Archive for category Building Project Plan
Building an Effective Plan
Posted by in Building Project Plan on May 29, 2011
As the team leader, you get the mission to produce a Project Charter, and following the charter you will need to produce a plan, after all a good plan significantly increases the chances of success for your project. Now you must concern yourself with getting an effective plan together. Therefore, what are the steps to think about in order to develop an effective plan?
Every plan must have a strategic element, and a tactical element. First, let us consider the strategic element. The strategic element must be clear in the plan as it is of critical importance to all stakeholders. The plan strategy is actually the art of projecting and directing the movement and operation of a campaign. It is essentially the execution of tactics, and it answers the bottom line question. How will you produce the desired results?
Strategy is, as mentioned, critically important to all the stakeholders. However, what does it give to these folks? Strategy allows the client to understand the project, its deliverables, and the intended results. The management team needs the plan strategy for measurement and visibility. The project team members need the plan strategy to understand what the expectations are for their contribution. All the support providers need the plan strategy to develop an understanding of how they fit into the big picture. Failing to develop a strategy is a significant cause of project failure, a major contributing factor for loss of control of projects by management, and budget overruns.
Since strategy defines tactics, it is certain the tactics need to be a part of the formal plan as it is under development. A good definition of tactics is it is the art of handling resources during execution of the plan. Tactics become a series of mini-plans for achieving a specific objective of the plan. Executing a plan without having made tactical decisions is both wasteful and inefficient. When considering a tactical step the planner must keep in mind that tactics always support the strategy.
Executing a plan without considering the tactical implications is actually operating in a reactive manner. A team leader who does not spend time planning the tactics of the project is setting the team up for overruns and missed timelines. Read the rest of this entry »
Project Manager Considerations When Building a Project Team
Posted by in Building Project Plan on May 26, 2011
As a Project Manager, your team may already have already been assigned before you build a project plan. If this is so, it will allow better estimations of resource budget and the team can participate in designing the project schedule. Alternatively, the team may not be approved and build until the implementation phase begins, which means a preliminary plan has been developed. Remember that if the team can help with planning, then they are more likely to be committed to accomplishing the plan and the project goal or objective. In addition, it is less likely that omission of important details from the plan will occur if the team is involved in developing the plan. Where possible, before trying to develop a project plan, assemble a Project Team of people that have something to contribute to the overall project.
These project team members may have expertise in similar projects or be someone with a stake in the outcome of the project. More experienced people will help insure the project stays on schedule, however working on a project with a mentor or others more experienced can be a great learning experience for those new to this type of work, process, service, or product. Team members may be volunteers or given the assignment to participate on the project. Typically, volunteers make more of an effort and require less supervision than those assigned without asking if they would like to participate. As the Project Manager, you should talk with each perspective member to make sure they understand what their project responsibilities and accountability might be, what challenges they may look forward to, and what value they offer to the team. Additionally, you should note how much freedom each member would have in carrying out their tasks and making decisions related to their assignments.
If the project team members have worked together before, then the project may start well. Team members who have worked on team projects before will already be familiar with team problem solving and participatory decision-making and will see working on the team as a motivating factor in their and others’ contribution to the project. However, if some of the team members have not worked together or been part of a team before, you as the project manager need to consider if there is need for any team training or other team-building activities to help the members work better as a team. If the team has not worked together before, in their first team meeting, you and your team members will need to establish conduct guidelines for personal and group behavior. You may want to establish what types of information sharing may or may not go outside the project team as well. Working as a team and with your feedback, the project members should find they produce better project results in a more effective manner. Read the rest of this entry »