case studies of badly planned vs well planned projects where the plan is a center of the project. For example, does the plan drive the work on site and is it used as a tool to manage work, or just a progress reporting tool? Does the planner have decision making ability to determine progress, or any authority? Is the plan data linked to any areas of the project, or just standalone? Is planning as it stands dynamic enough to manage fast changing projects? I am only at the stage of trying to prepare research question, the areas above may too wide an area to study so if you could give some feedback, or suggest areas which may be worth researching.
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