Chapter 7: Building the Project Plan

Overview

Remember the story of Noah and the ark? When did he build that ship? Aha! He built it before the rain started. That s the same idea with all of this planning you re doing for each of your projects. By effectively planning, analyzing, and examining your plan from different perspectives, you increase your chances to complete your project on time and on budget.

At this point of your project, you ve already done a great deal of work. Look back at all you ve accomplished: you ve created a vision, researched the technology, partnered with management, created a budget, made a WBS, and assembled your team. Phew! That s a ton of progress, and the actual implementation of the project work hasn t started yet. Don t get discouraged ” these activities that you ve been doing are the building blocks of a strong foundation for the success of your project. Without all of those activities, your project would be doomed.

This chapter focuses on bringing your plan together. If you ve done all of the preliminary work described in the earlier chapters, your plan is already coming together ”which is grand. However, there are still a few more things that require your attention before you set your plan into motion. Particularly, you need to give some thought to the project schedule and determine if it s reasonable. This is crucial for any project.