Initiation and Planning for Success

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Initiation and Planning for Success

• Sridhar Seshagiri Rao, PMP
• Innova Solutions Inc.
• Santa Clara, CA.
• April 9th 2004.

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Agenda

• Overview of Planning and Initiation
• Definitions
• Initiation
• Best Practices
• Planning
• Best Practices
• Summary
• Review and Recognition

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Overview

• This seminar / discussion is aimed at
  identification of specific and distinct phases of
  Project Management and map it to the practice
• Provide the Best Practice approach to achieve
  measurable results
• To present the initiation and planning phase and
  identify the constituents for success

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Definitions

• What is a Project
• What is Project Initiation
• Why Initiation is needed
• What is Project Planning
• Why Planning is needed

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Definitions, Cont.

• What is a Project
• A Project is defined as an endeavor with a
  beginning and an end.
• It produces unique product, service or result.
• What is Initiation
• Initiation is the first phase of Project
  management process, in which, activities are
  performed to assess the size, scope, feasibility
  of the project and to establish procedures to
  support the other phases of the project.
• Why Initiation
• To set the expectations and measurable outcomes
  from the project.
• To identify the needs of the system and the
  stakeholders.
• To identify the feasibility and the boundaries
  for the system.
• To document and formalize the commitment of the
  project.

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Definitions, Cont.

• What is a Project Planning
• Project Planning is a defined set of sequential
  or inter-related activities or processes, which
  when executed in the order will enable the
  measurement and success of the system.

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Definitions, Cont.

• Why Project Planning is essential
• To identify and formalize the major components of
  the system.
• To identify the time, cost and scope of the
  project .
• To identify the activities in the execution of
  the project.
• To breakdown the work into manageable
  deliverables.
• To identify the resources, risks and quality of
  the system.
• To verify, reassess and provide inputs to the
  next phase of the project
• To measure the outcome of the project and
  identify the best practices enabling the success
  of the project.
• To provide the management of stakeholder,
  project, risk, quality, procurement and team
  management

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Initiation

• Components of Initiation
• Project Selection (feasibility study)
• Project Goals and Objectives
• Deliverables, Constraints and Assumptions
• Business, Stakeholders needs
• Project manager responsibilities
• Resource requirements
• Project Charter

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Best Practices - Initiation

• A good project selection or feasibility includes
• Project to have a clearly defined system
  boundaries for the problem.
• The Project relates to the immediate needs and
  the solution clearly defines the problem to be
  solved.
• Project Goals and Deliverables include
• The Goals are identified as milestones and the
  effective mechanisms to achieve it.
• The breakdown of the tasks are defined to support
  the planning process.
• The high level resources requirements and risks
  perceived in the project and the mitigation
  strategies.

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Best Practices Initiation, Cont.

• Project responsibilities and Stakeholders needs
• There is a complete support from the stakeholders
  and management for the Project effort.
• The tasks and efforts for managing the project
  are assigned to the appropriate individual and
  make him responsible for the well being of the
  project.
• The Project relates to the Organizations
  Mission.
• A good project charter identifies the following
• Problem Statement
• Principal Stakeholders
• Project leader and other resources
• Note The Project Charter should be a part of the
  Project Plan.

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Initiation Project Charter template
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Planning needs Effective planning

• Effective Planning starts out with the critical
  systems thinking
• and reasoning for the project success
• Why are we doing this project?
• Why do we think the identified problem really is
  the problem?
• Why do we think this is important to solve now?
• Why do we think this proposed action would solve
  the
• problem?
• Why do we think this action wont make anything
  else worse?

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Planning Components

• Failing to Plan is planning to Fail
• Components of Planning
• Scope statement and scope management plan
• Project Team and Work Breakdown structures
• Time, Cost, Schedule management plans
• Communications management plan
• Quality management plan
• Risk management and procurement management plan
• Project Control plan
• Stakeholder management plan
• Kickoff meeting

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Planning Best Practices

• Scope Management
• Constantly checking to ensure all the work is
  completed
• Not accepting any work that is not part of the
  Project charter or the plan.
• Not doing any gold plating (delivering extra work
  without any benefit to the project.
• Project Team and Work breakdown structures
• Identifying the team for execution and building
  the necessary skill sets for the team
• Creating the Work Breakdown structures to define
  a deliverable oriented grouping of project
  components that specifies the total scope of the
  project.
• WBS helps prevent work slipping through the
  cracks.

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Planning Best Practices, Cont.

• Time, Cost and Schedule Management
• Managing the time and schedule with activity
  definition, activity sequencing, activity
  duration estimating, schedule development and
  schedule control.
• Identifying the critical path (longest path in
  the project) helps in monitoring the execution of
  the project.
• Communication Management
• Determine the information and the needs of the
  Stakeholders
• Analysis of information to be collected, the
  person receiving the information, methods used to
  gather information, reporting relationships,
  schedule for distribution and any limits for
  communication.

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Planning Best Practices, Cont.

• Quality Management
• Providing Quality management plan, which defines
  the processes required to ensure that the project
  satisfies the needs.
• Prevention over inspection
• Risk Management
• Identification of Risks including The
  probability of occurring, the range of possible
  outcomes, expected timing in the lifecycle,
  anticipated frequency of risk events

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Planning Best Practices, Cont.

• Project Control Plan
• Define tasks and sub tasks for the deliverable
  from the WBS.
• Identify tasks that take the longest time and
  monitor closely for completion.
• Stake holder Management Plan
• Provide a strategic, systematic approach and
  maintain the support of key influences.
• Minimize any opposition and develop ownership and
  buy-in from the vast majority of uncommitted
  stakeholders by appropriate communication plan.
• Kick Off Meeting
• Conduct the Project Kickoff meeting to formalize
  the plans, the deliverables, the risks and
  provide the management and the stakeholder the
  information for buy in and support.

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Summary - Initiation

• Proper Project Selection by doing feasibility
  study
• Definition of the goals of the project and the
  deliverables
• Project relation to the Organization mission
• Define the appropriate Project Charter and make
  it part of the Project plan

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Summary - Planning

• Effective Project plan by finding the answers for
  the 5 WHY questions.
• Identify the scope and provide for scope
  management to avoid scope creep.
• Identify the Project team and decompose the work
  into manageable pieces with the Work Breakdown
  structures.
• Provide plan for time, cost and schedule using
  the activities of the project. Identify the
  critical path and provide a plan for tracking the
  execution.
• Determine the communication needs of the
  stakeholders and plan the same for proper
  support.
• Provide a quality management plan and adhere to
  the prevention over inspection paradigm.

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Summary - Planning

• Identify the occurrence of risks, the range of
  possible outcomes and expected life time in the
  project duration.
• Provide a appropriate Project Control Plan
• Provide a plan for the stakeholder management
• Conduct the kickoff meeting to formalize the
  plans, deliverables etc.