project times _ 10 steps to creating a project plan

8/7/12 Project Times | 10 Steps to C reating a Project P lan

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Thursday, 17 May 2012 07:00

10 Steps to Creating a Project PlanWritten by Elizabeth and Richard Larson

One of the critical factors for project success is having a well-

developed project plan. This article provides a 10-step approach to

creating the project plan, not only showing how it provides a roadmap

for project managers to follow, but also exploring why it is the project

manager's premier communications and control tool throughout the

project.

Step 1: Explain the project plan to key stakeholders and discuss its key components. One of the most misunderstood

terms in project management, the project plan is a set of living documents that can be expected to change over the life of

the project. Like a roadmap, it provides the direction for the project. And like the traveler, the project manager needs to

set the course for the project, which in project management terms means creating the project plan. Just as a driver may

encounter road construction or new routes to the final destination, the project manager may need to correct the project

course as well.

A common misconception is that the plan equates to the project timeline, which is only one of the manycomponents of the plan. The project plan is the major work product from the entire planning process, so it

contains all the planning documents for the project.

Typically many of the project's key stakeholders, that is those affected by both the project and the project's

end result, do not fully understand the nature of the project plan. Since one of the most important and

difficult aspects of project management is getting commitment and buying, the first step is to explain the

planning process and the project plan to all key stakeholders. It is essential for them to understand the

importance of this set of documents and to be familiar with its content, since they will be asked to review

and approve the documents that pertain to them.

Components of the Project Plan Include:

Baselines. Baselines are sometimes called performance measures, because the performance of the entire

project is measured against them. They are the project's three approved starting points and include the

scope, schedule, and cost baselines. These provide the 'stakes in the ground.' That is, they are used todetermine whether or not the project is on track, during the execution of the project.

Baseline management plans. These plans include documentation on how variances to the baselines will behandled throughout the project. Each project baseline will need to be reviewed and managed. A result of

this process may include the need to do additional planning, with the possibility that the baseline(s) will

change. Project management plans document what the project team will do when variances to the baselines

occur, including what process will be followed, who will be notified, how the changes will be funded, etc.

Other work products from the planning process. These include a risk management plan, a quality plan, a

procurement plan, a staffing plan, and a communications plan.

Step 2: Define roles and responsibilities. Not all key stakeholders will review all documents, so it is

necessary to determine who on the project needs to approve which parts of the plan. Some of the key

players are:

Project sponsor, who owns and funds the entire project. Sponsors need to review and approve all

aspects of the plan.

Designated business experts, who will define their requirements for the end product. They need

to help develop the scope baseline and approve the documents relating to scope. They will be quite

interested in the timeline as well.Project manager, who creates, executes, and controls the project plan. Since project managers

build the plan, they do not need to approve it.

Project team, who build the end product. The team needs to participate in the development of many

aspects of the plan, such as identifying risks, quality, and design issues, but the team does not usually

approve it.

End users, who use the end product. They too, need to participate in the development of the plan,

and review the plan, but rarely do they actually need to sign off.

Others, such as auditors, quality and risk analysts, procurement specialists, and so on may alsoparticipate on the project. They may need to approve the parts that pertain to them, such as the

Quality or Procurement plan.

Step 3: Hold a kickoff meeting. The kickoff meeting is an effective way to bring stakeholders together todiscuss the project. It is an effective way to initiate the planning process. It can be used to start building

trust among the team members and ensure that everyone's idea are taken into account. Kickoff meetingsalso demonstrate commitment from the sponsor for the project. Here are some of the topics that might be

included in a kickoff meeting:

Business vision and strategy (from sponsor)Project vision (from sponsor)

Roles and responsibilitiesTeam buildingTeam commitments

How team makes decisionsGround rules

How large the group should be and whether sub-groups are necessary

Step 4: Develop a Scope Statement. The Scope Statement is arguably the most important document inthe project plan. It's the foundation for the rest of the project. It describes the project and is used to get

common agreement among the stakeholders about the scope. The Scope Statement clearly describes whatthe outcome of the project will be. It is the basis for getting the buy-in and agreement from the sponsor and

other stakeholders and decreases the chances of miscommunication. This document will most likely growand change with the life of the project. The Scope Statement should include:

Business need and business problem

Project objectives, stating what will occur within the project to solve the business problemBenefits of completing the project, as well as the project justification

Project scope, stated as which deliverables will be included and excluded from the project.

Key milestones, the approach, and other components as dictated by the size and nature of theproject.

It can be treated like a contract between the project manager and sponsor, one that can only be changed

with sponsor approval.

Step 5: Develop scope baseline. Once the deliverables are confirmed in the Scope Statement, they needto be developed into a work breakdown structure (WBS), which is a decomposition of all the deliverables

in the project. This deliverable WBS forms the scope baseline and has these elements:

Identifies all the deliverables produced on the project, and therefore, identifies all the work to bedone.

Takes large deliverables and breaks them into a hierarchy of smaller deliverables. That is, eachdeliverable starts at a high level and is broken into subsequently lower and lower levels of detail.

The lowest level is called a "work package" and can be numbered to correspond to activities andtasks.

The WBS is often thought of as a task breakdown, but activities and tasks are a separate breakdown,identified in the next step.

Step 6: Develop the schedule and cost baselines. Here are the steps involved in developing theschedule and cost baselines.

1. Identify activities and tasks needed to produce each of the work packages, creating a WBS of tasks.2. Identify resources for each task, if known.

3. Estimate how long it will take to complete each task.4. Estimate cost of each task, using an average hourly rate for each resource.

5. Consider resource constraints, or how much time each resource can realistically devoted to thisproject.

6. Determine which tasks are dependent on other tasks, and develop critical path.7. Develop schedule, which is a calendarization of all the tasks and estimates. It shows by chosen time

period (week, month, quarter, or year) which resource is doing which tasks, how much time they areexpected to spend on each task, and when each task is scheduled to begin and end.

8. Develop the cost baseline, which is a time-phased budget, or cost by time period.

This process is not a one-time effort. Throughout the project you will most likely be adding to repeatingsome or all of these steps.

Step 7: Create baseline management plans. Once the scope, schedule, and cost baselines have been

established, you can create the steps the team will take to manage variances to these plans. All thesemanagement plans usually include a review and approval process for modifying the baselines. Different

approval levels are usually needed for different types of changes. In addition, not all new requests will result

in changes to the scope, schedule, or budget, but a process is needed to study all new requests to

determine their impact to the project.

Step 8: Develop the staffing plan. The staffing plan is a chart that shows the time periods, usually month,

quarter, year, that each resource will come onto and leave the project. It is similar to other project

management charts, like a Gantt chart, but does not show tasks, estimates, begin and end dates, or the

critical path. It shows only the time period and resource and the length of time that resource is expected toremain on the project.

Step 9: Analyze project quality and risks.

Project Quality: Project quality consists of ensuring that the end product not only meets the customerspecifications, but is one that the sponsor and key business experts actually want to use. The emphasis on

project quality is on preventing errors, rather than inspecting the product at the end of the project and then

eliminating errors. Project quality also recognizes that quality is a management responsibility and needs to

be performed throughout the project.

Creating the Quality Plan involves setting the standards, acceptance criteria, and metrics that will be used

throughout the project. The plan, then, becomes the foundation for all the quality reviews and inspectionsperformed during the project and is used throughout project execution.

Project Risks: A risk is an event that may or may not happen, but could have a significant effect on the

outcome of a project, if it were to occur. For example, there may be a 50% chance of a significant changein sponsorship in the next few months. Analyzing risks includes making a determination of both the

probability that a specific event may occur and if it does, assessing its impact. The quantification of both the

probability and impact will lead to determining which are the highest risks that need attention. Risk

management includes not just assessing the risk, but developing risk management plans to understand andcommunicate how the team will respond to the high-risk events.

Step 10: Communicate! One important aspect of the project plan is the Communications Plan. This

document states such things as:

Who on the project wants which reports, how often, in what format, and using what media.

How issues will be escalated and when.

Where project information will be stored and who can access it.

For complex projects, a formal communications matrix is a tool that can help determine some of the above

criteria. It helps document the project team's agreed-on method for communicating various aspects of theproject, such as routine status, problem resolution, decisions, etc.

Once the project plan is complete, it is important not just to communicate the importance of the project

plan to the sponsor, but also to communicate its contents once it's created. This communication shouldinclude such things as:

Review and approval of the project plan.

Process for changing the contents of the plan.Next steps—executing and controlling the project plan and key stakeholder roles/responsibilities in

the upcoming phases.

Don't forget to leave you comments below.

Elizabeth and Richard Larson are Co-Principals of Watermark Learning, a project management and

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business analysis training company. They have over 30 years of industry experience each, and have helped

thousands of PM and BA practitioners develop new skills.

They have published numerous articles and papers and have co-written two books together on

Requirements Management and CBAP Preparation. Both Rich and Elizabeth are CBAP and PMP certified

through IIBA and PMI, and are contributors to the BABOK® Guide, Version 2.0 and the PMBOK®

Guide – 4th edition.

Last modified on Wednesday, 30 May 2012 14:10

Comments

# Finnsven 2009-01-28 22:53

I like the structural approach but didn't find a step for development and approvement of scenarios fordifferent mix of ressources, finish-date and economy.

# Dagwood 2009-02-04 11:13

I liked a lot of what the article had to offer, but I think it missed one critical ingredient. If onefollowed the 10 steps, one would be courting disaster, I think! Not because of the steps themselves,but because the idea of the project plan seems to be conceived as a 'top down' bit of authoritarianism

imposed on the sponsor, the team and the stakeholders. In my project environment we plan our

projects through team and stakeholder workshops to develop as fully as possible the 'shape' of theproject, identify the value it will need to produce and the constraints, dependencies and risks it will becircumscribed by, from as many informed perspectives as possible. This informs the project, gets thewhole project community contributing, 'owning' and supporting the project, and takes advantage of awide spread of experience, interest and capability. It also embeds project commitments into aproductive community that gives it firm ground in the corporation's life. If a PM wants to plan aproject in isolation, they'd better be able to run it in isolation as well.

# dfurlong 2009-02-25 10:42

There is some value in this article, but it was not well thought out. The article is entitled: "10 Steps toCreating a Project Plan", yet the first step is to explain the project plan to key stakeholders and todiscuss its key components. How can you explain a project plan that you haven't gone thru the 10steps to create? Maybe that first step should be #10?

# Richard_Larson 2009-03-06 09:50

@Dagwood - Thanks for your comments. I think you missed the point, though. Our long-standingphilosophy on planning is to involve all relevant stakeholders, and what you describe fits into thetheme of the article just fine. We have never advocated a PM planning a project in isolation. A PM isthe custodian of the project plan, but that doesn't mean a plan is developed in isolation as youmention.

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# Richard_Larson 2009-03-06 09:58

@dfurlong - even though the article is called "steps" we didn't say to follow them in the orderpresented. To your point about explaining the plan: you are correct: you can't explain a plan beforeyou create it. But, you can certainly explain the planning process and components of a plan tostakeholders up front. Thanks for letting me clarify.

# wowwow12 2009-04-12 00:30

Is good to experience this success in the light of project procurement, But nevertheless. The structureneeds nostalgic references quotation.

# Samer HAMO 2011-06-24 19:24

i'm not with your comments "we didn't say to follow them in the order presented" that means the 10steps could be in any order ! the purpose of PM planning is to create the work schedule systematiclyin order to avoid any future mistakes which could cost to much. if you we want to plan we most useorganize steps and us them orderly with possibility of some modification during the executionprocess. as well you didn't mentioned any software to execute the steps properly.

# chirag purohit 2011-07-08 18:00

I am very very thank full for helping me in making my project easy

# muhammedashfaq 2011-07-23 18:00

I liked a lot of what the article had to offer, but I think it missed one critical ingredient. If onefollowed the 10 steps, one would be courting disaster, I think! Not because of the steps themselves,but because the idea of the project plan seems to be conceived as a 'top down' bit of authoritarianism

imposed on the sponsor, the team and the stakeholders. In my project environment we plan ourprojects through team and stakeholder workshops to develop as fully as possible the 'shape' of theproject, identify the value it will need to produce and the constraints, dependencies and risks it will becircumscribed by, from as many informed perspectives as possible. This informs the project, gets thewhole project community contributing, 'owning' and supporting the project, and takes advantage of awide spread of experience, interest and capability. It also embeds project commitments into aproductive community that gives it firm ground in the corporation's life. If a PM wants to plan aproject in isolation, they'd better be able to run it in isolation as well from mian ashfaq gulfconstructors pvt Ltd

# muhammedashfaq 2011-07-23 18:04

I like the structural approach but didn't find a step for development and approvement of scenarios fordifferent mix of ressources, finish-date and economy. from Gulf construcrors pvt ltd mian ashfaq

# sallynam 2011-10-10 20:19

the artical is good but its not very clear- i think there's a missing link

# sharif moses shelton 2011-10-13 23:16

the article is well analyzed

# val 2011-11-07 16:21

Great idea of how to do project plan., with all comments and suggestions. Based on the above

thread of postings, few people knows that the trend now, specially in large and complex,multidisciplne projects, is the approach and the use of total project management software. (one ofthem is the Primavera P6). By using this type of software, the planning engineer don't need a step bystep procedure, because while developing the project master plan, the planning engineer is doing aswell, in simultaneous, scope of work with it's work breakdown structure, organizational breakdownstructure which defines key personnel and stakeholders, detailed task with corresponding logic whichdefines sequencing, resource and cost integration that will show budget and manpower needs,develop reports that will track and monitor the project progress. The software provides a very liberalprocedure and functionalities for the engineer to do it his "way", risk analysis may be part of it. Theengineer, as mentioned, may do all the project plan components at the same time or he may do it inan overlapping start to start lag. The result is one functional "Baseline Master Plan" that defines allproject plan components needed to commence a project.

# Elizabeth Larson 2011-11-08 00:57

@all—We appreciate all your comments. We wrote this article some time ago, but we’re glad thatyou still find it useful. I want to emphasize that these are not sequential steps. They are completediteratively throughout the project. Adding tasks might well uncover new deliverables. Addingestimates might well uncover new tasks and deliverables, and so forth. Although we have initialdiscussions with our sponsors and other key stakeholders to understand the business need andbenefits, we certainly have many discussions with many stakeholders throughout the project. in myrole as a PM I’ve never completed these steps sequentially and only once. Not sure who could.

@Val, Thanks for your comment. Our philosophy is and has always been that tools supportprocesses, in this case the project planning process. I have never found any tool that has eliminatedthe hardest parts of planning: getting sponsor ownership, agreement on the scope, enough resources,a handle on dependencies, communications and buy-in on the plan, a way to easily changedependencies…I could go on and on. @all, This article does not specifically address planning usingAgile methods. I think the nature of these methods, like the Scrum framework, inherently lessens theplanning complexity and the use for complex, cumbersome automated tools.

# thirunavukkarasu 2011-12-25 21:14

project creates

# Soumya 2012-02-29 08:37

Thanks for sharing. Nice analysis. I should say.

# Gautam 2012-03-04 04:20

Nice analysis on creating a project. Quite useful. Thanks.

# Dodou Njie 2012-04-02 10:51

I am an engineer who wants to apply for job as project manager but no idea or little knowledge onproject management and planning. What is your advise ?

# Dennis 2012-05-17 09:49

I believe this is a great article. When reading articles such as yours I always look at it as refresher andconfirm what I know. I work in an IT domain where PM methodology although accepted is mostlyfollowed because it is mandated rather than believed in getting stakeholders involved early andeducating them is an important step. I suspect that individuals can take what they need from thearticle. I believe it is good and thought-out.

# Max Wideman 2012-05-17 11:36

I have searched the entire text of both Elizabeth's article and all of the comments to date and there isnot one single mention of (developing) the project's Business Case – not by anyone.

Does no one do any serious project management any more?

@Max. Thanks for your comment. The business case is input to the Project Charter (PMBOKsection 4.1.2), and therefore is developed prior to the initiation of a-project. The business case isdeveloped by the requesting organization (4.1.2), not the project manager for a very good reason.Those requesting the project need to define the business need and benefit and take ownership ofthem. The business analyst (BA) plays a significant role in advising the requesting organization.Although the BABOK suggests that BAs develop the business case (BABOK section 5.5), theownership is always (and needs to be) with the business.

# Dennis 2012-05-17 12:29

Sounds about right.

# Max Wideman 2012-05-18 01:05

Dear Elizabeth,

Thank you for your quick response. Yes, I know what the PMBoK says, but just because it sayssuch and such does not mean that it is right. The Business Case is a justification for the project.Exactly when it is prepared, by whom, or even by whom it is owned is not the issue. The issue is that

if the project does not have a clear Business Case that justifies its existence, then you don't knowwhether it is worth doing in the first place. And if you don't know that, you cannot judge whether theoutcome will be successful. And if you don't know the measures of success then I can guarantee thatit will not be.

Therefore, it is incumbent on the project manager as the first order of business, to ensure that there isa viable Business Case and that he or she knows what is in it. That is the beginning of the project,aka "Initiation".

Fobbing off the Business Case as "someone else's responsibility" and not taking ownership is thecause of many project failures, especially in IT.

Cheers, Max Wideman

@Max. What a fun discussion! Thanks for your thoughts. The intent of the article is to provideguidance and focus on the project management plan, not the project charter. Having said that, feelfree to add another step, #1: Review project charter to ensure business case and business need havebeen defined. As someone who spent over 20 years in IT, and as BA and PM having had too manysystems called “Elizabeth’s system,” I learned that they who define project benefits end up owningthe end product. I have too many battle scars to advise others that developing the business case is aPM function. It takes more courage, I would say, to ensure that the business has developed a strongbusiness case, than to do that work ourselves. But that’s another discussion for another day.

# Max Wideman 2012-05-18 12:09

Dear Elizabeth,

Good! Let us consider that a new Step #1 has now been added.And now that I have your attention, I can also reveal my "hidden agenda". I understand that you arecurrently being instrumental in developing the next PMBOK update? If that is the case, then perhapsyou can fix it along the lines we've been discussing?

Of course there are other things I'd like to fix but they are too heady for this exchange.

Cheers, Max

@Max. On the PMBOK there were lots of things we wanted to change--even fought for tooth &nail. I only worked on Scope Management concentrating on Collect Requirements. The draft hasbeen through public comment and adjudication and I have no idea which comments were accepted.Even if I don't agree with everything that's in the BOK (and I don't) it does seem to me a veryexcellent, even exceptional framework that works really well. I wish it had been around for most ofthe 15 years I was a PM. Cheers to you, too, and maybe we'll meet in person sometime.

# Max Wideman 2012-05-21 01:45

Elizabeth. Now its getting really interesting. Are you allowed to tell me the "lots of things we wantedto change--even fought for tooth & nail"? (Either publicly or privately?)

Yes, it is a very good framework, but the "new and improved" brigade have over reachedthemselves. The 2008 Section II - Chapter 3 is a disastrous attempt to diagram a very complexsubject. I wouldn't mind so much if it was not claimed to be "The Standard for Management of aProject" (My emphasis) One day, some lawyer will sue an unsuspecting project manager on a failedproject for failing to follow Chapter 3 to the letter!

If you happen to attend the PMI Congress in Vancouver this year then, yes, we might just meet. :-)

# Dmitry 2012-05-29 09:10

It seems, the steps are messed up. The first step explains the rest of the steps... I think the authorshould re-write this post and make necessary corrections.

# jemberu 2012-06-07 08:03

even if the idea of ten steps to create a project plan is somewhat important as a beginner it is noteasily understandable....

# R. Max Wideman 2012-06-07 11:21

jemberu, you said [the] ten steps to . . . create a project plan . . . is not easily understandable . . .May I suggest that's because for "a beginner" there is a better way. Use my "Scope-Pak"approach, tried and true for the past 25 years. You will find it here:http://www.maxwideman.com/papers/scopepak/intro.htm — and there are only eight steps!R. Max Wideman

# suniel 2012-06-09 07:05

very2 fantastic ans

# okelo 2012-06-22 07:08

good work

# mrafique 2012-08-04 17:13

I like the article. To everyone please keep in mind when you are involved in multimillion dollarprojects ....you should follow and perform multiple tasks ....its an article and take it as an article....otherwise i suggest take detail courses on Project Management...Thanks to Larsons !

# Mangesh Jadhav 2012-08-07 06:54

These are very clear and structured way of managing the project. Even PMI PMP also tells us the

2000 symbols left

JC omments

same approach. I liked the way it is put with precise langauage.

Can you please also provide information on how to manage a project in agile model?

project times _ 10 steps to creating a project plan

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