Project Planning

Project planning is at the heart of the project life cycle, and tells everyone involved
where you’re going and how you’re going to get there. The planning phase is when the project
plans are documented, the project deliverables and requirements are defined, and the project
schedule is created. It involves creating a set of plans to help guide your team through the
implementation and closure phases of the project. The plans created during this phase will help
you manage time, cost, quality, changes, risk, and related issues. They will also help you control
staff and external suppliers to ensure that you deliver the project on time, within budget, and
within schedule. The project planning phase is often the most challenging phase for a project
manager, as you need to make an educated guess about the staff, resources, and equipment
needed to complete your project. You may also need to plan your communications and
procurement activities, as well as contract any third-party suppliers.

The purpose of the project planning phase is to:

 Establish business requirements

 Establish cost, schedule, list of deliverables, and delivery dates
 Establish resources plans
 Obtain management approval and proceed to the next phase

The basic processes of project planning are:

 Scope planning – specifying the in-scope requirements for the project to facilitate creating the
work breakdown structure
 Preparation of the work breakdown structure – spelling out the breakdown of the project into
tasks and sub-tasks
 Project schedule development – listing the entire schedule of the activities and detailing their
sequence of implementation
 Resource planning – indicating who will do what work, at which time, and if any special skills
are needed to accomplish the project tasks
 Budget planning – specifying the budgeted cost to be incurred at the completion of the project
 Procurement planning – focusing on vendors outside your company and subcontracting
 Risk management – planning for possible risks and considering optional contingency plans and
mitigation strategies
 Quality planning – assessing quality criteria to be used for the project
 Communication planning – designing the communication strategy with all project stakeholders
 Project Definition

A Project is a temporary, unique and progressive attempt or endeavor made to produce

some kind of a tangible or intangible result (a unique product, service, benefit, competitive
advantage, etc.). It usually includes a series of interrelated tasks that are planned for execution
over a fixed period of time and within certain requirements and limitations such as cost, quality,
performance, others.

The Key Characteristics of a project:

 Temporary. This key characteristic means that every project has a finite start and a finite
end. The start is the time when the project is initiated and its concept is developed. The
end is reached when all objectives of the project have been met (or unmet if it’s obvious
that the project cannot be completed – then it’s terminated).
 Unique Deliverable(s). Any project aims to produce some deliverable(s) which can be a
product, service, or some another result. Deliverables should address a problem or need
analyzed before project start.
 Progressive Elaboration. With the progress of a project, continuous investigation and
improvement become available, and all this allows producing more accurate and
comprehensive plans. This key characteristic means that the successive iterations of
planning processes result in developing more effective solutions to progress and develop
long-term projects.

The triple constraints of project management

1. Time constraint: The time constraint refers to the project’s schedule for completion,

including the deadlines for each phase of the project, as well as the date for rollout of the

final deliverable.

2. Scope constraint: The scope of a project defines its specific goals, deliverables, features,

and functions, in addition to the tasks required to complete the project.

 3. Cost constraint: The cost of the project, often dubbed the project’s budget, comprises all

of the financial resources needed to complete the project on time, in its predetermined

scope. Keep in mind that cost does not just mean money for materials — it encompasses

costs for labor, vendors, quality control, and other factors, as well.

Let's look at each of the three constraints in detail.

Time constraint

When it comes to time constraints, proper scheduling is essential. According to the Project

Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), the following steps should be taken for

effective time management:

1. Planning: This includes defining the main goal(s) of the project team, how the team

intends to achieve the goal(s), and the equipment and/or steps that will be taken to do so.

2. Scheduling: The project management team must plot out the realistic timeframe to

complete each phase of the project.

3. Monitoring: This step occurs once the project is underway and requires the project team

to analyze how the past stages of the project performed, noting trends and impacts on

future plans, and communicating these findings to all relevant stakeholders.

4. Control: In the control step, the team must, upon communicating the results of each

phase of the project, move forward accordingly. That means if things are running

smoothly, the team must analyze the factors contributing to that positive outcome so that

it can be continued and replicated. If there has been a derailment, the team must know

how and why the derailment occurred and correct it for future actions.

A Gantt chart can help to visualize the project timeline and whether they are tracking to the

proper constraints.
Scope constraint

Defined upfront, the scope of the project should be clearly and regularly communicated to all

stakeholders to ensure that “scope creep” — the term used when changes are made to the scope

mid-project, without the same levels of control — is avoided. To keep the scope in check, you

can:

 Provide clear documentation of the full project scope at the beginning of the project,

including all requirements.

 Set up a process for managing any changes, so if someone proposes a change, there is a

controlled system in place for how that change will be reviewed, approved or rejected,

and implemented if applicable.

 Communicate the scope clearly and frequently with stakeholders.

Cost constraint

A project’s budget includes both fixed and variable costs, including materials, permits, labor, and

the financial impact of team members working on the project. A few of the ways to estimate the

cost of a project include:

 Historical data: Looking at what similar projects cost in the recent past

 Resources: Estimating the rate of cost for goods and labor.

 Parametric: Comparing historical data with updated, relevant variables

 Vendor bid: Averaging the total charge of several solid ve

Scope Management
 Project scope management is a process that helps in determining and documenting the list of all the

project goals, tasks, deliverables, deadlines, and budgets as a part of the planning process. In project

management, it is common for a big project to have modifications along the way.

With the scope in the project management defined right in the beginning, it becomes much easier

for project teams to manage and make the required changes.

Importance of project scope management

For a project manager, managing the expectations of the stakeholders and clients is one of the most

challenging tasks. With a definite project scope, managers can easily stay on track and ensure that

all the deadlines are being followed throughout the project life cycle.

A well-defined project scope management helps avoid common issues like:

 Constantly changing requirements

 Pivoting the project direction when you are already mid-way

 Realizing that the final outcome isn’t what was expected

 Going over the discussed budget

 Falling behind the project deadlines

Effective project scope management gives a clear idea about the time, labor, and cost involved in

the project. It helps to distinguish between what is needed and what isn’t needed for accomplishing

the project. Scope in project management also establishes the control factors of the project to

address elements that might change during the project life cycle.
 How is the project scope defined?

Project scope is a part of the project planning process that documents specific goals, deliverables,

features, and budgets. The scope document details the list of activities for the successful completion

of the project.

The scope is defined by understanding the project requirements and the client’s expectations. The

scope statement usually contains,

 project objectives

 project deliverables

 exclusions

 project constraints and

 project assumptions.

Scope statement in project management

The project’s scope statement is also called its scope document or statement of work. The project

scope statement

 details all the boundaries of the project while also establishing the responsibilities of the team,

 defines all the procedures that need to be followed for verifying and approving the finished work,

and,

 gives team members a definitive guideline for making project-related decisions.

When documenting the scope of a project, team members and stakeholders have to be as specific as

possible to avoid scope creep, a situation where some parts of the project end up taking more time

and effort than initially discussed due to miscommunication or poor planning.

With effective project management, teams are able to ensure that the project is finished on deadline,

a proper project communication plan is done, and the final product aligns with the initial

requirements.

Project scope management process

Let’s discuss the six processes involved in accurately identifying the project scope management:

1. Planning scope management

In the first process in project scope management, you create a scope plan document that you can

refer to in the later stages. The document mainly helps in defining, managing, validating, and

controlling the project’s scope.

 It includes:

 Detailed project scope statement

 Breakdown of all the project requirements

 Expected project deliverables

 Project change control process

The document doesn’t have to be very detailed; it just has to fit the purpose. You can also use a

previous project’s scope management plan as a reference for this.

2. Collecting requirements

The next step is to work out stakeholder requirements and expectations. You will be required to

document all the project requirements, expectations, budgets, and deliverables through interviews,

surveys, and focus groups.

This is a rather important step because more often than not, stakeholders can have unrealistic

requirements or expectations and the project managers would be required to step in to find a

solution that is acceptable by everyone from avoiding project delays.

At the end of the collection requirements stage, you should have the following:

 Functional as well as non-functional requirements

 Stakeholder requirements

 Business requirements

 Support and training requirements

 Project requirements
3. Defining the scope

At this step, you need to turn your requirements into a well-detailed description of the service or

product that you are trying to deliver through the project. You will then have a project scope

statement that you can then refer to throughout your project.

While it is important to list what is in the scope of the project, it is just as important to note down

what is out of the project scope. Any kind of inclusions to the scope would then have to go through

the entire change control process to ensure the team is only working on things that they are

supposed to work on.

With a defined scope, you get a reference point for your project team and anyone else involved. In

case there is something that is not involved in the scope, it doesn’t need to be completed by the

team.

4. Making a project breakdown structure

A project breakdown structure is a document that breaks down all the work which needs to be done

in the project and then assigns all the tasks to the team members. It lists the deliverables that need to

be completed and their respective deadlines as well.

You can use project management software for this step of the process to assign and prioritize

project tasks which will make it easier to track the entire progress of the project and avoid any

unnecessary bottlenecks.
5. Validating scope

In this step, the scope and deliverables that you have recorded need to be sent to project executives

and stakeholders to get the necessary approvals. Scope validation needs to be done before starting

the project to ensure that if something goes wrong then it is easy to find where it went wrong.

6. Controlling scope

Project managers need to ensure that as the project begins, it always stays within the defined scope.

In case there are some things that need to change, then the proper change control process should be

followed.

Project Charter

 Project charter is a short document that explains the project in clear, concise wording for high
level management. Project charters outline the entirety of projects to help teams quickly
understand the goals, tasks, timelines, and stakeholders. It is is an essential deliverable in any
project and one of the first deliverables as prescribed by the PMBOK Guide and other best
practice standards. The document provides key information about a project, and also provides
approval to start the project. Therefore, it serves as a formal announcement that a new approved
project is about to commence. Contained also in the project charter is the appointment of
the project manager, the person who is overall responsible for the project.

What does the project charter contain?

When preparing the project charter, utilize the SMART method. Be Specific, ensure your goals
are Measurable, Attainable, Relevant to the project, and Timely. The project charter includes:
 Purpose and objectives of the project in clear, concise language
 Requirements of the project at a very high level and without much detail
 Project description in a paragraph or two that explains the project
 Known high-level, major categories of risks for the project
 Schedule of events with the start and end dates
 Major events or milestones along the path.
 Budget or summary of how much the project will cost
 Requirements from the organization for approval, including what to approve, who will
approve, and how to get the approval
 Key players or stakeholders in charge of which parts of the project and who will approve the
plans to go through
 An introduction of the project manager, project sponsor, and their authority level

Main components of a project charter

A project charter is a living document outlining the issues, targets and framework of a process
improvement effort. A charter should have six main components that frame the document. Each
of these component helps define the reasons for the project, explains how it improves the
business, enumerate what steps are necessary to complete, and identifies the stakeholders
responsible for the project. The project charter components are:
1. Problem statement
2. Business case
3. Goal statement
4. Timeline
5. Scope
6. Team members
Why are project charters useful?

The main reason every project needs a project charter at the very start is because without it, there
is no proof or official document that an authorized project manager defined and presented a
project and gained its approval from stakeholders to proceed. A project charter also provides
several benefits:

 Formally authorizes the project to commence

 Creates a common vision and shared understanding of the project
 Empowers the project manager to lead the project
 Identifies the high-level objectives and scope of the project
 Defines what success will look like at the end of the project
 Gains support for the project by announcing it to the whole organization
 Ensures that key stakeholders are aware of the project
 Secures budget and resources for the project
 Serves as the point of reference for the project team

Key sections of a project charter

Most project management methodologies and frameworks prescribe the use of a project charter
but do not define the actual contents of the template. This is understandable, because projects
differ in a variety of ways, such as in size, criticality, type, or approach. But the accepted
principle in writing a project charter is that the document should help clarify the what, why, who,
when, and what cost aspects or questions of the project. Referencing the PMBOK Guide, the
inclusion of following sections in a project charter will answer these aspects and questions:
Project information

This section includes the name of the project, its ID (if organizations use one), the name of the
project manager, and its sponsor(s). It can also include additional but brief project description
details.

Business need, problem, or opportunity

This section tries to identify what the main driver for the project is for it to exist. It provides the
context or situation that led the sponsor to start the project.

Project objectives and benefits

This lists the goals that the project will try to achieve. A guide for writing the objectives is to use
the SMART acronym: they should be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-
bounded.

Project organization

This section identifies the people governing the project. It should clearly show the key roles for
its management and direction. Using a RACI chart can be helpful.
High-level project scope

This section outlines the boundaries of the project at a high level. It is important to identify not
only its scope, but also what is out of scope. Specifying key deliverables of the project should
also fall in this section.
High-level project timescale

The project charter should list the key stages and the estimated duration of the project at a high
level, including its milestones. However, the project manager should exercise caution in writing
the project schedule, assuming that the project will immediately start after the approval.

High-level project budget

This section identifies the budget requirements of the project at a high level. It should include
capital and revenue expenditure forecasts.

Key assumptions

This section lists the main assumptions that the project team took. It is important also to assess
how these assumptions can impact the project should the team realize later that the assumptions
they made were false or inaccurate.

Key project risks

This lists the main risks that may impact the project if they materialize. It assumes that the
project team cannot avoid encountering the identified risks.
 Success criteria

This section identifies the key metrics to help assess if the project is successful or not. The
measurable terms describe an outcome that is acceptable to the end-user, customer, and
stakeholders.

Scope Planning

You always want to know exactly what work has to be done before you start it. You have a
collection of team members, and you need to know exactly what they’re going to do to meet the
project’s objectives. The scope planning process is the very first thing you do to manage your
scope. Project scope planning is concerned with the definition of all the work needed to
successfully meet the project objectives. The whole idea here is that when you start the project,
you need to have a clear picture of all the work that needs to happen on your project, and as the
project progresses, you need to keep that scope up to date and written down in the project’s
scope management plan.

Defining the Scope

You already have a head start on refining the project’s objectives in quantifiable terms, but now
you need to plan further and write down all the intermediate and final deliverables that you and
your team will produce over the course of the project. Deliverables include everything that you
and your team produce for the project (i.e., anything that your project will deliver). The
deliverables for your project include all of the products or services that you and your team are
performing for the client, customer, or sponsor. They include every intermediate document, plan,
schedule, budget, blueprint, and anything else that will be made along the way, including all of
the project management documents you put together. Project deliverables are tangible outcomes,
measurable results, or specific items that must be produced to consider either the project or the
project phase completed. Intermediate deliverables, like the objectives, must be specific and
verifiable.

All deliverables must be described in a sufficient level of detail so that they can be differentiated
from related deliverables. For example:

 A twin engine plane versus a single engine plane

 A red marker versus a green marker
 A daily report versus a weekly report
 A departmental solution versus an enterprise solution

One of the project manager’s primary functions is to accurately document the deliverables of the
project and then manage the project so that they are produced according to the agreed-on criteria.
Deliverables are the output of each development phase, described in a quantifiable way.
 Project Time Management

Time management is defined as the time spent and the progress made over the project. It is one of

the major components of project management and the most concern of project managers. Time

management helps you schedule and examine the completion of the project.

Why is time management important in projects?

Managing time is an important part of task management. It helps to break down projects, assign

tasks, and complete the projects on time. Fortunately, with a bit of effort, you can implement project

management strategies that not only make you more efficient but might actually make your working

life more enjoyable.

These strategies can be thought of in three broad categories:

 project time management processes

 implementing time management best practices

 using the right time management tools

Of course, there is some overlap among these categories, so don’t think of them as steps that must

be taken in a particular order. Instead, think about the needs of your project team and the broader

organization, and then start by implementing the strategies that seem most likely to make an impact.

Six main processes in project time management

1. Creating a project plan

Planning is a crucial part of project management. As a project manager, it’s your responsibility to

make a project plan. A project plan, according to the PMI, is “the document that describes how the

project will be executed, monitored and controlled, and closed.”

It outlines the objectives and scope of your project and serves as an official point of reference for

the project team, the larger company, and the project stakeholders. Just by creating a thorough plan,

you’ll save yourself and your team a great deal of time and frustration as the project progresses.

2. Project schedule management process

A project schedule is much more than a basic calendar. It details the project timeline and the

organizational resources required to complete each task. The project schedule must be accessible to

every team member. Its purpose is to communicate critical information to the team, so it must be

comprehensive and easy to understand.

Several of the steps in creating a project schedule relate directly to time management, and as they

are dependent on one another. With the help of the best project scheduling tools, we can create a

seamless scheduling process.

3. Define the project activities

This can be as simple as creating a list of tasks that must be completed in order to deliver your

project. In the case of complex projects, it may be helpful to organize these tasks in the form of

a WBS, a project management chart that helps to visualize projects, and their sub-tasks.

4. Determine dependencies

Once you have all the project activities listed, think through each one carefully to identify which

tasks rely on others to be completed. If you’re building a house, for example, you can’t put the roof

on until the frame is completed. It’s important to correctly define all your project dependencies so

you can schedule accurately and avoid delays.

5. Sequence activities

After you’ve established the dependencies among your activities, you can sequence them. At this

point, you aren’t assigning any time to your activities in terms of work hours or due dates. Instead,

you’re focusing on the order in which all project activities should be done so that the most efficient

flow is created.

6. Estimate durations and resources

The best way to estimate duration is to use data from similar previous jobs. If you don’t have any

data to work from and there’s no industry standard to which you can refer, an estimate based on the
average of the best, worst, and most likely scenarios. Estimate the resources needed for each project

activity.

Remember that resource allocation will affect your schedule; if the same team member is

responsible for multiple tasks, they can’t be completed at the same time, which affects your

schedule.