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6 - PROJECT TIME MANAGEMENT

6.6.3.4 Project Calendars

See Section 6.6.3.4 of the PMBOK Guide.
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6.6.3.5 Project Management Plan Updates

See Section 6.6.3.5 of the PMBOK Guide.
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6.6.3.6 Project Documents Updates

See Section 6.6.3.6 of the PMBOK Guide.
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6.6.3.7 Release and Iteration Plan Updates

Updates to the release and iteration plans are additional outputs from developing a schedule for the construction
phase of a predictive life cycle or for the iteration cycles of an adaptive life cycle software project.

6.7 Control Schedule

Controlling a software project schedule is a challenging proposition because of the dynamics of software
projects. To control schedule variance, a software project manager needs to understand the following: the rate that
teams are delivering completed software increments; the current rate of completion for work in process, the risks
and dependencies that can impact the schedule; the impact of technical variance on the schedule; and options for
reprioritizing product scope, by reducing, deferring, or removing lower priority features from the product scope.
Technical variance in software can have a substantial impact on the project schedule—particularly when the
root causes of technical variance are addressed late in a software project. See Section 8.1.3.3 of this Software
Extension for more information on measuring software to discern technical variance and Section 8.3.2 of this
Software Extension for options to control technical variance.

Schedule variance can be corrected by improving the velocity of a software development team; velocity is
the rate of delivering increments of working software within fixed timeframes (i.e., the time box) and with a fixed
number of team members. A retrospective meeting at the end of each iteration cycle allows a team to reflect on,
and identify opportunities to improve their velocity. Section 9.2.4.5 of this Software Extension provides information
on how teams use retrospectives to improve their velocity. Section 8.3.2 of this Software Extension provides
techniques such as continuous integration to improve velocity.

Other changes to control schedule variance may include reprioritization of the backlog of remaining work
or adjusting the engagement model with the customer. See Section 5.3.3.3 of this Software Extension for more
information on aligning scope with schedule on projects that use an adaptive life cycle. Schedule control may also
involve making changes to team structures and managing the workflow within the teams.

112 ©2013 Project Management Institute. Software Extension to the PMBOK Guide Fifth Edition
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