Sometimes in the life of a producer everything just explodes. Well, that was this week. Deadlines looming, emergencies arising. So, I don't have time or the mental fortitude to give you an in depth post. BUT, next week I will finally be taking my yearly vacation so no post next week either! Don't worry when I come back I will have a doozy of a post. Don't miss me too much.
Instead how about you look at Gene's rendering of my week.
Don't feel sorry for me. I know what I signed up for.
I wish I could write a book all about schedules. If only the days had 35 hours in it. This post is just going to touch on the subject. I might do another post so you can watch me create a schedule from start to finish.
Without further ado, here are some ways you can create a project schedule. Now I need to get something off my chest. I LOVE google docs. Why do I love it? Because multiple people can edit and view easily. And, if something gets messed up (oh no) you can revert your history to a previous version.
Now, there are lots of programs out their to help you create a schedule. Just find something you feel comfortable with.
If you want to watch the video in a larger more glorious size click the youtube button to watch on their website. Trust me seeing is believing. And the quality is MUCH better.
Some points to take from my video.
You might be saying "It's only 10 minutes you taught me nothing!" Well my good sir or madam, creating schedules is a lengthy process. I hope I gave you the bare bones to go out and start thinking about how you want your schedule to run.
It is important to know "why" you are choosing the deadlines that you are.
Calculate how much work one person or a team can complete so you can probably budget out their time.
You can have your budget below your schedule to make sure you can afford to have the project running for the amount of time you have scheduled. They are something that should be planned in tandem. So you need to take into account:
Work per day
Pay per day
Can you make them balance so they are not overloaded with work and still earn a fair wage?
If its a short schedule you can break it down by day. Longer you might be able to do a per week schedule or even monthly. Monthly is hard to work with but it really depends on the project. I like to have more internal schedule items. But you should still break down your daily cost in your budget to make sure it will all work.
Here are a few samples of schedules that have been created in google docs.
Monthly Schedule
Weekly Schedule
Daily Schedule
I hope that this quick little schedule overview helped you get the juices flowing. Now, remember this is just HOW I do my schedules. No one way is wrong if you account for deadlines and your budget.
