Project Planning kicks off the team activities within a project.
The planning stage is not a one-off event at the start of the project, it forms part of the ongoing project cycle.
Project planning as a lifecycle stage
As a team member planning will feel like a step in the process, from a Project Manager’s (PM) perspective planning involves several steps, all of which are repeated throughout the project’s life.
Team planning
A team building, coaching and fact finding exercise! Performed not just on project initiation but throughout the project to keep the plan live and the team engaged.
With the whole project team, including Sponsor and Owner, invovled in this actvity it can be a great way to understand different views and challenges to delivery.
As a PM, the initial planning brainstorm is a chance to get to know your team and understand how best to work with them.
Update the plan
There are many types of project planning tools, with different ones suiting different projects and team dynamics.
A PM might manage a couple of different planning tools, e.g. a high level plan for Stakeholder visibility and a short term task based team planner. I’ll cover a review of some available tools in a later post.
Gantts for high level summaries:
♦ Collapsable high level view for stakeholders♦ Quick view of milestones
♦ Detailed PM impact assessment of task and timeline changes
Kanbans or task planners for team catch ups:
♦ Accessible to whole team♦ Team can focus on breaking tasks into smaller weekly or daily actions
♦ Easier to maintain momentum - less overwhelming
♦ More visually engaging to a busy team
♦ Quicker team updates, focussed
Project documents should help control the project - only create the documents that add value to your project and work for your business.
Feedback to Sponsor
Highlight or reiterate planning cycle outcomes to the Sponsor, this might have been part of the team planning exercise if the Sponsor attended or the Sponsor may need a quick update following any plan updates.
Email or meeting, depending on your Sponsor’s preference and how hands-on your Sponsor is in the project.
Focus on:
- Changes to plan and charter
- Anything needing escalation for decision or action
- Finance or resource changes
That's planning!
Remember:
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Planning should be ongoing through the project, it’s not a one off step at the start.
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Keep it exciting for the team - give them post it notes, a voice and responsibility for estimating and planning their tasks.
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Ensure tasks and deadlines are accessible to the team.
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The team may switch off if you focus on a gantt chart.
Keep an eye on my website for a future add of free templates!