10.20 Building Realistic Project Plans

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When starting to plan a project, it is important to divide up the work and plan it in a phased approach. In general, a basic five-step process should be accomplished for any project. This five-step process is intended to help you and your team think about, plan, and carry out successful projects. As you go about planning a project, review these five steps to help you organize and coordinate your efforts. You can also look back on these steps later after you’ve completed your project and use them as a way to evaluate what you have accomplished. The basics of the five-step process are as follows:

• Step 1: Identify a project. Describe your project idea in a nutshell (i.e., is it a crawl, walk, or run?).

• Step 2: Set an objective or goal. Ask what your goals are for this project? What do you hope to accomplish?

• Step 3: Design the project. When will this project be taking place? What materials will you need? Create a project timeline.

• Step 4: Do the project.

• Step 5: Evaluate the project. Did you meet your project goals? What went well? What will do you differently next time?

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