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Objectives: Project Management Lesson 3 The Project Plan

The document discusses key elements of a project plan including work breakdown structures, task dependencies, and resource planning. It explains that a project plan guides project execution by defining goals and the steps to achieve them. It should break work down into a hierarchy of summary tasks, subtasks, and work packages no longer than 10 days. Dependencies between tasks are also identified and visualized in a network diagram to schedule project timelines and resource allocation.

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65 views7 pages

Objectives: Project Management Lesson 3 The Project Plan

The document discusses key elements of a project plan including work breakdown structures, task dependencies, and resource planning. It explains that a project plan guides project execution by defining goals and the steps to achieve them. It should break work down into a hierarchy of summary tasks, subtasks, and work packages no longer than 10 days. Dependencies between tasks are also identified and visualized in a network diagram to schedule project timelines and resource allocation.

Uploaded by

jethro_012
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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PROJECT MANAGEMENT

LESSON 3
THE PROJECT PLAN

OBJECTIVES
• What is a Project Plan?
• Introducing Work Breakdown Structures (WBS)
• Defining tasks
• Work packages
• Project Dependencies
• Sequencing activities
• Estimation techniques
• Network diagrams & Resource planning
• Task lists
• Resource plans
• Developing a project schedule
• Popular software for WBS

PROJECT PLANS
• A document used to guide & control the execution of the project
• Clearly defines the goals of the project – the result that you wish to achieve
• Clearly defines the plan to achieve the goals - the different steps that will need to be accomplished in order
to achieve this goal
• May evolve as the project progresses – a project plan is more of a living document, as your project moves
along, so your project plan will adapt to any changes that are made.

Includes elements such as:


• Task list - break down any big chunks of work into little pieces so we can identify the scope and the time
required for our project
• Work breakdown structure - visually show how they are broken down into smaller tasks
• Dependencies outline - tasks that can start or finish with at the previous tasks starting or finishing
• Resource plan - using your staff members as resources and how to evaluate where they are available and
how much time you will need them for
• Project schedule - how long your project will take and the order in which things will be executed

WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURES

DEFINITION OF TASKS
• Identify & document all activities that need to be performed in order to achieve project goals
• This process promotes creating summary task, subtask & work packages
• Activities are typically small segments of work that can be completed in hours or days

WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURES


• WBSs are used to break projects down into more manageable sections
o This process promotes creating summary tasks, which are a collection of smaller subtasks annual
subtasks are a combination of different work packages.
o Now your work packages are the smallest amount of work that can be accomplished within your
projects.
• The sections are organised in a hierarchical structure
• The further down a WBS you go more details become available - the biggest tasks or the most important
things are at the top and then it breaks down into smaller subtasks. The further down a work breakdown
structure you go, the more details are available.
• Deliverables are broken down into sub-deliverables & eventually work packages
SUMMARY TASKS
• High-level tasks also known as parent tasks
• Assist in navigating task groups - the sequence in which
things need to happen for your project to be successful
• Present milestones, project phases in an easy to read
manner

SUB TASKS
• Are a more broken-down description of summary tasks
• Sub dependents or child tasks

WORK PACKAGES
• Work packages (WP) allow for large pieces of work to be broken
down into smaller more manageable chunks
• WPs allow multiple teams to focus on different aspects of the project that
inevitably come together
• When reviewing a WBS the work packages are the elements that cannot be
broken down further
• They are often grouped into areas of expertise (technology, human
resources, finance) - one resource can be working on a work package under
one summary tasks and later in the day they can work on another aspect that
falls within their speciality group

WORK PACKAGES RULES


• Should not exceed 10 days of duration
• Should be independent of other work packages in the
WBS
• Unique & should not be duplicated across the WBS
PROJECT DEPENDENCIES
SEQUENCING OF ACTIVITIES

 Once activities have been identified & documented the next step is to identifying relationships between
activities
Activity Relationship types:
 Finish To Start (FS)
 Finish To Finish (FF)
 Start To Start (SS)
 Start To Finish (SF)
 These relationships will then be applied to your Network Diagram

OUTLINE DEPENDENCIES
 Dependencies are the relationships of the preceding task to the succeeding task
 Tasks may have multiple preceding tasks and multiple succeeding tasks
 The most common dependency relationship is the finish-to-start relationship
 The least common relationship is the start-to-finish relationship

DEFINITION OF ACTIVITIES
 Activities are typically small segments of work that can be completed in hours or days
 Identify & document all activities that need to be performed in order to achieve project goals
 This process promotes creating summary task, subtask & work packages
 Work packages are broken down into activities

ESTIMATION TECHNIQUES

BELL CURVE
“A bell curve is a graph that is considered to be a normal distribution. The top of
the curve shows the most likely event out of the data collected After the mean is
calculated, standard deviations are figured. Standard deviations that depict the
returns of a security are known as volatility” (Investopedia, 2020)

DELPHI TECHNIQUE
 Several experts in the field are requested to complete questionnaires individually on the elements of the
project
 The answers are collated and then anonymously distributed to all the experts with an opportunity to revise
their estimates
 This process can occur many times the final estimate will be based on the average estimate given by the
participants
BOTTOM-UP TECHNIQUE
 The Project is broken down into smaller manageable sections
 The staff resources that are responsible for the work will provide a time estimate
 The overall estimate is calculated as an accumulation of the projects smaller tasks

CALENDARS

RESOURCE CALENDARS
• Details working & non-working time of specific staff members
• Non-working time includes:
o Vacation days
o Public Holidays
o Maternity/Paternity leave
• The resource calendars allow project managers to see:
o Resource availability
o Records of previous work

COMPANY CALENDARS
• Company calendars detail non-working days or segments of time
• These include:
o Weekends
o Public Holidays
o Conferences
o Team Building
o Meetings
NETWORK DIAGRAMS & RESOURCE PLANNING

NETWORK DIAGRAM
RESOURCE PLAN

DEVELOP A PROJECT SCHEDULE


CONTROLLING PROJECT SCHEDULE

 Monitoring the status of project activities (RAG)


 Implement changes/solutions for activities that have exceeded expected duration estimate
 Recognising potential risks & planning a preventative or corrective strategy

SUGGESTED SOFTWARES:
• Lucidchart
• SmartDraw
• Smartsheeet
• Microsoft Visio

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