Six Disciplines Project Leadership Series
PL201: Building A
Strong Project Plan
Course
Series
Target Audience
Description
PL201: Building A Strong Project Plan
Project Leadership
Those responsible for managing a multi-person project
Blends project management principles with the use of Six Disciplines “large project
template” to develop project planning skills for a multi-person project.
Format
Self-paced, Facilitated Workshop
Duration
2 hours
Prerequisites
SL101, SL102, TL203 (project manager)
Room/equipment
Room with projector, each participant must have a laptops with Six Disciplines
installed (or virtual access )
Class size
7-10 per facilitator
Specific Learning Outcomes (How to :)
 Identify the Outcomes that define project success
 Pick and structure an effective project team
 Define Scope and organize the project
 Build a Risk Management plan
 Define project implementation Phases
 Revise subsequent phases based on earlier phase results
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1. Project Management Hints/Tips
1.
2.
Projects are onetime activities (have beginning and end) that exist to drive ongoing results (Scorecards).
Projects can range from simple single-person activities to large, complex multi-person, multi-department
initiatives. The more people and departments involved the more effort required to manage the project
effectively (and the greater the waste if it is not managed properly).
3. Managing complex projects requires professional skills that are developed with study and experience. The
training that follows incorporates proven best practices for managing medium sized projects. For a more
thorough treatment we suggest the Product Management Body of Knowledge (WWW.PMI.ORG).
4. Projects fail for three broad reasons:
a. Problems with outcomes definition: not clear, wrong or changing frequently
b. Problems with resources: wrong resources, insufficient resources or excessive constraints
c. Project management: inadequate planning, coordination, communication, accountability
5. The more people that are on a project, the larger the amount of resource is required to coordinate and
use that resource effectively. Using the simple model of thinking, doing and, checking small projects
typically take 10% of time to plan and 10% to check and 80% doing. As projects grow larger and more
complex, planning and coordinating typically requires 20% or more resource and checking 20% as well
leaving the doing to 60%.
6. Project management always involves balancing risks and tradeoffs among: 1) scope, 2) schedule and 3)
resources. An effective project manager will manage these three items aggressively and proactively.
7. Risks generally fall into three categories:
1) Known risks that are controllable (e.g., team member skills)
2) Known risks that are not controllable (e.g., weather, economy, regulation)
3) Unknown risks
Proactive project managers will guide the team toward defining risk levels for the project and mitigating
for the level of risk with contingent resources or schedule.
8. “Tracking progress at least once a week for all current project activities is prudent… Dogmatic, frequent
tracking of project work is crucial to ongoing risk management.”(Kendrick, “Identifying and Managing
Project Risk: Essential Tools for Failure-Proofing Your Project)
9. Different stakeholders play different roles in the life of the project. Effective project management and
structure will involve the right people at the right times instead of everyone all the time.
10. Projects are designed to change an organization. Functional departments are designed to “run” an
organization. By default most budget, personnel, and authority are vested in the ongoing functional
structures. Although frequently judged not practical, project risk is reduced the more the authority for
people, funds and project management is vested in the project (as opposed to spread among
departments).
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2. Setup of Project Template
Find “Project Template”
Click Find button in header, type “Template”.
Note:
May have to press “More” at bottom.
You may have to scroll down to find the
right template.
Select the one you want & copy it
For this example use the Large Project.
Note:
Double click to “select” the row.
Use Right Click to get the Copy Branch
option.
Copy branch copies the highlighted goal
AND all its children.
Paste the project template under the appropriate Scorecard Goal
Use right click to Paste.
Note:
To Paste an outline (hierarchy) template
you must open the Outline popup by
clicking on the Outline button in the
Scorecard for the appropriate Goal.
You cannot paste children under a goal
that has no parent (an orphan). If there is
no Outline button on the left for the Goal,
then it has no parent.
3. Setup of the top project Goal (Basic Definition)
Change the name of the template to project name
Enter the name in short memorable terms.
Examples of large projects:
Note:
Short memorable project names are easier
to remember and refer to.
For this training you should think of a real
new project you want to do. Otherwise
pick some prior project you are familiar
with.
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Reengineering the enrollment function at a University
Implementing a new ERP System
Implementing a new organization wide “portal”/internal website
Implementing a new performance appraisal system
Developing a new product or service
Building a new office building
3
Define the Broad Strategic Outcomes (top 3)
Click on Notes icon and delete the example
text located on the Outcomes Tab. Enter clear
measurable Outcomes for your project.
Note:
Project Outcomes should relate to the
Scorecard goal that is its parent. Consider
the Measure of that Scorecard and think
about how this project should impact it.
These will be evaluated at the end of the
Project to measure project success.
Limit the number to 3 or less. Don’t
confuse these with the Prioritized
Requirements List which comes later.
Those are much more detailed.
Determine Responsible Person
Enter name in Responsible column. (separate
goal for each person)
Note:
Choosing the right project manager is
critical to success (see considerations).
If the person responsible does not have
the detail orientation and the time, this
can be mitigated by appointing a project
administrator to keep the details up to
date and assist the PM.
Project Manager selection considerations:
Experience, training in large project management
Time available – can range from 20% to fulltime depending on
team size
Proactive, action oriented, relentless
Detail oriented – must keep project plans up to date in Six
Disciplines
Good communicator
4. Form the Project Team
Organize the Project Team Section of the Plan
Enter a short name for the project inside the
brackets.
Enter your own name in the Project Manager
Row and mark it as proposed Status.
Note:
Deciding what roles you will have on the
project and who will be in those roles is
critical to project success.
Creating a goal for every team member
documents who is on the team AND puts a
goal in their plan reflecting their service on
this project.
The short name will appear in the Parent
field and make clear which project they
are serving on. (If you put a short name in
the parent row!)
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Choose Project Sponsor (if required)
Enter the Project sponsors name in
Responsible column.
Note:
Executive or managerial representative to
help facilitate cross functional issues,
provide support, eliminate roadblocks, etc.
More heavily involved in the initial
definition stage and brought in as needed
by the Project Manager.
This goal will appear on the sponsor’s
project list as a reminder of responsibility
and time commitment.
Choose Project Executive Team
Enter name of each Executive Team
member in Responsible (one row per
person).
Copy/paste new row if needed.
Note:
Project Executive Team is the small core
group (3-4 max) that gathers input and
makes recommendations to the larger
group of Stakeholders.
The Executive team exists to save time for
the other team members and only
involves other people as necessary.
Choose Stakeholder Representatives
Enter name of each Stakeholder
Representative in Responsible field (one
row per person).
Copy/paste new rows if needed.
Note:
- Large projects typically impact multiple
departments and functions. A Stakeholder
Rep is there to represent a particular
group or function impacted by the Project.
Stakeholder Reps are more heavily
involved when the requirements are being
defined, priorities set, and periodic
reviews during construction and
implementation.
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Choose Communications Representative
Enter name in responsible field.
Note:
Depending on the size of the project this
may be a "specialist" from the
organizations communications or
marketing group.
They assure that there is a plan that folds
into broader organizational
communication strategies both internally
and externally.
Sometimes this role may also be managed
by the Project Manager.
5. Define Scope, Deliverables and Phases
Prioritize Solution Requirements List
- Click File in upper left corner of Outlook
and then click Six Disciplines and then
Exercises.
-
Conduct an 100 Point Exercise with one or
more groups of stakeholders.
Repeat as necessary until list is complete.
Have group vote and prioritize.
Note:
If you need training on how to use the
Exercise screen, attend course TL203
Collaboration Tools.
Example categories of requirements could
include: functionality, performance,
training, usability, software/hardware.
Sometimes it is useful to prefix on the
front of the requirement a short phrase
that indicates the category of the
requirement such as: “tech” or” ”Payroll”,
etc. This allows easy grouping of related
items and helps people think through one
topic at a time.
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Executive Team consolidates similar
priorities into a single item using the
exercise screen.
Use Right Click in Exercise screen to Import
selected requirements as children of the
Project requirements Goal.
Edit and clean up requirement wording,
add documentation, explanation for each
requirement either in the Notes or a
document that you can attach to the
project.
Set up a meeting to review the
requirements and get them approved.
Note:
To preview the requirements either send a
link to the Project to reviewers or create a
Word document with all of the
requirements in them.
Mark Requirements as In or Out
Use Importance of None (default) to
indicate they are out. Only as they are
approved increased their Importance
Rating.
Note:
Be explicit about what requirements ARE
and ARE NOT going to be addressed.
Scope control is critical to project success.
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Identify Deliverables Required to Meet Requirements
Create sub- projects (deliverables for each “chunk” of
work that need to be completed to satisfy the
Requirements.
Note:
Translating requirements into deliverables is
“design” work. For some types of projects this
requires different specialists for different types of
work.
Ideally the Executive team knows enough to chunk
the work into general categories that can be
handed off later for more detailed design &
development.
Eventually work should be broken down to a
manageable size of about 20- to 40 hours of work.
In early passes the work may be in larger chunks
but the time it is assigned is typically smaller.
Estimate Manpower for Each Deliverable
Enter Target hours for each sub-project.
Note:
Ask someone who has adequate expertise to
estimate the work. You can email a link in draft
form to do this.
Sometimes in this step the estimator or responsible
person will break the project down into Tasks (or
sub-projects) to make sure they have thought of
everything required to complete this Goal. This
exercise often uncovers work missed or surfaces
questions that need to be answered.
It takes extra time at this stage to prepare good
estimates but can save multiples of that time later.
If the deliverable estimate is much larger than the
desired 20-40 hours of work, it may be broken into
smaller chunks to reduce risk.
Note (continued):
-
-
In Six Disciplines when you enter the Target Hours or Forecast
Hours for the first time, Forecast and Hours Remaining are all
set to the same number. After that the system assumes that if
you are changing either number you DO NOT want the other
number changed. This works great for first time estimates,
however, after that you have maintain each number
separately if you want to change them all.
The default Views for Projects often hide Target Hours and
Forecast Hours to reduce clutter. During planning stages you
will need to unhide those columns.
Estimate Budget (onetime and ongoing)
Enter the total of onetime expenditures required
for this project (deliverable).
Enter any recurring operating expense that will be
required after this project is completed (e.g.,
maintenance costs or fees, etc.).
Note:
Do not include costs for personnel working on the
project that are already employed. Just incremental
spending.
Explain the costs in the Notes field or attach a
spreadsheet if there are complex calculations or
long lists involved in the estimate.
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Break Deliverables into Phased Implementation Plan
Copy Branch/paste the Phase template to
create the number of phases you need.
Insert short project name in front of phase
name to make clear what Project this
phase is associated with.
Note:
Copy Branch copies a goal and all its
children.
Break whole project into logical
construction chunks (typically 3-5).
Group the things other phases will need
early.
- Do the most risky items as early as
possible or items that will answer key
questions for later phases.
Example phases for building a new website might be:
-
-
Phase I: Buy/Test new platform
Phase II: Prove tools with one department
Phase III: Build/test content all departments
Phase IV: Go Live/Address new issues
Phase V: Hand-off/training to Marketing
Project Completion
Move projects (deliverables) from the list of
approved deliverables into the phase where
they are to be built.
Note:
You can drag/drop a Goal by clicking and
holding your left mouse button or you can
use cut/paste which is sometimes easier if
you have a long way to move items.
You can multi-select rows next to each
other by hold the SHIFT key.
You can multi-select rows not next to each
other by using the CTRL key to select each
row.
Approve Budget
Prepare a summary of the project budget
in a spreadsheet and attach it to this goal.
Get formal approval for the project and
budget.
Note:
All the investments should be summarized
in terms of a time-phased budget (and
manpower commitments).
Ongoing costs for the project can be
contained in the Project or assigned to the
appropriate functional area. Timing and
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responsibility for ownership is the Project
Manager's responsibility to identify and
executive management's job to allocate.
There should be an account established
for the Project with regular accounting
reports as with other budget units.
Funding that comes from other sources
(budget units) should be transferred to the
project so there is centralized reporting
and control for the project.
The Project Manager should have
responsibility and accountability for
approving expenses perhaps with coapproval of Sponsor and should include
budget status as part of normal Progress
Reporting.
Note:
To attach a document the easiest way is to create a spreadsheet and
save it in a temporary location and then copy/paste it to the Goal
attachment form.
6. Develop Risk Management Plan
Prioritize Risk and Manage
Conduct a 100 point exercise with the
Project Executive team (and perhaps
selected stakeholders).
Import the exercise results as children of
this Goal and use as a starting list.
Note:
Exercise addresses: 1) Dependencies from
outside the project team or organization
2) "Non-negotiable constraints" - budget,
schedule, staffing, technological, etc. 3)
Significant areas of project that could go
wrong.
Monitor this list in each Progress Review
meeting to see if it needs to change.
- Decide whether a "mitigation" plan needs
to be prepared for specific risks.
Set Progress Reporting/Meeting Standards
Set policy and schedule for:
Progress reporting frequency
Executive team meeting cycle
Sponsor & stakeholder cycle
Timekeeping required?
Note:
Default progress reporting is Weekly.
The Executive Team should meet and
review Progress Reports weekly looking
for potential problems, alignment issues,
etc.
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Example approach:
-
All progress reports updated weekly by 9:00am Monday
Executive Committee meets weekly Monday at 2:00-3:00pm
All project members (stakeholders, sponsor, communication )
meets monthly - last Monday of month at 3:00PM
Detailed requirements or deliverable reviews scheduled as
needed
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Regular but less frequent meetings
(monthly, quarterly) should be scheduled
for all key stakeholders - project sponsor,
executive teams, stakeholder
management, etc.
Additional meetings for other stakeholders
should be scheduled as needed to review
specific requirements, plans or
deliverables.
Meeting frequency should be adjusted
according to the phase the project is in. In
the definition and delivery stages key
stakeholder involvement is higher. In the
building stages the specialists doing the
work meet more often.
It is the Project Manager's responsibility to
understand these cycles and reporting
needs and adjust accordingly.
Open Issues List
Project Manager adds projects for each
open item and closes those that are
resolved.
Note:
The purpose is to have a centralized list of
issues that have not yet been addressed in
the plan.
Example open issues:
-
Tom in car accident
Vendor X forecasting to be late 3 months on deliverable
Impact of budget cuts on this project
Add feature X to project
7. External Communications Plan
Build/document plan
Create Projects for each communication
deliverable.
Attach PPT’s, video’s and other
deliverables created.
Note:
This plan should address:
 Stakeholders to be included.
 Frequency/timing of
communication.
 Format - video, audio, website,
email, newsletter, meetings, etc.
 Responsibility for all components
(messaging, building, presenting).
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8. Develop Phase I Implementation Plan (repeat as necessary)
Staffing Capacity Plan
Record in Notes or attach document that lists
who is available and when.
Propose assignments & schedule
Update each project with the Responsible
person. Change Status to Proposed.
Enter Target Start and End dates.
Note:
Recommend doing these assignments with
the Responsible people present. Saves
time identifying conflicts, questions etc.
If they are not present in the meeting,
send goal link to notify them of request as
a courtesy.
Roughing out the schedule is an iterative
process of proposing dates, making
assignments, revising based on availability.
Note: The planning calendar with Six Disciplines promotes the idea of
evaluating plans once a quarter if possible so that people are not in a
constant mode of adjusting their schedules, priorities, etc. Project
Managers whenever possible should seek to leverage those windows of
time to reduce the impact of plan changes on others.
Accept/build deliverables
Team member marks Project with Status
Accepted (see responsibilities list).
Test/verification Plan
Create project for each testing responsibility.
Note:
Test plans vary dramatically depending on
the type of deliverable.
How much is invested on testing depends
on what the consequences/costs of an
error are.
Catching errors early typically saves many
multiples in cost.
There are many projects however, where
the problem is not well enough
understood until you use it. This creates an
iterative development cycle. Build, deploy,
revise.
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Goal Acceptance Checklist; Do I understand:
 What I am supposed to deliver
 When it is supposed to be delivered
 How deliverables will be “measured”/evaluated
 The Target hours estimated and agree with them
 The Target budget and agree with it
Considerations when developing a Test Plan:
-
Test individual deliverables (“unit testing”)
Testing how pieces work together (“integration testing”)
Simulating actual usage (“prototyping”)
Reading/proofing documents (“inspection”)
Go live expecting bumpy stages (“beta release”)
Test training
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Implementation/training Plan
Create projects for each training
responsibility.
Create projects for all implementation
steps.
Considerations when developing an implementation plan:
Who are the stakeholders that have to be trained
How many courses, in what order, media type, duration, etc.
Scheduling of instructors, facilities, and stakeholders
Software, hardware installation
Feedback, support mechanisms (reporting of issues, errors, etc.)
Plan B if something critical goes wrong (consequence of a problem)
Revise deliverables based on learning
Update deliverables based on prior
phase learning.
Note:
Revisions include creating new
deliverables.
Moving deliverables from one Phase to
another.
Modifying the outcomes for a given
deliverable.
Creating or deleting Phases.
9. Closeout Project
Survey Stakeholders
Identify project stakeholders
Send survey.
Note:
Recommend using the default project
survey.
Results are averaged and reported in
Project score.
Project closeout report (one page)
Open report template in Notes Link.
Feature being added Q4 2013
www.sixdisciplines.com/DocumentResources
10.Project Management Hints/Tips (Part II)
1.
Go back and review the Hints/Tips at the beginning of this training. They will be more meaningful
after going through the course.
2. Small projects don’t need large complex project teams so they are much simpler to manage. Don’t
have a larger team than needed to get the job done.
3. Even the smallest of projects at a minimum needs the following:
a. Clear list of Outcomes (what is to be accomplished)
b. Responsible person
c. Start and End Date
If that level of definition is not appropriate use a Task
4. Many times people put their names on Projects as Project Managers because they want to take
responsibility for the success, however they do not have time or the training to do what is required of
a Project Manager. Separate the role of Project Manager from Project Sponsor. The sponsor can and
should be held responsible for the success of the project by overseeing the Project Manager and
eliminating barriers and road blocks as needed.
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