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Plan for success
Now you’ve got the go-ahead, it’s time to start planning the project in detail. Your next step should be to compile a project plan. This is also known as a Project Initiation Document, or PID. The project plan builds on the project brief or strategic outline case (SOC), outlined in the previous chapter, to provide a complete picture of how the project will be managed.
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3.1
Define your objectives
The first part of your project plan should be a statement of the project’s objectives and how these will be realized. It should contain this information:
• A ‘position statement’. Explain the background to the project.
• The project deliverables. What tangible outputs your project will produce – a new website, for example, or a launch party for a new club. Essentially this means, “Where do we want to go?”
• The key success factors. The success factors will demonstrate that the project’s aims have been achieved. They might include a specification for the new website or a list of the key attendees of your launch party. This means, “How will we know when we’ve got there?”
• Yardsticks. The various quality indicators that you will use to measure performance.
• For a larger project, the key priorities. This gives a sense of what’s really important, and what represents merely the ‘icing on the cake’.
• What assumptions you are making. There might be constraints on your project, for example, or the resources available to you (in the latter case, it’s always better to have these in writing!).
• What has been learned from previous projects. Focus on what will be useful in delivering this one.
• How quality will be assured. In project parlance, quality generally means being fit for purpose.
Ensure your objectives are SMART:
Specific – quantifiable
Measurable – that quality indicators are in place
Achievable – within the ability of the project team, and with the available resources
Relevant – to the current project
Timetabled (see Secret 3.4)
The project’s objectives should state clearly what will be achieved.
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3.2
Divide the project into work packages
Your first aim is to divide the project up into the main work areas, and then list what needs to be done in each area to create a hierarchical structure of the tasks that need to be carried out in order to deliver your project. This is called a work breakdown structure (WBS for short).
Creating a work breakdown structure consists of three steps.
1 Divide your project up into the principal work packages or work areas. For a software project, for example, these might be: specification, design, implementation, testing, launch.
2 List all the tasks you can think of that will be associated with each work package.
3 Number each task, so that you can identify both main and subsidiary tasks (sub-tasks).
Sample WBS for a new marketing website
1. Project go-ahead
2. Marketing
2.1 Market research
2.2 Develop e-commerce model
2.3 Implement marketing campaign
3. Editorial
3.1 Specify functionality required
3.2 Adapt existing content
4. Design
4.1 Design and test user interface
4.2 Convert illustrations
5. Technical
5.1 Arrange contract with host
5.2 Build database
5.3 Test database
5.4 Go-live
5.5 Write updating manual
6. Human resources
6.1 Identify HR requirements
6.2 Recruit temporary staff
6.3 Build project teams
6.4 Project teams in place
6.5 Recruit permanent staff
6.6 Induct permanent staff
6.7 Progress monitoring/ training needs analysis
7. Project management
7.1 Set evaluation criteria/ reporting procedures
7.2 Monitor and report
7.3 Handover and inital staff training
7.4 Final project evaluation and report
8. Project close
Make your WBS as accurate as possible, but don’t worry if it isn’t complete at this stage. Remember, the best plan is a flexible one! Once you’ve created a basic WBS, add in some key details that will help you in the next phase, scheduling your project.
• Identify the likely duration of each task and the resources needed. For example, will it take two software engineers three weeks to build a new database (or three engineers two weeks)?
• Which of these you choose depends on the constraints that affect your project. How many people are available to work on your project team? Are there certain tasks that cannot begin before a certain date, or must finish by another, because of staff holidays, weather conditions, or other factors outside your control?
Identify work areas and create a work breakdown structure (WBS).
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3.3
First things first (and last things last)
Now you know what needs to be done, the next step is to establish the required running order. An easy way to establish this is via a backward pass through the project tasks, then make a diagram to show how all the tasks in the project relate to one another.
• Perform a backward pass. Ask yourself: “What needs to be done immediately before I can do thi...
