This is an interesting approach to the organizing of tasks involved in
building a small boat. If efficiency is the main goal this approach
might prove useful in a purely practical or economic sense.

As a criticism though, I would suggest that the process considers tasks
only on a two dimensional overlapping linear configuration that fails to
take into consideration things like instinct, experience, enjoyment, and
emotion. This third dimension is always present but is difficult to
quantify. Yet it is a key component of the success of any project.

It might be possible to overlay this third dimension onto each task to
get a better picture of the real aspects of the tasks at hand and then
try to interpret how each task relates to another and the project as a
whole. For instance, quantifying a satisfaction quotient for each task
and then determining a human motivational factor for the task might
better represent the reality of performing the task and allow for
planning that reflects the human side of the equation rather than the
purely numerical one.

Failure to factor in these types of influences is the main weak point of
modern industrial time motion analyses, in my opinion.
STeveJ


William R. Watt wrote:
I loaded a copy of MS Project onto my computer, input some tasks for a
small boatbuilding project, captured some screen images, and put them in
files on my website as an illustration of what a project managment program
does. The files show the list of tasks and the critical path network
diagram as they would appear on the screen. If anyone would like to take a
look go to my website (address below) and click on Boats, Boatbuilding,
Project Planning.

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