W2_PieroAnticona_Pros and Cos of using Discretionary Logic vs Hard or Physical Logic

1)      Step 1- Problem or Opportunity Statement-
     When working on scheduling, the schedule should reflect the reality of execution. When elaborating my working plan, one package is the submission of 25 weekly reports, one per week. The plan was that once finished a weekly report I could start the next one. What happened when I wanted to see the late dates of my schedule? All the weekly reports moved to the end, and they were not linked sequentially as I expected. 
     Was this a good use of soft logic? What is the recommendation when deliverables have to be submitted with a certain frequency and they depend on one to another? 

1)      Step 2 – Feasible Alternatives

The literature mentions the following types of logic:
    1. Soft Logic
    2. Hard Logic

2)      Step 3- Develop the outcomes for each alternative
      1. Soft Logic

      Soft Logic or Preferential logic is an expected sequence of activities that might be executed in a different way. It reflects management’s plan but the logic does not reflect what really happens for execution.

     

      2. Hard Logic

      Hard logic is when a sequence of activities must occur regardless of preference. More often involves physical limitations, contractual

4)      Step 4- Selection of the acceptable criteria.
       The following attributes will be considered for the selection criteria
       -       Mandatory
       -       Discretional

5)      Step 5- Compare the outcomes from each alternative analysis done in Step 3 against the minimum acceptable criteria from Step 4.
       -          Mandatory: Are the weekly reports dependent on each other?
       -          Discretional: Can we do weekly reports in a different way that they do not depend on each other?

6)      Step 6- Selection of the “best”.
      For the selection of best logic, we must answer the questions and see what solutions fit our purpose to reflect what happens in a real execution of activities.
      
     -    Mandatory: Are the weekly reports dependent on each other?
          Yes. Most reports and especially weekly reports require analyzing tendencies and performance for each period of reporting. For that reason, it is mandatory to deliver a report each period agreed contractually or requested by management. In real situations, a weekly report cannot start if the previous progress of work has not been approved. Otherwise, the following report cannot fix the previous week progress in order to determine the progress of the period.

      -   Discretional: Can we do weekly reports in a different way that they do not depend on each other? 
          No. In case of delays, you have to put a lot of effort or resources (which might not be available) to complete each period of reporting required. Otherwise, you should agree with your internal or external client if the period of the report can be different from requested. Therefore, this means a change order in your contract if you were requested to deliver a certain frequency. This is also not recommendable because then it is difficult to compare with historical data for a different periods of reporting.
      
    
     Regarding the characteristics of weekly reports in real situations, we can conclude that the best option is to use a mandatory logic for a type of deliverables.

7)      Step 7- How to plan on tracking/reporting on the recommended choice. 

An option to track if mandatory logic has been used is to document in a Basis of Schedule the type of logic used for this type of activities and also to identify what contractual requirements are for this type of deliverables.

8)      REFERENCES.

Guild of Project Controls Compendium and Reference (CaR). (2015, November 01). M07-4_create_the_logical_relationships__sequence_activities_-_rev_1.02.pdf  

GAO (United States Governance Accountability Office), 2015, GAO-16-89G Schedule Assessment Guide. 

Project Schedule Management. (2017). In Project Management Institute (Ed.), A Guide to the PROJECT MANAGEMENT BODY OF KNOWLEDGE: (PMBOK® guide) (6th ed., p. 191). Newtown Square, Pennsylvania: Project Management Institute..