If you are a project manager, you get projects of all sizes and varying degrees of complexity. However, the common thing about these projects is their structure. To have a proper project plan, you have to identify, prioritize, and assign the tasks.
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Here is how to plan projects for success:
- Identify your stakeholders
In your project, you will have different stakeholders. However, not all atakeholders are involved in all the details of the project. These stakeholders include end-user of your products, the customer, team working, the company, and its leaders.
- Define roles and responsibilities
After identifying stakeholders, determine your project management skills you require for the project. With the list, define roles and assign them to individual stakeholders. However, a role should not be a person, and in some cases, an individual can fill multiple roles. In other cases, you can assign multiple people with similar roles depending on the needs of your project.
- Hold a kickoff meeting
The next step is to hold a meeting. The kickoff meeting will bring all stakeholders together to show everyone the vision for the project. With the meeting, you have a chance to make introductions, establish good working relationships, and discuss anything else related to the project.
- Define project scope, budget, & timeline
When done with the project kickoff meeting, it’s now time you discuss the scope, timeline, and budget of the project. However, each is worth looking at because they determine the success of the business.
- Set and prioritize goals
When your team is clear on the objective of the project, it’s time to break those objectives to form individual goals and tasks. Therefore, you have to prioritize your tasks depending on the importance and dependencies.
Besides, you also need to have a system that ensures collective actions after the goals are not met as planned. So, you might be forced to adjust the timeline.
- Define deliverables
According to the Project Management Institute, a deliverable refers to any unique and verifiable result, product, or capability that can perform a service to complete a phase, process, or project.
However, project deliverables will be determined by your project objectives which are essential for your project plan.
- Create a project schedule
A project schedule should be more than a time table. The project document entails project timeline, organization resources among other essential information required in completing the task. The purpose is to communicate critical information for the team to comprehend and understand easily.
It is a simple step when you want to write a simple project plan. So, you will be able to make the necessary adjustments before you start the project.
- Do a risk assessment
When you want to access a risk assessment, is to consider no problem will arise during the project. So, you start by identifying project risks and how you will mitigate them instead of them catching you off guard later. Ask for insight or hold a meeting with all the team members regarding risks you can face.
- Communicate the project plan
The last step is after you have compiled the project plan is to communicate clearly to your team and any other stakeholders.