5.7. Business Case
Susan and Steve have decided to tie the knot, but they don’t have much time to plan their wedding. They want the big day to be unforgettable. They want to invite many people and provide a great time. They’ve always dreamed of a June wedding, but it’s already January. Just thinking about all of the details involved is overwhelming. Susan has been dreaming of the big day since she was 12, but it seems that there’s so little time for all the tasks to be completed. When they were choosing the paper for the invitations, the couple realized that they needed help.
| Steve | Don’t worry. My sister’s wedding planner was great. Let me give her a call. [Steve calls the wedding planner Sally.] |
| Wedding Planner | Hello Susan and Steve. |
| Steve | We want everything to be perfect. |
| Susan | There is so much to do! Invitations, food, guests, and music. |
| Steve | Oh no, we haven’t even booked a place! |
| Susan | And it has to be done right. We can’t print the invitations until we have the menu planned. We can’t do the seating arrangements until we have the RSVPs. We aren’t sure what kind of band to get for the reception, or should it be a DJ? We’re just overwhelmed. |
| Steve | My sister said you really saved her wedding. I know she gave you over a year to plan. |
| Steve | But I’ve always dreamed of a June wedding, and I’m not willing to give that up. I know it’s late, but Sally can you help us? |
| Wedding Planner | Take it easy, guys. I’ve got it under control. We’ve a lot of people and activities to get under control. You guys really should have called six months ago, but we’ll still make this wedding happen on time. |
Much work has to be done before June. First, Sally figures out what work needs to be done. She starts to put together a to-do list:
- Invitations
- Flowers
- Wedding cake
- Dinner menu
- Band
- Reception venue preparation
- Transportation
Since many different people are involved in the making of the wedding, it takes much planning to coordinate all the work in the right order by the right people at the right time. Initially, Sally was worried that she didn’t have enough time to make sure that everything would be done properly. However, she knew that she had some powerful time management tools on her side when she took the job, and these tools would help her to synchronize all the required tasks.
Questions
Please answer the following questions about the business case:
- List some activities to accomplish the above to-do list and organize them under major deliverables in WBS.
- What method should Sally estimate (bottom-up, top-down) the time for these activities? Explain.
- Discuss what tools that Sally can use to manage the schedule.
“10. Project Schedule Planning” from Project Management – 2nd Edition by Adrienne Watt; Merrie Barron; and Andrew Barron is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.
