Project Planning Concepts

With project planning comes the need to be familiar with various concepts of the project management process. These concepts include the Work Breakdown Structure, the schedule, resources, and risk analysis. This article discusses some of the most commonly used project planning concepts in project management.

If you have spent any time at all here at the project management channel at Bright Hub, you will have noticed a lot of talk about the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). The WBS is a hierarchical, visual representation of all of the tasks and milestones involved in a project. The WBS is actually a later stage of project planning, it relies on the project plan being created and the project being decomposed into the smallest components. It allows for project managers to craft accurate estimates. For more information on creating a WBS, you may want to read Ann Gordon's helpful article,"What is a Work Breakdown Structure?".

The project charter is a brief document describing the objective of the project, the main milestones and tasks, and any resources that will be required. This document is submitted for project approval. It is important to be concise and clear in constructing this document. For an excellent discussion on the project charter and how to create it, see Natasha M. Barker's article "What is a Project Charter?".

A project scope statement defines the project. It lists all of the tasks and resources that will be part of the project, and only the tasks and resources that are part of that project. Like project charters, project scopes are best when they are clear and concise. For an introduction to writing scope statements, see Eric Stallsworth's article, "How to Write a Scope Statement."

In project management, there are two types of resources: Human resources and procurements. Human resources generally require more planning - they have to be allocated to tasks, and they require scheduling to keep the project within cost. Overtime is the biggest problem that can arrise from human resources. Procurements such as space, technology, or source material also have to be taken into acocunt. It is important during the planning phase to identify just which resources will be required for project completion.

Risk in projects is the likelihood of the project's failure. During the project planning phase, risk must be analysed and a plan must be constructed to deal with risks in the event that they become actualized. Joe Taylor Jr. has written a very informative series on Risk Management.

The final project planning concept you should familiarize yourself with is that of the stakeholder. The stakeholder is anyone who holds an interest or influence over the project. It is important to identify early on because communication and risk plans must be constructed. By knowing who the project stakeholders are, you can customize your plan to suit their needs. Natasha M. Baker has written a thorough series on stakeholder analyses, worth checking out.