Working the "Educated" Plan: How effective is corrective staffing in a typical white-collar project?
Keywords:
White-collar project, earned value, earned-value metrics, Cost Performance Index, CPI, Remaining Work Index, RWI, Staffing to Schedule Index, StSI, scope creep, systemic shock, sudden shock, schedule management, staffing management, up-to-speedAbstract
Summary Past reports have claimed that earned-value metrics are inadequate to manage a dynamic project. This report shows how a project can use earned-value metrics to respond to the full range of tests that most projects encounter. The tests assume the project goal is to finish on time with full scope and correct the staffing (the cost) to achieve success. The results show how to work through realistic project delays in unplanned-for staffing, and how the "desert of resources" expands Brooks' Law that "adding staffing to a late project only makes it later."
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