PROJECT MANAGEMENT PLANNING

What is Project Management Planning?

Having a great idea isn’t enough, without planning, your project will remain just that an idea. Planning is therefore the critical step to take a project from an intangible theory to a tangible result.

What does Planning Involve?

To bring a project to reality, the project manager will need to assemble a project plan. The project plan describes the cost, scope, and schedule for the project. It lays out exactly what activities and tasks will be required, as well as the resources needed, from personnel to equipment to financing, and where they can be acquired. Good project planning also factors in risk and how to manage it, including contingency plans, and details a communication strategy to keep all stakeholders up to date and on board.

Project Planning

Project planning involves the following steps.

Initiation: This step typically occurs before the project is given go ahead. It usually involves putting together a business case document that explains the need for the project, followed by a feasibility study to determine the viability of the project in terms of its cost and projected benefits.

• Stakeholder involvement: Identify your project sponsors and key stakeholders. To ensure the success of the project, meet with them to discuss their needs and expectations. Map out the project scope, budget, and timeline with them, and make sure to get their complete buy-in.

• Prioritizing goals: A project and a team can only do so much. Prioritize your goals to make fulfilling them clearer and easier.

• Identifying deliverables: What are the specific deliverables that you and your team are expected to produce? You’ll need to know exactly what is expected of you, as well as when you’ll also want to define what success looks like for each deliverable and develop metrics for tracking and ranking each one.

• Scheduling: Using the information organized in the previous step, you’ll need to map out the timeline for the project.

• Developing a project plan: As described previously, a project plan lays out the steps that will be needed to bring the project to fruition. It includes all the activities and tasks required, in the appropriate order and workflow. The project plan will draw from all the previous steps.

• Bake in contingency plans: No project is without hiccups. Make sure you plan for any bumps in the road by assessing the risks associated with your project and putting plans in place for addressing them.

In every project planning is always very crucial because without planning we plan to fail, therefore before undergoing any project it is important to plan.