1 Project Management Planning in Detail

2 Planning Why Plan? What makes a good plan? How do you plan?When should I plan? What is there to help me?

3 Why Plan?

4 Reasons for Planning Validation of achievabilityHelp identify key milestones Aid to thought process For communication Aids delegation Basis of costing Resource management To help with ‘What if’ As a basis for control Order here is chronological: Once you know what is to be done, a quick evaluation for ‘Can it be done’. Then, in as short a space as possible, a quick answer to how long it will really take

5 So what is the best way to approach this??You decide to invite 4 friends around for a proper sit down chicken dinner You check with your partner and they agree (‘agreement to proceed’) However, you have to organize as your partner is busy note: INSTRUCTOR: Prior to exercise write ‘Cook = #7’ on a piece of paper. Fold and hand to a member of the class - call them ‘your assistant’. Tell them not to look at it yet! exercise: Set up the exercise by saying that the plan finishes with the meal being served. Choose someone to organize the dinner. Ask for the tasks and position your hand at the head of the chart - this encourages them to start at the beginning - and write large enough so that you can fit 7-8 lines on the paper. Put the list on the flipchart. Ask for improvements from anyone! exercise review: Look at granularity of the plan often tasks come out very small until we come to Cook - you probably have lots of 5 minute tasks – then get fed up with it and “Cook” - the big one Facilitator starts at the top of the sheet – tasks came out very small If you are lucky, show the prepared statement and Cook will come out as a chunk lower in the list. discuss how you may have tackled this differently if You started at the end You were asked to give the process in 7 steps (Harare level - average number of things we can handle mentally) key message: When planning - start with the end result then produce not more than seven tasks which produce a deliverable then start with that deliverable and work backwards etc. link: so let’s look at how this turns out So what does the plan look like?

6 The Work Breakdown Structure A Hierarchical Breakdown of ActivitiesProduce Meal PROJECT STAGE Plan Prepare Cook Serve

7 The Work Breakdown Structure A Hierarchical Breakdown of ActivitiesPROJECT STAGE STEP Produce Meal Plan Prepare Cook Serve Cook Vegetables Cook Chicken Finalize Dessert

8 The Work Breakdown Structure A Hierarchical Breakdown of ActivitiesProduce Meal PROJECT STAGE STEP TASK Plan Prepare Cook Serve Cook Vegetables Cook Chicken Finalize Dessert Stuff Chicken Baste Chicken Place in Oven Monitor Chicken

9 A Good Plan? All steps covered Timescales clearly shownResources clearly marked Deliverable driven Reviews included Quality Risk Progress Re-planning points Adding reviews and re-planning may double the number of tasks. One thing is sure, if they’re not there, they won’t happen notes: Earlier we talked about what makes a good plan, some of the things you look for. Once you spend a lot of time looking at plans, things tend to jump out at you as far as what is missing, not well-defined, etc. We’ll talk about risk mgmt a little later too. Need to allow time for re-planning!

10 Components of a Plan

11 Components of a Plan (cont’d)Stage Step Task

12 Components of a Plan (cont’d)Effort Task Name Who will do it Effort “person time” When “elapsed time”

13 If class has run long this may be a good stopping point!How do you Plan? Plan the Plan notes: How do you plan? You’ve got steps. Period. If class has run long this may be a good stopping point! PMO1-06-Planning in Detail ‹#›

14 How do you Plan? Understand the Objectives, Scope and Constraints(From the Project Management Plan) You can’t start the plan until you understand these Btw, you must understand them, but as you start planning, put the constraints to one side. The reason is so you do it the correct way first, without optimizing first, then go back and put the constraints in. Walk up to any project manager and they will immediately attempt to cover/hide their plan, similar to an artist! notes: Refer back to Plan Stage - what contributes to the PMP? You must understand the constraints but in the first pass put them aside. You don’t want to try to be optimizing already. Start plain vanilla and then optimise and consider constraints It is definitely an art form, NOT a science! story: If you go to a scientist in the middle of an experiment, she is eager to explain what she’s trying to do and how it’s going. If you go up to an artist before the masterpiece is finished. They will immediately try and cover it up - they won’t want you to look until it’s finished. What does a project manager do with her plan. She covers it up and won’t let you look. It’s not quite finished yet. planning is an art form!

15 How do you Plan? Develop Top-Down Identify the main Stages & Tasksnotes: ‘Identify main stages’ refer back to the Dinner example Doesn’t give you the end answer, but gives you building blocks Artist about a conversation – Are you willing to show your plan to the client when it is only partially done? Scheduling is tough! If someone sees the plan with a date, its hard for them to accept something else later!

16 Tips on Planning (1) Use the predefined processes where possiblePlan next stage in detail, rest in outline Avoid stages longer than 6 weeks If you cannot estimate a stage then consider splitting up

17 Exercise: Project StagesSplit into 3 teams What are the high level stages required? 1. Elephant trekking in Alps 2. Grand Prix in Beijing 3. Making beer from seaweed In teams of three try to work out the major stages needed. What could go wrong and what would they do about it? Each team produces one sheet on flip-chart and presents back to group for discussion. Does it hold together? Would the plan work? Patterns should start to emerge on projects in general - i.e. feasibility (testing the concept), preparation, development, testing, implementation and monitoring. PMO1-06-Planning in Detail ‹#›

18 Project Life Cycles Feasibility Analysis Design ConstructionIf most projects fit this model - why don’t people follow it? Analysis Design Construction Implementation

19 Use and Misuse DANGER Needs-based adaptation Cosmetic Slavish use ofmultiple templates Danger of using pre-set methods. Ideally Needs-based adaptation. Cosmetic use : used at high level, but lose detail Do your own thing : Re-inverts the wheel, badly done, takes longer. Blind adherence : Unnecessary, takes longer, done badly Slavish use of multiple templates : might be others that are more appropriate. Blind adherence to one way Do your own thing DANGER

20 Poor use of Defined MethodExcuses “My project is different” “The standards are out of date” “The method is too big for my project” “I haven’t time to go through all that” Actions Reinventing methods Steps forgotten about/ underestimated EXCUSES - not good reasons just poor excuses. PMO1-06-Planning in Detail ‹#›

21 An IT Development MethodA Client/Server Development Method Pre - Inception Contains: Deliverables Review Points Testing Steps & Guidelines Roles Techniques Experience Works with Management Method Inception Elaboration For those unused to a method this is an example of one. LINK: If they are that good - why are they misused? Construction Transition

22 Why Use Project TemplatesImproves Quality Speeds up the Process Learn from the Experience of Others Tried and Tested Approach Easy to Build New Approaches Ensures nothing is forgotten, therefore ensures all the appropriate areas are covered, but still can’t guarantee the contents. Enables you to build a quick plan to test idea/problem cost. Learn from the experience of others, others should learn from you, depends how mature the template is. Templates make ideal building blocks, in the same way an engineer might build a bridge. When building a bridge you would never start from scratch, so why do IT professionals?

23 How do you Plan? Identify dependencies between sub-tasks

24 Tips on Planning (2) Use Microsoft Project or similar scheduling tool - they make life easier!!

25 How do you Plan? Allocate Roles and Resources notes:More information on next slide

26 Don’t Forget the Collaboration ProcessGeneric or Individual Resources? Generic Resources Act as placeholder for effort and cost Can be defined as one individual or as a group Useful for ‘What If’ Analysis Must ‘average’ the skill levels required Individual Resources Must replace Generic Resources for assignment and tracking purposes Non project resources Adjust estimates based on skill level of actual resources Critical to adjust estimates based on skill level of actual resources! Example: at the beginning of your project, you may know that you’ll need a DBA in week 20 of your project, but you don’t know who that will be yet. That’s ok. But you’ll need to know the actual person once you have to assign and track that task.

27 How do you Plan? Identify Risks Most plans are plans for success.Consider additional tasks to mitigate risks. notes: Identify risks and how they may impact your project. Example: Not sure of support you’ll be able to get from Hosting group…a task that may have to be added to your schedule to compensate for that is a ‘SLA agreement’.

28 How do you Plan? Estimate PMO1-06-Planning in Detail ‹#›Things to consider when doing your estimates: Similar projects Guidelines from Capability Leaders or Capability SME (subject matter experts) Identify other factors (# of locations, volume of information, new hardware platform) Resources (skills, vacation, sick leave, full time or part time) Time constraints Other Projects dependant upon your project and your project dependant upon them Client decisions Reviews - time to correct error found Complexity New technology Organizational or social implications PMO1-06-Planning in Detail ‹#›

29 How do you Plan? Schedule Easier when you are using MS Project!

30 Identify Stages & TasksPlanning is Cyclic Scheduling is a cyclical activity steps go down as well as up! Schedule Estimate Identify Risks Allocate Roles and Resources Identify dependencies Identify Stages & Tasks You can go back and re-negotiate the scope, put more resources, re-allocate resources (e.g. critical path person’s tasks can be re-distributed to get to a better date (e.g. add a team leader to take load off project manager). NEVER cut the estimates for the actual work you have to do, only the SCOPE. notes: There are only so many resources you can add until you don’t achieve any more productivity identify those tasks that are critical path things that demand a certain duration, and you CANNOT do it in any shorter period of time. key messages: The plan is a shield for the team the person without the plan is vulnerable story: Manger goes in to see Ken - I need you to do this task. Ken has piles of work but eventually takes it Goes in to see Martin and Martin says fine - turns to the plan on the wall and asks what he should drop to do this. Agree O.S.C. ‹#

31 Tidying Up the Plan Critical Path Resource Usage view Manual LevellingUnder utilization of resources Non Project Time Regional Calendars Personal Calendars Never as easy as just pushing a button!

32 When do you plan? When others are involvedEvery time - if new activity When time is tight Over n hours when others are involved - especially when you don’t know them Basic answer is all the time

33 What is there to help me? PM Method (e.g. PACE) Previous projectsMicrosoft Project There is A LOT to help you!

34 Summary Planning and Scheduling Is vital Contains everythingTakes time Produces a living document Is ongoing work Difficulty is not an excuse Tools available to help