Project Management: The Planning Phase

By the end of this section you will know what project management is all about, and the environment project managers work in.

You will be able to identify your key stakeholders and know whether you have what it takes…

By the end of this lecture you will have a solid definition of a project, know the difference between a project, a program and a portfolio and why all projects carry an element of risk

By the end of this lecture you will have an appreciation of the skills, tools, techniques, processes and knowledge needed to manage a project. As well as an understanding that practical project management is all about satisfying stakeholders needs and expectations

By the end of this lecture you will know who are the three most important stakeholders, how to identify them and how to satisfy their needs and expectations

By the end of this lecture you will appreciate the different and diverse skill sets you will need to master to become a successful practical project manager - driving results, being always competitive and staying motivated

Modern companies and organisations have to be very flexible in the way they tackle their projects if they want to win in today's very competitive environment.
However you still need to have an understanding of the past in order to appreciate the present and maybe influence the future

By the end of this lecture you will appreciate the differences between functional and projected organisations and how the organisational structure dictates the way projects are worked

The PMO comes in many shapes and sizes depending on the importance given to them by the management. In a matrix organisation they are probably a resource for project managers. In a functional organisation they are maybe thought of more as an un-necessary overhead. We discuss the pros and cons of having a Project Management Office

Setting up your PIMS is one of the first tasks to be done for your project.

If it is set up correctly on day one and everybody follows the rules, then project information management is one severe headache out of the way

All projects have a beginning, a middle and an end. All projects also have project phases and a project life cycle. Which is what and when? In this lecture all will be revealed

By the end of this lecture you will have a real understanding of project phases and more importantly what is not a project phase

In this lecture we discuss why we need practical, standardised and repeatable processes when managing projects. Making project success less dependent on the project manager and more dependent upon the whole team using the same language, the same framework, the same processes and tools

This International Standard provides guidance on concepts and processes of project management that are important for project performance and project success.

The target readership is senior managers and sponsors, project managers and project team members so that they all have a common basis from which to work.

However, ISO 21500 is NOT a project management methodology!

A project management methodology needs to include three layers of management and control:

- The Governance layer, This is the steering team headed by the sponsor

- The Project Management layer, headed by the project manager

- The Production layer, the technical working teams that actually create the deliverables

In this lecture we walk through a very practical project management methodology.

Using well established project management processes, including:

• Management by exception: set tolerances and monitor them to support management decisions
• Flexibility: Lessons learned, adapting processes and fine-tuning the method to fit the project environment
• With a focus on Deliverables, Stakeholders needs and expectations
• And the over all concept of keeping it as simple as possible (KISS) super simple

In this lecture we discuss the three layers of our project management methodology, Governance, Project and Production.

We then determine the points in the project life cycle when mandatory milestone reviews and decision gate meetings are held

In this lecture I introduce the five critical documents that every successful practical project manager needs to create and keep updated as the project progresses

I summarise the preceding lectures: What is a project, a project manager, a stakeholder. Projects in organisations, PMOs and PIMs. Project phases and project life cycles. The section ended with discussions on what is a project management methodology and the methodology on which we will base the remainder of this training program.

Included in the resource area are downloadable templates of the documents discussed in the lectures.

By the end of this section you will understand why some projects are left on the back burner. You will be able to maintain a list of your stakeholders, recruit your key project team members and create the first key document - the Project Assignment

A project in a portfolio is given the green light to start when it fits into the strategic plan of the organisation. In this lecture we also discuss the factors that affect project selection

In this lecture we discuss the process that initiates a new project. An approved Assignment Document issued to the nominated by Project Manager by his Sponsor

By the end of this lecture you will have a solid understanding of the need to manage your stakeholders and maybe satisfy their wants as well as their needs

Establishing your whole project team needs to be on your 'To-do' list but at this stage you need only recruit your key players and put in place the processes needed to manage your resources when the time comes

We review the key points in section 3: Project Initiation

By the end of this section you will have a solid understanding of the need for comprehensive and collaborative project planning. You will be able to develop a project plan and create the plans in a downloadable project plan template

The Project Plan defines how the project will be monitored, controlled and closed. In this lecture we discuss the key elements to be included and we remind ourselves to keep it brief and to the point

By the end of this lecture you will be familiar with the project plan template that is included in the resources area for you to download and use in your projects

We review the key points in section 4: Project Planning and focus on preparing the Project Plan

By the end of this section you will be able to complete the processes needed for defining the project scope, creating the ever important Work Breakdown Structure and Activity List

By the end of this lecture you will understand what “requirements” are, how to define them, how to collect them and more importantly how to record and trace their origins

The Project Scope Statement describes in detail the project deliverables and the work required to create the deliverables. In this lecture we discuss why defining the scope is so important and the methods we use to do so

We create a Work Breakdown Structure to provide a framework for presenting the work that needs to be completed in order to achieve the project objectives in a clear and unambiguous way

In this lecture we discuss the final task in defining the project scope: Identifying all the activities that need to be carried out to complete the works packages

We review the key points in section 5: Planning Scope

By the end of this section you will understand that 'resources' are not only human but also materials, tools and equipment. And that you need to appreciate the skill sets required to complete the project deliverables You will also know how to develop your project organization along with the individual's roles and responsibilities

Resource Planning is all about figuring out what people, materials and everything else that will be needed to complete the product of the project in the contracted timeframe. In this lecture we identify the input information needed to do just that

We follow on from the previous lecture and focus on developing an estimate of the resource requirement and we'll rely on the Production Teams, the Subject Matter Experts to provide information on the type of resource and how many of each is required to complete the activities in the activity list

In this lecture we discuss the need for a complete and updated organisation chart along with clear roles and responsibilities for each of the project team members and project team groups

We review the key points in section 6: Planning Resources

By the end of this section you will know how to figure out the most efficient order in which the project activities needed to be done. You will also know how to estimate the duration of the project activities and develop the baseline schedule. As an added bonus we also work our way through a project network diagram to find the critical path through the network

By the end of this lecture you will be able to plan the order in which activities and works packages will be scheduled including developing a project network diagram

By the end of this lecture you will have an understanding of the different processes needed to define the time and work effort needed to to complete activities and works packages

By the end of this lecture you will be able to combine the outputs from activity definition, activity sequencing and activity duration estimating and produce the most efficient and effective project schedule

In this lecture we work our way through a simple project network diagram and define the critical path and floats

We review the key points in Section 7: Planning the project schedule

In this section we focus on the process of estimating the costs of completing the project deliverables. We consider all the input information needed, the different costs categories and the various estimating methods

In this lecture we cross over to MS Excel and work our way through a simple project cost estimate, produce a time-phased budget and end by generating graphs for the key performance metrics

Identifying events or conditions that could impact the project somehow if the event or the condition actually happened. And then making plans to eliminate the potential events that could cause damage to the project

After competing this lecture you will know what risk is all about, be able to plan for and hold a risk identification workshop and create your project's risk list

By the end of this lecture you will be able to complete your initial risk planning with a complete list of identified risks along with a consensus of opinion on the threat of the risk event actually happening

We review section 9 the planning aspects of project risk management

Quality. Grade. Grade. Quality. Planned in. Inspected in. Inspected in. Planned in. What's the difference?

In this lecture we discussed the meaning of 'Quality' in our projects and in our project deliverables. And considered the similarities between the characteristics of managing projects and managing quality. Also we emphasised that quality needs to be planned in to our projects and not inspected in.

We also identified that management defines the organisation's quality policy and it's this policy that needs to be adapted to the needs of the project and the customer.

We review section 10 and note that quality is planned in not inspected in