1. Chapter 5 Initial planning
Introduction
Models of planning
The planning process
Basic project landscapes: stages and gates, activities and stages, and maps
Summary
Project Management in Practice: CADMID in military procurement projects
Project Management in Practice: The Mini project – the brief and the PID

2. Introduction ‘Even the longest journey begins with a single step.’
A project may begin in different ways
Inspiration
Response to need
Exploration of an issue
A necessary part of a larger program
The processes for setting the performance requirements, measures and benefits were described in Chapter 4
This chapter examines the construction of the initial plan
The outcome of the project
The process by which it will be delivered
High-level planning facilitates detailed planning (Chapters 6 to 10)
High-level planning provides a means to decide whether a project remains viable, a core project management discipline

3. Introduction (Continued)
Figure 5.1 Elements of outline planning

4. 5.1 Models of planning
From personal projects to new product development (NPD)
Dissertations – in the early stages there is chaos
Many different ideas may be available
These have to be filtered according to interest, feasibility and sufficient theoretical underpinning
Rare to end up exactly as originally envisaged
Commercial NPDs are similar, it is rarely a linear activity
Many different possibilities may be available
These need to be screened with respect to the market, financial criteria, strategic and technical implications

5. 5.1 Models of planning (Continued)
Figure 5.2 Concept development in NPD

6. 5.1 Models of planning (Continued)
The pipeline
products at various stages of development
The creative processes of concept development
Allow time and space for individuals to carry out exploration
Protect ownership of ideas
Encourage rapid prototyping
Senior people to act as project champions
Have rapid development processes ready to take ideas to fruition
Clear criteria as to what will be supported and what will not

7. 5.1 Models of planning (Continued)
Scope management
Dedicating significant quantities of effort to scope management is highly recommended
All parties to the project must agree what it is that the project will do
Scope may be let loose early on to allow creativity
At the end of the definition phase a statement of scope needs to be written, agreed and signed off
Beware product scope creep
Subtle changes are made
The end product no longer resembles the original concept
Often results in disaster
Beware process scope creep
Make specific exclusions
Without exclusions the duration may be too long, costs may be too high

8. 5.1 Models of planning (Continued)
Figure 5.4 Elements of scope management

9. 5.2 The planning process
Figure 5.5 Balancing costs and benefits (1)

10. 5.2 The planning process (Continued)
Costs of the planning process
Labour (time)
Associated expenses
Planning tools
Cost of preparing formal written plan
Opportunity costs
Benefits of the planning process
Avoids costs of chaos of unplanned activity
Provides a basis for evaluation (or filtering)
Identifies problems in advance
Output of planning – a working tool or straitjacket?
Plans help decision making and guides future activities
Plans should change as circumstances change
Planning is a means to an end
Planning facilitates a beneficial insight into what may happen
“With larger projects investment in planning generated significant benefits in the delivery stage.” [National Audit Office]

11. 5.2 The planning process (Continued)
The approach and uncertainty
Product and/or process uncertainty
Planning needs to take into account such variables
Approaches
Claim we know everything
Often repeated projects
Beware optimism bias
Acknowledge we know nothing
Wishful thinking
Set up milestones and hope we meet them
Both, the nearer the point in time, the more we know
Rolling wave planning
High-level schedule of activities, detail added as project progresses
The 50 per cent rule

12. 5.2 The planning process (Continued)
Figure 5.6 Balancing costs and benefits (2)

13. 5.2 The planning process (Continued)
Do plans provide information or just data?
Data are the numbers on the page
Information is the part that can be usefully applied
Noise clutters the analysis process
The PM needs to collect data and add-value by creating information
The process of project planning – inputs, outputs and the process itself
‘What’ happens – the tactical plan
‘How’ it happens – the operational plan
Many cycles and reviews until ‘final’ plan produced
Verify overview before further effort committed

14. 5.2 The planning process (Continued)
Figure 5.7 Activity model using ICOMs

15. 5.2 The planning process (Continued)
Figure 5.8 The project planning process

16. 5.2 The planning process (Continued)
Planning accuracy or precision?
‘Quick and dirty’ approach (accurate)
Months of painstaking planning approach (precise)
First assess the overview
Has basic criteria (financial, technical) been satisfied?
Are fundamental flaws revealed?
Followed by detailed planning
Managing the planning process
Traceability
Systematic approach
Manageable chunk and logical sequence
Estimate time and resources
Provides logic for decisions, framework for assessment, shows effects on other systems, enables filtering of frivolous ideas and activities
Essential for revision/refinement process
Allows lessons to be learnt
Facilitates communication
Roughly right or precisely wrong?

17. 5.2 The planning process (Continued)
The PID (project initiation document)
The output of the planning process
The project brief
Project team management structure
Job descriptions
The project approach
The project quality plan
The project plan
The business case
A risk log
Project controls
A communication plan
PRINCE2, 2009

18. 5.2 The planning process (Continued)
Formalisation
What level of formalisation is required?
Project complexity
Custom and practice
Who is the proposal for
Internal/external customers
The range of people
Why is the proposal required
Competitive bid
First examination
Organisational policy
Opportunity to sell to potential customers
Executive summary, main body of report, appendices

19. 5.3 Basic project landscapes: stages and gates, activities and stages, and maps
Figure 5.9 Stage-gate model of projects Source: After Cooper, R.G. (1988) ‘The new product process: a decision guide for management’, Journal of Marketing Management, 3(3): 238–55

20. 5.3 Basic project landscapes: stages and gates, activities and stages, and maps (Continued)
Divide project into phases/stages
Determine the nature and objectives of each phase
Gates between phases give opportunity to review progress
Lay down criteria for passing to the next phase in advance
Failure at a gate
Wind up activities
Maximise potential benefit while minimising risk or expenditure
Take on a joint partner
‘Fuzzy gates’
Project allowed to continue until proper review can be conducted
Gates don’t slow project down
Can be confusion over which activities can continue/be stopped at the gate

21. 5.3 Basic project landscapes: stages and gates, activities and stages, and maps (Continued)
Activities in phases
Sequential or concurrent?
What must be done first?
How do activities interact with each other?
People often only focus on own phase with no consideration of the whole outcome
The customer specification can be interpreted differently (‘Chinese-whispers’)
When constant process revisions are required, engineering changes are often made late causing disruption and time delay

22. 5.3 Basic project landscapes: stages and gates, activities and stages, and maps (Continued)
Figure Conventional approach to new product development

23. 5.3 Basic project landscapes: stages and gates, activities and stages, and maps (Continued)
Figure Effect of ‘Chinese-whispers’ syndrome on new product development

24. 5.3 Basic project landscapes: stages and gates, activities and stages, and maps (Continued)
Concurrent engineering/fast track projects
Importance of time and reduced costs to market
Overlap activities/run activities in parallel
Requires co-operation in planning and high levels of communication
Benefits
Reduced project time
Reduced rework
Reduced project costs
Disadvantages
Increased overheads
Costs of co-location
Cultural resistance
Inappropriate application at times

25. 5.3 Basic project landscapes: stages and gates, activities and stages, and maps (Continued)
Figure Engineering activity

26. 5.3 Basic project landscapes: stages and gates, activities and stages, and maps (Continued)
Figure Sequential versus concurrent models for new product development

27. 5.3 Basic project landscapes: stages and gates, activities and stages, and maps (Continued)
Activity maps
An overview of what the project will look like
One graphical technique
Four fields mapping (FFM)/Deployment flow chart (DFC)
Relates four information fields
The team members
The logical phases of an activity
Tasks to be performed including decisions made
The standards that apply for each task
Controls are specified
Information is shared
Entry and exit criteria specified
No phase can be completed until all errors have been corrected and the cause identified

28. 5.3 Basic project landscapes: stages and gates, activities and stages, and maps (Continued)
Figure Four fields map/deployment flow chart Source: Dimancescu, D. (1995) The Seamless Enterprise, Making Cross Functional Management Work, Wiley, New York. Copyright © 1992 by Dan Dimancescu. Reproduced with permission

29. 5.3 Basic project landscapes: stages and gates, activities and stages, and maps (Continued)
Figure The use of FFM/DFC in planning the introduction of a new coating material

30. 5.3 Basic project landscapes: stages and gates, activities and stages, and maps (Continued)
Figure The use of FFM/DFC in planning the introduction of a new coating material (Continued)

31. Summary
Projects are started through a variety of means and progression is no less diverse
There are however generic and beneficial principle structures
These include formal definition of phases
A time and process to allow creativity into the development of the concept
The enshrinement of this into a scope statement
The development of the processes by which the project will be delivered
Deconstruction into phases and manageable work units
Modelling (e.g. using four fields mapping) to produce a highly visible process
Gates at each stage allow review
Gates may also prevent failing projects from continuing to consume time, energy and resources