Discover5 Minutes Podcast with Ricardo VargasThe Invisible Loop: Why Your Schedule Never Balances Out
The Invisible Loop: Why Your Schedule Never Balances Out

The Invisible Loop: Why Your Schedule Never Balances Out

Update: 2025-10-27
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In this episode, Ricardo discusses activity loops, which occur when tasks become predecessors and successors to each other, creating cycles that make schedule calculations difficult. Although schedules are designed for linear flows, engineering and innovation projects are often iterative, with constant revisions and feedback. Looping isn't a mistake, but it needs to be represented correctly. Ricardo suggests some ways to avoid this problem, such as creating successive versions (elaboration 1, 2, final), using intermediate milestones, or delayed start-start relationships. When interdependence is unavoidable, he recommends using the Design Structure Matrix (DSM), which maps circular relationships and helps plan blocks of iterative activities. The important thing is to choose the model that best represents the project's reality.



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The Invisible Loop: Why Your Schedule Never Balances Out

The Invisible Loop: Why Your Schedule Never Balances Out

Ricardo Viana Vargas