Amhara Leadership Academy

Development Project
and
Program Management

Chapter 2
Project Planning and
Development

Melkemariam Genet
 Contents

 Concept of Planning
 Why plan?
 What is Project Planning?
 How to plan Projects?
 Why is project plan Important?

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 Concept of Planning
• Planning is defined as an organized
conscious and continual attempt to select
the best available alternatives to achieve
specific goal.
• Planning can also be defined as the process
of deciding how the future should be
better than the present, what changes are
necessary to make these improvements and
how these changes should be implemented.
• It is the process of setting goals and
choosing best alternatives to achieve stated
goals.
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 Why plan?
• To match the limited resources with
many problems
• To eliminate the wasteful resources or
duplication of expenditure
• To develop best course of action to
accomplish a defined objective

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 Characteristics of Effective Planning:

 A fundamental function of project

management
 Plans have flexibility
 Change adaptability: time and space
 Plan balances between idealistic and
practical
 Logical Procedure is followed
 Planning is a cyclic process, goal and
specific objectives are recycled
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 What is Project Planning?

 Project planning, then, is about identifying,

prioritizing and assigning the tasks and
resources necessary to complete a project
successfully.
 Project plan establishes who will be on your
team, what tools and materials will be
needed, and the processes necessary for
efficient execution.

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 Activities of Project Planning

Project planning consist of following activities:

 Feasibility design: it determines the implement-

ability of the project

 Appraisal: it is the evaluation of project ability

to succeed.

 Detail Design: it is concerned with preparation

of guideline of work and detail implementation
plan.

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 Project planning is also concerned about
decision regarding

❑ What activities need to be done in

project?
❑ How the activities will be done?
❑ When the activities are to be done?
❑ Who will do the activities?

Project planning involves defining project

objectives, evaluating alternative courses of
action and selecting best alternative to peruse.

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 How to plan Projects?
Project Management Basics: 6 Steps to a
Foolproof Project Plan
Step 1: Identify & Meet with Stakeholders
Step 2: Set & Prioritize Goals
Step 3: Define Deliverables
Step 4: Create the Project Schedule
Step 5: Identify Issues and Complete a Risk
Assessment
Step 6: Present the Project Plan to Stakeholders
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 Tools and Best practice to Project Planning
Don't Forget These 10 Project Management Best
Practices
1. Communicate with all project stakeholders
2. Create a risk response team
3. Hold a project kick-off -initial kick-off meeting
4. Use a detailed work definition document
5. Create a detailed work plan
6. Document everything
7. Ask for feedback
8. Communicate the impact of project add-ons
9. Manage new agreements
10. Hold a wrap-up meeting
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 Why is project plan Important?
 Project planning plays an essential role in helping guide
stakeholders, sponsors, teams, and the project manager
through other project phases. Planning is needed to identify
desired goals, reduce risks, avoid missed deadlines, and
ultimately deliver the agreed product, service or result.
 Without careful planning, project performance is almost
certainly guaranteed to suffer. The Project Management
Institute estimates that as of 2017, organizations were
wasting an average of $97 million for every $1 billion
invested, due to poor project performance.
 Project planning requires breaking down a larger project
into tasks, assembling a project team, and determining a
schedule over which the work is to be completed. During
this phase, you create smaller goals within the larger
project, making sure each is achievable within the time
frame. 11
 Benefits of Project Plan

 Planning identifies and reduces potential

risks
❑ Proper planning allows teams to ensure that risks
can be mitigated against and that smaller tasks roll-
up into milestones that meet with the larger goals of
the project, reducing potential risks.

 Reducing project failure rates

❑ Planning is the second phase of project
management. It's where the scope of the project is
laid out, where the timeline, costs, deliverables and
the details are ironed out.

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Benefits of Project Plan

13
Thank You

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