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Project Planning and

Development

Argachew Bochena (PhD)

Assistant Professor
Jinka University College of Social Science
and Humanities

Argachew Bochena(PhD) 04/12/24

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CHAPTER ONE: GENERAL
INTRODUCTION

 1.1 Meaning and Concept of a

Project
 1.2 Features of a Project

 1.3 Projects and Plans

Argachew Bochena(PhD) 04/12/24

3 1.1 What is a Project?

 “Unique process consisting of a set

of coordinated and controlled
activities with start and finish
dates, undertaken to achieve an
objective conforming to specific
requirements, including constraints of
time, cost, quality and resources”
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 A complex, non routine, onetime effort

limited by time, budget, resources, and
performance specifications designed to
meet customer needs.
 A group of activities that have to be
performed in a logical sequences to meet
present objectives outlined by the client

Argachew Bochena(PhD) 04/12/24

 Project definition con’t
 A complex, non routine, onetime effort
limited by time, budget, resources, and
performance specifications designed to
meet customer needs.
 A group of activities that have to be
performed in a logical sequences to meet
present objectives outlined by the client
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1.2 Features of project

 Has ana established objectives

 Has a defined lifespan with a beginning

and an end
 Involves doing something never been done
before
 Has specific time, cost, and performance
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7 Features of project
 cont..
All projects are concerned with change-
creating something new
 All projects exist for a limited and defined
period of time: their life span consists of
a set of activities with a beginning date
and a target end date(deadlines)
 These activities must be performed in a
logical order
 All projects have clear and measurable
objectives, gargets or goals
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Project Vs Program
 Definition of program

 a series of coordinated, related ,

multiple projects that continue over an
extended time and are intended to
achieve a goal
 A higher- level group of projects targeted
at a common goal
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 1.3 Overview of Project
Planning
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What Is Project
Planning?
 Project planning is the process of defining the
goals, timeline, tasks, resources and
strategy for executing a project.

 It outlines what needs to be done, when and by

whom to achieve the project’s goals.

 Common elements of a project plan include

tasks, resources, timelines and responsibilities.
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11 Project Planning
con’t
 A project plan is a series of formal
documents that define the execution and
control stages of a project.
 The plan includes considerations for risk
management, resource management and
communications, while also addressing
scope, cost and schedule baselines.
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12 Purpose of the project planning
phase

 Establishing business requirements

 Establishing cost, schedule, list of

deliverables, and delivery dates
 Establishing resources plan

 Getting management approval and

proceeding to the next phase
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13 Why Is it Necessary to Make a
Project Plan?
 A good project plan sets out the processes
that everyone is expected to follow, so it
avoids a lot of headaches later
 helpful for monitoring progress.

 Tools like dashboards can help you make

sure that your project is proceeding
according to plan.

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14 Steps to write a project
 plan
To create a clear project management plan, you need a way to
track all of your moving parts. No matter what type of project
you’re planning, every work plan should have:

 Goals and project objectives

 Success metrics

 Stakeholders and roles

 Scope and budget

 Milestones, deliverables, and project dependencies

 Timeline and schedule

 Communication plan 04/12/24

Argachew Bochena(PhD)
15 Step 1: Define your
goals and objectives
 Every successful project plan should have a clear and desired
outcome.
 Identifying your goals provides a rationale for your project
plan.
 It also keeps everyone on the same page and focused on the
results they want to achieve.
 Moreover, research shows that employees who know how
their work is contributing to company objectives are
2X as motivated. Yet only 26% of employees have that clarity.
 That’s because most goal-setting happens separate from the
actual work. By defining your goals within your work plan, you
can connect the work your team is doing directly to the
project objectives in real-time

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16 Step 2: Set success
metrics
 Once you’ve defined your goals, make sure they’re
measurable by setting key success metrics.

 While your goal serves as the intended result, you need

success metrics to let you know whether or not you’re
performing on track to achieve that result.

 The best way to do that is to set SMART goals.

 With SMART goals, you can make sure your success

metrics are clear and measurable, so you can look bck at
the end of your project and easily tell if you hit them or
not.
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17 Step 3: Clarify stakeholders
and roles
 Running a project usually means getting collaborators involved in
the execution of it.
 In your project management plan, outline which team members will be
a part of the project and what each person’s role will be. This will help
you decide who is responsible for each task (something we’ll get to
shortly) and let stakeholders know how you expect them to be
involved.
 During this process, make sure to define the various roles and
responsibilities your stakeholders might have. For example, who is
directly responsible for the project’s success? How is your project
team structured (i.e. do you have a project manager, a
project sponsor, etc.)? Are there any approvers that should be
involved before anything is finalized? What cross-functional
stakeholders should be included in the project plan? Are there
any risk management factors you need to include?

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 Step 4: Set your budget
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 Running a project usually costs money. Whether it’s hiring

freelancers for content writing or a catering company for an
event, you’ll probably be spending some cash.
 Since you’ve already defined your goals and stakeholders as
part of your project plan, use that information to establish your
budget. For example, if this is a cross-functional project
involving multiple departments, will the departments be
splitting the project cost? If you have a specific goal metric like
event attendees or new users, does your proposed budget
support that endeavor?
 By establishing your project budget during the project planning
phase (and before the spending begins), you can get approval,
more easily track progress, and make smart, economical
decisions during the implementation phase of your project.
Knowing your budget beforehand helps you with resource
management, ensuring that you stay within the initial financial
scope of the project. Planning helps you determine what parts
of your project will cost what—leaving no room for surprises
later on.
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 Step 5: Align on milestones,
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deliverables, and project

dependencies
An important part of planning your project is setting milestones, or
specific objectives that represent an achievement. Milestones don’t
require a start and end date, but hitting one marks a significant
accomplishment during your project. They are used to measure progress.
For example, let’s say you’re working to develop a new product for your
company. Setting a milestone on your project timeline for when the
prototype is finalized will help you measure the progress you’ve made so
far.

 A project deliverable, on the other hand, is what is actually produced

once you meet a milestone. In our product development example, we hit
a milestone when we produced the deliverable, which was the prototype.
You can also use project dependencies—tasks that you can’t start until
others are finished. Dependencies ensure that work only starts once it’s
ready. Continuing the example, you can create a project dependency to
require approval from the project lead before prototype testing begins.

 If you’re using our free project plan template, you can easily organize
your project around deliverables, dependencies, and milestones. That
way, everyone on the team has clear visibility into the work within your
project scope, and the milestones your team will be working towards.
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Argachew Bochena(PhD)
20 Step 6: Outline your timeline
and schedule
 In order to achieve your project goals, you and your stakeholders need clarity
on your overall project timeline and schedule. Aligning on the time frame you
have can help you better prioritize during strategic planning sessions.

 Not all projects will have clear-cut timelines. If you're working on a large project
with a few unknown dates, consider creating a project roadmap instead of a full-
blown project timeline. That way, you can clarify the order of operations of
various tasks without necessarily establishing exact dates.

 Once you’ve covered the high-level responsibilities, it’s time to focus some
energy on the details.

 In your work plan template, start by breaking your project into tasks, ensuring
no part of the process is skipped. Bigger tasks can even be broken down into
smaller subtasks, making them more manageable.

 Then, take each task and subtask, and assign it a start date and end date. You’ll
begin to visually see everything come together in a cohesive project timeline.
Be sure to add stakeholders, mapping out who is doing what by when.
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 Step 7: Share your
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communication plan
 As you’re developing your communication plan, consider the
following questions:
 How many project-related meetings do you need to have? What
are their goals?
 How will you manage project status updates? Where will you
share them?
 What tool will you use to manage the project and communicate
progress and updates?
 Like the other elements of your project plan, make sure your
communication plan is easily accessible within your project plan.
Stakeholders and cross-functional collaborators should be able to
easily find these guidelines during the planning and execution
phases of your project.
 Using project planning tools or task management software that
integrates with apps like Slack and Gmail can ensure all your
communication happens in one easily accessible place.

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22 Communication Planning
 What kinds of communication will be
required throughout the project?
 With the team
 With the sponsor
 With other stakeholders
 What forms of communication will you
use?
 Formal, informal, written, oral
 What is the planned frequency of
communication?
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Summary
 Project Planning phase includes Scope
planning, Work Breakdown Structure,
Project schedule development, Resource
planning, Budget planning, Procurement
planning, Risk management, Quality
planning, Communication planning and
Stakeholder Management Planning
 When the project plan is approved by the
sponsor, you are ready to proceed to
implementation

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End of Chapter one

Argachew Bochena(PhD) 04/12/24