Effective Planning Tips For A Project Manager
For any project to be successful, there must be enough planning. For any project manager, the first thing that they must do before developing a project is to develop a plan for it. Most often, many project managers do not recognize the value of a project plan. A project plan would save money, time, and it will also help to avoid a number of issues. Project planning is a process that involves a number of stages and other aspects. Here is an approach to project planning, carried out by the project manager.
1. Setting The Goals
Basically, what determines if a project is successful, is if the set objectives have been met. The stakeholders are the ones who will expect to have their needs met by theproject. The stakeholder is a person or entity that is impacted by the project, either directly, or indirectly. To begin with, the project manager would first off identify the stakeholders of the project that is in progress. Some of the project stakeholders include the following;
• The users of the outputs of the project.
• The customer, who receives the goods delivered by the project.
• The sponsor of the project.
• The project manager, along with their team.
These are the stakeholders, who would help to determine the goals of the project. When the project manager understands all the stakeholders, they will now need to know what their needs are. The most probable way of determining the needs of the stakeholders is by carrying out an interview. In the event of the interview, the project manager would identify the needs, and develop realistic goals.
When the needs have been listed down, the next step is to prioritize them, in relation to the overall objective of the organization. Having the list prioritized, the project manager will then create a collection of goals, which are easy to measure. The project manager would review the goals, contrary of a smart principle, with the aim of knowing when it would be accomplished. The set of goals that have been developed are then included in the project plan. The project manager would also include the needs and anticipations of the stakeholders of the project.
2. The Deliverables Of The Project
These are intangible or tangible objects that have been produced basically by the project. With the help of the goals that have just been created, the project manager would create a project deliverable list. The list should contain all the items that need to be delivered by the project in order to meet the set goals. The project manager would also specify how and when every item is to be delivered to the clients. The project deliverable would also be included in the project plan.
3. Schedule Of The Project
The project manager will then create a list of all the activities that will be required in order for every deliverable item to be accomplished. In every activity that the manager would create, they would identify the following aspects;
• The resource that would perform the task.
• The needed effort, number of days and hours, for the termination of the tasks.
When the manager establishes the amount of efforts that is needed for every activity, they would be able to compute the effort that would be needed for each project deliverable. Through this, they would determine the precise date of delivery. Since the deliverable things have already been listed, the project manager will then update the list with the exact delivery date.
For the project schedule, the project manager might use a software to develop one. There are also other templates that are present, which help in establishing a project schedule. With the template, the manager can simply insert all the tasks, deliverables, and the resources needed to complete the tasks. Also, the durations of the activities would be included in the schedule.
The challenge that comes at this stage is when the delivery deadline of the project from the sponsor is not rational, on the basis of the estimates. In such situations, the project manager would contact the sponsor, and in the event, the following might take place;
• Project Delay. This is the renegotiation of the delivery deadline.
• They might also employ extra resources, or
• Limit the project scope, meaning that there would be less deliverable.
The project schedule would help the project manager to know the progress of the project, in relation to the time.