Imagine, you are entrusted with the management of the next project, which is so immensely important for your organization. Consequently, many questions will come to your mind.
- What is the exact scope of work?
- From where do I get the resources?
- How long is it going to take?
- How do I control the budget?
- There must be certain risks, what am I going to do about them?
- What kind of reports are required and at what intervals?
- Who else is involved in the project and what is his/her interest?
- Where do I get the material and services from?
- How do I ensure the right level of quality?
- What do I do if things change?
- How to track project and status?
- Etc.
This list could be continued on and on and it is immediately clear to you that you need to create a plan. But how to write a project management plan? Where do you start, what are the contents, how to structure it?
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What are the contents of a project management plan?
A comprehensive project management plan consists of more than 10 subordinate plans. Such individual plans in turn can be more or less extensive. A template for each is included in this set, plus more.
- Scope Management Plan
- Requirements Management Plan
- Schedule Management Plan
- Cost Management Plan
- Quality Management Plan
- Process Improvement Plan
- Resource Management Plan
- Communications Management Plan
- Risk Management Plan
- Procurement Management Plan
- Stakeholder Management Plan
- Financial Management Plan
- Health, Safety and Environmental Management Plan
- Change Management Plan
- and more
10 Steps how to write a project management plan
The project planning process can be difficult, especially with increasing project complexity. If you have never written a project management plan before, you will ask yourself how to write a project management plan. According to a Forbes study, 25% of technology projects fail early, which is bad statistics for project managers. The good news is that there are ways to plan a successful project launch in a short time. Project managers need to understand the simple steps of how to write a project management plan.
01. Discuss the project with the key stakeholders
Collect, understand, and agree their requirements. The "what" and the "why" are thus defined and agreed. The requirements must be recorded in writing in the order of their importance and the influence of the stakeholder. Without this clear agreements, specifications, tasks and deadlines that you set for your project plan will have no basis.
02. Create a scope document
After the requirements for the project and the desired results have been recorded, it is time to create a project scope document in which the individual project elements are listed. All elements must be described clearly, completely and unambiguously.
03. Create a detailed project schedule
After requirements, milestones and the scope of the project have been set, it is time to insert project information into a schedule. A Gantt chart is a practical tool that you can use to easily visualize the project timeline. It is an instrument that gives you a complete overview of the project progress, the scope of work and the dependencies.
04. Define roles, responsibilities and resources
Resources are the people, equipment and material that are required to complete your project. Particular caution and care is required here. Delays in project execution are very often due to the fact that production rates and therefore the number of resources required are not adequately estimated. You also have to consider where you get the resources from, when you need them and, depending on the availability, when you have to order them. Describe this part with all the details in the project procurement plan.
05. Create the project budget
Now that you know exactly what to do, how long it will take and which and how many resources you need, you can now create a cost plan relatively easily. Provide a certain contingency and present it separately.
06. Define and describe the communications process
McKinsey says employees spend almost 20% of their time looking for and collecting information. In addition, inefficient communication and collaboration are two of the main causes of stress at work. If stakeholders and employees have to constantly search through series of emails or constantly ask for updates, they become frustrated and their motivation drops. It is therefore extremely important to collect all data and information in a controlled environment, where they are easily accessible and can be kept up to date. In addition, to maintain a good relationship, it is essential to agree on report content and deadlines and to adhere strictly.
07. Develop a project quality management plan
Develop strategies to ensure the quality of both the end product and all individual processes for manufacturing the product. Also describe how you intend to constantly improve the processes.
08. Now do a risk assessment
Go through all the previous points again and evaluate with your team what could go wrong. Think about how likely a risk is and what the impact on the schedule, costs and project product could be. Develop strategies for dealing with each individual risk.
09. Develop monitor and control strategy
Go back to each of the above and describe how you want to monitor and control each plan.
10. Obtain approval
Now that your plan is complete, let your project sponsor approve it and authorize you to carry out the project.
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