Omniscient project management

Published 2023-05-02T02:56:00.001Z by Physics Derivation Graph

The Physics Derivation Graph relies on a diverse set of skills. To speed up the development process we could identify separable tasks and then spread the tasks among a team of contributors. Collaboration requires coordination, and that coordination can be top-down or organic or a mixture.

This post focuses on the top-down approach and assumes an omniscient view.

A standard data structure in project management is the Gantt chart. A Gantt chart uses information about tasks, task dependencies, task durations, and dates to create a visualization associated with a project.

task ID	task description	task duration [days]	depends on tasks	earliest start date
14235	something useful	3	N/A	2022-03-01
25532	hard work	2	[14235]	N/A
3456252	keeping busy	3	[25532]	N/A

That table can be visualized with tasks versus time:

Visualization of a Gantt chart. Four tasks. Task 2 and 3 depend on task 1 being completed. Task 4 depends on task 2 being completed.

That data structure doesn't account for staffing, skills, equipment, or budget. The Gantt chart doesn't account for uncertainty of task duration, nor alternative paths.

Gantt charts present a single path

Project management involves contingency planning.

IF this THEN
   that 
ELSE
   other

Every conditional statement is a branching of possible paths, each a separate Gantt chart.

A single Gantt chart is a snapshot of a single path.

Staffing, budget, equipment, skills, uncertainty

Augmenting the basic Gantt chart means extending the table data structure to something like

task ID	task description	task duration [days]	depends on tasks	earliest start date	depends on equipment	minimum skill set and level	uncertainty in duration [days]
14235	something useful	3	N/A	2022-03-01	[Photoshop]	photo editing, intermediate	+/-1
25532	hard work	2	[14235]	N/A	[Excel]	math, beginner; text editing, beginner	+2
3456252	keeping busy	3	[25532]	N/A	Chrome browser	clicking on links, beginner	0

That information needs to be augmented with a cost table for equipment:

equipment	cost per day [USD]	acquisition cost [USD]
Photoshop	0	100
Excel	0	20
Chrome browser	0	0

Lastly, we need people who can do the tasks.

person name	hourly cost [USD]	skill and level	dates available
Alice	20	Excel, beginner; text editing, intermediate	[2022-01-02, 2022-01-03, 2022-01-04]
Bob	15	Excel, intermediate; Math, beginner	[2022-02-01, 2022-02-15, 2022-02-24]
Charlie	24	photo editing, beginner	[2022-01-12, 2022-01-23, 2022-01-24]

Caveat: the above model is focused exclusively on experts doing tasks using equipment. The model does not account for managers, nor does the model account for support staff. The model could include any scope of tasks, but a boundary needs to be drawn somewhere to avoid becoming Seldon's psychohistory. The problem of tasks existing outside the model is the risk that out-of-model tasks block project progress or alter the project cost. Anything outside the model could be an invisible dependency.

Derived project views

The following views can be derived from the three tables above:

standard task Gantt chart
project duration histogram. (Each "task duration" has an uncertainty that can be aggregated and results in variance.)
per-person activity schedule -- who works on what when. A prioritization based on task dependencies and when people with skills are available
cost per day -- the spend rate

Blockers inhibiting the omniscient project management view

Even though the issue can be formulated into a set of data structures

Blockers are the amount of time needed to

gather the relevant information and keep the information up-to-date as the situation evolves
document the information and tune the model
survey the skills of the workforce
have the workforce track their time spent on a task
define each task, along with a "definition of done"
track costs of the workforce and equipment
identifying conditional paths and tracking which alternative was selected

Blockers that aren't time-based:

inability to break project into atomic tasks (where "atomic" is based on skill set and skill level)
can break project into tasks, but unable to identify relevant skills for task

The centralization of this model is merely to construct a narrative. Software like Atlassian's Jira is a way of distributing the task tracking rather than try to administer the project in a centralized top-down approach.

Conclusion

The top-down omniscient view of project management is an unrealistic fantasy. However, it might be a helpful artifact for negotiation among decision makers. The alternative (where decision makers don't have a quantitative model to argue about) devolves into reliance on personal relationships, turf battles, and political factions. Bureaucratic processes evolve as a substitute for the lack of top-down omniscient view of project management.