2.8. Plan and manage schedule

Planning and managing schedule means creating and maintaining a realistic approach for when work will be performed. It includes estimating tasks, using milestones or dependencies, applying benchmarks and historical data, creating a schedule, baselining where appropriate, executing the schedule management plan, and analyzing schedule variation.

Schedule management must fit the selected development approach. Predictive projects may use detailed schedules and baselines, while agile and hybrid projects may use iteration planning, release planning, roadmaps, or rolling wave planning.

Why This Task Matters for PMP® Preparation

PMP® exam questions often describe schedule delays, unrealistic deadlines, dependency problems, milestone pressure, or changes in delivery timing. The best response usually involves analyzing the schedule situation, understanding the impact, and using the appropriate planning or control process.

You should be ready to connect the schedule with scope, resources, cost, risk, procurement, and stakeholder expectations. The exam often tests whether you can respond to schedule pressure professionally rather than simply compressing work without analysis.

Enablers of This Task

• Prepare a schedule based on the selected development approach
• Coordinate with other projects and operations.
• Estimate project tasks (milestones, dependencies, story points).
• Utilize benchmarks and historical data.
• Create a project schedule.
• Baseline a project schedule.
• Execute a schedule management plan.
• Analyze schedule variation.

To learn the Plan and Manage Schedule task, you need:

1. In the PMBOK Guide 8^th Edition, read chapter 2.3 (part ‘PMBOK’), Section 4 (Activity list, Activity attributes, Basis of estimates, Duration estimates, Milestone list, Project calendars, Project schedule, Project schedule network diagram, Schedule baseline, Schedule data, Schedule forecasts, Schedule management plan), Section 5 (Agile release planning, Branch and bound, Critical chain method, Critical path method, Dependency determination and integration, Estimation techniques, Leads and lags, Logical relationship, Precedence diagramming method, Reserve analysis, Rolling wave planning, Schedule compression, Schedule network analysis, Velocity).
2. Read the Practice Standard for Scheduling.
3. Watch the video:

5. Test your knowledge to complete the study of the task.