The questions 'what makes a good schedule?' 'what makes a good planner?' and 'what should they do?' are addressed in these papers:
Core Papers
A Guide to Scheduling Good Practice describes the work undertaken by a scheduler to create an effective 'dynamic schedule' and is consistent with the PMBOK Guide and the PMI Practice Standard for Scheduling. Open the paper.
Attributes of a Scheduler considers the personal skills and competencies needed by a person to be an effective scheduler and describes the various 'roles' a scheduler will have during the lifecycle of a typical project including the difference between planning and scheduling and the scheduling value proposition. Open the paper.
Dynamic Scheduling describes the benefits derived from developing a 'good schedule' as defined in A Guide to Scheduling Good Practice. Open the paper.
Links, Lags & Ladders focuses on the issues, problems and challenges of overlapping tasks in a schedule using various link types (F-S, S-S, F-F-, S-F) with or without lead and lag durations, the more sophisticated 'ladder' concept, and the importance of actively managing the 'space' between tasks. Open the paper.
Schedule Float discusses the various calculations and definitions for float in both ADM and PDM networks. Open the paper.
Schedule Levels provides a guide the 5 levels of schedule typically used on major projects from the 'Master Schedule' to the 'Detailed Short Term Schedule', adapted from Bechtel & Fluor standards. Open the paper.