Comments on: Two Types of Time in Project Schedules http://www.basilv.com/psd/blog/2006/two-types-of-time-in-project-schedules Wed, 08 Feb 2012 03:57:22 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 By: Paras Jethwani http://www.basilv.com/psd/blog/2006/two-types-of-time-in-project-schedules/comment-page-1#comment-104090 Paras Jethwani Wed, 10 Feb 2010 06:43:17 +0000 http://www.basilv.com/psd/blog/2006/two-types-of-time-in-project-schedules#comment-104090 Helpful article and nice follow-up comments Helpful article and nice follow-up comments

]]> By: Rob Williams http://www.basilv.com/psd/blog/2006/two-types-of-time-in-project-schedules/comment-page-1#comment-60799 Rob Williams Fri, 29 Aug 2008 00:52:39 +0000 http://www.basilv.com/psd/blog/2006/two-types-of-time-in-project-schedules#comment-60799 I suggest that it would be useful to be precise about the difference between elapsed time and effort time: elapsed time has units of time (hours) while effort time has units of person-time (man-hours). Of course, we all know that you cannot speed up the effort simply by multiplying the people (adding people to a project makes it later). Also, many agile methodologies specifically track the ratio between elapsed time and effort time for a single individual, e.g. "velocity". Actual messurement has tended to reveal a ratio of about 2.5-3.0, which corresponds roughly to the figures given in a previous comment. I have recently stumbled upon "Evidence-Based Scheduling" by Joel Spolsky, which I recommend that everyone read. I suggest that it would be useful to be precise about the difference between elapsed time and effort time: elapsed time has units of time (hours) while effort time has units of person-time (man-hours).

Of course, we all know that you cannot speed up the effort simply by multiplying the people (adding people to a project makes it later).

Also, many agile methodologies specifically track the ratio between elapsed time and effort time for a single individual, e.g. “velocity”. Actual messurement has tended to reveal a ratio of about 2.5-3.0, which corresponds roughly to the figures given in a previous comment.

I have recently stumbled upon “Evidence-Based Scheduling” by Joel Spolsky, which I recommend that everyone read.

]]> By: Mike Totman http://www.basilv.com/psd/blog/2006/two-types-of-time-in-project-schedules/comment-page-1#comment-417 Mike Totman Sun, 25 Jun 2006 21:32:35 +0000 http://www.basilv.com/psd/blog/2006/two-types-of-time-in-project-schedules#comment-417 The concept has also been discussed by the Software Engineering Institute: http://www.sei.cmu.edu/tsp/ They have an entire development process that focusses on "Task Hours" (time actually spent working on the task) in just the way you talk about. The company where I work has been using the system for a couple of years. We're finding that a typical Senior Engineer can get between 10 and 15 task hours in during a typical 40h work week. Eye opening. The concept has also been discussed by the Software Engineering Institute: http://www.sei.cmu.edu/tsp/

They have an entire development process that focusses on “Task Hours” (time actually spent working on the task) in just the way you talk about. The company where I work has been using the system for a couple of years. We’re finding that a typical Senior Engineer can get between 10 and 15 task hours in during a typical 40h work week. Eye opening.

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