PROJECT PLANNING

Project Planning

Project Planning

Distribution of Resources and Time

The development of formal project planning approaches, an outgrowth of systems management, was spurred mainly because of the large-scale and costly US Department of Defense contracts (e.g. the building of the Polaris missile and submarine fleet, NASA and the space mission) during the Cold War period of the 1950s and 1960s. This management approach was quickly adopted by other industries and many organizations which recognized the potential of this powerful new management approach for all sorts of projects regardless of industry, professional field or project size. In the context of project planning, projects have the following generic characteristics:

Projects are typically unique, time-limited, complex and integrated sets of activities with little margin for errors.

Projects follow a clear life cycle from a conceptual phase to some termination phase. Understanding the project life cycle permits managers to control resources better in the achievement of goals.

Projects are established with specific goals, priorities and control criteria which are clearly documented.

There are well-defined and documented authority, responsibilities and roles within projects.

Formal, detailed project work plans set out the activities, resources, and so on, of a project.

Explicit performance standards and project controls (e.g. milestones, project reviews) enable the early identification and correction of problems.

The project manager exercises a high level of control over the project and its likely outcome: success or failure.

Project planning charts are another essential tool, whether in paper or computerized form (Figure 2). These worksheets enable project team members to identify all the major activities required to complete the project, as well as identifying the specific person responsible for ensuring that the activity is completed successfully, the estimated actual work time (e.g. number of work hours/days) and elapse time (e.g. period of days over which the work will take place since staff do not spend all their time on just one activity - they work on several activities or projects concurrently), and the financial and material or other resources required for that activity. Once all major activities are identified in this manner, the detailed planning charts can be completed by breaking down each major activity into its various tasks. Note that each activity and task has its unique number to prevent any confusion in project discussions on the work to be performed. Also, this tool specifies the individual accountable for each activity; thus, helping to eliminate the “free rider” problem frequently reported in group work.( Larson, 1991 32)

As we know from experience, we identify many potential problems or issues during any planning process; therefore, issues analysis is an important part of the planning process. The use of issues analysis charts aids project staff in describing all potential issues or problems as they plan their activities and sharing these issues with other project members and the client or senior management in order to determine its impact on the project and action to be taken. For example, if a mail survey of customer satisfaction is planned, then potential issues could include a disruption in the postal service or the ...