Introducing Project Planning & Project Management

Update June 2008

Objectives

•Provide an overview of project planning & management

•Explore project planning techniques

•Explore project management techniques

2

Project Planning vs. Project Management

•Project Planning refers to the planning elements of the project, which usually take place in the beginning of a project.

• Project Management refers to the overall management of the project, including the planning phase and the execution of that plan.

3

What are the phases of project planning and management?

Planning

•Scoping

•Planning

•Sharing, Reviewing, & Revising

Management

•Executing & Revising

•Completing & Reflecting

4

What are the elements of project planning and management?

Scoping• Project kick-off

meeting with stakeholders

• Gathering project information

Planning• Developing project plan

(see templates)• Tasks, timelines,

resource/people needs, & dependencies

• Considering risks & contingency plans

Sharing, Reviewing, & Revising• Send project plan to stakeholders for review• Revise plan accordingly• Agree on plan

Executing• Carry out tasks

according to plan• Communicate statuses,

issues, and project changes

• Adjust plan as needed

Completing & Reflecting• Complete all project deliverables• Hold a post-mortem• Celebrate project completion

5

What is “Project Planning”?

Project Planning can be defined as setting the direction for a system, and then working to ensure that system is followed.

• It is one of the most common activities we do (in all aspects of life).

• It can be simple or complex, depending on the project.

6

Why is project planning important?

A project plan is important to the team & customer because it helps us:

• Level-set expectations for project

• Complete deliverables accurately

• Helps meet deadlines

• Utilize resource efficiently

• Plan tasks accordingly & understand dependencies

• Communicate about the project

• Helps mitigate risk and develop contingency plans

7

Why is project planning important?

A project plan is important to you because it helps you:

• Manage your time

• Prioritize your tasks

• Manage competing priorities and “last minute” task requests

• Understand what’s being asked of you

• Understand & focus on the “big picture” of the project

8

What are the various aspects of Project Planning?

• Deliverables

• Timelines

• Resources

• People

• Dependencies

• Risks & Contingency Plans

9

Deliverables

•Overall results/outcomes

•Most times, many smaller deliverables (“tasks”) are required to achieve the overall deliverables.

– Think of projects you do and all of the tasks involved

•Once you understand the overall results/outcomes, you can identify and assign tasks to achieve it

– This is known as a work breakdown structure

10

Timelines

•Deadline(s) must be established for the overall project deliverable(s)

– Confirm deliverable deadlines (if not known yet, get a delivery timeframe so you can start planning, “early Q2-2006”)

– Set timelines for all tasks involved– “Guesstimation” is key

11

Planning

•Create written plan of tasks & timelines

•Add task owners & reviewers

•Include resource needs & dependencies

12

Resources

•What you need to accomplish the project deliverable(s)– Materials, technologies, money, etc.

•These need to be identified up front so you can obtain them (and you know budget will allow them) before starting a project

– Identify equipment and software needs– Resources may determine people involved

13

People

•Everyone involved in the project– Managers, stakeholders, “doers”, reviewers, etc.– Often, a very scarce resource, so plan this part well!

•Consider skill sets and availability when distributing tasks

•Communicate project plan, updates, issues, etc. with these people

14

Dependencies

•These are things that must be accomplished first, or may impact your project in certain ways

– Conduct an environmental scan– Identify potential internal and external impacts– Plan for dependencies accordingly

15

Risk and Contingency Plans

•Identify potential project risks– These could be external, or internal (resource and people

deficiencies, etc.)– These may relate directly to dependencies

•Develop contingency plans– Plan for each risk – be creative – Document and share– Make sure contingency plans are acceptable

16

Reviewing Project Planning Phases

•Scoping

•Planning

•Sharing, Reviewing, & Revising

17

Scoping

•Meet with project lead/manager/stakeholders

•Define overall deliverables

•Establish deadline (or timeframe, if no deadline is determined yet)

•Begin to sketch a project plan

18

Stakeholder Meeting

•Who should attend: – Client owner(s)– Your manager– Other key stakeholders in the project (who will be contributing or

involved in making decisions)

•Goals for the meeting:– Begin gathering information on the project– Use Pre-Planning Checklist

19

Information Gathering and Plan Sketch

•Gather information as assigned to you as the project lead (as a result of meeting)

•Complete Pre-Planning Checklist– Find out as much information as you can– This is the basic sketch of the project plan

20

Scoping BKMs

•Set a timeline for “information gathering” and for delivery of project plan (1st draft)

•Get confirmation of items in the checklist from your manager or the client owner, even if you are sure you know the answer

•Some items in the checklist may not apply to your project. Don’t skip these before researching them.

– First look into those items by asking your manager or other stakeholders.

– If they confirm the items aren’t applicable, then skip them.

21

Planning

•Create your project plan using the simple project template or detailed Web project template:

– List all tasks involved (categorize or list in phases)– Establish timelines for tasks– Assign “Owners”, “Reviewers”, and “Approvers”– Note dependencies and resource needs

22

Developing the Plan BKMS

•Use a project plan template– Make sure you complete all areas of the template– Do the work breakdown structure methodically to make sure tasks

have not been skipped

•Draw on experiences– Use your previous experiences as project leader or participant– Ask team members (even those not involved) for feedback– Review project plans from other projects done by ICT

•Get everyone involved– Hold a pre-meeting with project team (remember pre-planning

checklist)– Reconvene with the project team to solicit help in building areas

of the plan that you are unsure of

23

Guesstimation for Project Timelines

1. Assign timelines to familiar tasks first.

2. Think of the most complex tasks or ones that will require the most time. Work backwards from the deadline and assign timelines to those tasks.

3. Fill in the rest of the tasks with your best guess, given past experiences or ask team members who may know.

4. Review your timelines to check for:• Overlap – Some tasks can have overlap if they don’t depend on each other, if they

are assigned to different people, or if they can be done simultaneously. Note areas of overlap.

• Confidence Level – How confident are you with your guessimates? If you are unsure of some tasks, see if you can add time to them. How will that affect your plan?

• BKMs:– Be realistic about what you (and others) can accomplish given other tasks,

meetings, etc.– Don’t be too optimistic; be “middle-of-the-road”.– Build in some “slack time” to accommodate potential set-backs, external

factors, mistakes, etc. This is known as Defensive Scheduling and is usually very effective.

• Guesstimation takes practice, but is a very useful skill to develop.

24

Determining People Needed

• You must have a clearly defined set of tasks so you can select the right person for the job and so everyone understands expectations.

• Looking at the project plan, determine what tasks require additional people and when those tasks should start and finish. You may need additional people for the entire project or just certain pieces.

• Considering the timeframe of when people are needed will also help you select the right person to help on the project.

• Before bringing people in on the project, make sure they have the skills needed to do the tasks.

• If you are the only one with the knowledge/skills to do the task, you either need to:– Allocate time to do the task yourself, or– Allocate time to train someone else so they can do the task

25

Reviews & Testing

•Remember to explicitly state reviews and testing/QA in the project plan

•Allocate review time. A good rule of thumb is one business week for review…some items may require less time and some more.

•No task should be completed without review and/or testing.– Reviewer/tester should understand the quality level or

standards of the deliverable– Review is just as important as actually getting the task

done.

26

Plan for Error

•There will be errors in the project; plan accordingly.

•Review the tasks and try to predict where error may occur (i.e. using new software)

– Add time to “cushion” if you can. – If you can’t add time, consider adding an extra person to help out– Plan in advance to minimize error (i.e. hold a software training or

do a practice project ahead of time)

27

Other Plan Considerations

•Other tasks you and others are working on– Know what the priority is of this project in relation to your

other projects

•Scheduled meetings and events

•Weekends, holidays, scheduled events, vacations, sick days, etc.

28

Sharing, Reviewing, & Revising

•Send written plan to key stakeholders and other project participants

•Discuss and agree upon tasks, timelines, people involved, and resources

•Revise plan as needed

29

BKMs for Presenting Project Plan

•Include all stakeholders in plan review.– Send plan electronically– Hold brief meeting to review and discuss plan

•Be sure you explicitly request people review the items assigned to them.

– Ensure they can commit to doing the task by the timeline you have set.

– Ask stakeholders if any information is inaccurate or missing from the plan

•Don’t move forward until you get buy-in and approval on the plan.

30

Project Management Phases

•Executing & Revising

•Completing & Reflecting

31

Executing & Revising

•Follow through with steps outlined in plan

•Keep track of timelines and tasks of all involved

•Stay informed of issues and changes

•Revise plan as needed

32

Establishing Project Controls

•There are 2 key elements which will help you control the project once it gets started:

– Milestones (targeted tasks by an established due date)

– Communication (established form of communicating about the project)

33

Milestones

•As project lead, milestones are a way to monitor progress and help keep the project moving along according to the timeline.

•As project participant, milestones provide short-term goals and tasks that can be accomplished in a given amount of time. They help keep the project from seeming impossible or overwhelming.

34

Establishing Milestones

As project lead, you can establish milestones by:

• Dividing the project into phases– Example: If doing a 3-month project, have each month be a

project phase. Have everyone complete phase 1 before moving on.

• Dividing the project into categories– Example: If creating a printed book and CD, do all of the

tasks related to the book first, and then the CD second.

• Other tips:– Consider reviewing/testing materials after each milestone

to reduce need for a large review at end of project.– Milestones also reduce “perfectionism” if completed items

must be handed off at each milestone review.

35

Means of Project Communication

Status Communications

• How will team members communicate their status on project tasks?

• Consider doing either:– Weekly email status reports– Weekly/bi-weekly status report meetings– Posting the plan on and having everyone do regular

updates

36

Means of Project Communication (cont.)

Issue Escalations:

• If something goes wrong, how will team members report it/make everyone aware?

• Decide on an escalation path:– Option A: All issues are reported directly to you – Option B: Create a distribution list for the project team to

use for issue-related communications

• Tip: Remember to do a risk analysis during the planning phase so you can quickly resolve issues.

37

Ensuring Accountability

As project lead, how do I make sure all team members do their part?

Tips:

• Require some form of weekly status update (see slide 19). – Ask members to tell you what is done, not done, and will be

done in coming weeks

• Meet regularly with team members to discuss plan & progress.

• Clearly list owners on project plan & get all to agree on their tasks and timelines– Email project plan to team; in the email, list team member

names and their specific lists of tasks and due dates. – Request email confirmation from each team member that

they’ve read the plan and commit to the tasks and timelines.

38

Ensuring Accountability (cont.)

More tips:

• Follow-up with people who are not providing statuses or are late on deliverables.– Do not wait for people to send stuff to you; if the deadline

has passed, continue follow-up until you receive an update. – If deadlines are pushed, consider the risks and make

people aware of the project impacts if the tasks continue to be delayed. • If it is a team member, inform them and their manager of the risks if deadlines keep getting pushed; develop alternate plan to get the task done.• If it is the client, inform them of the risks (possibly timeline or quality impacts) to the project if their task does not get done. Ask them to decide how they want to proceed.

39

Completing & Reflecting

•Deliver on time

•Celebrate success

•Reflect on project flow and your planning– Note items to improve on in future projects– Conduct a post-mortem

40

Summary

•Project Planning refers to the planning elements of the project, which usually take place in the beginning of a project. Phases include Scoping, Planning, and Sharing, Reviewing, & Revising

• Project Management refers to the overall management of the project, including the planning phase and the execution of that plan. Phases include Executing & Revising and Completing & Reflecting