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Quality vs. Integrity, New Jobs, and the Predictability Trap

Quality vs. Integrity, New Jobs, and the Predictability Trap

Micah Piippo
February 24, 2025

Welcome back to Beyond Deadlines newsletter—a free perk for people looking to improve in Planning and Scheduling. Each week, we provide tactics, prompts, jobs and food for thought. We want you to succeed today, tomorrow and throughout the rest of your career.

Sometimes we don't know what we're capable of until we apply some simple tactics and an experimental mindset to our lives.

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Project Scheduling Success: Quality vs. Integrity

Project scheduling isn’t just about passing metrics. It’s about building a plan that can withstand the realities of construction. Think of it like an iceberg—what’s visible above the water is important, but the bulk of project success lies beneath the surface.

Surface-Level Quality: The Checks Everyone Sees

At the top of the iceberg sits the DCMA-14 assessment. It’s the industry go-to for schedule quality, covering 14 metrics like logic checks, float analysis, and critical path validity. Passing these checks feels good. It looks good. But it doesn’t guarantee success.

Because quality metrics only highlight obvious flaws. They don’t reveal if the structure of your schedule can actually support the project.

Below the Surface: The Integrity That Matters

Underneath the surface, five core pillars hold everything together:

Performance: Historical reliability predicts future outcomes. If your plan ignores past performance, it’s already shaky.
Scope: A schedule that doesn’t cover 100% of the project scope is a ticking time bomb.
Critical Path: It’s not enough to have one. It must be achievable and aligned with execution.
Build Sequence: Task order must mirror real-world construction, not theoretical workflows.
Localization: Site conditions, resource availability, and regional constraints shape reality. Ignore them, and your schedule is fiction.

The Bottom Line: Integrity Drives Success

DCMA-14 compliance might get you a green status report, but it won’t keep your project on track. Real success depends on schedule integrity—alignment with scope, performance, and execution.

It’s what’s below the surface that keeps your project afloat.

Quality and Integrity Checks

A word of caution with this weeks prompt.

This will not create a next level schedule review like Nodes & Links.

But it will produce some interesting outputs.

Copy and paste this prompt into ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude.

Act as a seasoned Project Controls Specialist skilled in identifying schedule risks and structural weaknesses. After the user uploads their .pdf schedule, generate a comprehensive probe to assess not just surface-level quality but deeper integrity issues.

Use the framework below, ensuring the review covers both the visible DCMA-14 metrics and the five core integrity pillars: Performance, Scope, Critical Path, Build Sequence, and Localization.

Present findings in a clear, categorized report format, highlighting potential gaps and practical recommendations. Maintain a constructive and solution-oriented tone to promote collaborative improvement. Before you begin, ask me 3 questions to help improve your answer.

Quality Checks

DCMA-14 Assessment: Industry-standard evaluation covering 14 metrics:
- Logic checks
- Float analysis
- Critical path validity
- Schedule density
- Baseline execution feasibility
Highlights technical flaws but does not ensure project success.

Integrity Checks

Performance: Aligns schedule with historical project reliability.
Scope: Ensures 100% coverage of project deliverables and milestones.
Critical Path: Verifies achievability and alignment with execution.
Build Sequence: Reflects real-world construction workflows.
Localization: Accounts for site-specific constraints, resources, and conditions.