Schedule Assurance
15 Warning Signs of a Poor Construction Schedule
A programme is a claim about the future, and like any claim it can be sound or hollow. Most poor schedules fail in the same recognisable ways.
No single sign is fatal — every real programme has a few. The danger is the pattern.
Broken logic (1–4)
Open ends that break the network; dangling logic linked only at one end; excessive leads that force false overlaps; and logic that doesn’t respond when you move a key activity.
Float & constraints (5–8)
Constraint abuse that overrides logic; unexplained negative float; implausibly high float masking missing links; and a critical path running through the wrong work.
Durations & dates (9–11)
Round-number durations estimated by feel; marathon activities that hide risk; and invalid dates that mean the schedule isn’t being updated with discipline.
Progress & behaviour (12–15)
Progress that only ever moves forward; a completion date that never moves despite accumulating delay; a recovery programme with no method; and — most telling — a team that cannot explain its own critical path.
What to do about it
The remedy is a standard, not suspicion: turn each sign into a measurable test with the schedule health checklist, and automate it, so quality becomes a baseline everyone works to rather than a monthly argument.