narratives are separate, your team must connect one representation of the task (visual) to other
(narrative). Reproducing the boxes next to the narratives overcomes this problem.
2. It identifies each step directly. Team members may be intimidated by the complexity and scope of
their tasks when reviewed in diagram form. But when these are broken down and addressed directly as
single steps, they will have more confidence in their abilities to respond. Each box is explained, one
after the other. This is less overwhelming than the more complex-looking diagram.
3. It reverts to vertical steps. People are accustomed to thinking of processes as moving from top to
bottom, as in a vertical flowchart. We’ve already demonstrated that this method is inefficient for project
management, especially since vertical flowcharting fails to show areas of responsibility, time deadlines,
or documents generated by project activities. Combining narratives with reproductions of each step
(box) gives team members a vertical summary of their tasks.
THE DIAGRAM/NARRATIVE COMBINATION
The complex network diagram can be translated into a fairly simple series of steps, divided into specific areas
of responsibility. This improves your team’s comprehension, and summarizes each member’s individual task
and role on the team.
Example: One phase in your project is entitled, “Prepare worksheet.” This phase includes a verification loop
and, on the diagram, it appears quite complex. The steps on the diagram are depicted as follows:
Anticipating that your team member will find this series of steps confusing, you write narrative explanations
of the process. To help in tracking the steps, you also reproduce the boxes next to the narrative explanation.
The narrative explanation is given to the employee, together with the complete network diagram, as follows:
Notice how the horizontal steps on the network diagram are duplicated vertically in the narrative section.
Your team members may relate to this step-by-step method more readily than to a complex network diagram.
While the diagram is essential to both you and your team, the narrative section—with reproduced steps in
boxes—may be the most practical working document for executing project phases efficiently.
Notice that the treatment of the loop is easy to follow. In the diagram, the loop may be the most confusing
part, because the process line splits into two directions. With the narrative/diagram combination, this decision
is clarified for the team member.
The narrative section is also useful for drawing weak links to your team’s attention. Since you will prepare a
narrative for each team member, sections will begin and end at natural weak links. One person’s involvement
begins as someone else completes his or her work, and it ends when the results are passed on to someone else.
In the example given, the team member begins upon receipt of a report from the accounting department. And
when the worksheet has been prepared and a subsequent report is written, that work is passed on to the project
manager. The beginning and end are the weak links in the project, since work passes from one area of
responsibility to another.
The narrative supplement helps every member of your team to manage weak links, because:
1. The process itself cannot begin until the previous work is completed and passed through.
2. The process is not complete until the last step, which often is to pass results on to the next person to
execute the next phase.
As project manager you will find it easiest to control the schedule by tracking the time line on the network
diagram. This is best managed with a visual summary, since you can view progress of the entire project no
matter how many different tasks are underway at one time. However, when a team member runs into a
problem, you will find the narrative section very helpful for working through the problem and arriving at a