0.11 Project planning  (Page 2/21)

Users will often begin describing their objectives in qualitative language. The project manager must work with the user to provide quantifiable definitions to those qualitative terms. These quantifiable criteria include: schedule, cost, and quality measures. In the case of project objectives, these elements are used as measurements to determine project satisfaction and successful completion. Subjective evaluations can be removed with actual numbers.

When articulating the project objectives you should follow the SMART rule:

• S pecific (get into the details). Objectives should be specific and written in clear, concise, and understandable terms.
• M easurable (use qualitative language so you know when you are finished). A requirement must have a measurable outcome; otherwise you will not be able to determine when you have delivered it.
• A cceptable (to stakeholders).
• R ealistic (in terms of achievement). Objectives that are impossible to accomplish are not realistic and not attainable. Objectives must be centered in reality.
• T ime bound (deadlines not durations). Objectives should have a timeframe with an end date assigned to them.

If you follow these principles, you’ll be certain that your objectives meet the quantifiable criteria needed to measure success.

Scope planning

You always want to know exactly what work has to be done to finish your project BEFORE you start it. You’ve got a collection of team members, and you need to know exactly what they’re going to do to build your product or meet the project’s objectives. The scope planning process if the very first thing you do to manage your scope. Project scope planning is concerned with defining all of the work of the project and only the work needed to successfully meet the project objectives. The whole idea here is that when you start the project, you need to have a clear picture of all the work that needs to happen on your project, and as the project progresses, you need to keep that scope up to date and written down in the project’s scope management plan .

How do you define the scope?

You already got a head start on refining the project’s objectives in quantifiable terms, but now you need to go a lot further and write down all of the deliverables that you and your team are going to produce over the course of the project. Deliverables include everything that you and your team produce for the project; anything that your project will deliver. The deliverables for your project include all of the products or services that you and your team are performing for the client, customer, or sponsor. But deliverables include more than that. They also include every single document, plan, schedule, budget, blueprint, and anything else that gets made along the way; including all of the project management documents you put together. Project deliverables are measurable outcomes, measurable results, or specific items that must be produced to consider the project or project phase completed. Deliverables like objectives must be specific and verifiable.