The step-by-step guide: Step 3 Creating your Project Plan

The step-by-step guide:
Step 3 Creating your Project Plan

In the previous section you learnt all you need to know to be able to create a Project Plan. This section turns this information into a practical and straightforward process for planning. It is explained via a worked example. The example is a little more complex than in previous chapters to ensure it shows all the different nuances of planning. Work through it with a little care and you will have completed the most complex part of this book.

Step 3.1 Brainstorm a task list

Start to develop your Project Plan by brainstorming all the tasks you need to do to complete the project. Your aim is to get close to a complete set of tasks roughly in the order in which they need to be done. You can do this by yourself, but it is better to involve others whom you think could help with this activity. (In practice I advise not running a brainstorm with any more than five or six people, as unless you are very good at managing brainstorming sessions, it can turn into more of a debate than a brainstorm). If you know anyone who has done a similar project before, try to involve them as their experience will be valuable.

Key drivers for success 2: Develop an end-to-end perspective

It seems trite to state that successful projects are not those that complete some of the tasks, but are those that complete all of the necessary tasks. Yet, project managers do not always think from an end-to-end perspective. By this I mean one in which they are continuously thinking: What is left to be done? Is that all the things that need to be done? Is there still enough time in the plan, and money in the budget to do everything required to ensure success? Is there anything that may have been forgotten? An end-to-end perspective is about thinking holistically about the whole project and not just the things you are doing at this precise point in time.

Having an end-to-end perspective is about looking back over the work you have completed and checking it is sufficient to move the project towards the end goal and that nothing has been left out. Even more important, an end-to-end perspective is about regularly looking forward and ensuring that the plan is complete and the budget is enough. From the first day you start your project and build the plan, you should ensure you are thinking about all the things to reach your end goal. Tasks of the type described in Chapter 5 do not get forgotten in the plans of project managers who take an end-to-end perspective.

It is unlikely that you will produce a complete set of tasks at first, nor will you put them all in the correct order. Ideally, then, you should do this in a way that enables you to add more tasks as you think of them and re-arrange the order several times.

A very good way to do this is to write each task on a Post-It Note. Each Post-It should have only one task on it. As you create them, stick these on to a wall. At first this may be difficult, but once you have stuck a few tasks up, you will find your mind starts to generate more and more tasks.

When you have created a set of tasks on the wall, group the common ones together. What you are looking for here are related tasks or better still, the hierarchy of tasks. A hierarchy of tasks shows the decomposition of a major task into more minor tasks. For example, you may have a major task 'Install new PC system for office', which breaks down into a series of sub-tasks such as: 'Select PC; Select office software'; 'Load software on PC'; and 'Install PC into the office'. There may be several layers of sub-tasks. Put these groups of tasks into what seems like the most logical ordering.

Once you have your Post-It Notes ordered on the wall, this effectively represents your first pass of a rough-cut plan. The picture of the project will be clearer, but will remain incomplete. Ask yourself:

Are these really all the tasks you need to meet your objective? If not, add the missing tasks and fit them in where appropriate.
Are all the tasks at a sufficient level to help you understand and be able to allocate to someone and then manage the task? If not, break down the tasks into smaller pieces until you really start to see all the activities. Keep on repeating this until you feel you have all the tasks needed at a level that enables you to see what needs to be done to deliver the plan.
Is everything here really necessary to meet the objective or are some extra? If any tasks are additional to meeting your objective, remove them. In a brainstorming session you will often create tasks that are not really part of your project.
Are all the tasks different or are any really the same? If any tasks are the same, remove one of them. Alternatively if two tasks overlap, redefine them so they are distinct separate activities. (For example: the tasks 'Train all sales staff' and 'Train all staff in London' overlap for London sales staff. Rewrite them so they are separate tasks.)

Once you have a task list you are happy with, number the tasks in the order you have them. Literally, start at 1 and increment by 1 for each additional task. Put this number in the top left-hand corner of the Post-It Note. This is the task number. Now you are going to number the tasks again, but this time taking account of the hierarchy of tasks. This is called the Work Breakdown Structure, or WBS number. Start by numbering the first task with a 1 again in the top right-hand corner of the Post-It Note. Now if this task has any sub-tasks, number them 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 and so on. If any of these has sub-sub-tasks, number them in the format 1.1.1, 1.1.2, 1.1.3 and so on.

The WBS number is what you will use in managing the project and is explained below. The task number is simply there for administration. The WBS number is essential. You don't absolutely need the task number, but it helps with things like handling your Post-It Notes and making it obvious if you have lost one, and in generally administering the plan later on.

For example, consider a project that involves improving some office space that your business has just taken over, which will be used by the 100 staff you have. (The Project Definition for this project was produced in the last chapter see Table 2.4). You want to run this project yourself but need some specialist help, therefore you will choose a contractor to work with on the project. You are planning to do some re-arranging of the office, which may require new lights and new power sockets for staff. You want everyone to have new improved furniture and better PCs. Your contractor will help with the office and the furniture, but you can sort out the PCs yourself using your existing IT staff. The set of Post-It Notes you have created and organised could look like the figure below.

Output from brainstorming task list

At this stage, do not worry about who will do the work, or whether the order is absolutely correct.

Step 3.2 Convert the task list to a skeleton plan

The task breakdown you have produced on Post-It Notes is now going to be transferred into your plan. This set of information once documented is called the Work Breakdown Structure by project managers. There is a lot more information in a plan other than this WBS, but it provides the skeleton which all the other information is built upon.

You will transfer the information from the Post-It Notes on to a form. When you transfer the information, you may find you need to rename some of the tasks to achieve greater clarity, and may also find that as you write them down, you realise more tasks should be added.

Over the next few subsections I am going to show you how to complete a plan, building the information into a table. I will build this table a few columns at a time until you have a completed plan. The first three columns simply use the information directly from the Post-It Notes. By doing this you will get something that looks similar to Table 3.3.

Table 3.3. Example initial skeleton plan
Task number	WBS number	Task description
1.	1	Select contractor to work with
2.	1.1	Document needs (what you want the contractor to do)
3.	1.2	Write tender (convert needs to a formal tender document)
4.	1.3	Select possible contractors
5.	1.4	Send to possible contractors
6.	1.5	Review responses
7.	1.6	Select contractor
8.	2	Prepare office
9.	2.1	Design office layout
10.	2.2	Fit electrics
11.	2.2.1	Install new lights
12.	2.2.2	Install new sockets
13.	2.3	Fit carpets
14.	2.4	Install telephones
15.	3	Install furniture
16.	3.1	Choose new furniture
17.	3.2	Order furniture
18.	3.3	Remove old furniture
19.	3.4	Fit new furniture
20.	4	Install new PCs
21.	4.1	Choose new PCs
22.	4.2	Select software
23.	4.3	Order PCs and software
24.	4.4	Install software on PCs
25.	4.5	Install configured PCs

When you see the information in a format like this, it may trigger further thought about the Project Plan. Again ask yourself:

Are these really all the tasks you need to meet your objective? (Check and review the Project Definition.)
Is there anything you need to do at the end of the project that you have not yet included? At this stage it is worth jumping ahead and quickly checking Chapter 5. There are some tasks to perform at the end of a project which are often forgotten, but which need to be included in the plan and budget.
Are all the tasks at a sufficient level to help you understand and be able to manage the task?
Is everything here really necessary to meet the objective or are some tasks extra?

Then take the necessary action. At this point you should be striving for completeness. If you are observant, you will notice I have added two additional tasks into the Project Plan a new task 1.4 (Send to possible contractors), which seems necessary between the original tasks 1.3 (Select contractors) and 1.4 (Review responses) and task 2.4 (Install telephones), which was in the Project Definition, but was forgotten during the brainstorming.

Step 3.3 Estimate times, add dependencies and delays

To convert your Work Breakdown Structure into a schedule of activities, you need to add how long each task will take, and then add in any dependencies between the tasks.

Note that when a task has been broken into sub-tasks, you estimate the length of the sub-tasks and not the overall task. (The length of the overall task is simply a function of the lengths of the sub-tasks.) For example, as task 1 is broken into sub-tasks 1.1 to 1.6, it is each of 1.1 to 1.6 that I have estimated the length of, not task 1.

Sometimes in real life there are natural delays in activities when you have to wait for something to happen. You may be able to use this time for something else, or sometimes the project just has to wait. You need to include these delays in your plan. Examples of this include waiting for paint to dry between coats or as in the case of our sample project, waiting for equipment that has been ordered to be delivered (see tasks 1.5, 3.3 and 4.4 in the example overleaf).

Building on the example in Table 3.3, I have added two further columns to create Table 3.4. Although this is not part of the plan, I have also included a notes column to help explain the new entries.

Table 3.4. Predecessors and task lengths
Task number	WBS number	Task description	Predecessor	Estimated effort (Man-days)	Notes
1.	1	Select contractor to work with			See sub-tasks
2.	1.1	Document needs (what you want the contractor to do)		0.5
3.	1.2	Write tender (convert needs to a formal tender document)	1.1	0.5	This task can't be started until task 1.1 is complete.
4.	1.3	Select possible contractors	1.2	0.5	This task can't be started until task 1.2 is complete.
5.	1.4	Send to possible contractors	1.3	0.5	This task can't be started until task 1.3 is complete.
6.	1.5	Wait for responses	1.4	0	After ordering there will be a delay as we wait for responses. This task can't be started until task 1.4 is complete. This task has duration, but zero effort.
7.	1.6	Review responses	1.5	2	This task can't be started until task 1.5 is complete.
8.	1.7	Select contractor	1.6	1	This task can't be started until task 1.6 is complete.
9.	2	Prepare office			See sub-tasks
10.	2.1	Design office layout	1.6	3	This task can't be started until task 1.6 is complete as we need the contractor's help.
11.	2.2	Fit electrics			See sub-tasks
12.	2.2.1	Install new lights	2.1	3	This task can't be started until task 2.1 is complete.
13.	2.2.2	Install new sockets	2.1	2	This task can't be started until task 2.1 is complete.
14.	2.3	Fit carpets	2.1	2	This task can't be started until task 2.1 is complete.
15.	2.4	Install phones	3.5	4	This task can't be started until task 3.5 is complete. At approx 15 minutes to fit a phone, the task will take 4 days' effort for 100 phones.
16.	3	Install furniture			See sub-tasks.
17.	3.1	Choose new furniture	1.7	1	This task can't be started until task 1.7 is complete as we need the contractor's help.
18.	3.2	Order furniture	3.1	1	This task can't be started until task 3.1 is complete.
19.	3.3	Wait for furniture to be delivered	3.2	0	After ordering there is a delay as we wait for the furniture to be delivered. This task can't be started until task 3.2 is complete. This task has duration, but zero effort.
20.	3.4	Remove old furniture		1	This task can't be started until task 3.3 is complete.
21.	3.5	Fit new furniture	2.3, 3.3	2	This task can't be started until tasks 2.3 and 2.3 are complete.
22.	4	Install new PCs			See sub-tasks.
23.	4.1	Choose new PCs		1	No predecessor.
24.	4.2	Select software		1	No predecessor.
25.	4.3	Order PCs and software	4.1, 4.2	1	This task can't be started until tasks 4.1 and 4.2 are complete.
26.	4.4	Wait for PCs to be delivered	4.3	0	After ordering there will be a delay as we wait for the PCs to be delivered. This task will not start until task 4.3 is complete. This task has duration, but zero effort.
27.	4.5	Install software on PCs	4.4	13	This task can't be started until task 4.4 is complete. Each PC takes about 50 minutes to install so a person can do 8 a day, and it will take 13 days' effort to do all of them.
28.	4.6	Install configured PCs	3.5, 4.4	17	This task can't be started until tasks 3.5 and 4.4 are complete. Each PC takes about 75 minutes to install so a person can install 6 a day and it will take 17 days to do all of them.

Step 3.4 Add in who will do what

The next step is to allocate the tasks in the plan to the people who will do them. Nothing ever gets done unless someone does it! It is essential that all tasks have the name of someone to do each task. This needs to be someone who is really and truly available to do this work.

When you first see the completed task list, you are in a position to understand what skills and what amount of resources you require.

Tasks with zero effort (such as delays), and ones that are divided into sub-tasks do not need any person allocated to them (as the project manager you will monitor these).

Step 3.5 Build the plan into a schedule

The schedule is the start and end dates for each task, and from that the start and end date for the overall project. The end date is simply the start date plus the effort (in reality it is more complex than this but this will do for now). The start date is determined by:

When any predecessor tasks are finished (and do not forget external dependencies)
When the people who are to do this task have completed previous steps they must work on
When the people who do this task are available (i.e. not weekends, not holidays, not doing other non-project work). This is easiest if everyone is 100 per cent on the project (see the end of this section for further points on this).

Building on the example in Table 3.5, I have added two further columns to give Table 3.6. I have used a 2005 calendar to work out dates and to exclude weekends and bank holidays. Although this is not part of the plan, I have also included a notes column to help explain the new entries.

Table 3.5. Task allocation
Task number	WBS number	Task description	Predecessor	Effort (Man-days)	Who does it
1.	1	Select contractor to work with
2.	1.1	Document needs (what you want the contractor to do)		0.5	Dave
3.	1.2	Write tender (convert needs to a formal tender document)	1.1	0.5	Dave
4.	1.3	Select possible contractors	1.2	0.5	Dave
5.	1.4	Send to possible contractors	1.3	0.5	Dave
6.	1.5	Wait for responses	1.4	0
7.	1.6	Review responses	1.5	2	Dave
8.	1.7	Select contractor	1.6	1	Dave
9.	2	Prepare office
10.	2.1	Design office layout	1.7	3	Contractor
11.	2.2	Fit electrics
12.	2.2.1	Install new lights	2.1	3	Contractor
13.	2.2.2	Install new sockets	2.1	2	Contractor
14.	2.3	Fit carpets	2.1, 3.4	2	Contractor
15.	2.4	Install phones	3.5	4	Adam
16.	3	Install furniture
17.	3.1	Choose new furniture	1.6	1	Dave
18.	3.2	Order furniture	3.1	1	Dave
19.	3.3	Wait for furniture to be delivered	3.2	0
20.	3.4	Remove old furniture		2	Contractor
21.	3.5	Fit new furniture	2.3, 3.3	12	Contractor
22.	4	Install new PCs
23.	4.1	Choose new PCs		1	Mary
24.	4.2	Select software		1	Mary
25.	4.3	Order PCs and software	4.1, 4.2	1	Mary
26.	4.4	Wait for PCs to be delivered		0
27.	4.5	Install software on PCs	4.4	13	Mary
28.	4.6	Install configured PCs	3.5, 4.5	17	Mary

Table 3.6. The schedule
Task number	WBS number	Task description	Predecessor	Effort (Delay)	Who does it	Start	End	Notes
1.	1	Select contractor to work with						See sub-tasks
2.	1.1	Document needs (what you want the contractor to do)		0.5	Dave	31 May	31 May	Project starts on Tuesday 31 May. (Monday 30 is a holiday in the UK)
3.	1.2	Write tender (convert needs to a formal tender document)	1.1	0.5	Dave	31 May	31 May	1.1 + 0.5 days
4.	1.3	Select possible contractors	1.2	0.5	Dave	1 June	1 June	1.2 + 0.5 days
5.	1.4	Send to possible contractors	1.3	0.5	Dave	1 June	1 June	1.3 + 0.5 days
6.	1.5	Wait for responses	1.4	+10	Delay	2 June	15 June	1.4 + 10 days (Delay 10 working = 2 calendar weeks)
7.	1.6	Review responses	1.5	2	Dave	16 June	17 June	1.5 + 2 days
8.	1.7	Select contractor	1.6	1	Dave	20 June	20 June	1.6 + 1 day
9.	2	Prepare office						See sub-tasks
10.	2.1	Design office layout	1.7	3	Contractor	21 June	23 June	1.7 + 3 days
11.	2.2	Fit electrics						See sub-tasks
12.	2.2.1	Install new lights	2.1	3	Contractor	24 June	28 June	2.1 + 3 days
13.	2.2.2	Install new sockets	2.1	2	Contractor	29 June	30 June	2.2.1 + 2 days (Predecessor is 2.1, but contractor won't be available until completed 2.2.1).
14.	2.3	Fit carpets	2.1, 3.4	2	Contractor	6 July	7 July	Latest of 2.1 and 3.4 + 2 days
15.	2.4	Install phones	3.5	4	Adam	9 August	12 August	3.5 + 4 days
16.	3	Install furniture						See sub-tasks
17.	3.1	Choose new furniture	1.7	2	Dave	21 June	22 June	1.7 + 2 days
18.	3.2	Order furniture	3.1	1	Dave	23 June	23 June	3.1 + 1 day
19.	3.3	Wait for furniture to be delivered	3.2	+20	Delay	24 June	21 July	3.2 + 20 days
20.	3.4	Remove old furniture		4	Contractor	1 July	6 July	No predecessor, but contractor not available until completed 2.2.2
21.	3.5	Fit new furniture	2.3, 3.3	12	Contractor	22 July	8 August	Latest of 2.3 and 3.3 + 12 days
22.	4	Install new PCs						See sub-tasks
23.	4.1	Choose new PCs		2	Mary	31 May	1 June	No predecessor, can start when project starts
24.	4.2	Select software		2	Mary	2 June	3 June	No predecessor, can start when project starts, but Mary not available until she has completed 4.1
25.	4.3	Order PCs and software	4.1, 4.2	1	Mary	6 June	6 June	4.2 + 1 day
26.	4.4	Wait for PCs to be delivered		+20	Delay	7 June	4 July	4.3 + 20 days
27.	4.5	Install software on PCs 4.4		13	Mary	5 July	21 July	4.4 + 13 days
28.	4.6	Install configured PCs	3.5, 4.5	17	Mary	9 August	1 Sept	Latest of 3.5 or 4.5 + 17 days. (29 August is a holiday)

The dates in the schedule measure elapsed time or duration and not effort. Therefore don't forget when you are working out times:

Weekends are normally to be excluded. (So 10 working days is two calendar weeks.)
Bank holidays are normally excluded. (So on this schedule 30 May and 29 August are excluded.)
You need to account for personal holidays. So if Mary has 2 weeks' holiday starting on 15 August, task 4.6 will have a two-week delay in the middle of it so it will stretch out until 15 September. (In this plan no holidays have been assumed.)
People may be working on other things at the same time. Often people are not available 100 per cent of the time. So if Mary is not only doing your project, but must also give 50 per cent of her time to another project, all the elapsed times for tasks she is responsible for will need to be doubled. For example, an effort of 2 days will take 4 elapsed days for someone 50 per cent available.
Remember to consider how many days a week people are ever available. In practice no one is available for 5 days a week continuously. People always have other things to do at work. On a very short project, when you involve someone for a week or two, it is fair to assume you will get 100 per cent of their focus. Beyond this, at best you will get 4 days a week from someone once you have accounted for other things they need to do. (If you wonder what other things, add up the time you spend handling your mail, phone calls, e-mails, having coffee, in meetings, and simply walking around the office every day.)

This is really where planning software comes into its own as it will automatically calculate the start and end dates, and change them immediately you change the length of any other task, or the availability of people to do the work hence it can speed up the process of creating a plan. When used, planning software removes an administrative burden but the end plan will be not be better because you used it.

Step 3.6 Work out costs

To work out the costs you must identify the cost elements from the project as shown in Table 3.7 overleaf. Remember the elements of cost are:

Costs associated with running the project. These include the time of people working on the project and anything you must buy to enable them to complete their work. Do not forget that your time as the project manager needs to be included, even though this is not shown as a task on the plan.
Costs associated with buying deliverables, or anything used to create your deliverables on the project.

Table 3.7. Project costs
PROJECT BUDGET	Project Name: Office Re-fit Project
Project staff costs (variable)				Totals
Person	Unit Cost	Units	Total
Dave	400 per day	8 days	3,200
Mary	300 per day	35 days	10,500
Adam	325 per day	4 days	1,500
Project Manager	300 per day	70 days	21,000
	Total Project Staff Costs		36,200
Other project variable costs
Item	Unit Cost	Units	Total
Office rental	1000 per week	13 weeks	13,000
	Total Project Variable Costs		13,000
Project fixed costs
Item		Total item cost
Contractor (set fee)		20,000
Copy of project management software		400
	Total project fixed costs		20,400
	Total cost to run project			69,600
Deliverable variable costs
Item	Unit Cost	Units	Total
Chairs	100 per chair	100	10,000
Desks	300 per desk	100	30,000
PC	1000 per PC	100	100,000
PC software	450 per PC	100	45,000
Telephone handsets	50 per handset	100	5,000
Light fittings	150 per light	40	6,000
Socket fittings	75 per socket	200	15,000
Carpet	50 pr sq mtr	1250	50,000
	Total deliverable variable costs		261,000
Deliverable fixed costs
Item		Total item cost
Miscellaneous additional furniture		10,000
Disposal of old furniture and carpets		5,000
	Total deliverable fixed costs		15,000
	Total costs for project deliverables			276,000
		Total project budget required		345,600

Step 3.7 Add in milestones and contingency

Put in milestones that give some key dates and that will help communicate and explain the plan to your customer, and which you can use as overall markers of progress. To select milestones, choose key events that are meaningful and helpful to your customer. The milestones for the office re-fit project example could be:

7 July Office fitted and ready to be furnished
8 August Office furnished
1 September Project completed and office ready for use

You add contingency to account for the inherent risk in the project. This can be done in two ways:

As a top-down estimate. Looking at the whole plan and using a feel for how much risk there is. This is effectively a project manager's intuition, or gut-feel, about the project. The example project feels like a reasonably low-risk project to me, so I would add a 10 20 per cent buffer to costs and time.
As a bottom-up estimate. Looking at every individual task in the plan and identifying how much risk there is associated with every time and cost estimate. This is where you look at the individual elements of the project and identify risks and add contingency for each of them. This is generally more accurate, but can be very time-consuming for a complex project because you may have hundreds of tasks to review. For the example project, this is what I have done.

So what are the riskiest parts of this plan? From my perspective I think they are:

The assumption that your contractor will be ready to start work the day after you have selected him or her. Allow 10 days' contingency here.
The three delays waiting for equipment to be delivered. What if your suppliers are late? Allow another 10 days' contingency here.
Tasks 26 and 27 require installing 100 PCs. In my experience something will go wrong that will take some time to resolve. Allow two days extra to account for problems.
The deliverable variable costs. You know the costs of PCs and software, but the furniture and fitting costs are best guesses and could be wrong. Allow an extra 25 per cent budget for these items or 28k (25 per cent of 111k).
The cost of staff required if you use the 22 days' contingency. Most of the 22 days' contingency if used will be extra waiting time when no one is working, but it may add 22 days to the project manager's time ( 6,600), and two extra days for Mary ( 600).

There is no great science to the estimates I have used for contingency, other than that they seem about right. There are more formal approaches and algorithms you can use for calculating contingency, but unless the project is very complex these are unnecessary. Where you know you can estimate something accurately, you need little contingency. Where you do not know, or there are many assumptions about a task, you must add more. You are the project manager and it is your project you must add enough contingency to give yourself confidence you can deliver the project.

Having contingency does not mean that you give the people doing those tasks an extra 22 days and 35,200 to spend, but that as the project manager, you hold this as a buffer you can use only when you need to. We will explore this more in Chapter 4. What this means though is that you will ask:

For a project budget of 380,800, which typically I would round up to budget of 385k.
For time until 29 September to complete the project.

Does adding an additional 22 days seem a lot? Consider the situation whereby you will make all staff leave their existing office when the project is complete, and you will advise your existing landlord and terminate your rental from that date. If you tell everyone you will complete on 1 September and are then not ready, you risk a big problem for your business as where then will you staff work from? Better have some contingency and avoid this risk. You may even decide that, given the business risk, 22 days is not enough contingency. Now is the time to be sensibly cautious, not heroically over-optimistic.

Step 3.8 Review and amend can you do it, should you do it, is there a better way?

You have a plan, and you have an understanding of the budget you require to deliver this plan. Before you move on to starting to deliver the project, there are three related questions to ask yourself:

Can you do it? The project you have planned will take just over 3 months (31 May to 1 September), cost you 345k, and requires the time of Mary, Dave, Adam and a contractor. Do you actually have this time and money and access to these people?
Should you do it? Going back to your original reason for your project, will the plan you have developed meet it? For example, if you are moving office to reduce your office rental by 500k per annum, then you will probably think spending 345k to achieve this is a good investment. However, if your saving is only 50k per annum then 345k is probably too much to spend to save this amount, and the project is not worth doing. The planning was still a worthwhile activity as it proved this.
Can you do it any better way? Your plan is just one way of doing the work: is there any way you can juggle the plan to do it faster, cheaper or better? You do not need to look at everything, but by exploring the key items in cost and the things that make the timeline as long as it is, you may find things you can cut. Look at how you can juggle between the five dimensions of the project: time, cost, scope, quality and risk.

In the project example, the major costs are the deliverable variable costs buying the furniture and PCs for your staff. If you need to reduce costs, can you buy cheaper PCs or cheaper furniture? 1,000 may be considered a lot for an office PC, especially if you are buying 100. Find out if you can get them cheaper, as reducing the cost to 500 will save you 50k, which is about 15 per cent of the budget.

You should also review the time your plan shows the project taking. To do this there is one useful piece of project management jargon to understand, that is the critical path of a project. The critical path is the series of tasks that create the timescale of the project. Other tasks that are not on the critical path can move around without changing the overall length of the project, unless they are changed so much as to become the critical path. In the office re-fit project, the critical path is shown by the tasks in italic (see Table 3.8).

Table 3.8. The critical path
Task number	WBS number	Task descripton	Predecessor	Effort (Delay)	Who does it	Start	End
1.	1	Select contractor to work with
2.	1.1	Document needs (what you want the contractor to do)		0.5	Dave	31 May	31 May
3.	1.2	Write tender (convert needs to a formal tender document)	1.1	0.5	Dave	31 May	31 May
4.	1.3	Select possible contractors	1.2	0.5	Dave	I June	1 June
5.	1.4	Send to possible contractors	1.3	0.5	Dave	1 June	1 June
6.	1.5	Wait for responses	1.4	+10	Delay	2 June	15 June
7.	1.6	Review responses	1.5	2	Dave	16 June	17 June
8.	1.7	Select contractor	1.6	1	Dave	20 June	20 June
9.	2	Prepare office
10.	2.1	Design office layout	1.7	3	Contractor	21 June	23 June
11.	2.2	Fit electrics
12.	2.2.1	Install new lights	2.1	3	Contractor	24 June	28 June
13.	2.2.2	Install new sockets	2.1	2	Contractor	29 June	30 June
14.	2.3	Fit carpets	2.1, 3.4	2	Contractor	6 July	7 July
15.	2.4	Install phones	3.5	4	Adam	9 August	12 August
16.	3	Install furniture
17.	3.1	Choose new furniture	1.7	2	Dave	21 June	22 June
18.	3.2	Order furniture	1.7, 3.1	1	Dave	23 June	23 June
19.	3.3	Wait for furniture to be delivered	3.2	+20	Delay	24 June	21 July
20.	3.4	Remove old furniture		4	Contractor	1 July	6 July
21.	3.5	Fit new furniture	2.3, 3.3	12	Contractor	22 July	8 August
22.	4	Install new PCs
23.	4.1	Choose new PCs		2	Mary	31 May	1 June
24.	4.2	Select software		2	Mary	2 June	3 June
25.	4.3	Order PCs and software	4.1, 4.2	1	Mary	6 June	6 June
26.	4.4	Wait for PCs to be delivered		+20	Delay	7 June	4 July
27.	4.5	Install software on PCs	4.4	13	Mary	5 July	21 July
28.	4.6	Install configured PCs	3.5, 4.5	17	Mary	9 August	1 Sept

If any of the dates in italic move, then the whole project timeline will change. For example, if task 1.1 (Document needs) or 1.2 (Write tender) are one day late in completing, then the whole project will be one day late and slip from 1 September to 2 September. In comparison to this, task 4.5 (Install software on PCs) can slip by two weeks without changing the overall end date.

For you to improve on the timeline of the project there are various factors to consider:

Can you remove any of the tasks? In this example, there are lights already in the offices and although they are not perfect, they are good enough and can be changed later on. This will remove task 2.2.1 (Install new lights), and so save 6,000 of cost and reduce the contractor's work by 3 days.
Are estimates reasonable or can they be reduced? This is an obvious concept to explore, and if you challenge estimates you will find that some are longer than they need to be. However, if you are too aggressive in challenging people, you may get shorter times in the plan, but they will be unrealistic.
Can you remove any dependency? For example, if task 4.6 (Install configured PCs) was not dependent on task 3.5 (Fit new furniture) you could start it on 21 July rather than 9 August. This is over two weeks earlier and would allow you to complete the project on 16 August rather than 1 September. Unfortunately in this case you cannot but check all dependencies as sometimes you will find they are not correct.
Can you overlap any tasks? Task 4.6 (Install configured PCs) may require 3.5 (Fit new furniture) to be started as you need desks to install the PCs on. But you don't really need it to be finished, as you do not need 100 desks to be installed to fit the first PC. This means 4.6 must start after 3.5, but only so enough desks are completed to put PCs on. If you start 4.6 after two days of desk installation, it will start 10 days earlier than in the current plan, and the overall plan will be shortened.
Can you use any of the resources more efficiently? The best way to do this is to look again at the plan. In the plan the tasks are ordered by WBS number. Re-sort the plan to order the tasks by who is doing them, followed by the date each task starts, as shown in Table 3.9.

Table 3.9. Plan sorted by person
Task number	WBS number	Task descripton	Predecessor	Effort	Who does it	Start	End
15.	2.4	Install phones	3.5	4	Adam	9 August	12 August
10.	2.1	Design office layout	1.7	3	Contractor	21 June	23 June
12.	2.2.1	Install new lights	2.1	3	Contractor	24 June	28 June
13.	2.2.2	Install new sockets	2.1	2	Contractor	29 June	30 June
20.	3.4	Remove old furniture		4	Contractor	1 July	6 July
14.	2.3	Fit carpets	2.1, 3.4	2	Contractor	6 July	7 July
21.	3.5	Fit new furniture	2.3, 3.3	12	Contractor	22 July	8 August
2.	1.1	Document needs (what you want the contractor to do)		0.5	Dave	31 May	31 May
3.	1.2	Write tender (convert needs to a formal tender document)	1.1	0.5	Dave	31 May	31 May
4.	1.3	Select possible contractors	1.2	0.5	Dave	1 June	1 June
5.	1.4	Send to possible contractors	1.3	0.5	Dave	1 June	1 June
7.	1.6	Review responses	1.5	2	Dave	16 June	17 June
8.	1.7	Select contractor	1.6	1	Dave	20 June	20 June
17.	3.1	Choose new furniture	1.7	2	Dave	21 June	22 June
18.	3.2	Order furniture	1.7, 3.1	1	Dave	23 June	23 June
23.	4.1	Choose new PCs		2	Mary	31 May	1 June
24.	4.2	Select software		2	Mary	2 June	3 June
25.	4.3	Order PCs and software	4.1, 4.2	1	Mary	6 June	6 June
27.	4.5	Install software on PCs	4.4	13	Mary	5 July	21 July
28.	4.6	Install configured PCs	3.5, 4.5	17	Mary	9 August	1 September

If you analyse the work of each individual member of the project team (Adam, the contractor, Dave and Mary) in Table 3.9, you can determine that:

The contractor is involved in the project from 21 June to 8 August, but doing nothing between tasks 2.3 (Fit carpets) and 3.4 (Fit new furniture). This means that from 8 July and 21 July, or for 9 working days, the contractor you have employed has no work to do.
Dave is involved on the project from 31 May to 23 June, but doing nothing between tasks 1.4 (Send to possible contractors) and 1.6 (Review responses). This means that from 2 June to 15 June (10 working days) Dave has no work to do.
Mary is involved on the project from 31 May to 1 September, but doing nothing between 7 June and 4 July (20 working days), and again from 22 July to 8 August (12 working days).

You want everyone in the project team to be busy all the time they are on the project. To achieve this you may need to move some tasks around. For Dave and the contractor it is difficult to see any way to easily re-organise the plan so these gaps do not exist, However, by warning them in advance, they could possibly find other work for this time not related to your project (and in the case of the contractor you may save some money by doing this). Alternatively you could expand the scope of the project and get them to do something additional. Mary needs to be involved until the end of the project, 1 September, to complete the work on installing the PCs. However, as tasks 4.1 (Choose new PCs) to 4.5 (Install software on PCs) are not on the critical path, they can be moved. In the original plan she was due to start task 4.1 (Choose new PCs) on the earliest date she could, i.e. 31 May. Alternatively she could start work later up to 12 days later without impacting the project schedule at all. If this change is made, she will not be left waiting between 22 July and 8 August for other tasks to start.

Can you add in more resource? Would any of the tasks be completed faster if more people were to work on them? Not all tasks are capable of being split amongst people, but it seems reasonable to assume that if tasks 3.5 (Fit new furniture), 4.5 (Install software on PCs) and 4.6 (Install configured PCs) had two people working on them rather than one, they could be done twice as fast.

If you make all these changes, your final plan looks like Table 3.10.

Table 3.10. The Project Plan
PROJECT PLAN		Project Name: Office Re-fit Project
Task number	WBS number	Task description	Predecessor	Effort (delay)	Who does it	Start	End
1.	1	Select contractor to work with
2.	1.1	Document needs (what you want the contractor to do)		0.5	Dave	31 May	31 May
3.	1.2	Write tender (convert needs to a formal tender document)	1.1	0.5	Dave	31 May	31 May
4.	1.3	Select possible contractors	1.2	0.5	Dave	I June	1 June
5.	1.4	Send to possible contractors	1.3	0.5	Dave	1 June	1 June
6.	1.5	Wait for responses	1.4	+10	Delay	2 June	15 June
7.	1.6	Review responses	1.5	2	Dave	16 June	17 June
8.	1.7	Select contractor	1.6	1	Dave	20 June	20 June
9.	2	Prepare office
10.	2.1	Design office layout	1.7	3	Contractor	21 June	23 June
11.	2.2	Install new sockets	2.1	2	Contractor	24 June	27 June
12.	2.3	Fit carpets	2.1, 3.4	2	Contractor	6 July	7 July
13.			Milestone 1 Office fitted (excl. phones)			7 July
14.	2.4	Install phones	3.5	4	Adam	1 August	4 August
15.	3	Install furniture
16.	3.1	Choose new furniture	1.7	2	Dave	21 June	22 June
17.	3.2	Order furniture	3.1	1	Dave	23 June	23 June
18.	3.3	Wait for furniture to be delivered	3.2	+20	Delay	24 June	21 July
19.	3.4	Remove old furniture		4	Contractor	1 July	6 July
20.	3.5	Fit new furniture	2.3, 3.3	12	Contractor +1	2 July	29 July
21.			Milestone 2 Office Furnished			29 July
22.	4	Install new PCs
23.	4.1	Choose new PCs		2	Mary	17 June	20 June
24.	4.2	Select software		2	Mary	21 June	22 June
25.	4.3	Order PCs and software	4.1, 4.2	1	Mary	23 June	23 June
26.	4.4	Wait for PCs to be delivered	4.3	+20	Delay	24 June	21 July
27.	4.5	Install software on PCs	4.4	13	Mary, Bob	22 July	1 August
28.	4.6	Install configured PCs	3.5, 4.5	17	Mary, Bob	2 August	12 August
29.			Milestone 3 Project Complete			12 August
30.		Project contingency	22	Project Manager		15 August	13 Sept

Now you have a plan and are ready to start your project!

Step 3.9 Review the plan with your project customer

The final activity for you to do is to explain your plan to your project customer. The key information they will probably be interested in is the time and cost of your project. Once they understand this and accept it, you will move on to the next step delivering your project.

When your customer reviews the plan, there are typically two challenges they may give you, which you should avoid. Your customer may well ask for:

The project to be done more quickly and cheaply. Resist the temptation to agree to this; you now know much more about the plan than they do. If they have a great idea as to how to achieve the reduction in time or cost, then fine. But generally, if the project customer wants the project done more quickly or cheaply, then something else has to change. Perhaps you can reduce the scope or quality of deliverables if not, then the plan must stay as it is.
The contingency to be removed. Your customer may think that if the project is planned properly, you do not need really need contingency. You know you need it, but it can be difficult to justify. The way you justify it depends on the relationship with your customer, but you have three main choices:
- Try to convince them the contingency is essential. This is the best way, but it is not always possible. Consider contingency as an insurance premium.
- Show them only the milestones. Do not explain the detailed plan, but only explain high-level milestones. In the example used in the chapter, the project completion is shown as 13 September. If you deliver on 12 August and save them some money they will be very happy!
- Hide the contingency by padding out other tasks. This is not a good way of managing work although it is often what project managers end up doing.

Whatever you do, do not fall for the trap of taking out the contingency!

Key drivers for success 3: Manage expectations

When you start your project and have agreed the overall Project Plan with your customer, you have set an expectation with them that the work will be complete in a certain time and to a certain budget. As you go through the project anything might happen to stop you achieving this perhaps your plan is wrong, perhaps some issues arise which you have not foreseen, or perhaps the customer asks for some change which extends the project.

Whatever causes the project to change, it is best to make sure your customer understands this as soon as possible. If you think your project will be late or over budget, tell your customer as soon as you know, and do not wait for the end of the project for this to be a surprise to them. You must manage their expectations so that what happens is what the customer expects.

When you go to the garage to have your car fixed, you may want it done in one day but sometimes the garage cannot do this. Isn't it better when they tell you at the start that the car will take three days to fix, rather than you turn up at the end of the first day only to be told to come back later? Similarly, if when fixing your car the garage finds a further problem which will take them an extra couple of days to fix, don't you want them to call you and tell you or would you prefer to turn up again and be told, 'Oh sorry, it's not ready, come back in two days' time'? Most people like to know in advance if there will be a delay or an unexpected increase in cost.

Great project managers know that managing expectations is the key to keeping your customers happy and a happy customer is a sign of success.

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