Making It Happen: A Non-Technical Guide to Project Management

8.3. Setting the Schedule

I nudged myself out of my reverie about Al, and concentrated on Ralph's question. "Ralph, we don't have a schedule yet because we don't know exactly what we are doing yet."

It was perhaps not the best choice of words. "You see, we have to be able to produce WindSailors, but we still need to determine the best way to do that. For example, do we expand our current plant facilities, or build an entirely new, separate building?"

Jeannie Granato sounded incredulous. "You have to go to production by June and you don't know how you are going to do it yet?" I wasn't sure just what Jeannie did at Mantec, but it sounded like it was probably annoying.

As calmly as I could, I said, "The time constraints will certainly influence how we decide to expand. Once I get approval to proceed, that will be my next step." I hoped that I was understanding what Martha meant by the design phase. "To get the best final product, we need to take the assignment one step at a time, starting with the objective statement. Once we have that, we can figure out the best way to do it."

Ms. Granato did not look convinced. Ralph didn't help things when he said, "Can you give us an estimate on how long the design will take?"

I honestly did not know, so I told them. "I spoke with one of the designers thismorning, and he toldme that itwill dependwhich option we go with. It might take three weeks or it might take two months."

Almost everyone was looking uncomfortable. Fortunately, one of the board ...