Tag: changed

Project Planning

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An Old Adage:

Fail to Plan . . .

and You Plan to Fail!

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Project Planning –
5 Stages

• Prepare project overview
• Develop activity plan
• Assign responsibilities
• Put plan into action; track progress
• Prepare closeout report

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• High-level summary of the project
• Sets the overall scope
• Clearly written to communicate
• Team leader responsibility
• Critical to get this right!

Stage One:
Project Overview

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What’s In a Project Overview?

• Statement of Problem (or Opportunity)
• Goals and Objectives
• Measures of Success
• Approach, Process, and Timing
• Assumptions and Risks

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Let’s Use the Following Example

In your course materials, and pull out Appendix pages A26 – A28.

You have taken a new job, and it is a significant distance from home. You are concerned your current car will not be reliable given its age.

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Questions –

• What is our problem, or opportunity, or situation to be changed?
• What is our goal?

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Goals and Objectives

• Goals and objectives describe what we want to achieve to solve the problem or take advantage of the opportunity
• Keep them simple
• Focus on the important items
• Collectively, they define the scope
• They must be measurable for success
• Clearly written

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6.psd

Goals and Objectives
– Use the SMART Test

S – Specific

M – Measurable

A – Attainable

R – Relevant

T – Time-Based

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Question –

• Based on our project goal,

What are our most important objectives?

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Measures of Success

• Our desired results that can be quantified

Numbers, frequency, degrees of change

• Avoid intangible measures

Make it “better”

• Superlatives can be hard to achieve!

Avoid use of “all” or “never”

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Question –

• What measures of success should we use in our project example?

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Approach, Process, & Timing

• Describe how we will go about our work – what will we do?
• Define the schedule you will follow
• Consider how success was achieved in similar projects
• For a new project – be creative!

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Video Presentation

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Video Review

• What approaches did the team consider?
• What assumptions were challenged?
• What was necessary for the novel approach to be considered?

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Question –

• What approach should we follow for our project?
• What schedule do you want to meet?

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Assumptions and Risks

• We need to consider the things we expect to happen, and the “what ifs”
• Assumptions

Things we believe will happen

Things needed to be true for success

• Risks

Undermine success

Actions can be planned to offset risks

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Assumptions and Risks

Might Include:

• Resources needed
• Timing of resources
• Events outside our control
• Potential delays and their effect

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For your Patrol’s project idea:

• Together, quickly outline a Project Overview for your project
• Be prepared to share your solution

Take 5 minutes to complete

Patrol Activity –

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• Who would like to share?

Patrol Activity –

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Project Overview . . .
. . . A Quick Review

• Defined our problem
• Listed goals and objectives
• Decided on measures of success
• Described our approach and timing
• Considered assumptions and risks

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A Project Overview . . .

• Helps ensure success
• Helps get everyone on “one page”
• Helps prevent

Getting off track

Scope creep

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Stage Two:
Activity Plan

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Activity Plan

• Define the activities and tasks needed to achieve our goals
• Organize & Prioritize activities and tasks
• Identify which tasks depend on others
• Assign team members to activities
• Define dates to begin and finish

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Activity Plan

Goal

Activity

Activity

Activity

Task

Task

Task

Task

Task

Task

Task

Task

Task

Task

Task

Task

Task

Task

Task

Task

Activity

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Activity Plan

Replace Car

Choose Make/Style

Shop for Car

Make Purchase

Mileage

Space

Features

Cost Limit

Body

SUV?

Make?

Colors

Negotiate

Finance

Prep

Receive

Online

Dealers

Buyer

Set Price

Define Needs

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Project Activities and Tasks Should . . .

• Pass the “SMART” test
• Have clear start and stop times
• Include estimated time and cost to complete
• Be assignable and manageable

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Video Presentation

This clip will help illustrate the second stage of project planning – Activity Plan

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“If you keep on doing what you’ve always done . . .
. . . You will keep on getting what you’ve always got.”

• We must challenge assumptions
• We must think outside the box

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Stage Three:
Activity Assignments

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Assign Activities

Team Leader Should –

• Confirm availability of resources
• Understand team member skills
• Match skills to tasks
• Establish progress milestones and reporting procedures

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Assign Activities

Team Members Should –

• Know project’s purpose
• Understand their assignments
• Know the availability of resources
• Be clear about deadlines
• Understand how to address issues

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Stage Four:
Putting the Plan
Into Action

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Work the Plan

• Now is the time to let the team do its job!
• Staying to the plan is the clearest path to success!
• A well-laid plan will help ensure a team is performin’ . . . not stormin’!

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Work the Plan

• Get the project going
• Provide leadership to the team
• Assist with decisions & problems
• Obtain additional resources
• Monitor progress of activities
• Monitor team performance

The Leader Should –

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Stage Five:
Project Closeout

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Closing Out the Project

• Recognize team members
• Prepare After-action report
• Goals and objectives met?
• Completed on schedule?
• Lessons learned?
• Ideas/recommendations for future projects

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Summary

Five Stages of Project Planning

• Develop a Project Overview
• Plan the Work
• Make Activity Assignments
• Put the Plan into Action
• Prepare Project Closeout

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A Different Adage:

If you plan the work . . .

. . . you plan for success!

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• What is our problem, or opportunity, or situation to be changed?

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