Scheduling - Purists vs Randoms - Obvious Lessons

In ProjectWorld, scheduling can create massive controversy. Much of the debate is between "Scheduling Purists" and the opposite - I'll call them "Random Purists".

Scheduling Purists often feel that whatever is generated on paper (or on screen) is what will happen, at a certain time, and in the exact required sequence. They are often disappointed and amazed when the actual execution of the Project happens in some other order of events or when a specific task goes (apparently) unnoticed long after its scheduled start date.

The eXtreme version of the Random category is just the opposite. They want to do what they want to do when they want to do it and it will "take as long as it takes". Or, perhaps when they are "trying to be part of the team", they don't say it THAT way, but they generally ignore what's planned since they believe a different sequence or set of activities is best.

Whenever these two are together on a project, they will obviously create friction. Friction can be good, but this usually creates friction so hot that it will burn through a Project and leave a scar.

So, is one of them right and the other wrong? Not really.

A few points from this two-sides-of-the-coin extreme are these :

1. One person (or one small group) shouldn't decide what will be done and when. As many participants as possible should be involved in the process.
2. In spite of best efforts at the beginning to define what will happen when, something will likely change. That statement is not a way out for the Randoms to throw away the schedule and do what they want. Think of it like this - we say what we plan to do today, in the next hour, with some certainty. The shorter the time-frame, the better the certainty.  However, trying to say with certainty what we will do in 2 months at 8:00AM or in 14 months is reaching, to put it mildly.
3. Plans and schedules have to be somewhat flexible and should be expected to change as we move further away from "Start Here".
4. Items 1-3 are not excuses to throw it all in the trash. The Customer always has a desired timeline for completion of the work. The old sayings "You can't hit a target you can't see" and "If you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there" come to mind.
5. Friction about some details and plans leads to better plans. But, neither ignoring the schedule because we choose not to "own it" nor demanding that the original plan be followed at all costs will benefit the Project.

Project schedules are typically necessary. It might be a list. It might be a 2,376 item graphic. It might be milestones on a calendar. Whatever form it takes, we can expect that the schedule that's developed early in the project will need some adjustment as we go along. And, we can expect that someone working on the Project who ignores the plan and schedule will generally fail to deliver.