Man-day, Man-week, Man-month?? 2

[MSGJack]

Been using Project for 7 years as a project Manager (I do software engineering - reengineering for the military). I always creat a calander based on a 6 hr man-day, 30 hour man-week, and 23 day Man-month. This was information I had found at SEI or CMM, I can't remember where. Finally was challenged on why I used a 6 hour day during a briefing to some pentagon VIPs. Can someone point me to where I can get a clear definition of what to use for project planning? Thanx. By the way, this is a great site, I've read every (i think) thread in this forum and it's very helpful.

 

[PDQBach]

The reduction of a "man day" from 8 hours to 6 is simply a reflection of, depending on the industry, something called the 'production efficiency' or 'utilization percentage'.

Perhaps those two terms will help in your quest for the definition.

 

[BernardErtl]

Productivity is usually built into a schedule in one fashion or another. It depends upon your methodology. Some factor the hours into the estimates and schedule full work calendars, others estimate tightly and schedule on a factored calendar (as you are doing).

Just be sure that you don't try to account for productivity on both sides of the equation!

Bernard Ertl
www.interplansystems.com - eTaskMaker project planning tool

 

[MSGJack]

Thanx guys, I really appreciate the info. However, what I really need is some reference(s) to numbers to use for setting up the schedule calendar and specifying the workweek/workmonth. I have over 80 individual schedules rolled up in a Integrated Master Schedule through 2007. I know COCOMO likes to use a 152 hour manmonth but that had always caused projects to go over schedule/over budget. There just wasn't enough time for all the extraneous stuff in a project. I found this quote by Darrel Raynor in an article title "Hidden project work", "Overhead can be addressed in your project by reducing work time in your project scheduling tool to 6 hours per day instead of the default 8." Even in this article Mr. Raynor states that resources for this type of information is limited. Does anybody have any other references, or just what are they doing to address this? I do not try to micro-manage (an impossible task anyway) through my schedules, I want the big picture, its up to the Program Leads to produce the results on time and budget. I just define the milestones, etc.