IT’S ALL ABOUT THE PLAN!

Project planning is something that requires time and focus.  Effective project planning goes along way towards completing a successful project with a positive outcome.

Whether you plan using the infamous gantt chart, write the plan down in a notebook, pop it into a spreadsheet or use a project management tool, the accuracy and detail behind that plan will determine how well you run your project.

Why have a project plan?

A project plan enables you to determine the following;

1. Is the end-game deliverable, along with the key time lines for critical pieces of work, actually achievable?
2. Who are you going to need and what materials are going to be required to deliver point 1.
3. What needs to actually get done from beginning to end of the project.
4. To identify any potential problems that may arise and to plan in advance how you are going to handle them.

It helps to avoid confusion during the project and gives you a baseline against which your project can be measured.

Regardless of the complexity of the project being delivered, it is advisable to ensure that sufficient time has been spent in the planning process.  When the plan is created and shown to the relevant parties, it is something that everyone can sign up to – customers included.

So what makes up a good project plan?

A project plan has to be more than a pretty looking gantt chart. It has to serve it’s purpose and so should contain other things beyond the simple targetted timelines for beginning and the ending the project. The plan should identify;

1. The person/people on the team who are going to make your project a reality for your customer.
2. The key milestones (main pieces of work) that need to be achieved and the order in which they are to be done.
3. A breakdown of the activities required to make it happen and their sequence – there is no point in building the walls if the foundations are not in place!
4. The budget that you are allocating to the project and how it will be managed.

The plan should then be backed up by an understanding and acceptance (preferably documented) for;

1. Any identified risks and constraints that may occur. E.g. if you are building a house and a full site survey has not been done, a risk might be the presence of an unknown cabling or piping layout on the site. This would have a significant impact on the ability to, for example, lay the foundations and will incur extra costs to resolve.
2. Any assumptions that have been made up to that point should have been agreed and signed off.
3. The basis for the approach that was undertaken to produce the plan in the first place and how it was structured.
4. The reporting structures that will be put in place to manage the project to the plan e.g. weekly updates with the client.

The above lists are just the basics but apply to any project in any business large or small. Project planning might seem like a boring task but it will help you deliver great projects to your clients.

How do you plan your projects?