Module – II - Project Planning

By Prof: Jagadish Pattar,

IEMS B-School

Introduction

Before commencement of any project, the first thing that we need to do is

project planning. Any reasonable project manager* certainly understands
importance of planning a project well. Carefully planned project takes into
account necessary aspects of a project (e.g. tasks, milestone, schedule, risks,
communication, quality, etc.) and provide a plan which project team can refer
during execution.

What is Project Planning?

The project planning is commonly perceived as creating 'Gantt Chart' alone,

which is incorrect. Gantt chart is merely visual representation of project
schedule. In fact project plan is quite broader concept. A project plan expresses
the objectives & requirements of the project in terms of
➢ Project Scope
➢ Project Schedule
➢ Resource Requirement
➢ project cost estimation
➢ Project Quality and
➢ Project Risk Management
A project planning enables project manager to translate project requirement into
Work breakdown structure (WBS), tasks list, Gantt charts, resource assignment and
risk register, etc.

Once project charter is approved, the project is formally initiated. Project planning
activity can begin based on the project charter document, project requirement
document.

Why do we need project planning?

You see, careful & detailed planning help us to reduces risk and in turn
uncertainty in any given project. In meticulously planned project, project
planner attempts to make a provision for potential occurrences of uncertainties
in advance.

It is true that project plan in advance, cannot take care of all unforeseen events,
risks, and deviations nevertheless; we still, are in a better position than having
no planning. Why? – We know what needs to be done, we can organize our
work and also, with well-planned project we can better equip ourselves to
respond aptly to potential risks, slippages, etc. Hence the bottom line is, we are
able to save on time, on resources and as a result we can save on cost too.

Elements of project plan

1. Project Scope Planning:

Any project is expected to provide its stakeholders with certain outcome, which is
commonly termed as project deliverables. These project deliverables depends on
the scope of the project. Analogically, defining a project scope is like drawing a
map. In the map, the boundaries are drawn to indicate stretch/ extent of a given
territory; similarly project scope outlines the extent of project deliverables.

Essentially, project scope is the definition of what the project is expected to

achieve and specify the budget of both time and cost that needs to be
provisioned to create the project deliverables before the project gets closed. For
the best result, one needs to take care of clearly carving out project definition &
the budgetary requirements. More detailing & precision during project planning
definitely help the team organize their work efficiently & deliver the project
more effectively. Without a project scope, project execution can go haywire.

Project Deliverables
To define project scope, one needs to refer project requirements. The project
planner needs to list down project deliverable items unambiguously stating
whether they are ‘In Scope’ or ‘Not in Scope’. So, project scope is about outlining
the project deliverables. Based on project scope, project planner(s) create(s) work
break down structure (WBS).
 Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
The WBS is a breakdown/ decomposition of project work into distinct work
items at higher level. These work items are aligned with the project objective
and can help the project team to create expected deliverables. Generally the
project team can refer to this work item hierarchy to decide whether any given
task is included in WBS or not.
Essentially, WBS is decomposition of project work in a hierarchical fashion
wherein with each descending level, it gives details of project deliverable required
from project team.

Triangular Constraints (TQR)

The project scope is generally constrained, with respect to following aspects

1. Time
2. Quality
3. Resources

If you stretch any corner of the triangle in Figure 3: Elements of Project Planning:
the triangle gets distorted; similarly any change in the scope of the project has
direct effect on (either any or all) of time, quality and resources of given project.
Vice versa, any change in time or cost or resource can make the project scope
altered.

And each corner of this triangle in turn has cost implication e.g. any addition of
resource to project can increase cost of project, any delay in delivery can
increase cost of project, any compromise can quality can have further effect on
cost of the project. Hence cost of the project is directly dependent on project
scope & project scope in turn is dependent on project delivery time, quality
parameters & resources assignment.

2. Delivery Schedule Planning

Once project scope is determined and work breakdown structure (WBS) is
created, the next step is to create delivery timeline. For each of the deliverable
work item identified in the work breakdown structure (WBS), project planner
needs to identify list of activities need to perform.
Activities/Tasks
Activities as mentioned above, become a basis for estimation, scheduling,
execution, and monitoring and controlling of the project work. For each of these
activities he/she needs to figure out
➢ How long will it take to complete each activity (days, weeks)?
➢ What kind of resource(s) – required for its completion (skill set, experience,
etc.)?
Based on the estimate of efforts required to carry out each activity, one can sum
up to get duration required for each deliverable. Thus working backward,
 project delivery timeline can be tweaked further to provide better estimates.

Five steps to create delivery schedule

Define Tasks/ Activities

2.1 Identification of individual & specific tasks to be performed to create the project
deliverables
Tasks/ Activities Sequencing
2.2 It is to take care of identification & establishing relationships among the project
activities e.g. Product filling activity to start after package labelling activity.
Resources Requirement Estimation
2.3 This process carry out estimation of the type (skill set/ experience, etc.) and
quantities of material, people, equipment, etc. required to perform any given activity.
2.4 Task Durations Estimation
The process of approximating the number of work periods needed to complete
individual activities with estimated resources. One can arrive at these estimates
based on either of
▪ Expert’s judgement (consulting Subject Matter Expert)
▪ Three Point Estimate (Most likely, Optimist, Less Likely)
▪ Parametric Estimation (length & height of compound wall, number of lines of
code)
Sometimes, it’s a good idea to add tolerance for duration of activity if you are unsure
of exact duration (e.g. 3 Weeks +/- 2 days).
2.5 Schedule Development
This is a critical process wherein project planner analyses sequences of activities,
for each activity what are the: durations required, resource required, and constraints
arising due to scheduling. The outcome from this exercise is a project schedule.
Once project schedule is agreed by important stakeholders, it becomes a baseline
for the given project.

These five steps will help us create project schedule and it would become a
baseline for a given project. The project schedule may change as project progress;
this change can be attributed to change in scope, deliverables, quality and risk
aspects of the project.

3. Project Resources Planning

It is the people who make the project work hence it is critical to plan for project
team. But project resource is not just about the people to be involved in the
project, rather materials, equipment required for successful completion of the
project. Having mentioned this, generally resource planning tends to revolve
 about people/staffing management.

Human Resource Plan

This plan tries to answer following questions but rather precise details:
1. What kinds of people are required to complete the project – necessary qty,
competencies?
2. What should they do – roles & responsibilities?
3. Whom will they report to?
Thus human resource plan identifies and document the staffing requirements –
skillset, roles, responsibilities and also establish the reporting structure of the
project resources. It also provides the staffing plan which specifies timeline of
acquisition & release of staff.
The staffing plan in last decade has become quite important for services based
companies where these companies struggle with the pool of resource in terms of
their availability, utilization; especially of the scarce resource having special
knowledge/skill sets.
To arrive at human resource plan, project planner need to refer organization
structure & figure out necessary changes and compliances required for project
requirement. Companies may have following organization structure:
1. Hierarchical Organization
2. Matrix Based Organization
3. Flat organization
What can we expect from human resource plan?

Sr Item Description
No
A Roles & responsibilities
This section of the plan broadly describes how resources should be & how they are
expected to perform in order to deliver the project outcome.
A.1 For set of activities & work area, Roles are identified to make
Role
resource accountable e.g. business analyst to assess & process
business requirements
A.2 This section documents clearly describes the work a project team
Responsibilit
y member is expected to carry out to perform project activities
A.3 If project team does not have necessary competencies, project
outcome remains uncertain. To assess competency requirement –
Competency this section describes the skill set, experience & capacity
requirement concerned about the completion of project activities.
Based on resource competency requirements; company can
undertake hiring or training activities.
A.4 Authority is what marks the difference between steering committee
and working committee. This section of the document, describes
who has what kind of authority to perform/approve/reject, etc. e.g
Authority authority to approve resource movement, the right/authority to
approve project schedule, quality gate checklist, etc. Widely known
secrete - Team members operate best when their individual levels of
authority match their individual responsibilities
B Organogram for project
This can be formal or informal chart to indicate team members involved in the
project with reporting/working relationship. It may help project sponsors to take into
account organization designs already in place.
C Staffing management plan
This is an important section which if implemented can have cost implication to the
organization. This section describes staffing & training requirement, resource
calendars, release plan, rewards & recognitions, etc.
C.1 This section tries to answer following questions:
1. Do we have resources of specified competencies & experience?
Resource 2. Should we move internal resource to given project or hire new
acquisition ones?
3. If new resource is to be hired, should he be on the co. roll or
contract?
4. Will team work in a co-location or discrete places across
geographies?
5. What is the cost-benefit analysis for decisions made for above
aspects?
6. How staffing activities will be synchronized with HR department?
C.2 This section talks about following points
Resource ▪ The duration of each kind of team members required for project
calendars ▪ Timeline for hiring (internal/external) – when should these be
started
▪ Depicting resource requirement in calendar of the project team
during the entire lifecycle of the project
C.3 This plan provides details of the training to be provided for project
team so as to make them competent to perform project activities.
These could be in house training, external trainings, and
Staff Training certifications as necessary for sponsors’ compliance requirements.
& release plan
The project resources need to be released based on project activities
& progress made. This section describes the approach to be taken in
releasing resources underlining the cost, quality & timeline
implications.
C.5 Incentiv This section to document clear objectives & unambiguous
e conditions for nominations & reward process underlining the cost-
Program benefit analysis.
4. Project Cost Planning

Cost planning exercise helps to baseline the overall project budget in terms of
money so that project sponsors & project steering committee can agree on
project delivery schedule as well as the payment schedule. It tries to identify cost
elements to be consumed during the project lifecycles such as
▪ Monetary resources requirement (people, machinery, material, equipment,
space, etc.)
▪ Provisions for risk management (people, machinery, material, equipment,
space, etc.)
Quite commonly, cost planning is observed to be an iterative process wherein
project planner update the cost of project based on information updates
available with him/her. As you would have seen, in initial phase, the ROM
estimates are within a broad range of ±50% of the proposed estimate and as
project progresses, the estimate may get updated to the tune of ±20% or less.

What can we expect from Project Cost plan?

▪ Cost estimates per activity
Since activity/task form the basis for estimation of effort, duration required;
project cost is generally is summed up based on cost estimates of the activities
involved. Just like effort/duration estimate of an activity/task, cost estimate
of an activity provides quantifiable assessment.
It is expected to capture cost implication of
➢ People, equipment, facilities, etc. required to complete given activity
➢ Inflation, exchange rates applicable for context of the activity

▪ Factors considered for estimates

This section will document how cost is determined/ what elements
formed the basis of cost estimation – such as
➢ What all assumptions are made? <current vendor will supply at 10%
discounted rate>
➢ What all constraints are applied? <max number of seats, min electricity
requirement>
➢ What all parameters formed as a basis of estimate <number of lines of
code, per square feet of wood, number of seats, etc.>
➢ What is the confidence level of estimate? And Why? <80%?>
5. Project Quality Planning
There are various known approaches to ensure project quality – some of these are
1. Six Sigma (6 σ)
2. Cost of Quality (CoQ)
3. Total Quality Management (TQM)
4. Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA)
5. International Organization for Standardization 9001, etc.

All of these approaches essentially align with principles of project management

such as careful planning in advance save a lot later, hence this section becomes
necessary.

What does project quality planning involves?

To create project quality plan, project planner need to identify what are the
quality requirements of the project, which all standards are we supposed to
comply with and in what manner. Surely project quality plans undergoes
changes just as the master project plan.

What can we expect project quality plan to highlight?

Sr. Item Description

No
1 Quality Process & Policies
The policies about quality assurance process to be followed, quality controls to be in
place, process improvement being adopted are detailed
2 Project planner need to build the business cases to present cost-
benefit analysis of quality assurance & control process to demonstrate
benefits of ::
Cost- • Significant avoidance of rework
Benefit • Increase in productivity
Analysis
• Quality & Reliability of deliverables,
etc. factors which would satisfy quality expectations and
accompanying cost implication.
3 Cost of This section gives stakeholders details of estimated cost to be
Quality incurred
 during the project lifecycle by virtue of quality control & quality
process: bifurcating/highlighting the cost projection in terms of
▪ Conformance cost (Prevention costs, appraisal cost)
▪Non-Conformance cost (internal failure cost, external fail.
cost)
4 This section will establish the metrics based on which quality
controls can be applied. Establishing quality metrics is very
important to ensure stability and performance of the project. The
Quality Metrics
parameters & permissible values such as availability (acceptable:
98.95%), failure rate (0.02%) & frequency, budget control (cost
overrun <4%), etc all these essentially governs & indicate health of
the project to the stakeholders.
5 Based on the best practices, the project quality planner may provide
Quality
quality checklist to ensure specific set of project activities are
Checklis
performed in standardized manner. Such checklists are quite useful
t
in quality controls.
6 This is chart representation to visualize process stability &
performance. The project planner needs to specify the boundary &
Control Charts
threshold limits to indicate when project stability or performance is
getting compromised. At what levels who’s intervention is
expected etc is being charted out.

6. Supporting Plans

6.1 Risk Management Plan

Assuming you are responsible for setting up of a power plant and in the wake of
recent mishaps occurred in some other country, government has enforced
stringent compliance requirement of fail- safe mechanisms at every possible
stages of power generation & disposal management. And this compliance
requirement will get applicable to all existing as well as new power plants. You
would be stranded if you have not thought of occurrence of this event. What
would you do? Wouldn’t you be better off, if you have had risk mitigation plan to
face such event?

The project risk is futuristic uncertainty that may occur during life of a project
and can affect project deliverables. The risk can be recorded through cause-
effect analysis. The cause of risk could be some hypothesis, limitation,
requirement, etc. and the effect could be slippage of timeline, cost overrun/save,
performance degradation/improvement, etc. of the project for example – new
regulatory compliance may be enforced on power projects, economic
uncertainty may lead to higher cost of labour, etc.

Project risk management is about assessing future uncertainties which can have
potential impact on project objectives and the exercise of creating risk
 management plan, prepares team for effectively managing those uncertainties.

What can we expect from project risk management plan?

Sr. Item Description

No
1 Risk Identification
Identification The success of the risk management depends on the pro-activeness
1.1 process exhibited by project team in identifying & reducing effect of
risks on
project. This can be facilitated if risk identification process is
well
documented & is easy to understand for team members. It also
The project risk planner specifies categories of the risks based on
1.2 Risk Categories
the potential impact on the project objective e.g. catastrophic,
severe, low, etc.
2 Risk Assessment
Risk Well established criterions to help team members to assess risk
2.1
probability probability & impact.
and impact
The plan to indicate what could be risk tolerance level that would
2.2 Risk Tolerance be acceptable to stakeholders and what strategy to be adopted if
risk level crosses the tolerance level.
Risk Responses
3 The risk planner must define under what conditions response should be to avoid,
accept, mitigate or transfer the risk.
4 Risk Management
4.1 Mechanism It outlines what approach to take, whom to consult, what utility to
use, etc.
This section specifies who should do what if risk occurs. It is not
Roles and
4.2 uncommon to find armies world over have defined personnel to
responsibilities
command and own specific responsibility.
Budget This section marks budget provisioning for known & unknown risks
4.3
Provisionin and provide justification of doing so.
g
4.4 Risk Tracking It details who would track risk, in what frequency, with what inputs,
etc

6.2 Communication Plan

Projects get successfully delivery only when people work together. Project team
can work together only when they know what they should do and they would
know this, only when they are informed about it. That’s the precise reason why
 organizations should have communication plan. Communication plan is about
establishing appropriate channels to let correct information flow top-down as
well as bottom-up manner.

Identifying Project Stakeholders

The first thing that needs to be done at the time of creating communication plan
for a project is, to identify stakeholders of the project and their information
relevance (extent of information & time of receiving/sharing information).
Stakeholders could be customers (internal/external), vendors, employees,
partners, etc. and of course at different levels in the project organization with
differential interest, importance & influence over project.

Planning project communication:

It is important for project manager to categorize project stakeholders & identify
apt communication channels as per stakeholders’ category. Such arrangement
will save project managers’ time during project execution while dealing with
amount of information he/she receives & has to communicate.

Just for example, some stakeholders necessarily have to receive certain

information (e.g. project sponsors to know about achievement/failure to
achieve milestones in respect of specific timeline) similarly; project planner can
identify categories of project stakeholders such as follows

For each of the identified stakeholder category, there has to be modes of

communication that we need to establish as appropriate to the context of the
project.

Project manager need to be clear about how information would be gathered &
shared–
➢ Receiving information: should it be through meeting (e.g. User
Acceptance Test meeting with customer) or over email (collect status
of activities/issues over email or s/w tool from team members )or
some other means
➢ Sharing Information: should it be done through meeting (e.g.
stakeholder meeting) & then sharing MoM mail or over email
(project activities are to be completed by team members)
What can we expect from communication plan?

Sr. To distribute/share To receive

No
1.1 Must Inform Must get response/update from
1.2 Should Inform Should get response/update from
1.3 Could Possibly Inform Could Possibly get update from
 1.4 Need not inform Need not get update from

Sr. Importance Other Factors

No
2.1 Critical | Information/action
2.2 Mandatory
Information/action
2.3 Information only
2.4 For action & updates
2.5 Can Ignore | Confidential
Immediate (time, frequency)
| As per schedule (time, frequency)
Email/press release/Language,
format
Authority to share/ receive/
commit
Escalation Matrix for reference

6.3 Procurement Plan

Project procurement plan documents purchase policy illustrating purchase

process, buy/lease/rent decisions, vendor selection, negotiation, financial
concurrence, duration, legal concurrence, etc. Also it should chalk out roles
authorized to make tendering process, financial & legal concurrence, and
approval/rejection decision.

What can we expect in procurement plan?

Apart from above factions project planner needs to specify how procurement
statement of work (SoW) or RFQ/RFT to be organized or tracked, sourcing
criterion, vendor selection criterions as well document the make-buy decision
approach & escalation matrix for the same.

Project Success Criteria

Project success criteria are the standards by which the project will be judged at the
end to decide whether or not it has been successful in the eyes of the stakeholders.

The project success criteria refer to measurable terms of what should be the
outcome of the project that is acceptable to the end user, customer, and the
stakeholders. In other words, the project success factors consist of activities or
elements that are required to ensure successful completion of the project.
In order to deliver project value, the success criteria should be well defined.
Defining the project success criteria should be a practice of conciseness. Avoid
vague and general terms such as the product should have efficient features that
are desired by the customers. Instead, the success factors should be phrased as
“the product should contain X features, or “the product should be completed by
X days”.
 The three key factors that can define project success include the following.

• The Iron Triangle (Cost + Scope + Time)

• Realized Benefits
• Stakeholder satisfaction.

One of the most common problems when defining project success criteria
relates to having a myopic focus on the Iron Triangle, especially relating to the
cost and time. Most project managers tend to overlook the benefits and also
ignore whether the client is happy. However, focusing merely on the benefits or
the client satisfaction is also not the right approach.
Instead, a project manager should try to create a balance. While the focus
should be on the iron triangle, the manager should also not lose sight of the
realized benefits and stakeholder satisfaction. Successful project delivery
depends on the requirements of the project. It requires delivering the objectives
and goals of the project.
In order to achieve success, you need to be in agreement with the stakeholders
regarding the project goals, objectives, and success criteria.
Documenting the Success Criteria
Apart from defining the success criteria, it is also important to document the
criteria for success. Make sure that the documentation of the criteria is done at
the start of the project. The document should include:
The success criteria
• How it will be measured
• How often it will be measured
• Who will be responsible for measuring the criteria
Also, make sure that the success criteria are properly communicated to the
team. The criteria should also reflect on the work management
software through effective project planning.
At the end of the day, the success criteria should not be regarded as a set-in-
stone. Instead, the manager should strive to go beyond the success criteria and
exceed the expectations of the clients. This is a sure-fire way to project success.
 Project Assumptions:

WHAT ARE PROJECT ASSUMPTIONS?

Project assumptions are those things you assume to be true for your project to be
successful.

They’re called assumptions because you assume that for your project to move
forward successfully as planned, these things will be in place.

Even though you don’t have proof at the moment, you expect them to occur during
the project.

But just because you assume them to be true doesn’t mean that everyone else does.
That’s why it’s important to go through the process of identifying your project
assumptions.

“Just because you assume something to be true for your project doesn’t mean
everyone else does. Planning around false assumptions sets you up for problems. Get
it out in front of others so they can verify if it’s true or not. ”
TYPES OF PROJECT ASSUMPTIONS
To help you think through and manage assumptions, it can help to understand the
different kinds of project assumptions.

They usually break out into different categories. Doing so helps you think through all
the different types of assumptions you need to consider.

Here’s a list of categories to start with. If these are too many, scale back the number
of categories and make them fewer and broader.

But if you’re new to project assumptions, this will help you consider the many
different areas where you’ll make assumptions about your project.

CATEGORIES
▪ Resources – people, materials, or facilities needed to complete the project
▪ Delivery – what’s intended to be delivered.
▪ Budget – estimated cost of the project
▪ Finances – funding to complete the project
▪ Scope – the scope of the what’s to be delivered
▪ Schedule: tasks, durations, and dependencies needed to complete the project
▪ Methodology – the approach you’ll take to completing the project.
▪ Technology – this could cover software development, platforms, environments, and
infrastructure
▪ Architecture and design – architecture and design approach your team will use
Now that you’ve got categories, it’s helpful to see examples.
 EXAMPLES OF PROJECT ASSUMPTIONS
Now that you’ve got a list of categories, it will make things even clearer to provide examples
in each.

▪ Resources:
End users will be available to test during the time they agree to
Training rooms will be available at the training centre as needed
▪ Delivery:
Project servers arrive configured as expected
Correct number of handheld devices arrive on target delivery date with no delays
▪ Budget – estimated cost of the project
Project costs will stay the same as initially budgeted costs
Training will be conducted internally with no additional training costs incurred
▪ Finances – funding to complete the project
Funding for licenses will be provided by various departments as needed
▪ Scope – the scope of the what you’re going to deliver
Project scope will not change once the stakeholders sign off on the scope statement
Other Helpful Templates for you:
▪ How To: Your IT Project Budget Template
▪ This Simple Project Scope Statement Template Will Improve Your Project Success

HOW TO: YOUR IT PROJECT BUDGET TEMPLATE

▪ Schedule: tasks, durations, and dependencies needed to complete the project
Materials will arrive as planned within the project schedule
Vendor contracts will be fully executed within two months of vendor selection.
▪ Methodology – the approach you’ll take to completing the project.
Project will follow waterfall methodology throughout execution
Project will follow team governance guidelines and requirements
▪ Technology – this could cover software development, platforms, environments, networks,
firewalls, bandwidth.
The team will write the solution in Java
The solution will use the existing test environment
▪ Architecture and design – architecture and design approach your team will use
The solution will utilize REST API architecture
The solution will reside in an offsite cloud
If architecture is an area you’re not as familiar with, the Open Group has a great deal of
information about architecture compliance that may be interesting to review.
 Challenges of Project Management

1. Keeping Teams on The Same Page

2. Poorly Defining the Goals And Objectives
3. Unrealistic Deadlines
4. Finding The Right Project Management Software
5. Insufficient Team Skills
6. Miscommunication
7. Challenges of Teamwork
8. Lack of Accountability

1.Keeping the team on the same page:

Managing a team that is widely spread out is one big challenge for project managers. Keeping
your team on the same page will make things happen interactively. Each team member will
know exactly what’s going on, what they need to do, and what each of them is working
towards.

2. Poorly defining the goals and objectives:

Poorly defined goals or goals without objectives push a project in danger. An important step
in a project is to define goals and objectives—and that becomes a major challenge.
The project managers and team members might not know what exactly to expect from the
project. If the goals and objectives are not clearly defined, the project is doomed to fail.
When no one is aware of the what’s, whys and whens of the project, what will follow is a lot
of confusion and chaos.
Starting a project without clear objectives, a specific direction and a prepared plan; it’s like
going on a road trip with no idea where you’re going and how to get there.

3. Unrealistic Deadlines:

A big thing that most teams or project managers struggle is unrealistic to project
deadlines and expectations clients and stakeholders have from them. Most project
timelines do eventually slip due to the unrealistic ‘initial deadlines’. As we live in a
world, where competition is getting aggressive and targets are set either unrealistic or
unachievable rather than driven by calculated business requirements. From then,
what begins is a desperate attempt where the team tries to fit the requirements in the
already drawn boundaries.

4. Finding The Right Project Management Software

It can be tedious to identify the right technology for your project team that is within
your budget, to implement your projects. A well-designed project management
software will ensure that projects are progressing as planned and allow you to get
visibility into all your projects. At times, it can be difficult to find such a tool,
especially those that meet your needs.

5. Insufficient Team Skills

A team is as good as its team members. If team members are not smart or are
not trained enough to perform assigned tasks, it can put the development in a
risky spot. But most of the times, the team members are assigned on their
availability, not for their expertise for many projects. If team members are not
skilled or trained enough to meet the challenges and perform assigned tasks, it
can put the development of the project in a risky spot.

6. Miscommunication:

Miscommunication, poor communication, is one of the biggest project

management challenges that get in the way to deliver projects successfully.

Communication skills are the project manager’s greatest asset. No matter if you
are giving instructions, asking questions or seeking information, there’s always
a challenge to provide clear and open communication.

There’s a reason why project managers emphasize a lot on effective

communication. Because, most often, successful communication translates into
successful projects as most of projects fail due to breakdown in
communications.

7. Challenges of Teamwork

Teamwork isn’t really teamwork unless the team actually works. A team
consists of multiple members, each having a different personality, managing
and catering to their needs can be a daunting task at times. With so many
people working on a project together, there can be disagreements and
differences in a team that can have a negative impact on the project and work
environment.

Issues and incongruities amongst team members is often a challenge for project
managers to deal with. They have to constantly look for ways to take everyone
in a team together for the betterment of the project.

8. Lack of Accountability

Everyone wants accountability but a few teams have it. I’m sure we are well
aware of the challenge. A project manager has to make sure that the team is
accountable throughout their daily workloads. Accountability is visible in the
form of blame game when things go wrong but is rarely in the picture when the
things are right.
Projects and Strategic Planning
Strategic planning is a fundamental part of business management because it guides the
overall direction of a company. During the strategic planning process, managers begin by
creating a mission, which acts as the underlying guiding purpose of the business and goals
that fulfil the mission. Managers then study the business environment that they face and
create a business strategy that they believe will best allow the company to fulfil its goals and
its mission.

How Are Projects and Strategic Plans Related?

The projects and programs that a business pursues are the implementations of a strategic plan.
In other words, projects are the concrete actions that a business takes to execute its strategic
plan. For example, during strategic planning, managers might see a certain weakness in a
competitor that they might be able to exploit to gain more customers. As a result, the business
might launch a new advertising campaign pointing out the weakness. In this case, the
advertising campaign is a project that is implemented as a result of the strategic planning
process.

SWOT Analysis

A SWOT analysis is a strategic planning tool that business managers use to help formulate
plans and determine what projects to pursue. A SWOT analysis involves creating a list of a
company's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, and using those lists to form
decisions about strategy and future projects. For example, if a company sells several different
products but the sales of one line of products is especially strong, it might decide to focus
new projects on exploiting that strength.

Cost Benefit Analysis

A cost benefit analysis is a decision making tool that managers use to ultimately decide
which projects to pursue. A cost benefit analysis involves estimating the costs and potential
benefits of the various projects that are under consideration and then choosing the project that
provides the highest net benefit. Net benefit is the total value benefits minus the total value
costs.