Schedule Meetings (Yes a Meeting to Talk About a Schedule)

In the spring of 2012 I was working on a large team planning and designing a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project in Oakland, CA. My role was to lead real estate and right-of-way coordination. On a federally funded transportation project like this, a cadre of subject matter experts (SME) is a requirement. I was lucky enough to be one.

One of the events that sticks out to me the most over the 4 to 5 years I worked on that project was the scheduling meeting.

This meeting was convened in a hotel ballroom given the number of people on the team. I had never been part of anything like it.

It was somewhat freely admitted at the meeting, that often the SME’s are not brought together at once to discuss the schedule. It’s often done more in a fashion where each discipline submits their schedules and then makes comments after the master schedule is built.

We all came together to see how the activities and tasks were sequenced, time was estimated, and how each discipline depended on one another at some period during the project.

The impact on me was 1) this had real value and should be more of a norm than it is; 2) I wanted to learn more and develop a deeper skill set in managing projects (which led to my PMP); and 3) at least where I do have control over the team I am on, I will do these, even if the other disciplines are not convened, at least the work I control will involve more than my own voice in developing the schedule.

I have employed this type of technique at various scales over the past decade. And it seeded part of what I wanted Revival to be. Not just community development and real estate consultancy, but one that also excels in good project management techniques for our internal delivery, but also a service to those we work with.