Project Planning is the second step of five phases, and is used in the field of Software Engineering.
As defined in the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) 2000 Edition, a project plan is “A formal, approved document used to guide both project execution and project control. The primary uses of the project plan are to document planning assumptions and decisions, facilitate communication among stakeholders, and document approved scope, cost, and schedule baselines. A project plan may be summary or detailed.”
Project Charter
A project charter or project definition (sometimes called the terms of reference) is a statement of the scope, objectives and participants in a project. It provides a preliminary definition of roles and responsibilities, outlines the project objectives, identifies the main stakeholders, and defines the authority of the project manager. It serves as a reference of authority for the future of the project.
Phase 2 Planning Activities
Benjamin Franklin once said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” 1 Corithians 14:39 says ‘But let all things take place decently and by arrangement.”
Planning all of the important work of a project is one of the most important factors of successful project management. It is discussed here in some detail. After the work is planned it is also important to estimate the time and resources it will take to complete it. When beginning to list all of the activities and tasks of the project, it is recommended to start at the top and use a hierarchical approach. Break the project down to a few parts or phases. Take each phase and further break that down to major activities. For each activity, list the tasks involved. List any subtasks as necessary. Include all the relevant details. How far should you continue to breakdown these activities or tasks? If you estimate that an activity will take longer than a week then perhaps it should be broken down further, but not necessarily. Activities that are months or years in the future may not be so easy to breakdown into subtasks if there are too many unknowns. This is a process that will require regular periodic revision. If an activity is difficult to estimate the needed resources (time, money and so on) then breaking it down further will help. If the activity is difficult to communicate to another person such they clearly understand what needs to be done, break it down further. There are many cases where decisions need to be made and these decisions can be activities themselves and should be included in the list.
Phase 2 Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
After listing all of these activities in detail, in order and in a hierarchical fashion you will have your first draft of your Work Breakdown Structure. You may wish to use a numbering system. For example, if one of your activities is to purchase a computer, and its the fifth activity in your list, you would call that activity 5.0.0 Purchase Computer. The tasks might be to determine the specifications of the computer, get three quotes, make a decision then purchase the computer, as follows: 5.1.0 Determine Specifications 5.2.0 Get Three Quotes 5.3.0 Make Decision 5.4.0 Purchase. In the third task, Make Decision, you might want to break that down further into first deciding the decision criteria (the most important thing is the warranty, for example), creating a spreadsheet listing the three computer quotes and their specifications, then actually deciding. Your numbering system would then have 5.3.1, 5.3.2 and 5.3.3 for the three tasks under Make Decision.
Phase 2 100% Rule
The 100% Rule of the WBS states that the WBS includes all of the work defined in the project scope and all of the deliverables in the project’s scope. This rule applies to all levels of the hierarchy such that the sum of the work at the child level equals all of the work at the parent level.
Phase 2 Mutually Exclusive
There can be no overlap in scope definition between two elements of a WBS. The same element cannot be included twice. If it is, this ambiguity could result in duplication of work and miscommunication regarding authority and responsibility.
Phase 2 Work Breakdown Structure Dictionary
Detail any risks that you think of when preparing your Work Breakdown Structure. To do this you might create other documents that support each activity or task. You could include any “what if” scenarios as well. You might also think of any resources you need. A Work Breakdown Structure Dictionary is what you are creating now. You might also who the individual who is responsible for the task. You might detail exactly what the output of the activity is. In the above computer purchase example, the output is obvious. It is not so obvious when the activity involves the production of a document or report and therefore it may need to be fully explained. Finally, the task might require a narrative of exactly the processes and procedures used to complete the task.
Phase 2 Planning the Schedule
With the Work Breakdown Structure completed, and possibly an accompanying Work Breakdown Structure Dictionary, you are now ready to document the estimated duration of each task and the sequence of tasks. A PERT chart is a network diagram that show the activities, the duration of the activities, the milestones (you may also call them deliverables, events, results or victories) and also shows which activities must be completed before the next activity is started. The network diagram is also called a dependency diagram. Each activity can be drawn using an arrow. The arrow has a start and end point and the start and end points can be drawn using two circles, one where the arrow starts and one where the arrow ends. Inside the circles are the events or milestones. Every project must have at least one arrow and a milestone for "Start" and another milestone for "End". You may decide to label all of the other milestones using the alphabet. The arrow is labeled with the name of the activity and the span time. One way to do this is to use the numbering system described above and using the letter "t". For example, the activity of getting three quotes would be written on the diagram using an equation with the letter "t" with a subscript of "5.2.0", the equals sign, and the span time such as "1 week". The span time of one week is the actual calendar time needed to complete the task, not the number of hours required to complete the task by an individual. In other words the span time will include the time waiting for the vendors to reply to your request for three quotes. If you determine the immediate predecessors for every activity in your project, you now have all the information you need to draw your project's network diagram. There may be several activities that must be completed before moving on to the next set of activities. This is a milestone. In the diagram you will show several arrows pointing to this milestone and you would label it accordingly, such as "Ready To …". The 80% rule states that no single task in your WBS should require more than 80 hours of actual work. If it does, break it down into smaller tasks. The 80 hours refers to actual total work time required to do the task, not the span time of the activity.
Phase 2 Network Diagram
The network diagram is also called the project logic diagram. Parallel tasks are tasks which are not dependant on the completion of any other task. They may be done at any time before or after a particular design stage is reached. Dependant tasks are tasks that are dependant on another activity being completed first. The outputs of one task may be the inputs of the next task, such that the design of a house forms the inputs of the construction process.
Phase 2 Gantt Chart
A Gantt chart is a graph illustrating on a timeline when each activity will start, be performed and end and also shows the milestones and when they will be achieved. Time is shown along the bottom, moving from left to right. The beginning of the project starts at the top of the chart showing the first activity at the top. Software packages can be very useful with creating and printing Gantt charts.
Common Mistakes of Project Planning
Many people underestimate the project’s inputs and it’s obstacles to completion. Many people don’t do enough planning. There is a temptation, once the project gets a “green light”, to jump in and start doing the work itself without fully planning and researching at the outset. Sometimes the project manager gets too involved in the details of the work itself at the expense of coordinating the entire project.