Well, since it may be too much to describe how to plan and produce a submarine, I'll run through a darkroom (photolab) project--that is, designing and building a working photolab.

Let's set up the scenario first...

Let's say you want a photolab. You have about a 20-ft by 20-ft space in your building (a corner area) that you'd like to use for this purpose. Your building has a concrete floor and ceiling with cinder-block walls.

Where to start?

It helps if you know what a photolab does and what equipment it would be good to contain. It would help if you also had experience working in at least two (if not many more) working photolabs to understand the workflow and tasks involved with developing film and paper images. This is what you want for your end-product--the result of your project--to do.

So, for preliminary planning, you'd know that you would need at least four or five electrical outlets, and you would need running water with a deep sink. You'd know that the concrete floors would be good, but they would need to be sealed to prevent excess dust. And, you'd know that you need to somehow enclose the working area of the darkroom to close it off from outside light to avoid inadvertently exposing film and paper.

For starters, you could scope out that corner of the room and draw outlines on the floor and walls for the proposed locations of walls, counters, sinks, light fixtures, electrical outlets, and plumbing needs.

From the outlines drawn, someone experienced with carpentry and plumbing and electrical work could estimate how many plywood sheets, how many two-by-fours, how many inches of conduit, how many inches of wiring, what size and how many sinks, and how many tiles you'll need.

You can then use these estimates to get your budget approved and then buy these materials. You can also use the materials and the design to calculate how much labor (personnel and hours) it would take to build this darkroom.

With all this information written down, you can start a more do-able plan and schedule (some of the preceding work will be already on the schedule).

After your brainstorming (described in the previous text), write all this info in categories:

• Budget


• Materials


• Personnel


• Project Tasks


• Milestones-Deadlines


• Dependencies

Assume you have the budget, the materials, and the personnel to get this thing done. So all you have are the project tasks, the milestones and deadlines, and dependencies.

Dependencies are important to recognize--You can't finish the walls and ceilings until the conduits, wiring, and plumbing are completed. You can't lay down the formica and put in the sinks until the cabinets and counters are in place. You can't put up the walls and the ceiling until the baseboards and framing are bolted in place. And so on.

Other dependencies are things such as the nature of certain tasks--number of personnel needing to be involved, how long paint takes to dry, and how long glue takes to set.

Although now you can get scheduling and planning software such as Prima Vera or MS-Project or Mac-Project, it's possible to scope out schedules with MS-Excel, or really roughing it--with accountant's 13-column analysis paper.

No matter whether software is used or not, here's what you do:

On a grid format--in a table, that is--down the left-hand columnlist all the tasks that must be done, with the first required tasks listed first. Then list the next, and the next, and so on.

As column headings for the other columns, use days, weeks, or months (whatever metric is best for your project). For a darkroom, the total project time would take about a month, so we'd list each of four weekly columns subdivided into days.

You know the planning and brainstorming took about 3 days(Let's say Monday through Wednesday).

Buying and getting the materials takes about 2 days.

You know that laying down the baseboards and frame takes about 3 days (cutting the wood and bolting it).

Installing the conduit, wiring, and electrical fixtures takes about 3 days.

Installing the plumbing takes another 3 days.

Building and setting in the cabinets takes about 5 days.

Installing the wall panels and ceiling takes 3 days.

Laying the tile floor and the formica takes 2 days.

And painting the whole room takes 2 days.

Oops. More than a month.

With the darkroom project detailed above now looking like it will take more than a month to build and get working, this brings up an issue. How will the players in this project take this news?

This is why you should know before going into a project how critical your milestones and deadlines for completion are.

Obviously, those who have to do the work understand why the adjusted time may be necessary.

However, management might fuss about not getting the project completed in a month--because that was the timeframe originally guesstimated when they asked at the very beginning how long it would take. As more information and details about the project are learned, however, it's realized that it will take more time and adjustments to some of the tasks and materials involved.

Sometimes you may need to scrunch the timing to "speed things up" a bit. In industry terms, this is called "Crashing".

Maybe you can find a way to do certain tasks simultaneously. Perhaps while the counters are being cut and made, someone else can do the preliminary conduit and wiring installation. Maybe while the framing and walls are being assembled, someone else can install the plumbing. Maybe while the walls on the outside are being painted, someone can paint the inside walls. By doing some of the tasks in tandem and simultaneously, you can compress time allotted for the schedule to keep the management folks happy with coming closer to meeting the deadline. But you must be careful that you aren't breaking any dependencies when you try this.