Project schedule

Project Schedule

Draft-first: parse what the user gave, fill the schema, run the script. Only interview if the user explicitly asks.

Hard rules

1. Never invent. Any task, duration, owner, predecessor, or date the user did not state → [TBD — reason]. Fabricated schedules become committed deadlines.
2. No anchor date → no dates. If the user did not give a kickoff/start date, every computed start/finish is [TBD — no anchor date]. Do not pick one.
3. Preserve fuzzy durations. "~2 weeks" → [TBD — user said ~2 weeks], NOT 10. "~1 week" → [TBD — user said ~1 week], NOT 5. The script propagates TBD to downstream task dates.
4. Dependencies: only what the user said. Default type is FS (finish-to-start). Do not invent SS/FF/SF relationships or lag/lead unless user stated them. "A after B" = FS, zero lag.
5. One owner per task. "Marcus's team" with no named lead → [TBD — team owner not named]. Multi-owner → split into subtasks or [TBD — assign a single owner].
6. Reporting-line managers never appear. No "Reports To" column. If the user says "Aisha reports to Raj," Raj is not in the schedule. Period.
7. Critical path only if all dates are real. If any task has TBD duration, the Critical Path sheet says "unavailable — N tasks missing duration."
8. Weekends skipped by default. Holidays not modeled. Document these assumptions on the Notes sheet.
9. Exact user wording for task names — do not rename "mock cutover" to "Pre-production Validation."
10. Fidelity pass before running. For every duration, date, owner, or predecessor in your JSON, cite a verbatim phrase in the user's message. If you can't → [TBD].

Run

python3 scripts/create_schedule.py --output "<dir>/<ProjectName>_Schedule_v1.xlsx" <<'JSON'
{ ...schema... }
JSON

Script handles topological ordering, weekend-skip date math, Gantt bars, Draft Gaps, Critical Path (when computable), Integrity Issues, Notes, and open_questions.md when gaps ≥ 5.

JSON schema

{
  "header": {
    "project_name": "string",
    "project_manager": "string or [TBD]",
    "sponsor": "string or [TBD]",
    "anchor_start_date": "YYYY-MM-DD or [TBD]",
    "date": "YYYY-MM-DD",
    "version": "v1"
  },
  "tasks": [
    {
      "id": "1",
      "name": "string",
      "owner": "string or [TBD]",
      "duration_days": "number or [TBD — reason]",
      "predecessors": "comma-separated ids or empty",
      "dependency_type": "FS | SS | FF | SF (default FS)",
      "lag_days": "number (default 0)"
    }
  ]
}

Notes:

• tasks is flat; id is any string (e.g. "1", "1.1", "T01"). Predecessors reference these ids.
• Only include dependency_type or lag_days if the user explicitly stated them. Omit otherwise — script defaults FS/0.
• duration_days must be a positive number or TBD. Never convert fuzzy words to numbers.
• anchor_start_date missing → all computed dates are TBD; the schedule is still useful for sequencing review.

Worked example

User: "Schedule for ServiceNow migration. Field mapping 3 days Marcus, ETL 1 week Jen after field mapping, mock cutover 2 days Marcus after ETL. Kickoff June 1, 2026."

Correct tasks:

1  Field mapping       Marcus Chen   3 days       preds=       FS
2  ETL                 Jen Wu        5 days       preds=1      FS
3  Mock cutover        Marcus Chen   2 days       preds=2      FS

Anchor start = 2026-06-01. Script computes dates.

User: "...Aisha works on the core auth service, about 2 weeks. Aisha reports to Raj Patel."

Correct task:

4  Core auth service   Aisha Khan    [TBD — user said ~2 weeks]   ...

Raj Patel does not appear anywhere. Do NOT encode "2 weeks" as 10.

Grounding (Project+)

Project schedule = time-phased task list with dependencies. Project+ uses PDM (precedence diagramming method) with four dependency types: FS (most common), SS, FF, SF, plus lag/lead. Critical path = longest chain of dependent tasks; slack = difference between late and early dates. Baselines are frozen at approval and compared to actuals to compute schedule variance. The bundled script handles sequencing, date math, Gantt rendering, and critical-path computation when inputs are complete.