General Guideline for Project Planning, –

Using {Insert Company} organizational processes, assets, templates, methods, and frameworks

Remember: SMART Goals and 8/80 rule

“Failing to plan is planning to fail.” – Author Alan Lakein

Project Document - A brief description of document

Business case - Prepared by Sponsor – used to create Charter – contains the key driver.

Project Charter - Contains the scope of work, requirements, proposed timeline, budget, resources, success factors and metrics, and sponsor approval

Scope statement/requirement specification - Description of project requirements – Includes what’s in and what’s out. This is the project justification (Business case) and includes product description, project deliverables, out of scope items, project objectives, cost and schedule objectives, acceptance criteria, constraints, and assumptions – generally developed during the defining phase/ Approved scope statement is developed during planning phase.

RACI Chart - Team resources and responsibility matrix – assigns responsibility level in the project

Statement of Work (SoW) (also called Terms of Reference)- Aggregated scope of all work, location of work, period of performance, deliverables schedule, applicable standards, acceptance criteria, special requirements,  milestones, and tasks (use with vendors and contractors)

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) Breaks the project tasks down into smaller work packages – each deliverable is broken down separately - Phases, sub-projects, deliverables broken down into manageable work packages

WBS Dictionary - Contains details of the tasks, activities, and deliverables of the work breakdown structure; includes whatever milestones are related, the project scope and in some instances dates, resources, costs, and quantities.

Precedence Diagram Method (PDM) (need table of activity dependencies) - Predecessors and Successors Network Diagram: List each activity in chronological order, list its predecessor and number of days the activity will take – used to determine total length of project and Critical path -(ES, EF, LS, LF )

(*Items could be discovered and added to the WBS as the team estimates each activity duration)

Project plan – GANTT Chart - Chronological timeline and order of activities according to dependencies- including roles and assigned tasks – shows a percentage of completion for tasks and activities and determines the total duration of the project. Visual representation for the logical order of the project path

Project budget - Project cost (baseline planned and actual)

Contained within the project plan will be the following sub-management plans:

Risk Assessment Plan (and Issues Logger) - Critical risks and issues log with Mitigation techniques - 4-quadrant Risk logger with Impact from 1-5 and Probability from 0-100%.

Communication Management Plan - Structures communication and meetings in a project and how often the communication will be made, and by what vehicle (Face-to-face, email, etc.)

Quality Management Plan - Quality approach that will be utilized and how quality will be monitored and measured. Includes quality planning, quality assurance, quality control and quality improvement plans.

Resource Management Plan - Identifies the resource requirements for the project schedule: Skills management and adjacency; internal employees or contract resources from external vendors(?), Materials, hardware, software, and equipment to supply to team members to empower their work, documenting project roles and responsibilities, organizing project teams based on competencies, skills management, and resource schedule/ calendar - determine if I have the resource requirements to complete the entire project on time. Anticipate what-if scenarios to determine worst-case resource management scenarios. List individual project resource activity and make sure all tasks are assigned to a specific resource.

Knowledge Management Plan - All documents and artifacts and where they are located - Repository

Schedule Management Plan - Methodology for the schedule, performance measures when monitoring and controlling the project, schedule variances and how they should be handled, and schedule change control

Procurement Management Plan - Requires input from SH Matrix, resource plan and schedules – Details how resources will be purchased/acquired. Includes (Not exhaustive) Project scheduling, vendor control, constraints and assumptions, pre-qualified vendors if proper/required.

Change Management Plan(request tracker)- Track approved changes to the project scope and budget

Configuration and Integration Management Plan - What is the “definition of done”, how legacy data will be handled, and what the training plan will look like for the client. New system for learning management system (LMS)

Necessary steps to complete projects successfully…and on time!

A. Goals and Deliverables (can be found in the Project Charter or Business Case, and are further developed and uncovered during the kick-off meeting)

*Reading the charter will give a high-level view of the project, including sponsor, budget, and goals. Also, the reasons for the project, objectives, constraints, and stakeholder Identification –must find the key driver – Consider the Iron Triangle (Cost/Quality/Schedule) of your scope, ask the necessary questions of the client to find the key driver. Of the three - Cost/Quality/Schedule – one of these is always a top key driver.

*The clear objectives and key drivers must be extracted in the beginning to ensure the success of the project, and to develop a proper plan. This cannot be stressed enough!

B. List out each and every task. During a brainstorming meeting the team and PM’s will ascertain all of the necessary tasks (no particular order) which will be used to plan the project.

C. Put all tasks into a logical and proper order using post-it notes. (Post it has a great app that helps save the planet!) Develop the activities of the project from these tasks. Include the amount of time (in days) that the activities will take, using best practices estimation techniques. There are several and you should learn them. :)

D. Develop list of activities, each one’s predecessors, and duration of each activity. Then, develop PDM network diagram to refine project length – Use Forward Pass/Backward Pass to determine ES, EF, LS, LF, total duration and Critical Path.

E. Calculate the margin/contingency on each activity.

F. If necessary, crash the project if taking too long. Incorporate lead time where possible.

G. Create Risk logger and list all risks and opportunities – Use Risk Register Quadrant,  - what is the likelihood, how serious, how serious, mitigation plans, continue to monitor and control all risks (External, Technical, Organizational)

H. Create GANTT Chart. Link task dependencies from PDM diagram. Linking dependencies is usually done automatically in some programs. Knowing how to do this in the GANTT chart will help shave precious time off the final schedule.

I. Begin Resource planning using the GANTT – assign tasks and activities, start dates, and end dates.

J. Monitor and control all activities continually, to include cost/budget, and the iron triangle, especially key driver. Follow the communication and meeting plans, as well as the stakeholder engagement plan throughout the project. 8/80 rule!

K. Handle all change management – adjust as necessary after speaking to sponsor and stakeholders

L. Project Review, lessons learned review and register, document and artifact filing and labeling. Release resources based on {Insert Company name} rules and requirements.