4.8. Plan and Manage Schedule

💡 First Principle: A schedule is only as reliable as the estimation technique and dependency logic behind it — this task tests whether you select the right estimating and sequencing approach for the selected development approach, then actively maintain the schedule as reality diverges from plan.

Enablers: 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 and baseline a project schedule, execute the schedule management plan, and analyze schedule variation.

Notice "story points" sitting alongside "milestones" and "dependencies" in the same enabler — the 2026 ECO explicitly expects schedule competency across both predictive (critical path, dependencies, baselines) and agile (story points, velocity-based forecasting) techniques, not one or the other.

⚠️ Exam Trap: Applying predictive scheduling vocabulary (critical path, float, baseline) to a scenario that's clearly agile/iterative, or vice versa. Match your terminology and technique to the development approach the scenario describes.